Chalai or Chalai bazaar is an old shopping area in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, India.

History

Chala was officially established towards the end of 18th century by

Raja Kesavadas Raja Kesavadas born Kesavan Raman Pillai of Kunnathur, also known as (17 March 1745 – 21 April 1799; Sanskrit ') was the Dewan of Travancore during the reign of Dharma Raja, Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. He is well known for his ...

, Dewan of Travancore. The idea was to make Chalai bazar the central point for the supply of commodities to the Travancore kingdom. The Killi and Karamana rivers nearby was used to transport goods to the market. However, Mathilakom records of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple talk of a large market place that existed ‘near’ the temple, at least a century and a half before. Going further back to the 13th century, the composition Ananthapuravarnanam, which describes the capital city in detail, vividly describes a bustling marketplace with a fish market, textile market, provision market and so on. Merchants used to come in ships to trade at the market.

Location

Chala market is located opposite of te East fort central bus stand where all the city buses terminate. The main entrance is located at the junction between Gandhi park and KSRTC bus garage. This entrance takes you to the Chala market road which is the main shopping area. This road terminates on the Kanyakumari highway (earlier known NH-47 and now renamed as NH-66) at a distance of about 1.5 km.

Shopping

The market is spread through the narrow 2 km road connecting Killipalam and

East Fort Kizhakke Kotta, also known by its English name East Fort, is a busy commercial street located at the heart of the central business district of Thiruvananthapuram city in Kerala. Since Thiruvananthapuram was the capital of the kingdom of Travan ...

, which runs from East to West. The by-lanes too have an array of shops. The shopping street also consists of Karupattikada Juma Masjid, which is popularly known as 'Chala Juma Masjid'. This juma masjid was built in the first quarter of the 20th Century and is considered to be one of the oldest mosques in the district.

Shops

The market sells almost every commodity, from fruits and vegetables, gold and silver to paint and hardware. Most shops are open from 9 am to 8 pm daily except Sundays. The place gets very crowded in the evenings. A number of good eateries also dot the area. The 2 km stretch is one of the busiest shopping streets in Kerala. Mubarak Hotel which started in 1970 is one of the most oldest restaurants in Chala. Another notable shop was Swamy and Brothers of Chala, once the go-to-place for all manner of threads and embroidery paraphernalia and dress materials.

Footfalls

Peak Shopping Seasons

The Peak Shopping Season is during festivals of

Vishu Vishu (Malayalam: വിഷു) is a Hindu festival celebrating the Malayali New Year in Kerala, Tulu Nadu, and Mahe of India. Vishu falls on the first day of the month of ''Medam'', the first month of the Solar calendar used in Malabar of ...

Onam Onam () is an annual harvest and Hindus, Hindu cultural festival celebrated mostly by the people of Kerala. A major annual event for Malayalis, Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events. H ...

and

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

. Chala market is the one place to visit during

Festival because it is here that one gets all kinds of flowers needed for the celebration. More than 10,000 kg of flowers will reach the Chala market during Onam.

References

{{reflist

External links

Flower market of Chala

CHALAI, AN AUDIOVISUAL NARRATIVE BY NORA BIBEL for Goethe Institut
Suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram