MALA

About Mala

Mala is the name of a small town in Thrissur district of Kerala, south India. There is a Jewish synagogue at Mala town [1]. At the moment it is in ruins. The famous Pambu Mekkattu Mana (temple) is located here and attracts thousands of devotees every year. Mala is a multicultural society. Migrants from different parts of the world settled in Mala; especially noteworthy are the Jews from Palestine, Brahmins from the Konkan and Kudumbis from Goa. It had a major inland port and people from Ambazhakad, Kuzhur, Kadukutty, and other people used to bring their goods to Mala so as to transport it to Kottapuram or Kochi. The major items of trade were beetel leaves, cut stone (vettu kall), toddy, coconut, and wood. Today it does not have such importance because of the high network of roads. In olden times, Mala used to be affected by floods in monsoons. Business were not very much affected because a major mode of transport was through the water itself. It was attacked by Tippu Sulthan. His fort had passed through Kottamuri, Vattakotta. The fort was made by dumping soil to a height of 15 to 16 metres. After the defeat of Tippu Sulthan, this fort was leveled gradually, but now also as you move towards south of Mala, you will experience many ups and downs. And names also derived due to presence of fort. Kottamury And Vattakota are example of that. Literally, in Malayalam Kottamury means "where fort is cut" (kotta = fort; mury = cut) and Vattakotta means "round fort."