About Pinarayi

Pinarayi is a census town in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. Pinarayi is 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the district headquarters Kannur. The nearest town and railway station is Thalassery which is 8 km (5.0 mi) away. The village is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and the remaining boundaries consist of five panchayats: Kadirur, Dharmadam, Peralassery, Vengad, Kottayam and Erancholi. The Arabian sea is just 5 km (3.1 mi) away. For administrational purposes the panchayat is divided into two villages Eruvatty and Pinarayi. Pinarayi consists of 15 wards and almost all wards contains one or more primary schools. Hundreds of years ago feudal fights between Kottayam-Malabar and Kolathunadu rulers were common in this village and many people died during these fights. Thus it is believed that the name Pinarayi derived from pinam (Malayalam from "dead body") and Azhi means fire where cremations carried out. In the 1920s peasant and teachers organizations were strong in this village and there was widespread support for the freedom movement. As a part of the independence struggle, a boycott of foreign clothes was conducted in 1930, its leaders being AKG, AK Sankaran Nambiar, Kacherikkandi Chathukkutty and Thattari Kunhiraman. In 1938 seven thousand peasants marched from Pinarayi to Kottayam kovilakam for reducing varam and pattam (rent paid by peasants to landlords). The population of Pinarayi during that time was around 10,000. This was considered as the first instant of unified mass movement against landlordism.NE Balaram, AKG, Kundancheri Kunhiraman master, Pandyala Gopalan Master, Pinarayi Krishnan master and TV Govindan Nair were the leaders. Pinarayi is considered as a Marxist bastion, and the first communist meeting was held at a place called ParaParam in Pinarayi and communist party formally constituted in this meeting. Pinarayi Vijayan, the former State Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the chief minister elect in May 2016, is a native of this village, and he is usually simply referred to by his village name.