Muvattupuzha
Muvattupuzha is a medium sized town situated 45 Km north-east of Ernakulam City, Kerala state, India.
Muvattupuzha is also the name of the river which flows through Muvattupuzha town.
It is famous for being a town with three rivers joining to form Muvattupuzha. It lies almost sea level,with small hills across the Area. It is an important town in central Kerala. It lies between Thrissur and Kottayam on the Main Central(MC) Road which runs along the length of the old Travancore,from Trivandrum to Angamaly.Town is full of greenery and decorated by the smooth-flowing Thodupuzha River and [Muvattupuzha River] through the centre of the town. The people are very cordial here,is a semi-cosmopolitan town. It was part of erstwhile Vadakkumkoor Kingdom until it was captured by Travancore kingdom,now merged into state of Kerala. Muvattupuzha is distinguished by the presence of three major religions. They are Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, majority being Hindus. Islam is also a main religion in Muvattupuzha Taluka. Syrian Christians are present in all areas.
The town is named after the Muvattupuzha river which flows through it. The name is made up of three Malayalam words 'Moo' which stands for 'three', 'aaru' - river, and 'puzha', which also means a river. 'Aaru' is a word that is usually used to rivers in the southern half of Kerala, while 'puzha's are northern rivers. The three rivers in this case are the Kothamangalam river, Kaliyar and Thodupuzha, which merge to form a single river.Thus it is called Thriveni Sangamam or Centre Point in Malayalam.
Old documents prove that the lands of Muvattupuzha belonged to ‘Edappally Swaroopam’. Later the rights were transformed to various ‘Manas’ (Brahmin Families). The ‘Perandoor’ Temple at Edappally is still considered as the root temple of many Nair families of Kadathy, Vellorkunnam and Vazhappilli.
Nearby towns are Kothamangalam, Thodupuzha, Koothattukulam and Perumbavoor. The majority make a living with agriculture and small scale industries.
After the Indian Independence, Muvattupuzha as a village union came under the control of a council of three members, nominated by the government. Mr. V P Govindan Nair was the first president of the village union. Haji A P Makkar and Penthitta Gopalan Pillai were the other two members of the council. This setup was short-lived. By 1953, Muvattupuzha was declared a Panchayat. Kunnappillil Varkey Vaidyan was the first president of the elected Panchayat Committee. Muvattupuzha was raised to the status of a Municipality in the year 1958. Mr N Parameshwaran Nair became the first Municipal Chairman. Muvattupuzha made history as the first Municipality where the Communist Party came to power by General Election.
Mr N P Varghese had the credit of getting elected as the first MLA from Muvattupuzha Assembly Constituency. Later, Mr K M George represented Muvattupuzha. The first MP of Muvattupuzha Lok Sabha Constituency was Mr George Thomas Kottukappillil. Of all the Municipal Chairmen of the town, Mr P P Esthose deserves special mention. He was simultaneously an MLA and the Municipal Chairman of Muvattupuzha. He got state-level recognition as the Chairman of Chamber of Chairmen. In its entire history, he is the only Communist member elected to the Parliament from the constituency.
Muvattupuzha was considered a much more famous and large town until upto 30 or 40 Years. But today the town is losing out in development and nearby towns like Thodupuzha, Kothamangalam and Perumbavoor have seen more development.
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