Palakkad - പാലക്കാട്

Sri Villvadrinatha temple at Palakkaad and Sri Viswanathaswamy temple at kalathy. The three-day car festival at kalpathy in November attracts vast multitudes of devotees. Veda Parayan is conducted in surrounding villages during this period. In the heart of Palakkad town, there is a well preserved fort which dates back to 1766 AD. It was built by Hyder Ali of Mysore, supposedly to facilitate communication between Coimbatore and the west coast. In 1784, after a siege lasting eleven days, the British, led by Colonel Fullerton, stormed the fort. It later fell into the hands of the Zammorin's troops but was recaptured by the British in 1870.

The district of Palakkad known as the granary of Kerala, is a land of valleys, hillocks, rivers, forests, mountain streams, dams and irrigation projects. Situated at the foot of the Western Ghats, this is the gateway to Kerala from the north. Palakkad derives its name from the Malayalam words Pala ( Alsteria scholaris) and Kadu (forest) which goes to prove that this place was once a beautiful stretch of forests covered with the sweet scented flowers of the Pala tree.