Changanacherry

Changanasserry is a municipal town in Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. Changanassery is connected to high-range and Kuttanad. Changanassery was the largest market in the princely state Travancore.GeographyChanganassery is located 18 km south of Kottayam on the Main Central road. With a population of about 50,000 in 2001, its population was already 36,000 as early as the 1951 census. The town is situated near the tripoint of Kottayam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts.HistoryThe first recorded history on the origin of Changanacherry is obtained from the Sangam period literature. According to Sangam era documents, Uthiyan Cheralathan (Perum Chorru Udiyan Cheralathan, Athan I, or Udiyanjeral - AD c. 130) is the first recorded Kera (Chera) dynasty ruler of the Sangam period in ancient South India. He had his capital at a place called "Kuzhumur" in Kuttanad and expanded the kingdom northward and eastward from his original homeland (meaning izham or illam in Tamil). His lifetime is broadly determined to be between first and third century AD. His queen was Veliyan Nalini, the daughter of Veliyan Venman. Present day Changanacherry and Kuttanad was the capital of the Kera (Chera) dynasty at that time until it was burnt down by Karikala Chola changing the name of Kuzhumur to Chutta-nadu (burnt-land) which became kuttanad. Similarly, "Keralathan" is the Malayalam pronunciation of Tamil "Cheralathan" and the world "Keralam" may be a derivative version of "Chera-izham" or "Kera-illam" meaning Chera-homeland in tamil). Keralathan's descendant was Senguttavan Cheran (Chenguttavan means "brave-hearted" in malayalam) the towns of Chenganacherri and Chengana is named after him). Sengana-cherri means Sengan's town in old tamil. After the chera dynasty defeat the word cherri took on the concurrent meaning of the land of the defeated and eventually was equated to mean a slum in Chola kingdom.