Kizhakkekallada

Kizhakkekallada is a village in Kollam district in the state of Kerala, India. East Kallada or popularly known as Kizhakkekallada is a village located about 20 km north-east of Kollam city.LocationEast Kallada is bounded by Kallada River in the west and north and Ashtamudi backwater in the south.HistoryIt is believed that the old port 'Nelkynda' mentioned by Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is Kallada or its nearby place. Periplus describes:... Nelcynda is distant from Muziris by river and sea about five hundred stadia, and is of another Kingdom, the Pandian. This place also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the sea..Travancore kingdomEast Kallada is also a part of Travancore history. In 1730 Unni Keralavarma of Desinganadu invaded East Kallada, that was part of Venad at that time. Marthanda Varma immediately attacked Desinganad and added East Kallada to Venad. Thus He started the expansion of Travancore and later invaded lot of small countries from north.Buddhist cultureIt is believed that centuries ago this village was a flourishing center of a Buddhist culture. The customs and architecture of old temples in this area support the fact that they could possibly have been buddhist vihars in their initial days. Eduppukuthira ( Huge chariots associated with the festival of Sree durga devi temple ) itself has got strong association with buddhist customs and practices.The strong presence of Ezhava community in this area is a strong evidence supporting the existence of buddhism. A Buddha statue which is 3 feet long and made of marble was excavated more by accident in 1978 from near the Siva temple Sinkarapalli(The "palli" suffix, which was common usage in Pali, the language of Theravada Buddhism). Later in 1984 the same statue was placed at Siva temple, Koduvila. But unfortunately it had been stolen.