Ottappalam

Ottapalam is a town in Ottapalam taluk, Palakkad district, Kerala, India.Chinakathoor Pooram, an event held every year at Chinakkathoor Temple in Palappuram near Ottapalam, is one of the famous festivals in Kerala.HistoryOttapalam was once part of the Valluvanad Swaroopam dynasty.Valluvanad was a late medieval feudal state in what is now the state of Kerala in South India. The state extended from the Bharathapuzha River in the south to the town of Pandalur in the north during its height in the early Middle Ages. In the west, it was bound by the Arabian Sea at the port Ponnani, while in the east its reach ended at the Attappadi Hills. According to local legends, the last Later Chera ruler gave a vast quantity of land in South Malabar to one of their governors, Valluvakkonithiri, before leaving on a hajj. Valluvakkonithiri was also given the last Later Chera ruler's shield, presumably to defend himself from the sword given to Samoothiri (Zamorin) of Kozhikode, another governor, as a gift from the departing ruler. The Vellatiri rajas were hereditary enemies of the Samoothiri.