THE HISTORY OF MY LIVING PLACE

Dharmadam

റസ്മിന പി.കെ

My living place is dharmadam. It is a census town in thalassery taluk of kannur district in the state of kerala ,india. It is known for the 100 year old government brennen college and dharmadam island. Dharmadam is also known to famous andalloor kavu .the annual festival here draws thousands of devotees. Variety of theyyems are performed during the week long festin febrauery. During the week long fest in febrauery . During the festivae season the entire village follows vegeterian diet and offers rice flakes,jaggery and plaintains to  all guests. Indias premier circuss academy,circuss academy thalassery is also located at dharmadam .  There is a small railway station in dharmadam where only the local passenger trains stop.

Dharmadam was earlier known as dharmapattanom and was previosly a buddiest strong hold. The dharmadam island is located 100 meters away from the main land at dhrmadam . Geographicaly,dhrmadam is an island , en route thalassery and kannur .it is surrounded by the anjarakandy river on the three sides and by the arabian sea on the fourth side .the jews and the arabs have named dharmadam has dhafvattan in their records in 12 th century .the british named it dharmapatam and the portughese called it dharmapalam .the last perumal of kerela cheraman perumal left for arabia from poyanad province north of dharmadam .the relics of fort of perumals sisters p ravi nephew mahabali is seen in the vicinity of govt brennen college .mahabali was believed to have been converted to islam by malik bin dinar nd later became the first ali raja of arakkal kingdom .

Brennen college is the famous educationalm institution of dhrmadam  and also it is  one of the oldest educational institution in kerela affliated to kannur university .the brennen college evolved from a school  established by the english philanthropist edward brennen who had made thalassery his home . In dec 2004 the govt of kerele bestoyed the status of university of govt brennen college. Brennen college devoloped out of the free school established in 18862 by edward brennen a master attendent of telicherry port .

The brennen college campus is situated in dharmadam panchayath ob a hillock just 5kl north of thalassery town and 1kl away from kannur - thalassery national highway.

Shandhivanam is probably the only conserved pristint forest patch in college campus in kerela. The gren house beside the new p g block and the medicinal herbs garden in front of the administrative blocks also signify the eco friendly culture of the brennen college.

And other educational instiotutions in the dharmadam is kannur university thalassery campuis, palayad ,district institute of education training palayad ,govt higher secondary school, palayad, jeyee special school dharmadam ,rotary special school dhramadam .

Dharmadam village panchayath was established in 1950 it is one of the village panchayath in the district with strong communist base .\

The panchayath is located at a distance of 4 kl on the north west of thalassery town just adjecent to the thalasry muncipality . The national highways no.47 passes threw the panchayath.

The feeds among the british ,french and dutch for supermacy in trade is also set to have greatly influence in the village very much.easy accesibility and availability of condiments like peeper and cardamom in large scale in near by areas had been and attraction to the foreingers and hence a place of contentation for control and domination by different local kingdoms of kolathirir, arakkal and kottayam ,as well as by the british the places also linked to the famous pazhassiraja to the kottayam and tippusulthan of mysoor . The village has a railway station which is 5 and 15 kl away from kannur and thalassery respectivly .there is a industrial estate in village with about 39 small scale industries apart from a no. Of others small indusrial units such as the ice factory, printing press, macth box compony ,die making,milk products and production,textile industry etc.. Located in different parts of village .

The village has 5 public libraries and 9 reading rooms and is known for having the educational institutions starting from the level of lower kinder garden (lkg) to the level of university pg and  reserch department.

Though the total area of the panchayath is only 10.68 sq.kms. It encompasses all types of landscapes including hills and elevated plains, slopes,valleys,coastal plains and wet lands. The kerela state had distribution batch which has categorised the lands of kerala under 13 agricultural zones, has included dharmadam under the northern mid land zone and designated to the lands of this region has belonging to the kaippad lands .the rainy season lasts for 6 months starting from june. The winter is experienced in dec and jan while the summer is  for 4 months starting from feb and lasting till the month of may .

The average annual rain fall for the district is 2467 mm the major water resources for the village is rain water received threw the south west monsoon during thula varsham  sep, oct, nov.the maximum rain is received during idavapathy (first half of june).