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TOURISM POTENTIAL OF MALAPPURAM DISTRICT, KERALA

INTRODUCTION

Malappuram is one of the 14 districts of Kerala, a state which is otherwise known as 'God's own Country'. There are numerous schemes to promote tourism in the state recently. Infact the name of Kerala has popped up in the lists of most tourist attractive states of India with Kochi and Trivandrum seeing the most number of national and international tourists. Malappuram is the most populous district of Kerala and a Muslim majority district. It's population might be a hindrance to tourism activities but that same criteria could be used to combat the lack of tourism initiatives in the district. Being very less industrialized than neighbor Palakkad, with people here moving away from agriculture have depended upon gulf countries to be the major source of income. Infact the local folks consider a job in gulf to be a qualification along with engineering or MBBS. But due to the recent Exodus of gulf expatriates coming back to Kerala due to stricter norms and higher qualifications needed for jobs in gulf countries in such a scenario it is highly advantageous to make use of the tourist potential of this district so that these families who had lost their livelihoods due to loss of jobs in gulf could find new ways to support themselves through the developing tourist sector of the state. However it is to be taken into deep consideration that if the tourism is not used wisely a boon can also became an irreversible bane hence district tourism should inculcate environmental ideas related to green concepts, eco-tourism, conservation, protection, reservation et cetera LOCAL HISTORY AND CULTURE: A BRIEF EXCERPT

Malappuram's history is remarkable and it has significant links to ancient, medieval and modern histories of India and the World. Let's start with the reason for the district's different demographics compared to other districts of India. The Islamic expeditions that was sent from Arabia to all the parts of the world to propagate the religion of Islam. According to local legends, during Prophet Muhammed's period a king named Cheraman Perumal ruled over Kerala. Once he saw the splitting of moon one night and decided to go on an expedition to find out the source of it. He reached Arabia and met prophet after which he accepted Islam and started his journey back to Kerala but on his way he died. To this day a masjid named after him stands at Kodungallur in Thrissur district. This is one of the first accounts of connections with Islam. Later, during many islamic expeditions to various parts of the world, one expedition under a person named Malik reached Kerala and propagated Islam. While Islam was popularised by a different expedition in North India. Later during Mughal Era to firmly grip their power the mughal dynasty kings introduced 'Urdu' a language with arabic script and Hindi way of talking. This the muslims took as their own language in the Indian Sub continent but as Mughals were not so successful in their venture to south India their culture failed to make an impact as deep as northern India. As a result, the muslims of Kerala doesn't heed importance to urdu but rather they study Arabic directly and interpret Islam. This difference has paved way to an entire spectrum of cultural difference between muslims of Kerala and North. Muslims of kerala are more deeply integrated into kerala society as muslims here doesnot heed much importance to Urdu. They learn malayalam from their mother's tongue and realize themselves as a malayali before being identifying themselves as a muslim. In the modern day context there is no better way to understand the hospitality and rural lifestyle of malappuram mappilas (muslim caste name) than the malayalam film 'SUDANI FROM NIGERIA'.

Malappuram belongs to North Kerala which was known as Malabar before the Independence. After Independence, the malayalam speaking north malabar and south travancore was joined together to form the state of Kerala. As a result the culture of Malabar has it's differences from Travancore. People here are well educated compared to India but less educated compared other parts of Kerala. The local folklores related to Jinn and other ghost like beings still find admirers in Malapppuram as a result the there are local muslim black magicians making use of the superstitions.

TOURIST DESTINATIONS The tourist destinations of Malappuram can be classified based on the geography of the district

COASTAL

PONNANI, MUNAMBAM, EDAKAZHIYUR, PARAPPANANGADI, THIRURANGADI, THIRUR, TANUR, KADALUNDI