Rotary Club Of Payyanur

Rotary Club of Payyanur started in 1985 with twenty members. The charter was presented on 11-03-1985 (Charter No.23515) by then Dist. Governor Rtn.P.N.Gopal. Adv.K.S.Umamaheswara Iyer was the Charter President.

PDG.Dr.K.P.Ganesan of Mangalore inaugurated the Rotary Club of Payyanur, which was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Nileswar, on 15th October 1985. During the formation period, the Cub had resources crunch and could not afford a rented office for weekly meetings. Therefore our charter member Rtn.Dr.U.V.Shenoy graciously arranged a part of his clinic building for our weekly meetings, and took up the responsibility of looking after the affairs of our Club. The Club owns much of its development to the efforts made by Dr.U.V.Shenoy and the Club Charter Members. The Club functioned at his clinic for about 4 years and then moved over to the rented building and finally to Club's own building.

About Payyanur

Payyanur is situated in the Kannur district of Kerala. Sprawling in the valley of the lofty Ezhimala Hills, Payyanur has a distinguished place in the history and culture of the country. The place derives its name from the renowned Sri Subramanya Swami Temple located here. 'Payyan' is an appellation of Lord Subramanya and Ooru' means the place. Thus Payyanur means the land of Lord Subramanya. Payyanur is also well known for Pavithra Mothiram, Astrology, art forms like Theyyam and Poorakkali.

Glorious History of Payyanur

Payyanur is one of the ancient civilized places in Kerala. This north end town of Kerala claims a rich and glorious heritage . The archeological remaining excavated from Payyanur and nearby places proves the existence of a civilized city in this area centuries ago. Famous travellers, who visited here, have described about this area in high words. The famous traveller Ibn Bathutha visited Ezhimala in AD 1342 and wrote about the big seaport and the Chinese ships anchored here. 1n AD 1273 Abul Fida and in AD 1293 the world famous traveller Marco Polo, and in 15th century the Italian traveller Nicholo Kondi also visited this place and had given a very good impression about Ezhimala port which was called by the name "Heli". The Portuguese Scholar and traveller Barbosa who made lot of researches and studies on Kerala and its People had described a lot about this place.

Ezhimala Kingdom

Centuries back Payyanur was a part of the Ezhimala Rajya. King Nandan who ruled this Ezhimala Rajya was very famous and mighty. The books written during Sang Time describe about this country and this king with much importance. Later Ezhimala became under the regime of the Chera Dynasty and thereafter the Mooshaka Dynasty. Ramanthali was the headquarters of the Mooshaka Dynasty.

Brahmin Settlement

Payyanur is the northernmost of the traditional Brahman settlements of Kerala. When Brahmins took over the control of the society of Kerala, they formed 64 "manigramas "(villages) and Payyanur was one among them. Later for the administrative convenience they grouped these 64 villages into four "kazhakas". Of course, Payyanur was again one among them (Perinchelloor, Parappoor and Chengannur being the other three). Sree Subramanya Swami Temple was the temple of the Payyanur kazhakam. It is observed that the customs of the Brahmins of Payyanur is entirely different from that of the Brahmins of other parts of Kerala. The main peculiarity is of the Brahmans of this village is that they follow matrilineal. During the regime of the Kolathiri Dynasty Payyanur was a part of Kolathu Nadu ruled by the Kolathiri Rajas based in Chirakkal near Kannur. During the British Rule, Payyanur was considered as a "farka" which in term is a part of the Chirakkal Taluk. Till the formation of the Kerala State in 1957 Payyanur remained in the Malabar District of the Madras State. The famous scholar and author Dr. Herman Gundert, William Logan, the Malabar District collector during the British Rule who wrote Malabar Manual also visited Payyanur and did a lot of studies on the rich heritage of Payyanur.

Evolution of Payyanur Town

During the past the city centre was Kachil Patanam (present Kavvayi) was the main town because of the waterways through Kavvayi River and its big Seaport. It was the administrative as well as business centre during that time. According to historians ships from China and other countries used to visit this port and anchored in the nearby river Changoorichal. Kavvayi retained its position even during the rule of British East India Company also. They established the first Magistrate court and Registrar's Office in Kavvayi only. Later Kokkanisseri became the city centre. The main road, which starts from Perumba, divided the town into two. The south of this road was called Payyanur village and the north Kokkanisseri village. The business centre was called Kokkanisseri Bazaar. Later the name Payyanur became common and thus the developed city of today came into existence.