Valanchery

Valanchery is a major municipal town in Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is situated about southeast to Karipur International Airport and southwards to the district headquarters, and forms a part of Malappuram metropolitan area. It is also one of the major commercial towns under the Malappuram urban agglomeration.National Highway 66, from to Panvel to Kanyakumari, passes through valancheryMunicipality. Valanchery, which was a part of the erstwhile princely state of the Valluvanad in the early medieval period, had been under the direct control of the Zamorin of Calicut following the Tirunavaya war of 14th century CE. During British Raj, Valanchery was included in the Ponnani Taluk of erstwhile Malabar District.

==History== ===Early medieval period=== Valanchery was originally part of the Valluvanad Swaroopam dynasty in the early medieval period (12th century CE). Valluvanad was an erstwhile princely state in the present state of Kerala, that extended from the Bharathappuzha river in the South to the Panthaloor Mala in the North. On the west, it was bounded by the Arabian Sea at Ponnani and on the east by the Attappadi Hills during their zenith in the early Middle Ages. The capital of erstwhile Valluvanad was at the present-day town of Angadipuram. According to local legends, the last Cheraman Perumal ruler gave a vast extension of land in South Malabar during his journey to Mecca to one of their governors, Valluvakonathiri, and left for pilgrimage. Valluvanad was famous for the Mamankam festivals, held once in 12 years and the endless wars against the Samoothiri of Kozhikode.