History

The ancient history of Palakkad is shrouded in mystery. According to William Logan, the author of the Malabar Manual, the Pallava dynasty of Kanchi might have invaded Malabar in the second or third century AD. One of their headquarters was a place called ‘Palakada’ which could be the present-day Palakkad. Malabar had been invaded by many of the ancient South Indian rulers. For many centuries it was ruled by Perumals. They had under them some powerful ‘Utayavars’ who held authority in their respective territories. After the rule of Perumals, the country was divided among these chieftains. The Valluvakonathiri (ruler of Valluvanad), the rulers of Vengunad (Kollengodu Rajas) and Sekharivarma Rajas of Palakkad were the prominent rulers of this region after the Perumals.

When the Zamorin of Calicut invaded Palakkad in 1757, the Raja of Palakkad sought the help of Hyder Ali of Mysore. Hyder Ali’s help forced the Zamorin to retreat. Later, Hyder Ali subjugated all territories in Palakkad which were under the possession of Zamorin. Thus the whole area possessed by the Raja of Palghat passed into the hands of the Mysore rulers, Hyder Ali and his son Tippu. The war between Tippu and the East India Company ended with the treaty of 1872 and all the possessions of Tippu in Malabar were ceded to the British. Gradually these formed part of the Malabar district of the Madras presidency.

The present Palakkad district as an administrative unit was formed on the 1st of January 1957, consisting of the following taluks: Palakkad, Perinthalmanna, Ponnani, Ottapalam, Alathur and Chittur.

When the Malappuram district was formed on the 16th of June 1969, Ponnani taluk excluding Thrithala firka and the villages of Vadakkekad, Punnyur and Punnayurkulam and Perinthalmanna taluk consisting of Mankada firka and Perinthalmanna firka excluding Karkidamkunnu and Chethallor amsoms were transferred to Malappuram district. A new taluk namely Mannarghat was formed grouping 19 villages of the erstwhile Perinthalmanna taluk. While retaining the Thrithala firka with Ottapalam taluk, the villages of Vadakkekad, Punnyur and Punnyurkulam were brought under Chowghat taluk of Trichur district. The Paradur village of Tirur taluk was added to Ottapalam taluk. Recently some portions of Karavarakund village of Malappuram district were added to Palakkad.