Anchal is an urban town located in the centre of

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major La ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, India.

Etymology

There are several legends about the origin of the name Anchal. One legend is that there used to be an "Anchalappis" at the site of the present range office junction, from which the name "Anchal" originates. Another legend is how five disputes evolved in the region, leading to the name of the ''land of five disputes, proverbs or puzzles''.അഞ്ചല്‍ ഗ്രാമപഞ്ചായത്ത് (Anchal Grama Panchayat) » ചരിത്രം
. Lsgkerala.in Another myth is that the five

Banyan A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...

trees, or "''Aal",'' in the region are the origin of the name Anchal, a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''Anch,'' meaning five, and Aal, meaning Banyan tree.

Transport

The nearest railway stations are the Punalur Railway Station and the Kollam Junction Railway Station, located respectively 14 km and 38 km away. Kollam Junction is the second largest railway station in Kerala by area and is also one of the oldest. Punalur Railway Station is about 11 km from Anchal and currently connects to Kollam,

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

Kottayam Kottayam () is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the central business district of the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is the namesake of Ernakulam district. The eastern part of Kochi city is mainly known as Ernakulam, while the western part of it after the Venduruthy Bridge ...

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

, Nagarcoil, Kanyakumari,

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

and

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

. The nearest International Airport is Trivandrum International Airport, located 55 km from Anchal in the city of

. It is the main international airport in the state of Kerala and offers both national and international flights. Anchal is located between the National Highway 744 and the

Main Central Road Kerala's State Highway 1 or KL SH 1, also known as Main Central Road or MC Road, is the arterial state highway starting from Kesavadasapuram in Thiruvananthapuram and ends at Angamaly, a suburb of Greater Cochin in Ernakulam district, in the s ...

and Hilly highway is also passing through Anchal. The new bypass, a long-standing demand of the local people was thrown open for traffic from May 17, 2024. Multiple bus services also run between Anchal and other places in Kerala.

Demographics

In the 2011 Census of India, Anchal had a population of 33,098 of which 15,732 are male and 17,356 are female. The literacy rate is 95%, with 96.7% of males literate and 93.49% of females literate. The total employed population is 11,960. 71% of the population that are employed are male and 29% are female. Scheduled Caste members make up 9.04% of the population, while Scheduled Tribe members make up 0.25%.

Notable people

* Rajiv Anchal - a film director, screenwriter, and sculptor who works in Malayalam language cinema * B. Kemal Pasha - a retired judge of the high court of KeralaWebsite High Court of Kerala
/ref> * Resul Pookutty - Academy Award winning Sound Engineer

References

{{Kollam district Villages in Kollam district