Pallassana is a village and gram panchayat in the Palakkad District, state of

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. It is close to Kollengode Town and

Koduvayur Koduvayur may refer to: * Koduvayur-II, a village in Palakkad district, Kerala, India * Koduvayur (gram panchayat), a gram panchayat in Palakkad district {{Disambiguation ...

and beside the river

Gayatri Gayatri (Sanskrit: गायत्री, IAST: Gāyatrī) is the personified form of the Gayatri Mantra, a popular hymn from Vedic texts. She is also known as Savitri, and holds the title of ''Vedamata'' ('mother of the Vedas'). Gayatri is the ...

, one of the tributaries of Bharatapuza. It is primarily notable for being the location of the Meenkulathi Temple. Pallassana is a known hub of artists of various folklore like Kanyarkali and Porattukali etc. Late Dwaraka Krishnan Kongassery Asaan and his contemporaries are remembered worldwide for their talented dedication to the art form. Pallassana is also famous for having percussion artists (Chenda). There are genius talents like Late Padmanabha Marar, Late Kalamandalam Chandra Mannadiar and many next generation artists.

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Pallassena had a population of 23,729 with 11,785 males and 11,944 females. Whereas SC population is 5,34

Onathallu Ritual

Onathallu Onathallu, also known as Kayyāmkali or Avittathallu is an Indian martial dance and a semi-contact combat sport performed in Kerala during the festival of Onam. In some places, it takes the form of non-stop fighting, while in some other places, ...

or Avittathallu is a

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

celebrated by the natives of Pallassana Desham in the Chittur Thaluk in

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 ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, in the

southernmost The most southerly geographical features of various types are listed here. Cities and settlements Geography Islands The southernmost point of Berkner Island is further south than any of these, but its bedrock lies entirely below sea l ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The festival is a

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

followed by the natives of the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in commemoration of the numerous

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

s they led and fought as part of the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

of the

Kolathiris Kolattunādu () (Kola Swarupam, as Kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along w ...

. The name Pallassana refers to the fact that the group historically constituted the Pallava Sena or the Pallava Army, which eventually morphed into Pallassana or Pallasena, as it is known today. The tradition involves an enactment or warlike performances by men of the Nair

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

at the Vettakaruman Devaswom temple premises. and OBC community perform in thallumannam. The key component of the performance involves men pairing up and, under the guidance and supervision of elders in the community, enacting physical combat, war cries and battle-like behaviour. This is seen as a vazhivaadu by the men involved, and is a highly revered and attended festival during the Avittam nakshatra of

Onam Onam () is an annual harvest and Hindus, Hindu cultural festival celebrated mostly by the people of Kerala. A major annual event for Malayalis, Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events. H ...

in puthankavu and thiruvonam nakshatra of Onam in thallumannam.

References

Villages in Palakkad district Gram panchayats in Palakkad district {{Palakkad-geo-stub