Thodupuzha

The name

How the town got its name

The name joins two Malayalam words, thodu, a small stream, and puzha, a river, for the waterbody that grew into the river the town is built around. A second local reading takes it to mean a town that touches the river. Both point to the same thing: the place and its water are one idea.

History

History

1. By 1100 The older territory of Vempolinad divides into Vadakkumkur and Thekkumkur. Karikode becomes the capital of the Vadakkumkur rulers.
2. 17th century The Vadakkumkur kings rule from Karikode and build forts across the area. European interest in the region follows the pepper and spice trade of the high ranges.
3. 18th century Marthanda Varma brings Vadakkumkur into the Kingdom of Travancore.
4. 1972 Idukki district is formed on 26 January. Thodupuzha taluk moves across from Ernakulam district, and other taluks come from Kottayam.
5. 1978 Thodupuzha becomes a municipality. The first elected council follows in 1988, after a period under a special officer.

Work and trade

What the town does for a living

Thodupuzha is busier than a town of 52,000 usually is, because it serves a catchment several times its own size.

Four things overlap here. Produce from the surrounding hills moves through the town: rubber, pepper, coconut, cocoa, pineapple, banana, tapioca, ginger and turmeric. Retail and services run well ahead of what the municipal population alone would support, because people from the panchayats around come here to buy. Education, healthcare and government bring a daily population in on top of that, to the schools and colleges, the hospitals, the courts and the district offices. Underneath all of it sits a layer of small and medium businesses, concentrated in food processing, rubber, engineering and agricultural work.

There is no published figure for the town's own economic output, and any number offered as one is worth treating carefully. What these four layers explain is the thing residents notice first: the streets carry far more people than live here.

Getting here

Getting to Thodupuzha

Thodupuzha has no railway station. Everything arrives by road.

The nearest stations are Piravom Road, Ettumanoor, Kottayam, Aluva and Ernakulam, and which of them is most useful depends on where you are travelling from more than on distance alone. Cochin International Airport is about 55 to 60 km away.

Buses do most of the work. KSRTC and private services both run through the town, and the bus stand is where most people actually arrive. It is also why the junctions around the commercial centre get congested, and why a journey time here depends more on the state of the road than on the number of kilometres. Road distances to the towns around are listed further up this page.

• By road

  KSRTC and private buses both run through the town, and the bus stand is where most people arrive.

• By rail

  No station in Thodupuzha. Piravom Road, Ettumanoor, Kottayam, Aluva and Ernakulam are the usual options.

• By air

  Cochin International Airport is about 55 to 60 km away by road.

Setting it straight

Things people get wrong about Thodupuzha

A few claims about this town travel further than the facts behind them. These are the ones we see most often.

• Often saidThe population is three or four lakh

  ActuallyThat is the old taluk figure, which covered a large rural area around the town. Thodupuzha town itself recorded 52,045 people at the 2011 Census.

• Often saidThodupuzha is a hill station

  ActuallyIt sits at about 40 metres above sea level. It is a low range town at the foot of the ranges, which is exactly why it works as the way into them.

• Often saidThe sex ratio is 1,084 women per 1,000 men

  ActuallyThat is Kerala's state figure. Thodupuzha's own 2011 counts, 25,563 men and 26,482 women, give about 1,036.

• Often saidIlaveezhapoonchira is in Thodupuzha

  ActuallyIt is reached from here and almost always listed with Thodupuzha, but it lies inside Kottayam district, near Melukavu.

• Often saidIt is the fastest growing town in Kerala

  ActuallyRepeated in a lot of places. We could not find a statewide ranking that supports it, so we do not print it as a fact.

• Often saidThe population in 2026 is such and such

  ActuallyThe 2011 Census is the most recent complete count at town level. Anything newer is a projection, and should say so.

The guide

Find your way around Thodupuzha