Kumily Kerala

Kumily is a beautiful town in Kerala nearby Thekkady and Periyar Tiger Reserve. It is a popular tourist destination and lies in the National Highway 183 that connects Kottayam through Mundakayam and Kanjirappally. This place offers an easy access for many Kerala bound merchants and laborers. The two revenue villages of Periyar and Kumily constitute Kumily panchayat, which lies at the junction between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

History

Earlier Kumily was known as Kuzhumoor, used to be the capital of Thekkumkoor Kings. In the 18th century Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeated the Thekkumkoor Rajas. After India's independence, Travancore merged with Cochin to form Travancore-Cochin which again, sometime later, joined with Malabar district of Madras state to form Kerala.

When the Britishers came to the city they made extreme changes in term of cultivation and working conditions. They made forest land used for plantation of tea, coffee, ginger, cardamom and other spices. So like this people were bought to work in Kerala.

In 1920's different stories were made when large number of Malayalis arrive to this place. According to them one of the Malayali settler bought land from certain Ankur Rawther, a shepherd who lived in this area in the 19th century. Rawther is supposed to help the king of Travancore and his followers find their way out of the forest when they got lost while hunting in the particular rural area. In reward for this the king gave him acres of forest land.