1.
Kerala
–
Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land
2.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
3.
Lake
–
A lake is an area of variable size filled with water, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, and therefore are distinct from lagoons, Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams, natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, in some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them. The word lake comes from Middle English lake, from Old English lacu, from Proto-Germanic *lakō, cognates include Dutch laak, Middle Low German lāke as in, de, Moorlake, de, Wolfslake, de, Butterlake, German Lache, and Icelandic lækur. Also related are the English words leak and leach, none of these definitions completely excludes ponds and all are difficult to measure. For this reason, simple size-based definitions are used to separate ponds. One definition of lake is a body of water of 2 hectares or more in area, however, others have defined lakes as waterbodies of 5 hectares and above, or 8 hectares and above. Charles Elton, one of the founders of ecology, regarded lakes as waterbodies of 40 hectares or more. The term lake is used to describe a feature such as Lake Eyre. In common usage, many bear names ending with the word pond. One textbook illustrates this point with the following, In Newfoundland, for example, almost every lake is called a pond, whereas in Wisconsin, the majority of lakes on Earth are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes. Canada, with a drainage system has an estimated 31,752 lakes larger than 3 square kilometres and an unknown total number of lakes. Finland has 187,888 lakes 500 square metres or larger, most lakes have at least one natural outflow in the form of a river or stream, which maintain a lakes average level by allowing the drainage of excess water. Some lakes do not have an outflow and lose water solely by evaporation or underground seepage or both. Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for power generation, aesthetic purposes, recreational purposes, industrial use. Globally, lakes are greatly outnumbered by ponds, of an estimated 304 million standing water bodies worldwide, 91% are 1 hectare or less in area
4.
South India
–
The region occupies 19. 31% of Indias land area. Covering the southern part of the peninsular Deccan Plateau, South India is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse, with two ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari River, Krishna River, Kaveri, Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers are important non-perennial sources of water, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Coimbatore and Kochi are the largest urban areas. Majority of the people in South India speak one of the four major Dravidian languages, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. During its history, a number of kingdoms ruled over parts of South India whose invasions across southern and southeastern Asia impacted the history. Major dynasties that were established in South India include the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, european countries entered India through Kerala and the region was colonised by Britain and other nations. HDI in the states is high and the economy has undergone growth at a faster rate than most northern states. Literacy rates in the states are higher than the national average with approximately 80% of the population capable of reading and writing. The fertility rate in South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India, South India also known as Peninsular India has been known by several other names. Carnatic derived from Karnād or Karunād meaning high country has also associated with South India. Carbon dating on ash mounds associated with Neolithic cultures in South India date back to 8000 BCE, artefacts such as ground stone axes, and minor copper objects have been found in the region. Towards the beginning of 1000 BCE, iron technology spread through the region, however, the region was in the middle of a trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu linking the Mediterranean and East Asia. Trade with Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Syrians, Jews, the region was part of the ancient Silk Road connecting the Asian continent in the East and the West. C. to 14th century A. D. The Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 14th century A. D. was the last Indian dynasty that ruled over the region. The Europeans arrived in the 15th century and by the middle of the 18th century, the French, the British Empire took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. During the British colonial rule, the region was divided into the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad state, Mysore, Travancore, Kochi, Vizianagaram and a number of other minor princely states. After the independence of India in 1947, the region was organised into four states, Madras State, Mysore State, Hyderabad State and Travancore-Cochin
5.
Kalpetta
–
Kalpetta is a town and a municipality in the Wayanad district, state of Kerala, India. Kalpetta is the headquarters of Wayanad district as well as the headquarters of Vythiri taluk and it is a bustling town surrounded by dense coffee and tea plantations and mountains. It lies on the Kozhikode-Mysore National Highway NH766 at an altitude of about 780 m above sea level, Kalpetta is 72 km from Kozhikode and 140 km from Mysore. There is a number of hotels and resorts within and surrounding Kalpetta town. It is believed that the early Jain residents who migrated from Karnataka have named the place Kalpetta, in Kannada, the words Kal and Pettah means deposits of stones. Rocks -large and small- are found throughout the landscape of Kalpetta, Kalpetta was under the rule of Western Ganga dynasty until AD930. Through ages this region fell into the rule of Hoysala Empire, Vijayanagara Empire, Pazhassi Raja was the next to rule the region. Kalpetta Nair administered the place as the representative for Pazhassi Raja, mysorean invasion of Kerala made Kalpetta a part of Tipu Sultans empire. This continued until the demise of Tipu Sultan, along with the rest of Malabar, Kalpetta also came under British rule after Tipu Sultans demise. In Wayanad, the Indian independence movement started first at Kalpetta, the first political conference was held in 1921 under the leadership of Dharmaraja Iyer. K. P. Kesava Menon and A. K. Gopalan participated in this meeting, formation of the committee of Indian National Congress also occurred around the same time. Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi visited Kalpetta on 1934 January 14, Kalpetta became the headquarters when Wayanad district was formed on 1 November 1980. Kalpetta was still a Village Panchayath when it became district headquarters, as of 2011 India census, Kalpetta had a population of 31,580. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%, in Kalpetta, 11% of the population is under the age of 6. Being the district headquarters, Kalpetta is home to a number of government offices. Besides, the district offices of Media Houses, Political Parties etc. also function out of Kalpetta. Hence a large section of the population of Kalpetta are office-goers, like elsewhere in Kerala, Hindus, Muslims and Christians live in harmony in Kalpetta. There is a significant Jain population also in Kalpetta, Kalpetta has very good road connectivity with the rest of Kerala and neighboring South Indian cities
6.
Panamaram
–
Panamaram is a village in Wayanad district in the state of Kerala, India. The proposed 100-hectare site for new feeder airport in the Wayanad district is at Cheekkalloor in Panamaram, as of 2001 India census, Panamaram had a population of 11651 with 5891 males and 5760 females. Panamaram River is a tributary of the Kabani River along with Mananthavady, Babali, Noolpuzha, Kabani and its tributaries play a key role in the enhancement of the landscapes of Wayanad District. About 6 km north of Panamaram, the Kabini takes birth, the Kabini is, perhaps, the most feminine of Kerala rivers. The flow of life on its banks is incredibly peaceful and dream-like, the confluence of these rivers is Kabani River and it after entering the state of Karnataka merges with the Kaveri River. Panamaram has great significance in the history of Indian freedom struggle as it witnessed one of the first freedom struggle in South India. On October 11,1802 Pazhassi Rajas followers like Thalakkal Chanthu, commanding officer Capt. Dickinson and Lt. Maxwell were killed in action along with 25 soldiers. And this victory brought a new vigor to the resistance movement, according to the annual heronry count of the Malabar Natural History Society, the Panamaram Heronry is the largest heronry in Malabar in terms of number and diversity of birds breeding there. It is an island in the river Kabani, an elevated sand bank. Government has issued orders to take apt measures to conserve the Panamaram Heronry, the massive destruction of bamboo groves on the heronry and unbridled sand mining are the two vital issues the heronry is facing. It has been observed that, many birds of the origin also migrate to Panamaram during the nestling season. The cattle egret was also observed breeding here in 2010, the breeding of the bird is reported in the state after 62 years, other main species are little egret, Ardeola, night heron, intermediate egret, purple heron, and black-headed ibis. Panamaram town comes in the middle of Wayanad district. It can be accessed from Mananthavady or Kalpetta, the Periya ghat road connects Mananthavady to Kannur and Thalassery. The Thamarassery mountain road connects Calicut with Kalpetta, the Kuttiady mountain road connects Vatakara with Kalpetta and Mananthavady. The Palchuram mountain road connects Kannur and Iritty with Mananthavady, the road from Nilambur to Ooty is also connected to Wayanad through the village of Meppadi. The nearest railway station is at Mysore and the nearest airports are Kozhikode International Airport-120 km, Bengaluru International Airport-290 km, Mananthavady Thondernad Vellamunda Nalloornad Payyampally Thavinjal Vimalanager Anjukunnu Tharuvana Kallody Oorpally Valat Thrissilery
7.
Nymphaeaceae
–
Nymphaeaceae /ˌnɪmfiːˈeɪsiː/ is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world, the family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves, the leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale. Genera with more parts, Nuphar, Nymphaea, Victoria, have a beetle pollination syndrome, while genera with fewer parts are pollinated by flies or bees. Thus, the number of relatively unspecialized floral organs in the Nymphaeaceae is not an ancestral condition for the clade. Water lilies do not have leaves in the winter time. The leftover of internal pressure is embodied by the constant streams of bubbles that outbreak when rising leaves are ruptured in the spring. Methane is still penetrating the roots and rhizome in the summer, moving fast up the petioles, the Nymphaeaceae are aquatic, rhizomatous herbs. The family is characterized by scattered vascular bundles in the stems. Hairs are simple, usually producing mucilage, stipules are either present or absent. Flowers are solitary, bisexual, radial, with a pedicel and usually floating or raised above the surface of the water. Sepals are 4-12, distinct to connate, imbricate, and often petal-like, petals lacks or 8 to numerous, inconspicuous to showy, often intergrading with stamens. Stamens are 3 to numerous, the innermost sometimes represented by staminodes, carpels are 3 to numerous, distinct or connate. Fruit is an aggregate of nuts, a berry, or an irregularly dehiscent fleshy capsule, seeds are often arillate, more or less lacking sperm. Nymphaeaceae has been investigated systematically for decades because botanists considered their floral morphology to represent one of the earliest groups of angiosperms, modern genetic analyses by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group researchers has confirmed its basal position among flowering plants. In addition, the Nymphaeaceae are more diverse and geographically dispersed than other basal angiosperms. Nymphaeaceae is placed in the order Nymphaeales, which is the second diverging group of angiosperms after Amborella in the most widely accepted flowering plant classification system, Nymphaeaceae is a small family of three to six genera, Barclaya, Euryale, Nuphar, Nymphaea, Ondinea, and Victoria. The genus Barclaya is sometimes given rank as its own family, Barclayaceae, on the basis of a perianth tube arising from the top of the ovary
8.
Kozhikode
–
Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, is a city in the state of Kerala in southern India on the Malabar Coast. Kozhikode is the largest urban area in the state and 195th largest urban area in the world, the city lies about 275 km west of Bangalore. On 7 June 2012, Kozhikode was given the tag of City of Sculptures because of the architectural sculptures located in parts of the city. According to data compiled by research firm Indicus Analytics on residences, earnings and investments. It was ranked eleventh among Tier-II Indian cities in job creation by a study conducted by ASSOCHAM in 2007, Kozhikode city continues to be a centre of flourishing domestic and international trade. Its contribution to all development of the district in trade, commerce. While the city has known in history under different names. Kozhikode is thought to be derived from Koyilkota, which meant fortified palace, Koyilkota evolved into Koliykode and Kalikat, the latter which was anglicised into Calicut. Koyilkode evolved into present day Kozhikode, Arab merchants called it قَالِقُوط Qāliqūṭ. Tamils called it Kallikkottai while for the Chinese it was Kalifo, in Kannada it was known as Kallikote. Although the citys name is Kozhikode, in English it is sometimes known by its anglicised version. The word calico, a variety of hand-woven cotton cloth that was exported from the port of Kozhikode, is thought to have been derived from Calicut. It is the capital of Kerala as the history dates back to 1498 AD when Vasco da Gama landed in Kappad. Kozhikode is a town with a recorded history. From time immemorial, the city has attracted travellers with its prosperity and it has traded in spices like black pepper and cardamom with Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, and Chinese for more than 500 years. During classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikode was dubbed the City of Spices for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. It was the capital of an independent kingdom ruled by the Samoothiris in the Middle Ages and later of the erstwhile Malabar District under British rule. Arab merchants traded with the region as early as 7th century, a Portuguese factory and fort was intact in Kozhikode for short period, the English landed in 1615, followed by the French and the Dutch
9.
Kingfisher
–
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. The group is treated either as a family, the Alcedinidae. Roughly 90 species of kingfishers are described, all have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with few differences between the sexes, most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a range of prey, as well as fish. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, most species live away from water, like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A quarter of all kingfishers nest in abandoned termite nests, a few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction. In Britain, the word normally refers to the common kingfisher. The family Alcedinidae was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815, the taxonomy of the three families is complex and rather controversial. Although commonly assigned to the order Coraciiformes, from this level down confusion sets in and that move was supported by chromosome and DNA–DNA hybridisation studies, but challenged on the grounds that all three groups are monophyletic with respect to the other Coraciiformes. This leads to them being grouped as the suborder Alcedines, the tree kingfishers have been previously given the familial name Dacelonidae, but Halcyonidae has priority. The centre of diversity is the Australasian region, but the group is not thought to have originated there. Instead, they evolved in the Northern Hemisphere and invaded the Australasian region a number of times, fossil kingfishers have been described from Lower Eocene rocks in Wyoming and Middle Eocene rocks in Germany, around 30–40 million years ago. More recent fossil kingfishers have been described in the Miocene rocks of Australia, amongst the three families, the Alcedinidae are basal to the other two families. The few species found in the Americas, all from the family Cerylidae, the family is a comparatively recent split from the Halcyonidae, diversifying in the Old World as recently as the Miocene or Pliocene. The smallest species of kingfisher is the African dwarf kingfisher, which averages 10.4 g in weight and 10 cm in length, the largest overall is the giant kingfisher, at an average of 355 g and 45 cm. However, the familiar Australian kingfisher known as the laughing kookaburra may be the heaviest species, the plumage of most kingfishers is bright, with green and blue being the most common colours
10.
Nelumbo nucifera
–
Nelumbo nucifera, also known as Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, Egyptian bean or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. The Linnaean binomial Nelumbo nucifera is the currently recognized name for this species and this plant is an aquatic perennial. Native to Tropical Asia, and Queensland, Australia, it is cultivated in water gardens. It is also the flower of India, and Vietnam. The lotus is often confused with the water lilies, in fact, several older systems, such as the Bentham & Hooker system call the lotus Nymphaea nelumbo or Nymphaea stellata. Far from being in the family, Nymphaea and Nelumbo are members of different orders. The roots of lotus are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, the flowers are usually found on thick stems rising several centimeters above the leaves. The plant normally grows up to a height of about 150 cm and a spread of up to 3 meters. The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, researchers report that the lotus has the remarkable ability to regulate the temperature of its flowers to within a narrow range just as humans and other warmblooded animals do. Dr. Roger S. Seymour and Dr and they suspect the flowers may be doing this to attract coldblooded insect pollinators. The study, published in the journal Nature, is the latest discovery in the field of thermoregulation, heat-producing, two other species known to be able to regulate their temperature include Symplocarpus foetidus and Philodendron selloum. An individual lotus can live for over a thousand years and has the ability to revive into activity after stasis. In 1994, a seed from a lotus, dated at roughly 1,300 years old ±270 years, was successfully germinated. As mentioned earlier, the traditional Sacred Lotus is only related to Nymphaea caerulea. Both Nymphaea caerulea and Nelumbo nucifera contain the alkaloids nuciferine and aporphine, the genome of the sacred lotus was sequenced in May 2013. The distinctive dried seed heads, which resemble the spouts of watering cans, are sold throughout the world for decorative purposes. The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and roots are all edible, in Asia, the petals are sometimes used for garnish, while the large leaves are used as a wrap for food, not frequently eaten. In Korea, the leaves and petals are used as a tisane, yeonkkotcha is made with dried petals of white lotus and yeonipcha is made with the leaves
.JPG)
