Thrissur, Kerala
Once the port of Thrissur.
Still home.
The story of the old port of Thrissur — its people, its faiths, its schools and its everyday life — kept in one place for those who live here, those who left, and those who come next.
Photo: Gannu03 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
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History
The port, the Tharakans, the churches and temples, the struggles — in ten short chapters.
Places of Worship
St. Thomas Church and its chapels, the Lalur temples, the convents and ashrams.
People
From Sakthan Thampuran and the Tharakans to John Mathai, the saints and the teachers.
Community
Clubs, organisations, the arts — and the kol wetlands that still surround us.
Business Directory
Bakeries, shops and services. Listing is free — tell us about yours.
Gallery
Old maps, council records and photographs of Aranattukara.
From the story · Chapter 2
The Port of Thrissivaperur
Before the railway, Thrissur's goods left by water from the landing at Aranattukara. Sakthan Thampuran's warehouses, the toll posts and the slow decline of an inland port.
Read moreThen & now
Drag the slider. John Gould's 1816 plan shows buildings marked “Aranaat” where the backwaters met the town — the warehouse settlement of Sakthan Thampuran's time. The photograph of the same spot today is still to come.
Timeline
- 1790Sakthan Thampuran becomes ruler of Cochin and makes Thrissur his capital.
- 1796Aranattukara's first church, of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is consecrated on land given by Sakthan Thampuran's decree.
- 1805Death of Sakthan Thampuran.
- 1819A traveller, B.S. Ward, sets out by boat from Aranattukara at 8 a.m. and reaches Kochi that night.
- 1858Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara founds the Carmelite monastery at Elthuruth, with the backing of Aranattukara parish.
- 1886Birth of John Mathai, economist and later India's first Railway Minister, who made his home at Lalur.
- 1886English is first taught at the Valiyangadi writing school, the seed of Aranattukara's schools.
- 1887Pope Leo XIII creates the Vicariate of Thrissur; Adolph Medlycott, its first Vicar Apostolic, first lives at Elthuruth.
- 1896St. Sebastian's (West) Church is completed; the parish is split in two.
- 1902The Shoranur–Cochin railway reaches Thrissur; trade begins to leave the waterways.
- 1907St. John's School opens in a new building raised at Antony Tharakan's initiative.
- 1911Pope Pius X makes Antony Tharakan a papal knight — the first such honour in the Thrissur diocese.
- 1922A new English school opens with classes 1–3 and free admission: the beginning of Tharakans School.
- 1936The electricity agitation against handing Thrissur's power supply to private companies.
- 1941At the height of the parish dispute, the Bishop of Thrissur is kept out of the East Church; a disputed wedding goes ahead under court order.
- 1947The Holy Family sisters open a convent at Padinjare Angadi to start high-school classes for girls.
- 1947Indian independence. John Mathai joins Nehru's first cabinet as Railway Minister.
- 1950Infant Jesus Girls' High School becomes a separate school under the convent.
- 1954The Capuchins come to Thrissur district and found Calvary Ashram at Poothole.
- 1956The state of Kerala is formed.
- 1959Death of John Mathai, honoured the same year with the Padma Vibhushan.
- 1964By Bishop George Alappatt's decree, the two Aranattukara parishes are reunited.
- 1973The new St. Thomas Church, built after the reunion, is blessed and dedicated.
- 1976The University of Calicut's Department of Economics opens at the Dr John Matthai Centre, Lalur.
- 1977The School of Drama begins at the Dr John Matthai Centre, with G. Sankara Pillai as its first director.
- 1985The Lalur waste problem first reaches the High Court, which orders the dump to be covered with earth.
- 2000Thrissur becomes a city corporation; Jose Kattukkaran of Aranattukara is its first Mayor.
- 2000The environmental group PLANT is founded in Aranattukara on World Environment Day.
- 2014Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Euphrasia, whose mother came from Aranattukara, are declared saints in Rome.
- 2015The renovated St. Thomas Church, with its new Gothic-style front, is blessed by Mar Andrews Thazhath.
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