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kodungallur Port

Latitude. 10˚ 11’ N
longitude. 76˚ 10’ E

Kodungallur is a town and a municipality in the Thrissur district and was known in ancient times as Mahodayapuram, Shinkli, Muchiri, Muziris and Muyirikkodu. Muchiripattinam was a famous and prosperous seaport at the mouth of the Periyar river. It is located about 38 km from the present city of Kochi. The name Muchiri denotes the three branches of the Periyar river which open into the Arabian Sea at the town.

The ancient sea port town Kodungallur, once called as Cragnore is one of the few places in Kerala with a rich and illustrious past. The place can be called as the cradle of religion, commerce and art in Kerala. This is the place where fiction intermingles with fact. Recorded history shows it as a maritime port having international consideration because of its strategic location at the confluence of Periyar River and Arabian sea. This Indo-Roman port is mentioned in almost every ancient South Indian Scripts. The glory of Kodungallur is also mentioned in some overseas travelogues too. These scripts describe this harbour to be crowded with huge cargo ships, warehouses, temples etc. The traders mention Kodungallur in a lot of names. Muchiri, Makotai, Mahodayapuram, Mahodayapattanam, Muyirikkode etc are some, but the most popular name is the one called by Roman and Greek Traders, Muziris.

To the Greeks and Romans, this place was known as Muziris. There are clear descriptions about the Greek ships coming to Muziris carrying Gold and going from Muziris carrying Black Gold (Pepper). It is believed that the port was completely demolished in 1341 AD because of the Periyar River flood. The flood caused an aberration in the direction of the river flow and the river split in to two just before Aluva. The flood caused the rise of a new island at Kochi known as the Vypin Kara and gradually the beautiful Kochi gained all the glory once Muziris owned. It was in AD 1405, Kochi became a countable port and started trading spices overseas. Because of its strategic position, Kodungallur was the ultimate ambition of all foreign powers that set foot here.

The Kodungallur Port is bound by Azhikkal in Trissur District and Munambam in Ernakulam District. The harbour basin is inside the estuary where the Periyar River discharges into the Arabian Sea. The location lies close to the Kottappuram Terminal of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and has the potential to be developed as a river sea terminal for integrating inland waterways and fishery port for processing and exporting marine products given its huge annual fish catch potential.