Kalpetta
Kalpetta is the largest city and municipality in the Wayanad district, state of Kerala, India.
Kalpetta is the headquarters of Wayanad district as well as the headquarters of Vythiri taluk. It is a bustling town surrounded by dense coffee and tea plantations and mountains. It lies on the Kozhikode-Mysore National Highway NH 766 (Formarly NH 212) at an altitude of about 780 m above sea level. Kalpetta is 72 km from Kozhikode and 140 km from Mysore.
Apart from the administrative capital of the district, Kalpetta is also the main hub of tourism activities in Wayanad due to its central location within the district and its proximity to most visited tourist sites. There is a good number of hotels and resorts within and surrounding the city of Kalpetta.
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. Hence this name was derived.
Source - Wikipedia [Mar 2021]
Kalpetta was under the rule of Western Ganga dynasty until AD930. Through ages this region fell into the rule of Hoysala Empire, Vijayanagara Empire, and Kingdom of Mysore. 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 Sultan's empire. This continued until the demise of Tipu Sultan. Along with the rest of Malabar, Kalpetta also came under British rule after Tipu Sultan's 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 and it attained Municipality status on 1 April 1990.
Kalpetta has very good road connectivity with the rest of Kerala and neighbouring South Indian cities. NH766 connects Kalpetta with Kozhikode and Mysore. State Highways connect Kalpetta with Ooty in Tamil Nadu and Madikeri in Karnataka. En route to Mysore on NH 766, past Wayanad district boundary, which is also the Kerala state boundary, NH 766 passes through Bandipur National Park. There is a night traffic ban imposed on this stretch since 2009. The alternate road to take is, leave NH 766 at Kalpetta and proceed to Mysore through Mananthavady, Kutta, Gonikoppal, and Hunsur.The nearest airport is Calicut International Airport, 100 km from Kalpetta. Kannur international airport is 110 km from Kalpetta.
