AMBOORI
Amboori or amboory is a village in the south east
of Thiruvanathapuram district in the state of Kerala in India. Amboori
is inhabited by the Kanikkar tribe. Amboori is a grama panchayat with a
population (as of 2001) of 9,839. An important ethnic group in the area is the
kanikar tribe, about 800 members of this tribe live in the area.
Amboori is 40 km (25 mi) from the agastiya mountain peak where sage agastiya, the founder of ayurveda, is believed to have built his hermitage.
Geography
Amboori is situated in the southern tip of western ghats,
surrounded by hills. South east of amboori is the state of tamil nadu. It
is surrounded by the grama panchayaths of vellarada, aryancode and kallikkadu
in the south, south-west and west respectively. The eastern part is covered by
densely forested neyyar wildlife sanctuary. Amboori is well known for its
high-yielding rubber plantations, however, the area also cultivates coconut,
pepper, herbs, and medicinal plants. Amboori contains a plantation of holyrudraksha (eleocarpus
spaericus) trees. Adjoining amboori is the neyyar wildlife
sanctuary that is separated from the populated area by the catchment area
of neyyar reservoir.
In the western hills of amboori there is a large boulder called
the dravyappara (the treasure rock). That raja of
venad, later thiruvithamcore or travancore, on his exile, spent his days on the
top of this rock. There are 72 steps carved on the side of the boulder allowing one
to ascend to the top. The height of the dravyappara isapproximately
700 ft from its base and approximately 1500 ft above sea level. There
is cave temple in the top of Dravayappara.
Amboori has witnessed a large landslide in 2001 which
claimed the life of 39 people. The tragedy occurred when a hill collapsed
on to a house where there was a family gathering.
History
Amboori was inhabited by members of the kanikar tribe
since time immemorial. After the second world war, the princely state of travancore experienced
severe famine, so the raja of travancore allowed nasranis of pala and
kottayam to settle in uncultivated western ghats ranges. That resulted large
scale migration to tribal areas and alineation of tribal land.(history has it
that marthandavarma maharaja has given 48000 hectors of land to kanikkars in
chembu pattayam, totally exempting from land tax,this area mostly falls under
neyyatinkara and nedumangadu taluks, amboori too falls under that stretch of
land.) An early settlement of christians was in pantha, located north of
amboori, near mayam. The st. Mary's church of mayam was the first roman
catholic church in the area. St.mary's school, mayam was the first primary
school in the area. Later during the construction of neyyar reservoir, the
people of pantha, mostly christians, pulayas and parayas were forced to resettle.
Most of them resettled in amboori. In 1947 twenty-five families of the central travencore
christians made their way into the hills of what was to be called amboori. The
people found their way to the hill on which amboory resides by carrying their possessions
almost 12 km beyond panachamoodu, the last point then served by public
transportation.
The first three years was rife with hardship for amboorians as
they fought malaria and wild animals. Many lost their lives but could
not be cared for or buried properly. In 1950 another fifty more families from
palai, changanachery, thodupuzha, and chengannorr ventured to amboory to make
their homes there.
Educational institutions
St. Thomas higher secondary school, both english and malayalam
medium. St. Joseph's primary school st. Mary's upper primary school, mayam.
Tribal primary school, puravimalai. Kovilloor lps kannannoor is one of first lp
school in amboory area. Govt. Lp school, kuttamalai up school, st.mary's lp
school, thekkupara, s.h. Nusry school thekkuppara, industrial training centre
for scheduled tribes, kuttamala. Gopalan memorial library and research
institute situated in koottappu
AMBOORI CHURCH
