Chungam
Encyclopedia
'Chungam' is a small junction in Kottayam
town in Kerala
state, Southern India
. Chungam is the Malayalam equivalent of tax. So all the locations where tax was collected came to be known as Chungam; indeed Kerala has a number of places with the same name. This is the border of Kottayam town. It borders the Meenachil river
. There may be more places, one is near Kozhikode East Hill, one near Feroke, Kozhikode district. The oldest college and school in Kerala and India are here. The CMS College and the CMS College Higher Secondary School; both around 200 years of age were built by the Rev. Benjamin Baily of the Church Missionary Society, London
. They were built with the generous help and assistance of Col. Munroe, the then Resident of the East India Company
, and HH Rani Gauri Laxmi Bhai, the reagent queen of the erstwhile Travencore state.
CMS College is the ancient seat of learning in India. It once had the largest hall in Asia
. The Great Hall, as it's called, is truly a work of art. The same place has one of Kerala's ancient Seminaries and one of the first Malayalam press too. The Orthodox Theological Seminary is the seat of the reformation that has changed the Kerala Syrian Christian Beliefs. The CMS press, one of the first of its kind in Kerala, was started by the Rev. Benjamin Bailey. He was not happy with the existing models and he made a new one with the help of a blacksmith and a carpenter and with an Encyclopaedia! The Press is also the first in South India. It still houses Bailie's ancient press, printing devices, and other published works. He is the one who has standardized the official Malayalam script
and accent; thus making Malayalam more than a mere dialect
ical variant of Tamil
. The CMS College Higher Secondary School is now housed in his ancient house. Bailey had made the Holy Trinity Cathedral; which is one of the biggest churches of the CSI church. The junction borders the Meenachil river, which is one of the medium range rivers, but well known through Arundhati Roy
's famous book The God of Small Things. Most of the events in the book took place in Chungam. Aymanam village, which is mentioned in the book, is about three kilometers away from Chungam.
The road that pass through Chungom is an alternate route to reach Kottayam Medical College and there were plans to broaden the road,but nothing of that sort has been initiated till now.
Kottayam
Kottayam is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative capital of the Kottayam district. Kottayam Kottayam (Malayalam: കോട്ടയം) is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative...
town in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
state, Southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Chungam is the Malayalam equivalent of tax. So all the locations where tax was collected came to be known as Chungam; indeed Kerala has a number of places with the same name. This is the border of Kottayam town. It borders the Meenachil river
Meenachil River
The Meenachil river flows through the heart of Kottayam district of Kerala state, India. The river, 78 km long, flows through Poonjar, Teekoy, Erattupetta, Palai, Ettumanoor and Kottayam before emptying itself into the Vembanad Lake at Kumarakom, the famous tourist place of Kerala.The...
. There may be more places, one is near Kozhikode East Hill, one near Feroke, Kozhikode district. The oldest college and school in Kerala and India are here. The CMS College and the CMS College Higher Secondary School; both around 200 years of age were built by the Rev. Benjamin Baily of the Church Missionary Society, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. They were built with the generous help and assistance of Col. Munroe, the then Resident of the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, and HH Rani Gauri Laxmi Bhai, the reagent queen of the erstwhile Travencore state.
CMS College is the ancient seat of learning in India. It once had the largest hall in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. The Great Hall, as it's called, is truly a work of art. The same place has one of Kerala's ancient Seminaries and one of the first Malayalam press too. The Orthodox Theological Seminary is the seat of the reformation that has changed the Kerala Syrian Christian Beliefs. The CMS press, one of the first of its kind in Kerala, was started by the Rev. Benjamin Bailey. He was not happy with the existing models and he made a new one with the help of a blacksmith and a carpenter and with an Encyclopaedia! The Press is also the first in South India. It still houses Bailie's ancient press, printing devices, and other published works. He is the one who has standardized the official Malayalam script
Malayalam script
The Malayalam script is a Brahmic script used commonly to write the Malayalam language—which is the principal language of the Indian state of Kerala, spoken by 36 million people in the world. Like many other Indic scripts, it is an abugida, or a writing system that is partially “alphabetic” and...
and accent; thus making Malayalam more than a mere dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
ical variant of Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
. The CMS College Higher Secondary School is now housed in his ancient house. Bailey had made the Holy Trinity Cathedral; which is one of the biggest churches of the CSI church. The junction borders the Meenachil river, which is one of the medium range rivers, but well known through Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
's famous book The God of Small Things. Most of the events in the book took place in Chungam. Aymanam village, which is mentioned in the book, is about three kilometers away from Chungam.
The road that pass through Chungom is an alternate route to reach Kottayam Medical College and there were plans to broaden the road,but nothing of that sort has been initiated till now.