A Culinary MosaicArticle
The Beypore Uru Prevails Article
Cinema in the CityArticle
At the Ocean’s CrossroadsArticle
The Mosques of KuttichiraArticle
Calicut
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8
Countless cities across India carry layered histories woven with threads of trade, migration and cultural exchange. Yet, many remain in the shadows in the broader narrative of the nation’s past. Kozhikode stands apart in that its ethnography and food culture so deeply intertwined that every dish…
in Article
Kozhikode, renowned for its passionate football culture, captured global attention during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar when a group of fans of the Argentine team erected a 30-foot cut-out of player Lionel Messi on a small islet in the Kurungattu Kadavu River in Pullavoor village. Not to be…
in Article
In Kozhikode, the craft of making an uru or dhow—traditional wooden ships—is a continuation of a 2,000-year-old legacy. Today, Beypore—located near the mouth of the Chaliyar River, where it flows into the Arabian Sea—is home to the last two surviving boatyards. Commissioned by a businessman from…
in Article
Silent motion pictures were introduced to India in 1896 by the Lumière brothers, ushering in a new cultural age. Calicut experienced its first cinematic event a decade later, in 1906, with a screening of moving images in a temporary tent at Muthalakkulam Ground. The show was organised by Swamikannu…
in Article
Calicut’s literary and scholarly tradition date back to the thirteenth century, when the Zamorins established the city as a significant medieval port. Historical accounts reveal that when the Zamorin dynasty, originally from the inland region of Nediyirippu, took control of the Tali Siva Temple…
in Article
Kozhikode, or historically Calicut, once the capital of an independent kingdom under the Zamorins, emerged as a pivotal centre of global trade in the Middle Ages, earning the sobriquet ‘City of Spices’ for its involvement in the spice trade, especially black pepper. The city was a powerful economic…
in Article
The period between 1200 CE and 1600 CE saw the rush of traders and navigators to several ports at Malabar, situated on the southwestern coast of India, as the demand for spices, especially black pepper, grew manyfold across the world. Sailing ships from various nations crisscrossed the Arabian seas…
in Article
Kuttichira is a Muslim quarter lying on the western side of Kozhikode city in north Kerala; the name refers to the fact that it is located around a chira (pond in Malayalam). It is almost completely dominated by a powerful Muslim community called the Koyas. The area includes modern Kuttichira,…
in Article