Kannur is a land
with a resonantpast. Myths and legends abound. The ships of Solomon,
they say anchored along our coasts to collect timber for building the ‘Temple
of the Lord’. Kannur finds mention as NAURA in the ‘Periplus
of the Erithrean Sea’ a Greek work of great antiquity.
Kannur is a major
railway station on Shornur - Mangalore line. By road Kannur is 155
KMs south of Mangalore and 535 KMs north of Thiruvananthapuram. The
nearest Airport is at Calicut which is 110 KMs south and Mangalore
Airport is 170KMs north.
Kannur district derived its name from location of its headquarters
at Kannur town. The old name Cannanore is the anglicized form of Malayalam
word Kannur. According to one opinion, 'Kannur' is a derivation of
Kanathur, an ancient village, the name of which survives even today
in one of the wards of Kannur municipality. Another version is that
Kannur might have assumed its name from one of the deities of the Hindu
pantheon, a compound of two words, Kannan (Lord Krishna) and Ur (Place)
making it the place of Lord Krishna. In this context, it is well worth
mentioning that the deity of Kadalayi Sri Krishna temple was originally
installed in a shrine at Kadalayikkota in south eastern part of present
Kannur town.
