Home to the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, Ashtamudi lake and also famously known as god’s own country; Kerala has a lot of hidden facts that will make you want to experience this nature’s beauty to the earliest.
The Cochin International Airport, the largest and the busiest airport in Kerala is the world’s first airport to be powered entirely by solar energy. It is the seventh busiest airport in India and handles more than 10 million passengers every year. The Cochin International Airport also received the United Nation’s 2018 Champions of the Earth Award for Entrepreneurial Vision.
The districts of Kerala hosts the first and oldest mosque of India, the Cheraman Juma Mosque. Built-in 629 AD during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, this mosque is one of the most historically important and architecturally beautiful mosques of India.
In 1999, National Geographic Traveler Magazine chose Kerala as “One of the Ten Paradises of the world” and also included Kerala in the list of ’50 of the world’s top destinations’, places that every curious traveller should visit in a lifetime.
The Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum, Kerala is the richest temple in the world. The monumental items inside the temple are said to be made out of gold and approximately value close to ₹1.2 lakh crore. The Golden Idol of Mahavishnu, found in this temple is said to be worth Rs. 500 Crore.
According to the 2011 census, Kerela ranked as the state with the highest sex ratio in India. It was revealed that the population ratio in India 2011 is 943 females per 1000 males of which Kerala has the highest sex ratio of 1084 in India. On March of this year, Kerala ranked as India’s highest average life expectancy state among the other states of India. Kerala has an average life expectancy of 75.1 years. The data revealed that India’s average life expectancy is lesser than countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia.
Kerala is the largest rubber producer in India. It produced 4,55,600 tonnes of rubber in the last fiscal year. India is the world’s 4th largest natural rubber producer of which Kerala contributes 90% per cent of it. Around 5.45 hectares of land in Kerala is used for rubber cultivation. Kerala is known for its huge production of coconuts. Around 7 lakh hectares of cultivated area in Kerala is used for coconut plantation. The state Kerala is also named after coconuts. It is said that the name, Kera stands for coconut tree whereas ‘alam’ means land. Hence, it can be assumed that it is the land of coconuts.
Kerala is popularly known as the spice garden of India due to the variety of spices it produces. It is also referred to as the “Garden of Spices” or as the “Spice Garden of India.”
The elephant is regarded as the state animal and also features on the emblem of the Government of Kerala state. Kerala has more than seven hundred domesticated elephants that are mostly used in many religious ceremonies conducted in various temples, churches and mosques of Kerala.