ChiRakkal ChiRa (The large pond of chirakkal village)

There is very large splendid water body in Chirakkal village of Kannur District. It is popularly known as “Chirakkal Chira”.The Chi- is pronounced as chi- in ‘chicken’ and ra-pronounced as ra in ‘rash’. Chira means a big pond . It is one of the largest water body of this part of the country. It is spread over a whooping 15 acres of land area. The shape is a perfect rectangle with symmetrical steps and covered bath houses on it’s sides. An engineering spectacle for its sheer size and geometry.

This Chira was a wonderful creation of the Kolathiris Royals of yester years. It is believed that Kolathiris are the successors of Mooshiks Kingdom who ruled Northern Kerala in AD First Century . The history of this dynasty and of this region is mentioned in "Mooshika Vamsham" a Sanskrit poetic Text, written by Athulan in the AD 10th century. It was once the property of erstwhile royal family of Chirakkal Kovilakam.

The present generation is buying bottled water. States are fighting for a better share of river water amid floods all over North India. Talk is the order of the day, not action. Be it for irrigation or drinking purposes the governments will never be able to solve it. The rain harvesting is still in the pages of elementary school texts.We should thank these visionaries of the past who developed the rain water harvest and percolation systems like Chirakkal Chira and passed on to us .