Niranam is a village in Thiruvalla, Kerala, India. It was a port in ancient Kerala, on the confluence of the Manimala and Pamba River. It is almost 7 km from Tiruvalla SCS Junction
in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala, lies to the western part of Tiruvalla, identified as Upper Kuttanad region. It Is Part Of Thiruvalla Sub-District.Also Comes Under Thiruvalla
Constituency. It is identified with Nelcynda in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
Niranam is mentioned in the writings of Pliny and Cosmas Indicopleustes as a trade centre where pepper grows and is known to have a variety of different settlers from Greeks to Aryan Jains. Geologists suggest that the sea retracted from this area due to some major geographical changes.
The community were probably Jewish settlers and Brahmins who received baptism and became Christians. Due to the Coonan Cross Oath the Malankara Orthodox Church probably received more Christians from Cochin. Niranam St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral has been the seat of the various Malankara metropolitans.
The Niranam poets, the “Kannassas” are credited to be pioneers in Malayalam bhakti literature, they authored Bhagavata, Ramayana, and Bharata in Malayalam.
They lived in the 14th century CE. The great flood of 1341 AD helped to shift the sea westwards from silt filling in the direct sea route from Niranam. As a result of the flood of 1341, the soil of nearby areas of Niranam is still sandy and resembles beaches, though not close to the Arabian sea.
