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Malayampadi

Malayampadi is a small hill village clinging to the slopes of the Western Ghats in Kannur District, Kerala, set some 397 metres (about 1,302 feet) above sea level. Its name is a window into its past: it grew from Malonpadi, where Malon was the tribal god of the Kurichya people and padi means 'step'—literally, the stepping-stone or temple of Malon. It is the kind of quiet, off-the-map Malabar settlement where layered tribal history, a long forest-and-farming story, and cool Ghats hill country meet. Reaching it means winding up the roads above Kelakam and Peravoor, toward the forested ridge of Elapeedika.