Has the largest area(320.44 Sq.Km) and population (4.78 lakhs)
Population density- 1491
Sex ratio - 1030
Rural population - 2.79 lakhs (3rd position in the district)
Density of Rural population - 1465 persons per Sq.Km.
Urban population - 32.54 %
Lowest urban density (1530)
Location
Cherthala (formerly known as Shertallai) is a Taluk and a municipality in Alappuzha district in the state of Kerala, India. It is 36km from Cochin and 22 km from Alleppey on the Cochin-to-Alleppey section of National Highway 47 Road Route and Railway Route. Cherthala is in Alleppey District, of which Alleppey is the district headquarters. Cherthala is a Major Taluk consisting of 20 villages of which Cherthala is the Taluk headquarters.
Name
According to the folklore, once a namboodiri (the priestly class) was travelling through the present day Cherthala when he found the idol of the 'Devi'(The mother goddess) in a pond. The idol was found with its head immersed in mud. The priest took out the idol and established a temple at the location which is the present day Karthiyayani temple. The place is said to have got its name from this incident. Cher - Thala cher means mud and thala means head in malayalam.
There is another story which say that the former name was Karappuram and this part of land was gifted by the erstwhile State of Cochin to the erstwhile State of Travancore for protecting it from enemies. The place got its name as Chertha (joined) Thala (abutting land).
