Periyar National Park: Kerala’s Sanctuary Built Around a British-Era Dam

Kerala‘s best-known wildlife sanctuary exists because of a dam built by the British in 1895. That same dam is still at the centre of one of India’s longest-running interstate disputes.

MCQ Questions

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Periyar National Park

Built around an artificial lake, Kerala’s flagship reserve for elephants and tigers.

1895

Mullaperiyar Dam completed

The dam across the Periyar River creates the artificial lake that later becomes the sanctuary’s centre.

1934

Nellikkampatty Game Sanctuary

The Maharaja of Travancore sets up the sanctuary around the lake, on land once used for royal hunts.

1978

Declared a Project Tiger reserve

Periyar joins the national Project Tiger network, formally becoming Periyar Tiger Reserve.

1982

Core declared a national park

A 350.54 sq km core, within the wider 925 sq km protected area, gains full national park status.

Two species, one lake: Periyar holds at least 40 tigers, but it’s better known for its elephants. In 1991, it was also declared an Elephant Reserve, and the lake is where herds gather to drink and bathe.

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Must Know

• Periyar National Park lies in the Idukki district of Kerala, in the Western Ghats, near the town of Thekkady.
• Its central feature is an artificial lake, formed when the Mullaperiyar Dam was built across the Periyar River, completed in 1895.
• The sanctuary itself began in 1934, as the Nellikkampatty Game Sanctuary, set up by the Maharaja of Travancore.
• It became a Project Tiger reserve in 1978. Its core, 350.54 sq km within a wider 925 sq km protected area, was declared a national park in 1982.
• The reserve holds at least 40 tigers, but is even better known for its elephants. It was also declared an Elephant Reserve in 1991.
• Boat safaris on the lake are the park’s signature visitor experience, since wildlife, especially elephants, gathers along its shores to drink and bathe.

Good to Know

• Before the dam, the region was ruled by the Pandyas of Madurai, until around the 12th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it served as a hunting ground for the kings of Travancore.
• The park’s vegetation ranges from tropical evergreen forest to moist deciduous forest and open grassland, reflecting its location in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.
• Besides tigers and elephants, the park hosts gaur (Indian bison), sambar deer, wild boar, and the Nilgiri langur. The rare Nilgiri tahr is found in its higher, more open terrain.
• Over 260 bird species have been recorded in the park, along with a wide range of reptiles and amphibians.

Test Yourself

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1. Periyar National Park is located in which Indian state?

Tamil Nadu

Karnataka

Kerala

Andhra Pradesh

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Great to Know

• The Mullaperiyar Dam was built under an 1886 agreement between the Maharaja of Travancore and British India, leasing the site to what is now Tamil Nadu for 999 years. Tamil Nadu still operates the dam and draws its water; Kerala receives rent under the lease.
• Kerala has long argued the dam, now well over a century old, is unsafe and past its working life. Tamil Nadu disputes this, and the two states’ rights over the site remain the subject of an active Supreme Court case.
• The same dam that created the lake at the heart of Periyar’s wildlife tourism is also the centre of one of India’s longest-running interstate water disputes, a tension the park’s calm boat safaris don’t hint at.
• This same long-running dispute was part of what pushed India toward a national law on dam safety. See Polity0215 — Dam Safety Act, 2021: One Law for Every Dam.