Mal: ബേപ്പൂർ bēppūr
‘Estuary Town’ [Vaypura, Vadaparappanad, Sultan Pattanam] Town, Kerala
From Mal: vāy, ‘mouth’, ‘inlet’, ‘opening’; and Skt: pur, ‘town’, ‘city’.
Beypore, at the mouth of the 169km Chaliya river, is one of the oldest ports in Kerala. It has been involved in trade with the Middle East since ancient times.
Beypore is famous for shipbuilding: dhows (masted, long-hulled, wooden sailing boats) or urus ( wooden ‘fat-boats’).
Beypore (Vadaparappanad) was originally part of the Parappanad royal kingdom and city state -the northern part [Mal: vada, ‘northern’]- until it was split in 1425.
When Tipu Sultan invaded Kerala in the 18thC he gave many towns new Muslim names and Beypore became Sultan Pattanam [Mal/Tam: paṭṭaṇam/paṭṭiṉam, ‘coastal city’, ‘sea-shore town’].
Beypore was famous for building ‘Urus’ ( wooden ‘fat-boats’) (WT-en) Rahulclt