Kodinhi is a village in Malappuram district in Kerala, India. The village is situated close to the town of Tirurangadi and, as of 2008, is home to around 2,000 families.The village is situated around 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Calicut and 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Malappuram, the district headquarters. The village is surrounded by backwaters on all sides but one, which connects it to the town of Tirurangadi…

Administered by the Nannambra panchayat, the village came to international attention for the unusually large number of multiple births in the region. The village is noted for having a high twinning rate although India has one of the lowest twinning rates in the world.The first association of twins in the country, The Twins and Kins Association, was also founded in the village.

As of November 2008, the population of the village was estimated at roughly 2,000 families. A majority of the residents are sunni Muslim, and follow the Shafi school of thought.

The village entered the international spotlight when a survey done by locals found an unusually large number of twin births in the region. A report by Indian Express Correspondent Mithosh Joseph had brought the attention of several people outside India to the attraction of the spot. Though initial estimates put the instance of multiple births at 100 pairs, follow-up surveys found the figure to be closer to 204 pairs (408 individuals) of twins, and two sets of triplets.

Despite several studies being conducted, the exact cause of this phenomenon is yet to be ascertained. Women from Kodinhi married off to far away places are also known to give birth to twins. According to doctors this phenomenon is due to chemicals present in water in the Kodinhi area. According to locals, the oldest known twin pair in the village was born in 1949. The number of twin births in Kodinhi has been increasing over the years, with surveys showing over 79 pairs of twins within the age group of 0–10 years.

This phenomenon of a large number of twin births is not unique to Kodinhi, and has also been observed in the town of Igbo-Ora in Nigeria. In Igbo-Ora, research has suggested that the multiple births could be related to the eating habits of the women in the region.Though no direct correlation between dietary intake and twin births has been observed,

a research study carried out at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital has suggested that a chemical found in the Igbo-Ora women and the peelings of a widely consumed tuber could account for the high level of multiple births. In the case of Kodinhi, however, no such relationship has been observed, as the residents’ dietary patterns are not known to be significantly different from the rest of Kerala.

A similar phenomenon of a large number of twin births within a small isolated community has been observed in Cândido Godói, Brazil.

In 2008, around 30 pairs of twins from Kodinhi, along with their parents, got together to form The Twins and Kins Association, the first such association of twins in India.^[5] The forum, according to its founders, aims to bring to wider attention problems peculiar to people of multiple births, such as those concerning their education and health.

Kodinhi village is a predominantly Muslim populated area. Hindus exist in comparatively smaller numbers. So the culture of the locality is based upon Muslim traditions. Duff Muttu, Kolkali and Arabanamuttu are common folk arts of this locality. There are many libraries attached to mosques giving a rich source of Islamic studies.

Most of the books are written in Arabi-Malayalam which is a version of the Malayalam language written in Arabic script. People gather in mosques for the evening prayer and continue to sit there after the prayers discussing social and cultural issues. Business and family issues are also sorted out during these evening meetings. The Hindu minority of this area keeps their rich traditions by celebrating various festivals in their temples. Hindu rituals are done here with a regular devotion like other parts of Kerala.

By any metric, conceiving twins and triplets is a rare natural occurrence around the world. In fact, on average only 16 out of 1,000 successful pregnancies in the world result in twins and this average is even lower in India at just 9. However, this ratio is heavily skewed in the sleepy hamlet of Kodinhi in Kerala, which has a record 400 pairs of twins in a population of just over 2,000 families!

Geneticists and scientists have long tried to explain this rare phenomenon but are only now making some headway. While experts have pointed to genetics as an obvious factor, what’s even more mysterious is that irrespective of religion, lineage or their original heritage, all families living in the village have conceived more than the average pairs of twins over the last few generations, and the number is consistently growing !!

HOPE YOU LIKE THE POST DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR LATEST POST’S !!