Kodinhi, also known as The Twin Town is a small village in the district of Malappuram in Kerala, India. Known for most identical twins in the country, The village has gained popularity as the twin town of India. The village is situated around 35 kilometres south of Calicut and 30 kilometres west of Malappuram, the district headquarters. The town is home to approximately 2000 families. Let’s try to decode the mystery about Kodhini, Kerala’s mysterious twin town and reasons for twin births in Kodinhi.
Even though India has very low multiples birth (twins, triplets etc.) rates in the world, this town of the twins has one of the highest twin birth rates in the world. There are about 220 registered twins in the town, some believe that number may be even more than that. Such a large number of twins in a small town of 2000 families looks like “God’s Own Miracle”.
The village has attracted a lot of attention from across the world for the unusually large number of multiple births in the region. The Twins and Kins Association, the first association of twins in the country was also founded in the village. Twins and Kins Association was formed by around 30 pairs of twins and their parents in 2008. The main goal of the association is to bring problems peculiar to people of multiple births to a wider audience. As per founders of the forum, there are various problems such as those concerning education and health of twins.
TWIN BIRTHS IN KODINHI –
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 determined. As an interesting fact, the women of Kodinhi village who were married in families in other places also gave birth to twins. As per locals the first instance of twin birth was observed in the village in 1949. Since then the number of multiple births in the village kept increasing over the years. One survey found over 79 pairs of twins within the age group of 0–10 years.
SIMILAR TOWNS ACROSS THE WORLD –
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 and Candido Godoi in Brazil.
1. IGBO-ORA
Multiple research studies have been performed about Igbo-Ora, another twin town. Various researches have suggested that the multiple births may be attributed to the eating habits of the women in the region. As of now no direct relation between dietary intake and twin births has been confirmed. Another research study carried out at the University of Lagos teaching hospital has suggested that the peelings of a widely consumed tuber and a chemical found in the Igbo-Ora women could be the reason for the high level of multiple births.
However, Researchers did not observe any such relationship in the case of Kodinhi. The dietary patterns of residents are not significantly different from the rest of Kerala.
2. CÂNDIDO GODÓI
A town in Brazil has reported a large number of twin births within a small isolated community. Cândido Godói is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil near the Argentine border. The total population of the area is about 6k-7k. The town is famous for the high number of twins born there. The rate of twin births in Cândido Godói is about 10% which is significantly higher than the overall 1.8% rate for the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
If you know any other interesting places in India, Please share with us in the comments section.
