Nileshwaram or Nileshwar or Neeleswaram is a municipality and a major town in Kasaragod District, state of Kerala, India.[5] "The first Chief Minister of Kerala and communist leader E. M. S. Namboodiripad,Kamaran Nair had contested elections to the Assembly from the Neeleswaram segment.The Kolathiri Dominion emerged into independent 10 principalities in the late medieval period, i.e., Kadathanadu (Vadakara), Randathara or Poyanad (Dharmadom), Kottayam (Thalassery), Nileshwaram, Iruvazhinadu (Panoor), Kurumbranad etc., under separate royal chieftains due to the outcome of internal dissensions.[6] Many portions of the present-day Hosdurg taluk (Kanhangad) and Vellarikundu were parts of the Nileshwaram dynasty, who were relatives to both Kolathunadu as well as Zamorin of Calicut, in the early medieval period.The grand finale of the annual temple festival season takes place in this area, which is known for its "kavus", or sacred groves.