Nagercoil
| ?Nagercoil Tamil Nadu • India | |
   | |
| Coordinates: 8°10′N 77°26′E / 8.17, 77.43 | |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Area • Elevation | 19.37 km² (7 sq mi) • 13 m (43 ft) |
| District(s) | Kanyakumari |
| Population • Density | 208,149 (2001) • 9,813 /km² (25,416 /sq mi) |
| Municipal Chairman | |
| Codes • Pincode • Telephone • Vehicle | • 629 xxx • +91-4652 • TN-74 |
Coordinates: 8°10′N 77°26′E / 8.17, 77.43
Nagercoil (Tamil: நாகர்கோவில்) is a city and it is the [Twelfth] largest city in Tamil Nadu (after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Salem, Tiruppur, Tirunelveli, Erode, Vellore, Thoothukudi and Thanjavur) and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.It is the southernmost city in the Indian mainland, situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula. The town is also the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District. It was a part of the erstwhile Travancore state, or later Travancore-Cochin state, till almost a decade after India's Independence from Britain in 1947. In 1956, the city and the District were merged with Tamil Nadu. In its earlier days, the town and its surroundings were known as Nanjilnadu.
Contents |
History
Nagercoil derives its name from a famous old temple called the Naga Raja Temple (temple of the serpent king) which still exists in the central part of the town. It has been an important temple for Hindus, for centuries, and is also a tourist attraction. According to certain accounts, it may once have been a Jain temple as icons of the Jain Tirthankaras, Mahavira and Parsvanatha are found on the pillars of the temple.[citation needed]
Nagercoil came under the rule of various kingdoms, notably the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms at various points of time; historical records reveal that these kingdoms fought over the control of the fertile area of Nanjilnadu and Kottar, a town mentioned in old Tamil writings and maps of ancient India. Archaeological records also show Jain influences in ancient times.
The modern history of the town is interwoven with the history of Travancore state. The modern town of Nagercoil grew around Kottar, now a locality within the municipal limits. The town came into prominence during and after the reign of Maharaja Marthanda Varma, the king of erstwhile Travancore, the capital of which was Padmanabhapuram, about 20 km to the north of Nagercoil. The capital was later shifted to Trivandrum, now Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala state, about 65 km to the north of Nagercoil. In the erstwhile Travancore state, Nagercoil was the second most important town in the state, after the capital Trivandrum
His successors continued the reforms he instituted. Though Travancore was considered by many to be a 'Hindu' administration, the rulers generally had religious tolerance, were not hostile to European educators, missionaries and traders.
Until the 19th century, the coffers of Travancore were greatly helped by revenues from the trade of pepper and other spices with the European powers.
Irrigation systems (an excellent system is still found around Nagercoil), dams, roads, schools etc. developed under the able administration of the Travancore regents and their Dewans. The British in India considered Travancore a 'model native state'. At the time, Travancore was the most socially developed and one of the most economically developed states under the British Raj. During the British Raj in India, Travancore was essentially a vassal-state to the British, but the British never interfered in the general administration of the state.
At the time of India's independence from Britain, the then Dewan of Travancore, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyer, preferred Travancore to be a sovereign country, but eventually gave up after a tough stand by Sardar Vallabhai Patel, India’s federal minister in charge of home affairs, as also the Indian National Congress. The late Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyer is still held in high esteem in Nagercoil, for the many developmental projects he undertook in the then South Travancore, of which the town was a part.
When the states in India were re-organized in the 1950s, under the States Reorganisation Act, the then Government of Travancore-Cochin gave part of the then South Travancore (present day Kanyakumari District to Tamilnadu (because a majority of the population spoke Tamil in the district).
Nagercoil has generally been a communally peaceful place, though there was some tension and violence between the Christian and Hindu communities in the 1980s. Since then, inter-religious meetings organised by various religious faiths and by District Collectors (local administrators) have helped develop good understanding between the various sections of the population.
Disaster struck on the 26th of December, 2004, when the Indian Ocean Tsunami brought shock, surprise and havoc for people living in the coastal areas of Kanyakumari District. Over a thousand people were either dead or missing in the tragedy, with many thousands displaced. Worst-hit were the coastal areas like Manakudy, near the town, and Colachel.
The Town and its surroundings
Nagercoil is located at 8.18° N 77.43° E at the southern tip of peninsular India. Because of its close proximity to the Western Ghats, the town and its surroundings are generally undulating. The Western Ghats is the lifeline of the town, with water sources for drinking, its temperate climate, irrigation around the city and eco-system being influenced by this mountain range.
Sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, the town has some breathtaking sceneries with the surrounding hills (the Western Ghats), lush green paddy fields, and sandy, palm-fringed beaches on the western side. Farther east of Nagercoil, on the Western Ghats are plantations of rubber, cloves and cardamom. Many of these plantations were developed by British planters - planters names like Simpson and Balamore are still household names in the town. The rubber plant was introduced by the English missionaries in the 18th century. Some of these plantations are still owned by the descendants of these British planters ; however, a majority of the estates are now owned by the rich and influential moplah (Syrian Christians) community of Kerala.
Being the southernmost municipal area of the country and also close to Kanyakumari, or Cape Comorin, the southernmost point of peninsular India, the town is essentially an intersecting point of culture, tradition and trade of the western and eastern coasts in the deep south of India. The town connects two major eastern and western lines of the Indian Railways, with one line leading through Kerala called the Konkan route and the other through the eastern part of India (through Tirunelveli of Tamilnadu. Nagercoil is 65 km from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala state, connected by National Highway 47, and 85 km from Tirunelveli.
Climate
Nagercoil has a pleasant, though humid, climate for a major part of the year. The maximum temperature during the summer hovers around 86°F or 30°C with extremely high humidity at times. Nagercoil receives both the north-east monsoon and the south-west monsoon. It rains more often in Kanyakumari district than in any other part of Tamil Nadu, with the exception of the Niligiris. Due to geographical conditions, the southern tip of Kanyakumari is generally 2°C to 3°C warmer than Nagercoil during the daytime, though Kanyakumari is only 20 km away.
Though the official population count (for the municipal area) is close to 2.25 lakhs, a significant population lives outside the municipal limits, in the suburbs. The small district of Kanyakumari, with a population of about 1.7 million (17 lakhs) is one of the most densely populated districts in Tamilnadu as well as in South India.
The concentration of the population of the town and the District is along the coastal belt along the western side, while the largely forested areas on the eastern side of the district (along the Western Ghats) are sparsely populated.
Demographics
As of 2001 India census,[1] Nagercoil had a population of 208,149. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Nagercoil has an average literacy rate of 99%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 87%, and female literacy is 83%. In Nagercoil, 9% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Culture and religion
Tamil and Malayalam are widely spoken by the people. These two languages along with English are used as a medium of teaching in all major schools. The Tamil spoken here is a mix of Malayalam and Tamil, sometimes uninteligible to the people of North Tamilnadu.
The culture is a mixture of Tamil and keralite culture and traditions. Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are the major religions in the town and district. Food prepared here is also a mix of Kerala/Tamilnadu traditions. Puttu, Appam, Idiappam are very popular food items here and so are rice murukku, achchappam, etc. Even curries here are made with coconut and coconut oil which is now considered Kerala style cooking.
Some of the prominent festivals that are celebrated here are Pongal, Onam, Ayya Vaikunda Avataram, Deepavali,Christmas, St. Francis Xavier's feast, Bhagavathy Amman Temple festival, Ramzan (Eid ul fitr) and Bakrid (Eid ul alha).
Influence of European missionaries
The foundation of several educational institutions by English, German and other Western Christian missionaries in the 19th century and the development of social infrastructure by the Travancore regents raised the social status and literacy of the people. Today, one finds a number of streets, schools and colleges in the town named after these European missionaries, many of them also being noted educationists and scholars.
The European missionaries converted a section of the people to Protestant Christianity. Roman Catholicism had been introduced earlier by St. Francis Xavier in the 16th century and later by other Jesuits.
St. Francis Xavier, the Roman Catholic missionary, made Kottar locality in the town his principal residence for a period of two years in the 16th century, while preaching around the town and in neighbouring Tirunelveli district.
Of the Protestant missionaries, the services of two European missionaries are particularly laudable. One is C. Mead, who after arriving in 1817 in Nagercoil, as a missionary of the London Missionary Society (LMS), made immense contributions to the cause of education in the town and in Travancore. In 1818, he founded the Nagercoil Seminary, which became one of the first regular institutes to impart English education in Travancore state and also in Southern India. In 1855, in recognition of his contributions to the cause of education, the Travancore Government appointed him Superintendent of Schools, and while in this office he also encouraged women's education in Nagercoil and in the state of Travancore. He also started the Nagercoil Mission Press, the first printing press in the state of Travancore. Mead also fought to abolish forms of indentured labour rampant at that time.
The other great missionary was William Tobias Ringeltaube, a native of the then Prussia (present Germany), who established a number of schools and worked among the poor and downtrodden around the town. He started one of the first regular schools in Travancore at Mylaudy, near Nagercoil which is still active.
Like the London Missionary Society (LMS), another organisation that rendered valuable services to the cause of education and upliftment of the socially downtrodden has been the Church Missionary Society (CMS). Both these societies still have a presence in Nagercoil (nearly two centuries after inception).
The Salvation Army is known in the town for their pioneering medical services in and around the town. Their Catherine Booth Hospital in the Vadasery locality of the town was established in the 19th century and is still active.
The Town and the Local Economy
Nagercoil is the headquarters of the state owned Arasu Rubber Corporation and the regional office of the Central Rubber Board.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a major testing facility for Cryogenic and Liquid Propulsion rocket engines on the Mahendragiri hills (on the Western Ghats) off Nagercoil. Rocket scientists and engineers from all over India work at this facility, called the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Mahendragiri.
The town also serves as a centre for the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant reactors, being built with Russian assistance, which is situated in Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu, but is the closest major town to the facility.
The public sector Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IRE), also has a major facility at Manavaalakurichy, near the town.
Aralvaimozhi, a once-impoverished village, benefited from the building of the nearby Muppandal wind farm, a renewable energy source, supplying the villagers with electricity for work.[2][3] The surrounding area is a major centre for wind-mill renewable-energy production, and one of the biggest centres in South Asia, both in terms of electricity generated and size of wind-mills, with thousands of wind-mill electricity generators on tall towers dotting the entire area. The total power generated from these wind mills are 540 MW with each wind mill generating a power output of nearly 1.65 MW. The wind mills are erected and technically-supported by multinational majors in the field of renewable energy like Vestas, Suzlon, Micon, etc. The steady flow of wind for these wind-mills is made possible because the Muppandal Wind Farm is situated on a mountain gap (pass) in the Western Ghats, through which the wind gushes through, for a major part o the year.
Small Scale industries (cottage industries) include coir-making, floral trade, handloom-weaving, rubber products, fish-net manufacturing (exported on a large scale), food-processing units, lace-making (export-oriented), etc.
Being the major Tamilnadu town closest to the Kerala capital, Thiruvananthapuram (65 km away and the closest International airport to Nagercoil), trading and sending supplies to Kerala and Thiruvananthapuram is a major activity for the bustling markets at Vadasery and Kottar - availability and many items being cheaper in Tamilnadu than in Kerala adds to the thriving business.
Supply of marine and agricultural produce to the overseas export-markets are also important economic activities, though primarily done through exporters or agents in Kerala.
Remittances to Nagercoil from overseas, from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) hailing from the town, is also a major contributor to the local economy.
Education
Some schools and colleges in Nagercoil are more than 150 years old , like the Scott Christian College [1], built by foreign missionaries. As explained above, European missionaries, in the 19th century and early 20th century played a major role in imparting education to the people of the town and district.
One of the oldest regular schools in South India, Sethu Lakshmi Bai Higher Secondary School, is situated in the heart of town. It was established under the supervision of the Travancore administrators and named after a Travancore queen of the time.
Educational institutions include many privately funded Engineering colleges, the state-run Kanyakumari Medical College (at Asaripallam near Nagercoil), and many Polytechnic colleges and Arts and Science Colleges. As in neighbouring Kerala, women's education and career-development are given importance, almost on par with men by all communities.
The leading educational institutions include the ST Hindu College and the Ayappa College for Women. Several leading Colleges and Schools are run by Christian denominations and include the St. Xavier's Catholic College of Engineering, St. Xavier's Catholic College of Nursing (Tamil Nadu's first Catholic diocesan nursing college), CSI Institute of Technology, Scott Christian College (Arts and Sciences College, with some specialised departments), Holy Cross College for Women, Women's Christian College Nagercoil, Carmel higher secondary School, St.Joseph's Convent Higher Secondary School, C.S.I Matriculation Higher Secondary School,Scott Christian Higher Secondary School and [[Duthie Girls Higher secondary School]],Sri Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma Higher Secondary School Which remembeers the highness of king Rama Varma..
The Muslim Arts College at Tiruvithancode. The Noorul Islam College of Engineering at Kumaracoil, near the town, is noted for its facilities and management education programs. The James College of Engineering & Technology at Navalcaud is a path-breaking citadel of technical education.
In the Christian theological side, the Concordia Theological Seminary established in 1924 caters to the training of Pastors of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Media
The town is served by an All India Radio (AIR) FM station (Frequency : 101 MHz) and a Doordarshan relay station. Maalai Malar & Tamil Murasu is a locally published evening newspaper.
Cuisine
Nagercoil enjoys a unique blend of Tamil and Keralite cuisine. Rice is the staple food. Fish is very popular and forms a part of everyday meal for many.
Places of interest
- The Nagaraja Temple (which gives Nagercoil its name) and the Thanumalayan Temple, at Suchindrum, about 6 km from the heart of the town, are famous Hindu shrines resorted to by pilgrims from all over South India. The former has Nagaraja, the King of Snakes, for its principal deity, to whom milk is offered by the devout. Suchindrum is unique amongst Hindu temples in that it unites the worship of the Trinity of Hinduism - Shiva (Sthanu), Vishnu (Perumal or Mal) and Brahma (Aiyan) - in the presiding deity, Thanumalayan. The tradition of the temple is that the King of the Devas, Indra, worships at the temple each night.
- St. Francis Xavier’s Church, in the Kottar locality of the town, which was built in the year 1600 AD, is historically important due to the visit and stay of St.Francis Xavier. The church was built in the land allotted to St. Xavier by the Venad king.
- Fresh water supply to the town is from the Mukkadal Reservoir, about 8 km from the town - itself a very scenic place, with a small bushy island in the middle of the reservoir. The reservoir is surrounded by hills of the Western Ghats.
- Another area with some picture-postcard-perfect sceneries in Kanyakumari District is Boothapandi, about 10 km from Nagercoil. This place shows an extended range of the Western Ghats with lush green fields all around. A peculiar feature about this place is that are some small, dilapidating, ancient Hindu Temples and structures dotting the green fields. (perhaps needs more archaeological research to find out...)
References
- ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns. (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
- ^ "Tapping the Wind - India" (February 2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-28.
- ^ Watts, Himangshu (November 11 2003). "Clean Energy Brings Windfall to Indian Village". Reuters News Service. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.
External links
- Kanyakumari District on wikipedia
- Official Website of Kanyakumari district
- Kanyakumari district portal
- Census Information
- LPSC
- Nagercoil City Portal (நாகர்கோவில்)
- Current weather report in Nagercoil
- Vattakottai
- Chitharal
- Thengapattinam beach
- Udayagiri Fort
- Kanyakumari District Portal and Yellow pages
- Wind energy
- Tsunami
- Ayyavazhi
- Climate and vegetation
- Local news
No comments:
Post a Comment