mjhjmtu

Nagercoil
City
Clockwise from top: Nagercoil Aerial View , Nagercoil Clock Tower , St. Xavier's Church, Kottar , Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil
Nickname(s):  Greenest City in Tamil Nadu, Granary of Travancore[1]
Nagercoil Nagercoil in Kanyakumari
Coordinates: 8°10′N 77°26′E / 8.17°N 77.43°E / 8.17; 77.43Coordinates: 8°10′N 77°26′E / 8.17°N 77.43°E / 8.17; 77.43
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Kanyakumari
Government
• Type	Special Grade Municipality
• Body	Nagercoil Municipality
Area
• Total	49.371 km2 (19.062 sq mi)
Elevation	40 m (130 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	224,849
• Density	9,813/km2 (25,420/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	629001
Telephone code	91-4652 & 91-4651
Vehicle registration	TN-74 Nagercoil & TN-75 Marthandam
Literacy	97.35%[2]
HDI	High
Climate	Am (Köppen)
Precipitation	2,128.3 millimetres (83.79 in)
Website	Official Site

Nagercoil ("Temple of the Nāgas" Nagaraja Temple) is a town in the southernmost Indian district of Kanyakumari and a municipality and administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamilnadu. The town is situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, locked with the Western Ghats on three sides.^[3][4] For 735 years it was a central part of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom and later Kerala State, till almost a decade after India's independence from Britain in 1947. In 1956, it was partitioned from Kerala and merged with Tamil Nadu.

Etymology

Known as the Granary of Travancore, Nagercoil not only served as the food basket of Kerala, but was also one among the important spice-trading centers in the kingdom of Travancore from the 14th century onward, and maintained a trade network with Arab merchants from the pre-Islamic era. Various Tamil and Kerala kings fought over this rich agricultural land, which boasted six rivers. Various historians cite that the land's climate and diverse, luxuriant vegetation had no comparison anywhere else in Tamil Nadu.^[5]

Climate

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Nagercoil had a population of 224,849 with a female-male sex ratio of 1.05, well above the national average of 0.929 females/male .^[8][9] A total of 20,241 were under the age of six, constituting 10,119 males and 10,122 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 4.19% and 0.17% of the population respectively. The literacy rate of the town was 95.35%.^[9] The town had a total of 59,997 households. There were a total of 76,345 workers, comprising 244 cultivators, 1,155 main agricultural laborers, 2,271 in household industries, 67,050 other workers, 5,625 marginal workers, 110 marginal cultivators, 361 marginal agricultural laborers, 447 marginal workers in household industries and 4,707 other marginal workers.^[10]

Economy

People shopping at a mall in Nagercoil

The major software companies present in Nagercoil are Hinduja Global Solutions, Navigant Consulting and American stock exchange NASDAQ.^[11][12] The town also has small aerospace manufacturing plants and satellite fabricating firms serving the Indian Space Research Organisations facility in ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri.^[13][14] The Regional Academic Centre for Space by Indian Space Research Organisation one among the only six incubation centers for Space Startups in India is under construction in Nagercoil.^[15][16] The Integral Coach Factory has small scale windmill unit.^[17] The export of 95 tons of fruits and vegetables to the Gulf Countries through the Thiruvananthapuram airports is a major source of revenue for the cities, with food processing companies generating a daily revenue of 16.7 lakh rupees and an annual revenue of 6.1 billion rupees.^[18] The flower market of Thovalai exports 350 tons of Flowers to Kerala, Europe and Middle Eastern countries generating an annual revenue of Rs.250 crore.^[19][20][21]
The major Cottage Industries like Fish-net manufacturing, Rubber industries, Jewellery manufacturing are industries serving the domestic and export markets.^[22][23] The minor Cottage industries include Surgical Gloves, Coir-making, floral trade, handloom-weaving, cashew nut, spices, food-processing units, and lace-making (export-oriented).^[24] The town has the highest per capita income of Rs.276,454 (US$3,800), making it among The richest towns in India.

Energy

Wind farm in Muppandal and Aralvaimozhi region near Nagercoil

The city has an installed windmill capacity of 1500 MW catering to 20% of the state's renewable electricity needs. Muppandhal has emerged as the wind power hub, with plant owners eager to cash in on the Rs 2.90 per unit purchase price being offered by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.^[25]

Architecture

The Nagercoil Palace (1719) now houses the RDO office in the campus of Collectorate.

The 14th century Saint Xavier's Church in Kottar.

The Scott School, established in 1819.

The Thanumalayan Temple Pond and its adjoining streets inhabited since the 16th century.

The Home Church, built by William Tobias Ringeltaube in 1816.

The Catherine Booth Hospital (1834)

The streets along the Nagaraja Temple are being inhabited from the 15th Century.

The architecture of Nagercoil consists of an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from those that predate the creation of the town, from the early Dravidian architecture and Kerala Architecture, to English Gothic Revival, to the 21st century contemporary. Although there are prehistoric and classical structures in the town, the architectural history of Nagercoil effectively begins with the first small settlements from 3 A.D. The Roman naturalist and writer Pliny the Elder mentions Nagercoil as a commercial metropolis, having trade links with his contemporaneous Roman merchants, who traded and stayed in unique rock-walled, clay-roofed structures. This legacy can be found in some of the town's old heritage structures like the Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil. The temple has two main deities, Krishna (revered as Ananda Krishna) and Nagaraja. The upadevathas are Shiva, Subrahmanya Swami, Ganesha, Devi, and Dwarapalaka. As an ancient tradition the priests are Namboothiri Brahmins who are referred by the Pambumekkat mana in Thrissur, Kerala. The 14th century St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Kottar serves as a testimony to the mix of Roman and native architecture. While Saint Xavier was doing missionary work at Kottar and its neighborhood, he averted an invasion of Padagas with the help of his cross alone and thus protected the people of the Venad kingdom from that attack which was appreciated by the king, Unni Kerala Varma, who became closer to the priest and befriended him from then on. In recognition of Xavier's services, the king allotted him a piece of land to construct a Catholic church, as a gesture of goodwill, as per the church records. There was already a small church, in the same place where St. Xavier's church stands at present, dedicated to Mary the Mother of God, since AD 1544. Later on, Dravidian and Kerala architectural styles began to appear in the area. This can be attributed to the construction of the Thanumalayan Temple in the 16th Century.^[26]

The brilliant artistic influence of Kerala and British architecture marvels are seen in the Nagercoil Palace, Nagercoil Clock Tower, Home Church, Scott Christian College, Scott School, Carmel School, ST. Joseph Convent, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi School, Nagercoil Court, The Concordia Seminary, Filter House, Catherine Booth Hospital and many more heritage structures in and around the town. Among these, the Nagercoil Clock Tower is the most visible to the outside world, situated in the heart of the town, which was built to commemorate the visit of Sri Moolam Thirunal, the ruler of Travancore, in 1893, and was designed by Hogeorf and S. Horesly of England. The Maharajah himself inaugurated it on February 15 of that year. The pendulum of the clock was made in Derbyshire by Smith of Derby Group, London. The clock is attached to a 60-foot-long chain with a weight, operated with pulleys through gravitational force.
The clock in the Nagercoil Clock Tower was presented to the Maharajah by Rev. James Duthie. of the London Missionary Society.^[27]
The total cost for constructing the Nagercoil Clock Tower was Rs.3258, 9 Chakrams and 12 Kasu. The Maharajah of Travancore donated Rs.1017, and the balance was donated by the public.^[27] However, the decline in the interest by the government to uphold and preserve the heritage monuments are a cause of concern to heritage enthusiasts and the citizens of the town. The fear, that with time, the extinction of this heritage will be imminent is growing with the demolition of a few structures.^[28]

Politics

Marshal Nesamony, one of the leading lawyers of the Nagercoil Bar, was elected as the Chairman of the Nagercoil Municipal Council in 1943. He enlarged the town boundary, improved the town's water supply system, established a home for destitutes and increased the income of the Nagercoil Municipality. In the same year, he was elected to the Travancore State Assembly and was also nominated to the Senate of the Kerala University, then known as the Travancore University.^[29] Later on K. Kamaraj, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, won from the Kanyakumari constituency without even canvassing.^[30] This happens to be the strongest support base for the Indian National Congress in South India and is Nicknamed "The Fort of Congress".^[31][32][33] The Nagercoil (Lok Sabha constituency) is perhaps the only Constituency in Tamil Nadu to not have elected any Dravidian parties in the state's history.^[34]

A.K. Chellaiya, was a politician and MLA of Colachel constituency on 1952. He resigned his post for merging Kanyakumari with Tamilnadu.^[35]

A. Samraj, was an MLA of Thovalai constituency on 1952. He resigned his post for merging Kanyakumari with Tamil Nadu.

Education

Sethu Lakshmi Bayi School, Nagercoil was built in 1924.

Tamil is the official language in Nagercoil and is spoken by the majority of the population here. There are many schools and colleges in Nagercoil that are more than 100 years old, such as Scott Christian College (est 1809)^[36]) and Scott Christian Higher Secondary School (est 1819).

The literacy rate is at 94.99%^[37] higher tha the national average of 74.04%^[38] and state average of 80.09%.^[39]

Culture

Nagercoil traditional Cuisine.

Onam is a festival which is widely celebrated among the Malayalam-speaking population by drawing the `atha poo' (flower decoration) in the floor,^[40][41]

Sports

Nagercoil has the distinction of housing one of the two Sports Authority of India Centers in the state, the other being in Chennai.^[42][43] There are plans to make the city hub for sports in South india by merging it with the Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi Centers with Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram .^[44]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nagercoil.

• Official website of Kanyakumari district