Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Kanyakumari


Kanyakumari
Kanyakumari (Tamil: கன்னியாகுமரி; About this soundpronunciation (help·info)) is a city of Kanyakumari district in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. Also, called as the "God's own district". The name comes from the Devi Kanya Kumari Temple in the region, in Tamil it is pronounced as 'Kan-niya-kumari'. It is the southernmost tip of peninsular India, and is surrounded on three sides by the Laccadive Sea.Kanyakumari city is the southern tip of the Cardamom Hills, an extension of the Western Ghats range. Nearest city is Thiruvanathapuram (85 km) and airport is Trivandrum International Airport, Trivandrum , Kerala. and the nearest town is Nagercoil, the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District, 22 km (14 mi) away. Kanyakumari has been a city since Sangam period and is a popular tourist destination. Ptolemy's geography describes commercial relations between western India and Alexandria, the chief eastern emporium of the Roman Empire. He identified Kanyakumari along with the Gulf of Mannar as a center for pearl fishery. He also identifies Korkai (assumed to be the present day's Tuticorin), a place to the east of Kanyakumari, as an emporium of pearl trade.
Another ancient Greek book, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, contains sailing directions for merchants from the Red Sea to the Indus and Malabar, and even indicates that the coast from Barygaza (Baroch) had a general southward direction down to and far beyond Kanyakumari.
Kanyakumari District consists of those parts known locally as Nanjil Nadu and Idai Nadu. The names of the villages of the district such as Azhagiapaandipuram, Bhoothapandy, Cholapuram and Kulasekaram reveal that these places were governed by several rulers at different periods of time. Nanjilnadu was under the rule of Pandiyas until the early 10th century and then under Cheras.
The Kalkulam and Vilavancode taluks were under the rule of the Chera Dynasty. When the power of Chola declined due to the rise of Hoysalas and western Chalukyas, the Venad (Travancore) Chieftains (descendants of the central Chera family) took advantage of the situation and gradually established their hold on considerable areas in Nanjilnadu. Veera Kerala Varma, one such chieftain, styled himself as "Nanjil Kuravan". The annexation commenced by Veera Kerala Varma was to a large extent continued by his successors and completed by AD 1115.
For about four centuries, the Venad was ruled by powerful kings who were consistently making incursions into the Pandian territories. As a result, Vijayanagar kings proceeded against Venad. In 1609 Kanyakumari fell into the hands of Viswanatha Nayak of Madurai. Consequent to this, there was no serious threat to Nanjilnadu until 1634. During the regime of Ravi Varma and Marthanda Varma, Venad was disturbed by the internal strife.
Sanda Sahib of Arcot took advantage of this situation and attacked Nanjilnadu. Although Marthanda Varma was victorious in the battle of Colachel and defeated the Dutch armouries who helped the local feudatories, he could not cope with the threat from Sanda Sahib, which forced him to withdraw from the battlefield. After Marthanda Varma, Venad had weak rulers and as a result there was frequent interference by the British (who knew it as Kanyakumari) whose control was completely established over Venad and continued until 1947. From 1947 to 1956, it was under the personal rule of Maharaja of Travancore. Later it was reoccupied and merged with Tamilnadu.
Modern history
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Kanyakumari has been a great centre for art and religion for centuries. It was also an area of great trade and commerce. It was ruled by the Cholas, the Cheras, the Pandyas and the Nayaks. The architectural beauty of the temples in the area are the works of these rulers. Later Kanyakumari became part of the Venad kingdom with its capital at Quilon. The king of Venad, Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, established Travancore by extending his domain further north up to Azhva, during his reign from 1729 to 1758. By this, the present Kanyakumari District came to be known as Southern Travancore. In 1741, Maharaja Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch East India Company at the famous Battle of Colachel.
Kanyakumari was under the rule of the Pandyan Kings till the downfall of Pandyas, and later by kings of Travancore under the overall suzerainty of the British (as "Cape Comorin") until 1947, when India became independent. Travancore joined the independent Indian Union in 1947. The reign of the Travancore royals came to an end.
In 1949, Kanyakumari became part of the reconstituted Travancore-Cochin State. Around this time, a popular agitation by the Tamil-speaking people of the district for the amalgamation of Kanyakumari District with Tamil Nadu intensified under the leadership of Marshal Nesamony who is called as 'Kumari Thanthai' (Father of Kanyakumari district). Marshal Nesamony was instrumental in the merger of Kanyakumari district with Tamil Nadu (then known as Madras State) in 1956 during the linguistic reorganisation of states.
Demographics
As of the census of India 2001, Kanniyakumari had a population of 19,739 comprising 9,884 males and 9,855 females, making the sex ratio (number of females per thousand males) of the town to 997. A total of 2,403 people were under six years of age and the child sex ratio (number of females per thousand males under six years of age) stood at 1,024. The town had an average literacy of 88.62%, higher than the national average of 59.5%.There were total of 4,236 households in the town.and sunrise is the famous part of kanyakumari As of 2001, Kanyakumari had a total of 5,929 main workers: 11 cultivators, 78 agricultural labourers, 66 in house hold industries and 5,774 other workers. There were a total of 119 marginal workers: 4 marginal cultivators, 3 marginal agricultural labourers, 11 marginal workers in household industries and 101 other marginal workers .

Geography

Kanyakumari is located at 8.08°N 77.57°E.[6] It has an average elevation of 300 metre. Kanyakumari does lie at the meeting point of three bodies of water, but it mainly borders only one: the Laccadive Sea to the south. It is the confluence of the Western Coastal Plains and Eastern Coastal Plains.
It is located at the southern tip and southernmost point of the Indian Subcontinent. However, the southernmost point of the Republic of India is at Indira Point on Great Nicobar Island, at 6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E.
Kanyakumari is used geographically to define southern end of the Coromandel Coast region

Pilgrimage

Kanya Kumari is notable for pilgrimage and tourism. The place takes its name from the goddess Devi Kanya Kumari, considered to be a sister of Krishna. Women pray to her for marriage. The goddess is believed to be the one who removes the rigidity of our mind. The temple here is a Shakti Peetha, one of the holiest shrines of the Mother goddess. Also nearby are eleven sacred theertham.
The place was called Kanyashram of the Baalaambika, the deity of the temple. The sea ablution for Pitr Tarpan is done here. This is one of the rare temples in India where Devi (Mother Goddess) is worshipped as a child. The rites and rituals are done in the Kerala Namboothiri method, so there are slight differences in the way of worship compared to the temples of the nearby region. The deity is the goddess of Sanasa, so people from all over India who desire to devote their life as Sanyasin come here and take the deeksha. Swami Vivekananda came to this temple as directed by his Guru Shri Ramakrishna Prarama Hamsa, being a Sanyasin. The temple is very old and is mentioned in ancient Sanskrit literature.
The beach sands are multi-coloured and likened to a mythological story.
There is a shrine for Kalabhairava in the temple. It is said that the backbone area of Sati Devi’s corpse fell here.
The place is famous for Agastyar mala where Sage Agastya lived. He is the founder of Siddha vydya, so there is innumerable medicinal plants available here. He is also considered as the founder of Varma Kalai, a form of martial arts.
Another pilgrimage is Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil nearby.
At the Thanumalayan Temple in Suchindram, the three main gods of Hindu mythology – Śiva, Brahmā and Vishnu – are in one form called thanumalayan.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial

 Vivekananda Rock Memorial is a popular tourist monument in Vavathurai, Kanyakumari, India. It was built in 1970 in honour of Swami Vivekananda who is said to have attained enlightenment on the rock.[1] According to local legends, it was on this rock that Goddess Kumari performed austerity. A meditation hall known as Dhyana Mandapam is also attached to the memorial for visitors to meditate. The design of the mandapa incorporates different styles of temple architecture from all over India. The rocks are surrounded by the Laccadive Sea. The memorial consists of two main structures, the Vivekananda Mandapam and the Shripada Mandapam. 

 

Initiation of the Memorial

In January 1962, on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s birth centenary, a group of people formed the Kanyakumari Committee whose objective was to put up a memorial on the rock and a pedestrian bridge leading to the rock. Almost simultaneously, the Ramakrishna Mission in Madras planned about this memorial.
Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari
However, this news was not taken in good taste by a sizable population of the local Catholic fishermen. They put up a big Cross on the Rock, visible from the shore.
This led to protests by the Hindu population who said the Rock was a place of worship for Hindus. A judicial probe ordered by the Madras (now Tamil Nadu) government stated in unequivocal terms that the rock was Vivekananda Rock, and that the Cross was a trespass. Amid all this acrimony, the Cross was removed secretly in the night. The situation turned volatile and the Rock was declared a prohibited area with armed guards patrolling it.
The Government realised that the Rock was turning into an area of dispute with Hindus claiming it to be the Vivekananda Rock and Christians that it was St. Xavier’s Rock. It decreed that although the rock was Vivekananda Rock, there would be no memorial constructed on it. The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Shri M. Bhaktavatsalam, said that only a tablet declaring that the rock was associated with Swami Vivekananda could be put up, and nothing else. With government permission, the tablet was installed on the Rock on 17 January 1963.

Role of Eknath Ranade

The first step he took on being asked to take charge of the Rock Memorial work, was to ascertain that this effort had the full support of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. He was made the Organising Secretary of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee so that he was officially in charge of the Rock Memorial mission.
The immediate obstacles were Bhaktavatsalam’s stand that he would not allow the memorial to come up as Humayun Kabir, the Union Minister for Cultural Affairs, had said that the natural beauty of the Rock would be spoiled.
Kabir’s constituency was Calcutta. When Ranade publicised in Calcutta, that it was Kabir who was against the creation of Memorial of one of the greatest sons of Bengal, there was such a hue and cry that Kabir had to do a volte-face. However, to prevail over Bhaktavatsalam, only the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s support would do.
To that end, on Lal Bahadur Shastri’s advice, Ranade camped in Delhi. In three days, he collected the signatures of 323 Members of Parliament in a show of all-round support for the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which was presented to the Prime Minister. Bhaktavatsalam had no option now but to allow the construction of the Rock Memorial.
Bhaktavatsalam had given permission only for a small 15’ x 15’ shrine. Knowing his reverence for the Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Ranade approached the latter for suggesting the design of the Rock Memorial. Bhaktavatsalam unhesitatingly agreed to the larger design (130’-1½" x 56’)approved by the Paramacharya.
Once all the political hurdles were removed, construction was underway. Ranade was in the forefront facing all the challenges that came his way: to establish scientifically that the Rock was structurally sound and could support such a huge structure on it; the logistics of quarrying and transporting large blocks of stone from great distances, and from the shore to the Rock; provision of water and power supplies; the growing demand for skilled artisans, craftsmen, and labor; building of jetty platforms on the rock and the shore (the pedestrian footbridge idea to the Rock was dropped); the de-silting around the jetty platform areas to enable bigger crafts to approach the shore, and so on.
The biggest and ever-present challenge, however, was that of financing the whole operation. Ranade’s belief in the success of the Rock Memorial mission was so strong, that he never slowed down the pace of work when funds were in paucity. He brushed aside the discouragement of others whose belief was not as strong and started a fund-campaign.
Ranade believed that as the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was a national monument, every Indian should be invited to contribute to its construction. He approached almost every State government and asked for their contribution, making a special effort to go to the north-eastern states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh so that they could also feel a part of the national endeavor.
But the bulk of the contributions came from the general public. Ranade launched the campaign of one-rupee folders throughout the nation, which were used to mobilize the donations of the common man, starting from as tiny an amount as a rupee. Thus so many people visiting the Rock Memorial could feel with justified pride that they too had contributed to that monument.
Within the unbelievably short period of six years, the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was inaugurated in 1970, and dedicated to the nation.

The Living Memorial

The establishment of Vivekananda Kendra—the Living Memorial alongside the stone structure of the Rock Memorial—was mentioned in 1964. After the groundwork of about nine years, Vivekananda Kendra was officially founded on 7 January 1972 (the 108th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by the Hindu calendar). On that day, as the sun rose, a saffron flag with Om inscribed on it was unfurled on the Vivekananda Rock Memorial to celebrate the founding of the Vivekananda Kendra: a spiritually oriented service mission of non-monastic order.
The tradition of penance was to be continued by young men and women coming as Karyakartas of Vivekananda Kendra to spread the following message of Swami Vivekananda:
A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion’s courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising up, the gospel of equality.
The twin objectives of Vivekananda Kendra are man-making and nation-building. Shri Eknath Ranade decided that Vivekananda Kendra was to be a cadre-based organisation. Young men and women whose hearts long to serve the nation would be provided the opportunity and the right platform to serve God in man.
When Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial was blueprinted, it was modeled by E. Thanumalayan, a student of the S. T. Hindu College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. He modeled it with paraffin wax. The Memorial is the fusion of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu architecture and the design of Ramakrishna Math, Belur, West Bengal. He was deeply appreciated by the then Madras Chief Minister Bhaktavatsalam for its aesthetic quality.
SOURCES : WIKIPEDIA 
POSTED BY : VIPUL KOUL
 

1 comment:

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