Tirunelveli datails

General Details about Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli the penultimate southern most district of Tamil Nadu, is described as a microcosm of the State, owing to its mosaic and diverse geographical and physical features such as lofty mountains and low plains, dry Teri structures, rivers and cascades, seacoast and thick inland forest, sandy soils and fertile alluvium, a variety of flora, fauna, and protected wild life.

Thenpandiyanadu of the early Pandyas, Mudikonda Cholamandalam of the Imperial Cholas, Tirunelveli Seemai of the Nayaks, Tinnevelly district of the East India Company and the British administration and Tirunelveli district of Independent India was bifurcated on 20th October 1986. The divided districts are called as Nellai-Kattabomman district and Chidambaranar (Tuticorin) district. Subsequently the district name was christened as Tirunelveli-Kattabomman district. As per the decision of the Government of Tamil Nadu to call all the districts by the name of the headquarter town, Tirunelveli-Kattabomman district is now Tirunelveli district. Chidambaranar district is now called as Thoothukudi district.


Puranic Association

The Tirunelveli Sthalapurana prescribes a tradition for the origin of the name Tirunelveli. The puranic version goes that one Vedasarma, a staunch devotee of Shiva, on his pilgrimage from the North to the South was invited by Lord Shiva in his dream to his abode on the banks of the sacred river Tamiraparani. The delighted devotee came to 'Sindupoondhurai on the banks of the river and stayed there with his family. Once there was a famine which forced Vedasarma to collect paddy by way of begging and continuing his daily prayers. One day he spread out the paddy to dry under the Sun before the Lord, and went for his ablutions in Tamiraparani. He prayed to the Lord for rain which he thought could be a remedy for the famine. His prayer was answered and when he was bathing, a thunder storm broke-out and it rained heavily. Vedasarma rushed to the place where he had spread the paddy. He witnessed a miracle. Despite rain around the area, the paddy that he had spread did not get even a single drop of rain and did not get soaked. Since then according to the purana the Town is called as “Tiru-nel-veli” (Sacred hedged paddy).

Origin of the District
On acquisition from the Nawab of Arcot in1801, the British named it as Tinnevelly district though their headquarters was first located in Palayamkottai the adjacent town, where they had their military headquarters during their operations against the Palayakars. Two reasons may be attributed for naming it after Tirunelveli. One is because, it was and is the chief town of the district and the other is that it was already called as Tirunelveli Seemai under the Nayaks and Nawabs. Both Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai grew as the twin towns of the district.

Geographical Data
The Tirunelveli District is located in the world map, between 08o 8’ and 09o 23’ latitude and 77o 09’ and 77o 54’ longitude. The total geographical area of the district is 6,823 sq. km.

Boundaries
The district is surrounded by the State of Kerala, Gulf of Mannar and the districts of Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari.

Land Category
Area in Hectares
Wet
79,668
Dry
3,58,151
Assessed Waste
39,274
Unassessed Waste Dry
57,696
Poramboke
25,456
Forest lands
1,22,055
Total
6,82,300

Climatic Condition

Temperature
In the day time the coastal regions are cooler than the interior parts by about a degree in summer and southwest monsoon seasons and warmer by one to two degrees during the rest of the year. From about the middle of February, temperature increases steadily. In May which is usually the hottest month in the interior, the mean daily maximum temperature is 37.1 degree Celsius. The weather is quite hot in May and June and the maximum temperature some times reaches 45 degree Celsius. With the onset of the southwest monsoon by the end of May or beginning of June, there is some drop in temperature. By about the middle of October, both day and night temperatures decrease appreciably. The period from November to January is the coolest part of the year with the mean daily maximum temperature of about 30 to 31 degree Celsius in the interior parts. The mean daily minimum in these months is about 22 to 23 degree Celsius in the district in general.

Humidity
The relative humidity in general, during the year, is between 55 and 65 percent in the interior parts of the district, except during the northeast monsoon season, when it is over 65 per cent. The coastal parts are comparatively more humid.

Cloudiness
During the months of April and May, the skies become heavily clouded and threatening in the afternoons on many days when thunderstorms follow. In the southwest and northeast monsoon seasons, the sky is heavily clouded or overcast.

Winds
Generally light to moderate in strength.
Between May and September winds are mainly north westerly or westerly
From October to February winds are mainly north easterly or northerly
Rainfall
Main rainy season is from October to the middle of January.
During these southwest monsoon season the rainfall is more in the western parts of the district.
November is generally the rainiest month.
The heaviest rainfall in 24 hours recorded in the district was 371.5 mm at Sivagiri on 29/10/1929.
The average rain fall in the district is 814.8 mm per annum.

Population (2001 Census)
Male
13,72,082
Female
14,29,112
Total
28,01,194

Literates
Male
10,41,964 (75.94%)
Female
8,75,274 (61.12%)
Total
19,17,238 (68.44%)

Mineral Resources

Limestone

It is available at several places in the district. The major part comes from the crystalline limestone deposit occurring near Ramayanpatti, Talaiyuthu and Padmaneri. A total reserve of 4.06 million tonnes limestone up to a depth of 15.2 meter in Ramayanpatti band and 5.08 million tonnes up to a depth of 15.25 meter in Talaiyuthu band has been estimated. The limestone available here contain Calcium Oxide (Ca O) from 34.97 to 55.49 percent, Magnesium Oxide (Mg O) from 0.31 to 7.24 per cent.

The Padmaneri band consists of six limestone lenses with an aggregate strike length of about 800 meter. The average width is 4.75 meter 0.199 million tonnes of cement grade limestone is estimated from this band. The Singikulam band extends over a strike length of 17 km. It contains seven limestone lenses with an aggregate strike length of about 6.4 km. and average width of 13 meter. About 3.160 million tonnes of cement grade limestone is estimated from this band.

Six bands of good quality limestone occur near Pandapuli and 4,34,000 tonnes of limestone suitable for the manufacture of cement and chemical industries have been estimated .

Sulphides

Light traces of sulphides occur in and around Pattankadu and Munradaippu. This mineral is of no economic importance.

Ilmenite - Garnet Sands

Occurrence of red garnet sands in the beds of the river Nambiar and Uvari has been recorded. The proportion of garnet is 75 per cent in the rich deposits and 45 per cent in the surface sands. Local concentration of limenite sands are noticed near Vijayapatti and Kuttankuli.

Forest and Flora

Forests
The total area of the forest of the district is 1,22,055 ha. of which 81700 ha. is set apart for Tiger reserve of Mundanthurai and Kalakadu. The entire forest of the district stretches along the Western ghats.
Various types of forests from luxuriant tropical wet evergreen forests to southern thorn scrub forests occur in the district. Owing to its diverse geographical factors. The forests in the district are technically classified as Southern hill top tropical evergreen forests, West Coast tropical evergreen forests, Southern moist mixed deciduous forests, Ochlandra reed forests, Carnatic umbrella thorn forests Southern Euphorsia scrub and Southern thorn scrub.

Rivers in Tirunelveli District
Tamiraparani
Pachaiyar
Korayar
Chittar
Aluthakanniar
Aintharuviar
Jambunathi
Ramanathi
Gadananathi
Hanumannathi
Karuppanathi
Gundar
Mottaiyar
Manimuthar
Nambiyar
Karunaiyar
Vedamaliyaru
Kottamalaiyaru
Kothaiyaru
Rajasingiyaru
Mundhal Odai