Nagercoil

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Kanniyakumari district map

Nagercoil (नगरकोइल) is a city and administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu, India. Author (Laxman Burdak) visited the place on 17.12.2007 & 18.12.2007 and has provided images and other information.

Location

Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an undulating terrain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea.

Origin

Nagercoil (नगरकोइल) means "Temple of the Nāgas"

Jat clans

History

Nagercoil derives from the Tamil expression Nagaraja koyil, meaning "temple of Nagas". 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.[1]


Dr Naval Viyogi[2] writes....South India has been the home of naga-worship since prehistoric period, where every house and village worship cobra. The great popularity of this cult in South is testified by snake slabs or Nagakals, which are usually found some times in great number at the entrance of town or village. Some famous serpent temples are reported to exist at Nagpatnam, Nagercoil, etc. So it is clear that Naga-worshipping people or Naga race had their sway throughout India in remote past. In short we can say that Kir or Kirit in Himalayan region, Saraja or Sevaraj in Satluj and Beas valley, Soura or Chawara in Saurashtra, Sevari or Cheru in Gangatic vallley, Saurya in central province, Chera or Sera in Khasi hills and Kera, Chera, Sera or Serai in south India all are Naga-worshipping tribes who were putting up and are still putting up in different parts of India. It means they were in power in the whole nation in pre-historic and historic times. Thus the tradition of Nag-worship and Naga race had spread up in the whole nation in ancient time.

Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil

The temple is located in the city of Nagercoil, about 20 kilometers northwest of Kanyakumari. Its dating is uncertain but likely pre-12th-century. The main sanctum is dedicated to the Nagaraja – the king of serpents. Iconography found in the temple, inscriptions and literary evidence suggests that the Nagaraja main shrine may initially have been an active Jain temple with Jain priests through the 16th-century CE, one that also attracted the Hindus.[3]

The temple has three shrines. The oldest and the main shrine's deity remains the original Nagaraja. The second shrine is dedicated to Ananthakrishna (baby Krishna dancing on a coiled snake) with Rukmini and Satyabhama. The third shrine is dedicated to Shiva.[4] The mandapa includes six icons of Jaina Tirthankaras and a goddess such as Parsvanatha and Padmavati Devi with rare, non-standard emblems (all lions). It also includes those of Hindu deities such as Subrahmanya Swami, Ganesha and Devi Bhagavati.[5]

Gallery of Images of Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil

Economy

The present city of Nagercoil grew around Kottar, a mercantile town that dates back to the Sangam period. Kottar is now a locality within the city limits. 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,


Nagercoil is a centre for a range of economic activities in the small but densely-populated Kanyakumari District. Economic activities in around the city include tourism, wind energy, IT services, marine fish production and exports, rubber and cloves plantations, agro-crops, floral production, manufacture of fishnets, rubber products among other activities.[6]

‘Nagercoil Cloves’ is a distinct quality of dried cloves in the spices market, noted for its aroma and medicinal value.[7] Cloves, pepper and other spices are grown in estates in the Western Ghats, outside the town.

Nagercoil is also the nearest city to the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri and the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.

External links

References

  1. Sadasivan, S. N. (9 March 2019). River Disputes in India: Kerala Rivers Under Siege. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170999133
  2. Dr Naval Viyogi: Nagas the Ancient Rulers of India, p.34-35
  3. Rao, T.A. Gopinatha (1910). Travancore Archaeological Series. 2. pp. 127–129.
  4. P.K. Nambiar and K.C. Narayana Kurup (1968), Fairs and Festivals (Temples), Census of India 1961, Volume IX: Madras, Part VII-B, pp.43–44
  5. Rao, T.A. Gopinatha (1910). Travancore Archaeological Series. 2. pp. 127–129.
  6. "Kanyakumari District Statistical Handbook" (PDF).
  7. Cultivation of Spices. 11 February 2003. ISBN 9788178330648.