Page 620 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

618  SOUTH INDIA

h Tuticorin
Tuticorin district. 148 km (92 miles)
S of Madurai. * 1,750,176. £ @
_ Golden Chariot Festival (Aug).
This is Tamil Nadu’s second-
largest natural harbour, and
the main port of call for ships
from Southeast Asia, Australia
and New Zealand. Tuticorin is
also a major industrial centre
with thermal power stations,
spinning mills and salt-
extraction units.
The city’s other important
commercial activity is pearl Corridor of the Kanthimathi Nellaiyappar Temple, Tirunelvelli
fishing. Since the early centuries
of the Christian era, this region’s j Tiruchendur k Tirunelvelli
pearls have been in demand Tuticorin district. 210 km (130 miles) Tirunelvelli district. 154 km (96 miles)
throughout the world. Ancient S of Madurai. £ @ from Madurai, SW of Madurai. £ @ n Tamil Nadu
Tamil literature mentions a Tirunelvelli, Tuticorin & Nagercoil. Tourism, Tirunelvelli Junction, (0462)
flourishing trade with the _ Annual Temple Festival (Jun/Jul). 250 0104. _ Chariot Festival
Romans, who bought Tuticorin (Jun/Jul).
pearls in exchange for gold This beautiful coastal town,
and wine. one of the six sacred abodes of Situated in the fertile tract
Today the government, which Shiva’s son, Murugan (see p610), by the Tamaraparani river,
has set up a society of divers, has the impressive Subramanyam Tirunelvelli is dominated by
strictly regulates pearl fishing, Temple. Dating to the 9th the Kanthimathi Nellaiyappar
in order to protect the oyster century, it was renovated in Temple, parts of which date to
beds – sometimes pearl fishing the 20th century. The temple, the 13th century. This complex
is allowed only once in ten entered through the towering of twin temples, dedicated to
years. The pearl fishers still use Mela gopura, is built on a rocky Shiva and Parvati, has two
traditional methods, diving to promontory overlooking the huge rectangular enclosures
a depth of up to 70 m (230 ft) Gulf of Mannar, and provides connected by a long corridor.
without oxygen to extricate the lovely views. On the seashore The Shiva temple is to the north,
pearls. Most divers can remain there are many caves and rock- while the Parvati temple is
underwater for more than a cut sculptures. to the south. The elaborate
minute; their only safeguard mandapas here include the
against accidents or natural Environs Somavara Man dapa, which
danger is to dive in pairs. Manapad, 18 km (11 miles) contains two pillars carved
Tuticorin was occupied by the south, has one of the oldest like gopuras; the Rishaba
Portuguese in the 17th century churches in India, the Church Mandapa, with exquisitely
and later by the Dutch and the of the Holy Cross. Built in 1581, carved sculptures of Manmatha,
British. Its colonial past is visible it preserves a fragment of the the God of Love, and his consort
in two elegant churches, the “True Cross”, brought from Rathi; and the Mani Mandapa,
Dutch Sacred Heart Cathedral, Jerusalem. An annual festival with a set of stone pillars that
built in the mid-18th century, held every September attracts produce the melodic notes
and the beautiful 17th-century pilgrims from all over the region. of Carnatic music (see p599)
Church of the Lady of the Snows, St Francis Xavier visited this when tapped.
built by the Portuguese. coastal village in 1542. Every summer, the temple’s
wooden chariots are led in
procession through the town
during the annual Chariot
Festival, which attracts
thousands of devotees.
Environs
Courtallam (Kuttalam) Falls,
at an elevation of 170 m (558 ft),
are 59 km (37 miles) northwest
of Tirunelvelli. This picturesque
spot is famed for its exotic flora
and the medi cinal properties
Church of the Holy Cross in Manapad of its waters.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp702–703 and pp717–18

618-619_EW_India.indd 618 26/04/17 11:49 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm