Papanasam is a small beautiful village away from the tourist trail and located at the foot hills of Western Ghats, on the banks of river Thamiraparni. The place is easily approachable from the nearest town Tirunelveli. Papanasam Temple. It is 45km from Tirunelveli from where buses ply to Papanasam. It is located in tirunelveli district of tamilnadu. It is 35km away from courtalam falls tourist place.
It is believed, once there was a Pandyan king who converted to Buddhism and ill-treated those amongst his subjects who did not convert to Buddhism as he decreed. Unable to face the harassment, a family with who were ardent devotees of Lord Shiva, left their home with their two children and went to a neighboring state. Unfortunately the family got caught up in a war that was raging there and the children, one boy and the other a girl, got separated from each other. Many years later they arrived in Banares the holy city, where they met each other, fell in love and got married without realising that they were brother and sister. They establish out their mistake afterwards and sought ways of absolving their sin. By chance they met each other, fell in love and got married without realising that they were siblings. They were advised to wear black and to bathe in all the sacred waters in India and when their black clothes turning white sill be an indication that they were absolved of their sin. Accordingly they go from place to place in search of redemption and finally when they bathed in the river Thamiraparni at Papanasam their clothes turned white thus indicating the absolution of their sin. Hence the deity in this temple, Siva, is refered to as ‘Papavinaseswarar’ - the redeemer of sins. The river Thamiraparni passes in front of the Temple. The Papanasam water falls and Banatheertham water falls in the river up hills are very sacred, beautiful places.
There is a Siva temple in Papanasam worshipped by sage Agasthiyar. The deity here is known by the name ‘Papa Vinasar’ meaning one who removes our sins. People have a faith that their sins will be removed if they take a bath in Agasthiyar Falls and worship Lord Papavinasar. A huge mass of people gather here everyyear on the full moon day of the Tamil month Chittirai.
Papavinaseshvara Temple which is nearer to the water fall has broad flights of steps leading down to the water.
Panatheertham: The holy river Tambrabarni commences its course from "Panar theertham". It is located just opposite to the upper dam. One can reach this spot crossing the dam by boat.
Kalyanitheertham : This is a holy Pool which is located at an elevation of 125 feet from Agasthiyar falls is getting water flow from this Pool only. Near the Pool, there is a temple dedicated to Lord Siva.
Agasthiyar Falls & Temple:
Legend has it that it was close to the Papanasam Falls, on the banks of the Tamiraparani river that as Siva and Parvati appeared before Agasthiya, the falls came to be known as the "Agasthiya falls". When Shiva married Parvati, he was worried that the influx of people from the South attending the wedding in the North would cause the North to sink, so he dispatched Agasthiyar to the South (to this waterfall, naturally) in order to balance the world.To commemorate the visit of the divine couple, The Agasthya temple was built there This is located half way to the Panatheertham which is at a distance of 4 Kms from Papanasam Siva Temple. One can reach these Agasthiyar Falls and temple by trekking a distance of 3 kms.
Location:
Papanasam is
45 kms west of Tirunelveli,
180 Kms. south from Madurai,
100 Kms. north from Kanniyakumari and
140 Kms. northeast from Thiruvananthapuram.
Access:
Airport: Trivandrum-international Airport (140 Kms) / Madurai-domestic Airport (180 kms.)
Railway station:Ambasamudram Railway station 5 kms.
Bus stop: Regular bus services are available to near by towns
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Papanasam is good tourist place
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Top 10 most searched on Google 2008
The 2008 year-end India Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends based on searches conducted by users in India.
YouTube becomes is the fastest rising search term in 2008. Orkut and Gmail remain the most popular networking and communication properties for Indian users. Also Katrina Kaif was the most searched across various categories.
Google country head Vinay Goel who says the most searched celebrity Katrina Kaif is more Polular in Pakistan than in India.
“Katrina Kaif is not only the most searched for Bollywood celebrity, she is also the fastest rising search item across categories in India.
She is more popular in Pakistan than In India. So if she's ended up in the Top Ten list in India, she's in the top two or three list in Pakistan,” he said.
While developing the 2008 report, Google analyzed various aspects of the search queries to understand what was on the minds of Internet users in India.
Fastest Rising Searches
1. youtube
2. orkut
3. katrina kaif
4. cricket
5. irctc
6. facebook
7. genelia d'souza
8. beijing 2008 olympic games
9. sixth pay commission
10. ipl
Most Popular Searches
1. orkut
2. gmail
3. yahoo
4. google
5. youtube
6. yahoomail
7. indian railways
8. rediff
9. cricket
10. katrina kaif
Top searches on Mobile
1. orkut
2. yahoo
3. waptrick
4. gmail
5. games
6. katrina kaif
7. rediffmail
8. yahoomail
9. namitha
10. google
Top Bollywood Celebrities
1. katrina kaif
2. aishwarya rai
3. salman khan
4. hrithik roshan
5. kareena kapoor
6. shahid kapur
7. deepika padukone
8. shahrukh khan
9. mallika sherawat
10. genelia d'souza
Top holiday destinations
1. goa
2. kerala
3. kashmir
4. dubai
5. singapore
6. australia
7. london
8. shimla
9. switzerland
10. manali
Top 'how to' searches
1. how to reduce weight
2. how to kiss
3. how to earn money
4. how to get pregnant
5. how to learn english
6. how to gain weight
7. how to play guitar
8. how to create a website
9. how to impress a girl
10. how to tie a tie
Zeitgeist
Google reveals the internet "Zeitgeist" (German for "the spirit of the times") through an exploration of the billions of search queries Goolgle receives every year. In addition to the year-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of 2008, they also have several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Beautiful bird peacock: mayil
The term "peacock" is normally used to refer to birds of both sexes. Technically, only males are peacocks. Females are peahens, and together, they are called peafowl. The female peafowl is brown or toned grey and brown. Normally the peacock is called as “mayil” or “ponmayil”. The village people say that using the word mayil.Suitable males may gather harems of several females, each of which will lay three to five eggs. In fact, wild peafowl often roost in forest trees and gather in groups called parties. Peacocks are ground-feeders that eat insects, plants, and small creatures. Peafowl are omnivorous and eat ticks, termites, ants,locusts, mice, plant parts, flower petals, seed heads, scorpions and other arthropods, reptiles, and amphibians.
Peacocks are large, colorful pheasants (typically blue and green) known for their iridescent tails. These tail feathers, or coverts, spread out in a distinctive train that is more than 60 percent of the bird’s total body length and boast colorful "eye" markings of blue, gold, red, and other hues. The large train is used in mating rituals and courtship displays. It can be arched into a magnificent fan that reaches across the bird's back and touches the ground on either side. Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains.The Indian Blue Peacock has produced several mutations in captivity. These include the Black-shouldered, in which the male has the wings blue, green and black, the female being very pale; the White; and the Pied, in which the normal plumage of the Indian Blue is irregularly marked with white.
The so-called 'Spalding' variey is a hybrid between the Indian and the Green species. It is very beautiful bird, intermediate between the two parents in colors, in hardiness and in temperament. Peafowl have left captivity and developed permanent, free-roaming populations in several parts of the world including Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, Rolling Hills Estates, California and Arcadia, California.Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Rayappanadanoor
Rayappanadanoor is a small beautiful village. It is 12 km away from Tenkasi and 15 km away from kurtalam. This village is near to Avudayanoor. In this one primary school is there, its government school name is Primary union public school. This school was started on April 2000 at Raman kovil. At that time school building work was going on that why school education was started in the kovil. First 30 students in the class room and one men teacher appointed. Rayappnadanoor total population is now more 500 people is there. In this village full with trees with clear air. It's consisting of perhaps 100 to 150 families are living. Normally village is harm area. In this village contains more temples and festival comes year once. Rayappanadanoor is located at Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu.
Villages have been the usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture, and even for some non-agricultural societies. Towns and cities were few, and were home to only a small proportion of the population. The Industrial Revolution caused many villages to grow into towns and cities; this trend of urbanization has continued, though not always in connection with industrialization. Villages have thus been eclipsed in importance as units of human society and settlement.
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Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Lots of TV and Internet harms kids health
Spending a lot of time watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Web makes children more prone to a range of health problems including obesity and smoking, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
U.S. National Institutes of Health, Yale University and the California Pacific Medical Center experts analyzed 173 studies done since 1980 in one of the most comprehensive assessments to date on how exposure to media sources impacts the physical health of children and adolescents.
The studies, most conducted in the United States, largely focused on television, but some looked at video games, films, music, and computer and Internet use. Three quarters of them found that increased media viewing was associated with negative health outcomes.
The studies offered strong evidence that children who get more media exposure are more likely to become obese, start smoking and begin earlier sexual activity than those who spend less time in front of a screen, the researchers said.
Studies also indicated more media exposure also was linked to drug and alcohol use and poorer school performance, while the evidence was less clear about an association with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, they added.
"I think we were pretty surprised by how overwhelming the number of studies was that showed this negative health impact," NIH bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the researchers in the report released by the advocacy group Common Sense Media, said in a telephone interview.
"The fact that it was probably more a matter of quantity than actual content is also a concern. We have a media-saturated life right now in the 21st century. And reducing the number of hours of exposure is going to be a big issue."
Experts for decades have worried about the impact on young viewers of the violence and sexual content in some TV programs, movies and video games. Another issue is that kids are spending time sitting on a couch watching TV or playing computer games when they could be running around outside.
One study cited in the report found that children who spent more than eight hours watching TV per week at age 3 were more likely to be obese at 7. And research shows that many U.S. children, even toddlers, watch far more.
Dr. Cary Gross of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, another of the researchers, said TV and other media content can have a profound impact on children's attitudes and beliefs, most notably among teens.
He cited a U.S. study by the RAND research organization published in November that showed that adolescents who watched more programing with sexual themes had a higher risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy.
Thirteen of 14 studies that evaluated sexual behavior found an association between media exposure and earlier initiation of sexual behavior.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Three brightest objects smile down from the night sky
The November last week the two planets moved closer together so that they appeared no more than two degrees apart, which equates to a finger's width when held out at arm's length. As they were joined by the moon on Monday night photographers around the world - from Bangkok to Kenya - captured the image.
"This certainly is an unusual coincidence for the crescent moon to be right there in the days when they are going to be closest together," said Alan MacRobert, senior editor of Sky and Telescope magazine.
The moon is the brightest, closest and smallest of the three and is 252,000 miles away. Venus, the second brightest, closest and smallest, is 94 million miles away, while Jupiter is 540 million miles away.
The three celestial objects come together from time to time, but often they are too close to the sun or unite at a time when they are less visible.
The next time the three will be as close and visible as this week will be Nov 18, 2052, according to Jack Horkheimer, director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Terrorist attacked: NSG storms Oberoi, Taj Hotel in Mumbai
Gunbattles raged between terrorists and commandoes and fresh explosions rocked two luxury hotels -Taj and Trident (Oberoi)- after a night of Terror targeting ten places in the country's financial capital killed over 100 people and injuring almost 600 people.
Sharp shooters of army, NSG and other security forces moved into Mumbai's landmark hotels to overwhelm an unspecified number of terrorists still holed out there after several residents were rescued in the wee hours.
Police believe that the number of terrorists could be three or four. Raging fire and plumes of black smoke were seen billowing from the central dome of the century-old heritage Taj hotel opposite the Gateway of India this morning as firemen struggled to douse them.
A guest stranded in one of the rooms said two explosions shook the building. Another luxury hotel Trident was under siege with some terrorists holding some foreigners hostage. A tourist guide was worried about the fate of five Canadians he had put up in that hotel. Earlier in the night, explosions were heard in the hotel.
Exchange of fire intensified at Nariman House, a residential complex with a Jewish prayer hall, where also a hostage situation was prevailing. There were unconfirmed reports of a similar situation in Cama hospital.
As Wednesday night's terror incidents spread a sense of panic and fear in the metropolis, schools and colleges were ordered closed and the Bombay Stock Exchange will not function on Thursday.
Suburban trains and city buses operated normally but without usual rush.
Except for cancellation of three international flights, domestic air services to Mumbai were maintained.
As gun fights raged, security personnel were seen summoning ambulances, an indication perhaps that some injured could be rushed to hospitals. A grenade explosion was also heard in the Trident Hotel.
One foreigner and several employees of the Taj Hotel were among those killed in the terror incidents, something unprecedented the country has witnessed for the indiscriminate firing indulged in by the terrorists who also took hostages singling out American and British passport holders.
Little known Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the terror strikes in e-mails sent to some media organisations.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the situation was "grave". He remarked that the terrorists could have come by boats.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister R R Patil said nine suspected terrorists have been detained. Five police officers, including Anti Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, were killed in the terror strikes that in all claimed the lives.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Cloud and Climate Changes: CERES Flight Model Moves toward Launch
NASA’s Langley Research Center’s Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments have been observing clouds and the radiation budget for nearly a decade now. Key questions remain about how a warming climate will affect clouds, which play an important role in what scientists call the planet's "radiation budget."
Since its inception, CERES, which measures all wavelength radiation, has gathered that important data, building on the prior observations of NASA’s Earth's Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data to create a 30-year record of radiative flux at the top of Earth's atmosphere.
A new sensor, the CERES Flight Model (FM) 5, that will continue the 30-year climate data record of the Earth's radiant energy, has been delivered ahead of schedule and on budget, by Northrop Grumman Space Technologies. The CERES FM 5 instrument will fly as part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) in 2010. Four CERES sensors currently operate on NASA's Terra and Aqua Earth Observing System spacecraft.
"We were given authority to proceed in January '08, and we delivered in Nov. '08," said CERES co-Principal Investigator Norman Loeb. "That, to me, is a really spectacular success story."
The "radiation budget" is an ever-changing exchange of incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation that is either emitted by Earth or reflected by the Earth's surface, clouds and aerosols. The amount of energy fluctuates, but the "budget" is always in near-balance, meaning incoming and outgoing radiative fluxes are approximately equal. Changes in this budget largely determine the Earth's temperature and climate.
The CERES instruments detect the amount of outgoing heat and reflected sunlight leaving the planet. An example of CERES data from CERES Aqua show measurements over the United States from June 22, 2002. CERES detects the amount of outgoing heat and reflected sunlight leaving the planet.
Clouds play a significant, but still not completely understood, role in the Earth's radiation budget. Low, thick clouds can reflect the sun's energy back into space before solar radiation reaches the surface, while high clouds trap the radiation emitted by the Earth from escaping into space. The total effect of high and low clouds determines the amount of greenhouse warming.
When scientists build computer models that predict how Earth's climate will change over time, figuring out what role clouds play in the radiation budget and how cloud behavior might change due to a warming planet is an important task toward accuracy.
"The Earth's radiation balance is in many ways the most critical part of the climate system and is directly influenced by changes in atmospheric composition, such as greenhouse gases and aerosols, cloud properties, and surface and atmospheric temperature," said Loeb. CERES co-Principal Investigator Bruce Wielicki noted "The long climate record from CERES will ultimately answer a longstanding question in science concerning the role of clouds in amplifying or damping the sensitivity of the Earth's climate system."
Data indicate that clouds have an overall cooling effect on the planet. But many other questions remain about what a changing climate will do to cloud behavior, and how exactly clouds affect climate and seasonal weather. The role of clouds remains the largest source of discrepancy among climate models, underscoring the importance of both continuing to observe clouds and their relationship to the radiation budget, and using CERES data to refine the role of clouds in climate models.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
My School photos and school staffs & friends
Monday, November 17, 2008
Backyard Pool Safety - Everyone Can Be a Lifesaver
According to the Society, on average 35 Australian children under the age of five drown each year. Half of those children will drown in a backyard pool, and that is where you can take action to save a life.
“An increasing number of children are drowning by getting through, under or over existing pool gates and fencing that their parents believed was secure,” said Royal Life Saving CEO, Rob Bradley. “We are asking every pool owner to get out into their backyard this weekend and make sure it is safe and secure.”
“Pool Fencing legislation has now been in place for 10 to 15 years and many fences and gates have badly deteriorated,” said Bradley. “Recent local government surveys have shown that up to 85 per cent of home pools do not comply with the safety standards. That’s a frightening statistic.”
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Barack Obama elected to President and President Bush Meet at White House
Obama will be the first U.S. President born outside the contiguous United States. He also will be fifth youngest President at a date of accession and the second since Lincoln whose primary political base is Illinois.
President-elect Obama is scheduled to be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009.
President-Elect Barack Obama delivered the final speech of a presidential campaign that promised change in Washington:
Now the work begins to deliver on this promise by planning the agenda and priorities for the Obama Administration. As the President-Elect reminded the country:
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush warmly welcomed President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama to the White House yesterday for a visit that lasted several hours.
In a private meeting in the Oval Office, President-elect Obama thanked President Bush for his commitment to a smooth transition in light of the nation's many critical economic and security challenges.
The First Lady led Mrs. Obama on a tour of the historic home - with a focus on the private residence - before meeting in the West Sitting Hall, where they discussed raising daughters in the White House.
Obama taking office is January 20, 2009
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
How to improve your Children’s Health?
A fundamental goal of NICHD's research is to improve children's health and development. This year, NICHD research provided clinicians and health professionals with several new practical tools to help keep children healthy and well: Doctors have better guidance on the use of pain medication for infants; they have new warning signs for later cognitive problems; and they can identify early markers of future disease among the growing number of overweight children and adolescents.
Using morphine to control pain in premature newborns on mechanical ventilation should be limited. A large clinical trial found that continuous morphine infusions to relieve pain in premature newborns on mechanical ventilation did not reduce the frequencies of severe neurological (brain) injuries or deaths in these infants, contrary to results of an earlier pilot study. Rates of the adverse events were even higher in infants who received additional "bolus" doses of morphine to control pain. These results have important implications for clinical practice because routinely starting continuous infusion of morphine for pain associated with mechanical ventilation is a common practice in neonatal intensive care units. The severity of adverse events associated with this practice prompted the researchers to recommend that continuous morphine infusion be used sparingly, to reduce severe or repetitive pain in these infants. The research, however, also highlighted urgent needs to develop both less hazardous pain medications for the infants and better, standardized methods for assessing their pain.
Prolonged crying in infants may signal late cognitive problems. Infants who cry a lot after the first three months of life, without any obvious cause, may later experience cognitive problems, according to new study. The researchers distinguished between colic - extended, unexplained crying that typically stops after the first 12 weeks of life - and the "prolonged" crying of older infants. Prolonged crying is generally considered to be crying more than three hours a day. The research affirmed earlier findings that colic does not affect cognitive development. By contrast, the researchers found that approximately 5 percent of children experiencing prolonged crying as infants had lower IQ scores, poorer fine motor abilities, hyperactivity, and discipline problems at age five. The implications for clinical practice are that children with a history of prolonged, unexplained crying after the age of three months should be followed more intensively to detect emerging developmental problems that might respond to early intervention.
Heavy alcohol drinking during pregnancy causes persistent nerve damage in infants that escape fetal alcohol syndrome. A small, observational study by scientists at the NICHD and the University of Chile found significant damage in the peripheral nervous system of infants whose mothers drank large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, even though the infants did not show symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. This is the first study to find peripheral neuropathy - a condition well-recognized in alcoholic adults - in children exposed to alcohol in utero. Neurological evaluations of these infants at ages six and twelve months showed damage both to the part of the nerve that carries signals to muscles and other tissue and to the part that insulates the nerve. The persistence of the damage at one year suggests that the alcohol exposure interfered with neural development. As the researchers continue to follow the children, they will look for emerging clinical symptoms that could not be measured in infancy. For instance, in adults, alcoholic peripheral neuropathy is associated with muscle weakness, impaired fine motor functioning, and other symptoms.
Overweight, obesity and the metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents. At a time when more U.S. teens are overweight than those in most other industrialized nations, researchers are also reporting high rates of a cluster of metabolic disorders (metabolic syndrome) in obese adolescents as well as in children as young as four years old. Metabolic syndrome - which includes high blood pressure, high insulin levels, abnormal cholesterol levels, and overweight or obesity - the likelihood of developing diabetes, heart disease, or stroke. The researchers studying the syndrome in children and adolescents found that the prevalence of the syndrome increased with the severity of obesity, reaching 50 percent in severely obese youngsters. They also found that the more obese the children and adolescents were, the more severe were each of the disorders that make up the syndrome. And, in a relatively short period (a year) between the initial testing and follow up, the researchers found a dramatic increase in the development of type 2 diabetes in the research subjects diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. They warned this increase could precede an epidemic of advanced cardiovascular disease as obese adolescents become obese adults.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Story of Diwali Festival
According to one theory Deepavali may have originated as a harvest festival, marking the last harvest of the year before winter. In an agrarian society this results in businessmen closing accounts, and launches a new accounting year. The deity of wealth in Hinduism, goddess Lakshmi is therefore thanked on this day and everyone prays for an excellent year ahead. This is the common factor in Deepavali celebrations all over the Indian subcontinent.
Return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya: Deepavali also celebrates the return of Lord Rama, King of Ayodhya, with his wife Seetha and brother Lakshmana to Ayodhya after a 14 year exile, and a war in which he killed the demon king Ravana. It is believed that the people of Ayodhya lit oil lamps beside the way to light their path in the darkness. Since Lord Rama traveled from South India to his kingdom in North India, he passed through the south earlier. This is the cause why the festival is celebrated a day earlier in South India.
The Killing of Narakasura: Celebrated as Naraka Chaturdasi, two days before Deepavali day, it commemorates the killing of Narakasura, an evil demon who created havoc, by Lord Krishna's wife Satyabhama. This happened in the Dwapar Yuga during this time of Lord Krishna's avatar. In another version, the demon was killed by Lord Krishna (Lord krishna provokes his wife Satyabhama to kill Narakasura by pretending to be injured by the demon. Narakasura can only be killed by his mother, Satyabhama) himself.[citation needed] Before Narakasura's death, he requested a boon from his mother, Satyabhama, that everyone should celebrate his death with colorful light.
Austerities of Shakti: According to the Skanda Purana, the goddess Shakti observed 21 days of austerity preliminary from ashtami of shukla paksha (eighth day of the waxing period of moon) to get half of the body of Lord Shiva. This vrata (austerity) is known as kedhara vrata. Deepavali is the completion day of this austerity. This is the day Lord Shiva accepted Shakti into the left half of the form and appeared as Ardhanarishvara. The ardent devotees observe this 21 days vrata by making a kalasha with 21 threads on it and 21 types of offerings for 35 days. The final day is celebrated as kedhara gauri vrata.
Krishna defeating Indra: Govardhan Puja is celebrated the day after Deepavali. It is the day Lord Krishna defeated Indra, the deity of thunder and rain. As per the story, Krishna saw huge preparations for the annual offering to Lord Indra and questions his father Nanda about it. He debated with the villagers about what their 'dharma' truly was. They were farmers; they should do their duty and concentrate on farming and security of their cattle. He continued to say that all human beings should merely do their 'karma', to the best of their ability and not pray for natural phenomenon. The villagers were convinced by Krishna, and did not continue with the special puja (prayer). Indra was then angered, and flooded the village. Krishna then lifted Mt Govardhan and held it up as guard to his people and cattle from the rain. Indra finally accepted defeat and recognized Krishna as supreme. This aspect of Krishna's life is typically glossed over - but it actually set up the basis of the 'karma' philosophy later complete in the Bhagavat Gita.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thiruparappu is a good tourist spot
The English term for this Thiruparappu is a pavilion of beauty and holiness. This place is fascinating to watch. There is a shrine, wherein the green hills are located at the back drop of the shrine, and the Kodayur perennial river running in front of the shrine. There is a waterfall near the shrine which is really wonderful. This is 70 km far from Kanyakumari. Below view of the picture is topview Thiruparappu falls.
The river Kodayar makes it’s descend at Tirparappu and the water fall at this place is about 13km. from Pechiparai dam. The river bed is rocky and about 300 feet in length. The water falls from a height of nearly 50 feet and the water flows for about seven months in a year. The whole bed above the falls is one rocky mass which extends up to a distance of about quarter of a kilometer upstream where the famous Thirparappu weir has been constructed for supplying water to the paddy fields. On either side of the river, on the left bank of the river in between the water falls and the weir, there is a temple dedicated to Siva enclosed by strong fortification. The District Administration has recently constructed a swimming pool for children over here which is very popular among the children.Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
List of tourist places to see in and around kanyakumari
The district is a major tourist attraction in India, with year-round tourist traffic at Kanyakumari town and several important tourist spots like Padmnabhapuram while seasonal in other tourist spots. The following are some of the major tourist attractions in Kanyakumari District, distances being given from Nagercoil:
- Kanyakumari, the Land's end, and the confluence of the three water bodies, is 20 km to the south of Nagercoil, with tourist attractions of its own which include the Vivekanda Rock Memorial, 133 ft (41 m) high statue of Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar - both on the mid-sea on rocky islands; the place is also famous for its distinctly beautiful (reddish) sunrise and sunset.
- Vattakottai Fort, or Circular Fort, is a fort near Kanyakumari, right on the sea-shore, built under the orders of De Lannoy during the reign of Marthanda varma (1729-58 AD). The view from the top of the fort, of the sea and the palm-fringed beach below is fantastic.
- Suchindrum (Thanumalayan) Temple, about 6 km from the heart of town and Nagaraja Temple (in the town), are some tourist attractions within the town.
- St. Xavier’s Church, (Kottar in the town), built in the year 1600 AD, has historic importance due to the visit of St.Francis Xavier. The church was built in the land allotted to St. Xavier by the Venad king.
- Swamithoppe Ayya Vaikundar Pathi, about 11 km from Kanyakumari, which is the religious headquarters of Ayyavazhi, is well known for its non-idolatry system of worship.
- Padmanabhapuram Palace, (22 km from Nagercoil), once the seat of the Travancore kings, is India's only palace made completely of wood (16th century).
- Chitharal Jain Monuments (about 35 km near Marthandam), impressive rock shelters and idols dated 9-11th Century.
- Thirunandikkara temple (about 20 km), rock-cut cave temple of Pallava art can be traced back to seventh and eighth century AD.
- Thengapattinam Beach. This beach is located on the west coast near Painkulam village in Vilancode Taluk. It is a fine beach adorned with coconut groves. It is also a magnificent estuary where the river meets the sea. Riding in a catamaran (small boat) in the river can be a pleasant experience which can be arranged through local fishermen. It is 35 km from Nagercoil, 12 km from Kuzhithurai and 54 km from Kanyakumari.
- Udayagiri Fort, built by the Travancore kings, is a fort previously used for training the Travancore forces and also served as Barracks. Capt. Eustachius De Lannoy's tomb is within the fort. The fort (about 90 acres and almost full of vegetation now, with several plants, reptiles, etc.) is presently declared as a bio-diversity park and maintained by the Kanyakumari forest department.
- Mathur Hanging Trough, near Thiruvattar in the District, is an aqueduct that carries irrigation water through a canal between two hills. The canal itself goes above a small river. Built on very high pillars, it is said to be one of the biggest aqueducts, both in height and length, in Asia. See this Mathur bridge picture.
- Olakaruvi waterfalls, about 20 km from Nagercoil is on the middle of a hill and requires an hour's trek by foot from the base of the hill (better to go in a group, as it is a forested area)
- Keeriparai - for nature-lovers and adventurers - pristine and beautiful, places like Keeriparai haven’t been publicized much by the Forest Department for various reasons - Keeriparai hills (30 km from Nagercoil) and the nearby Kalikesam are good picnic spots - one can enjoy water rushing through small mountain streams - with pebbles and ferns all around. There are also a few small waterfalls in this area - the popular one being Vattaparai Falls. Maramalai, which is further up in the hills of Keeriparai is famous for Wild elephants.
- Kodhayar (called Kodhayar Lower Camp) – is about 60 km and takes travellers through some exciting hill roads (motorable roads) with some thrilling 'hair-pin bends' and U-turns - Kodhayar forests are famous for bisons, though there are other wild animals too. Access to some areas needs prior permission from the Forest Department.
- Pechiparai Reservoir, about 30 km from the town, in the hills, and also Perunchaani and Chittar dams are a must-see for the nature-lover (with clouds touching the top of the hills around the dams on a misty day!).
- Thiruparrapu Falls is a waterfall near Thiruparrapu. See that this falls below the fig.
- Muttom, a coastal village, is another popular place with tourists. The terrain in this village and its surroundings is hilly and from a height one can have an idyllic view of the place, with a Portuguese style church standing in the middle of the village. The beach-area is somewhat rocky. There is also a 100-year old lighthouse. The lighthouse, though near the sea, is situated on a land mass some 105 feet (32 m) above sea level. Another attractive feature of this area is a reddish ravine-like area with casurina trees near the seaside. This place with very popular with Tamil and Keralite film-makers, especially Tamil film director Bharathiraja.
- Sanguthurai Beach, about 8 km from Nagercoil is a palm-fringed and sandy beach. Sothavilai Beach is another good beach, about 7 km from the heart of town. Both beaches were hit by the Indian Ocean Tsunami, but authorities have taken steps to improve facilities again. There is a very good lagoon (estuary - place where the river meets the sea) at Manakudy - 10 km from the town. See this Chothavilai Beach fig below.
- Panchappathis, the five holyplaces of Ayyavazhi, all situated within 10 km radius from Kanyakumari
- Mukkudal reservoir : Fresh water supply to Nagercoil is from the Mukkadal Reservoir, about 8 km from the town, in the interior - itself a very scenic place, with a small bushy island in the middle of the dam. The dam is surrounded by hills of the Western Ghats.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Kanyakumari is a beautiful tourist spot
Beginning the early part of the 1970s, tourism has been an important activity in the town. Today, it is one small town in South India where one can see different languages of India spoken at different street corners, among the tourists and traders. Of late, Tourism is increasingly being promoted in the district also, apart from the town, with several beautiful natural landscapes, historic and religious places found around the district.
A total of 1.9 million tourists (domestic and foreign) visited Kanyakumari in 2007. [1]
With tourism also picking up in neighbouring Kerala, the future prospects for the growth of tourism looks bright both in Kanyakumari town and the district. Though there are several places of tourist-interest in the town and district, Kanyakumari is especially popular in India for its spectacular and unique sunrise and sunset. The confluence of three ocean bodies - the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea - makes the sunrise and sunset even more special. On balmy, full-moon evenings, (locally called Chitra Pournami) one can also see the moon-rise and sunset at the same time - on either side of the horizon.
On two rocky islets just off the shore, southeast of the Kumari Amman temple, are the Vivekanda Rock Memorial, built in 1970, and the gigantic 133 feet statue of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar, one of the biggest statues in Asia. One of the rocks called Sri Padhaparai is said to bear the footprints of the virgin goddess. Swami Vivekananda is said to have seated on this rock in deep meditation. Also on this rock, there is a Dhyana mandapam, an area for meditation. Ferry services are available to reach the memorial.
The Gandhi Memorial has been built on the spot where the urn containing the Mahatma's ashes was kept for public viewing before immersion. Resembling central Indian Hindu temples in form, the memorial was designed in such a way that on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, October 2, the first rays of the sun fall on the exact place where his ashes were kept.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Tenkasi Kasi Viswanathar temple
A famous Murugan temple called as "Thirumalai Kovil" is situated at Panpoli which is about 5 kilometer away from Sengottai. There are other temples situated in shengottai itself such as - Arultharum Aramvalarthanayagi Amman temple, Perumal Temple, Nithya Kalyani Amman Temple and Vandimalachi Amman Temple.
Tenkasi is a place was most people are agriculturists and commercial activity is much related to agriculture. There are numerous coconut like MSP Velayutha Nadar Lakshmithaimmal Polytechnic College (Pavoorchatram), and MK. V. Kandasamy Nadar Matric School, Tenkasi, are some of the community run institutions at Tenkasi.
Friday, October 3, 2008
List of places to see in and around kutralam
1. Peraruvi (Main Falls) The most popular and frequented waterfalls are the Main falls. Not only during the season, but also during the period November to January, the crest receives the Northeastern monsoon emptying itself on the slopes to swell the falls and the Chittar River. From a height of 300 ft., the Chittar River makes its last descent to the plains.
2. Chittraruvi Adjacent to the Main falls is a small cascade called “Chittraruvi”.
3. Shenbaga Devi Falls A mile away from the Main falls is the Shenbagadevi falls, so called because of its location near to the temple of Shenbagadevi. During full moon days large crowds visit this temple.
4. Thenaruvi (Honey Falls) About 3 miles from the Main falls on the upper crusts of the rocks is the Honey falls. It is so called because of beehives on the promontory. It is a romantic place of solitude and those who seek seclusion come here to meditate on reality.
5. Aintharuvi (Five Falls) Connected by a good road about 3 miles from the Main falls are the Five falls, so named as the cascade spreads in five heads like a hooded cobra. This spot is venerated highly as it presents an image of Adishesha with several hoods.
6. Pazhathotta Aruvi
7. Puli Aruvi About 6 furlongs form the Main falls is the Tiger Falls with a temple for Shastha nearby. Bathing ghats have also been provided for pilgrims.
8. Pazhaya Courtallam About 4 miles from the Main falls is the Old falls, rarely frequented. Apart from all these falls the place is also famous for the Shiva shrive, Thirukootala nathar, (“Lord of three peaks”).
9. Puthu Aruvi Perched at an elevation of 1,00 ft, and one and half miles from the Main falls is the New falls amidst a sylvan landscape of wild forest. The panoramic view from this ledge is beautiful affording a sight of the entire town below.
Water Falls around coutrallam:
1. Gundarau Falls
2. Kummaroutti falls
3. Paalaru
4. Agastiyar Falls
5. Baanatheertahm
Temples in and arround coutrallam:
1. Kutraleeswar Temple. Couratallam
2. Kashivishwanathar Temple.Tenkasi
3. Kumaran Temple.Ilanji
4. Thirumalai Kumarasamy Temple. Tirumalai koil
5. Shenbaga devi Temple.Senbagadevi
6. Anjaneyar Temple. Krishnapuram
7. Thoranamalai Temple.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Memorable moment in Gandhi mandabam with school friends
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
kutrallam is a excellent tourist spot
kutrallam is the foot hills of the podhigai mountains an easterly extension of western ghats. It, is abt 5 km from Tenkasi and Shencottai railway stations in Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu. It is also very well connected with the rest of the state and bordering towns in Kerala. kutrallam is favorite tourist place of tamilnadu. It is dedicated to Lord Thirukutralanathar (Siva). It is said that Lord Siva send saint Agastheyar to the south to avoid imbalance due to overcrowding in the mount Kailas on his celestial wedding. Another notable feature of kutrallam is Chithra Sabha (in which a number of mural paintings of rural deities and stories from epics are depicted in the central hall. This sabha is one of the five Sabas where Lord Nataraja performed the Cosmic-dance. Moreover this temple contains many inscriptions about Chola and Pandya Kings. Chitra Sabha is made out of medicinal herbs. The wooden carved planks serve as doors. Numerous rivers such as the Chittar River, the Manimuthar River, the Pachaiyar River and the Tambaraparani River originate here. It is famous for its waterfalls and has a number of health resorts. This is not only a tourist spot but also a health resort. kutrallam water has medical properties since the water runs through forests of herbs and the water therapeutic qualities to cure physical ailments. During the season (period June to September in every year) thousands of tourists from far and near visit this place. The waters of the falls are believed to have medicinal properties as they run through forests of herbs before their descent. Tourists who visit and bathe in the waters claim that the water has a smoothing effect, help the old feel young and the sick heal rapidly.
This place has a chill and a superb climate with sizzling of rain drops over us removes the stresses in our mind. The pure wind that starts from pothigai malai (mountain) removes the tiredness from our body. 'The Fruit Garden falls' is the pampered kid of Courtallam. Seeds and cuttings of different plants and trees that give exotic varieties of fruits can be got from here. Some of the fruits that grow here are ramdan, mangoosten, egg fruit, dorian...... The main produce is clove, cardamom, jack fruit and mangoosten.
These are exported not only to other parts of our country, but also to foreign countries. For those 'urbanites' who bathe under a 'shower' the experience of bathing in the falls will be something to cherish. When one puts one's head below the huge amount of water hurtling down the mountain, one does feel scared, but once one stands under the falls, it is nothing but bliss. With the advent of the season the masseurs are in great demand. In tirunelveli many rivers such as the Chittar River, the Manimuthar River, the Pachaiyar River and the Tambaraparani River originate here. In this falls is 6 km from Tenkasi, 160 km from Madurai, 137 km from Kanniyakumari and 112 km from Thiruvananthapuram, 64 km from Rajapalayam. The nearest airport to kutrallam is Tuticorin Airport (TCR) approximately 86 km away. 152 km from Alleppey in kerala. The nearest railway station to kutrallam is Tenkasi which is just 5 km from here.