Monday, October 13, 2008

Kanyakumari is a beautiful tourist spot

Kanyakumari district is the southernmost point of peninsular India, bounded by Tirunelveli district in the north and northeast, by Kerala state in the northwest and confluence of Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean in the west and south. The coastline is almost regular except for some points of land projecting into the sea at Cape Comorin. Besides its importance as a pilgrim centre, it is famous for its beautiful views of sunrise, sunset and moonrise over the waters. Kanyakumari is also famous for its vast green stretches of paddy fields, rich forests, coconut groves and mineral sands. The beach itself is a beautiful sight with multicolored sand. There is a light house from where one can get a panaromic view of the sea. During the British Raj, Kanyakumari was bestowed the title of Cape Comorin, necessitated perhaps by the Englishmen's inability to pronounce local names.

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.

6 comments:

Senthil said...

if you planning to visit kanyakumari(once again) Check this out
It has all those info on secret little places which you might have missed.

Unknown said...
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Hai Baji said...
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Nijaguna Residency said...


i have been to bandipur resorts last weekend its an amaizing place to spend ur time,there is kgudi resorts near next week we are planing to visit over there