Tamilnadu Tourism: Kallikulam, Thoothukudi

Kallikulam, Thoothukudi

Kallikulam is a panchayat village located in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamilnadu. The village is famous for the Our Lady of Snow church located at the heart of the Terku (South) Kallikulam. Kallikulam is a village located about 50 km from the Thiruchendur and Nagercoil in South Tamilnadu, India. The villagers were predominantly farmers but due to large export of labour to Gulf countries farming is now only a secondary profession.

Kallikulam lies in the semi-arid zone and water scarcity is looming large. Due to the influx of Gulf money the economy of the village has improved and the people have a high standard of life. Kallikulam has an Arts college, a high school, a middle school as well as a primary school.

The 10 days Car festival of the "Our Lady of Snow church" is very famous in and around the village and attracts thousands of people from both from Tamilnadu and Kerala. The shrine in the nearby hill is a tourist attraction and during the first Saturday of every month pilgrims throngs the shrine. It is believed that Mother Mary appeared to the villagers from the hill. Even today one could see the foot mark of Mother Mary in the hill.

History

The history of South Kallikulam extends up to the early 18th century. It is believed that the first inhabitants of Kallikulam were of Nadar community migrated from some southern part to the current village location. It was an unoccupied arid land till the first occupants moved here to start a living by farming. They built a temple for Sudalai Madan, a Hindu deity worshiped in the Tamilnadu. There were a lot of disputes over the ownership of the land of the village. Over the time of period new families started to move here from surrounding places.

In 1770, a thatched church was built in the name of Holy Mary by the village people with the help from the priest from Vadakkankulam, a town located about 15 km south to Kallikulam. During 1885, snowfall occurred in the centre of the village and people believed that it was because of Holy Mary. Subsequently, the church was built up as permanent structure with very good design during 1885 after the great miracle.

Geography

South Kallikulam is located at 8.354°N 77.664°E which is very southern part of the South India peninsular. It is located about 6 km east to Valliyur on the route to Thiruchendur in Indian state highway (SH) - 93. The nearest pivotal towns are: Valliyur to the west, Thisayanvilai to the east, Thiruchendur to the northeast, Nagercoil to the southwest.

Religion

South Kallikulam has a rich heritage of diverse group of religions. Though it doesn't have a large crowd of people in the village there are people who practice the major religions of India: Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. Even though it has different religion practitioners, Roman Catholic is predominant in Kallikulam. It has four Roman Catholic churches, a mosque and a couple of Hindu temples too. Each church has different patron saints in which Our Lady of Snows church located in the center of the village is very famous around the place for its significant history behind.