Thiruvannamalai – General Information
Tiruvannamalai
District (also known as Thiruvannamalai) is one of the 32 districts in the state of Tamilnadu, in South
India. It was formed in the
year 1989 from non-existing North Arcot District as Tiruvannamalai Sambuvarayar
and Vellore Ambedkar. Tiruvannamalai town is the district headquarters. The
district is divided into 12 Taluks - Chengam, Tiruvannamalai, Polur, Thandarampattu, Arani, Vandavasi, Kalasapakkam, Chetpet , Cheyyar and Vembakkam. Arani is famous for silk
sarees. As of 2011, the district had a population of 2,464,875 with a sex-ratio
of 994 females for every 1,000 males.
Tiruvannamalai
District is known for eternal peace and divine with the proud possession of the sacred
shrine of Lord Arunachaleswara and Ashrams. It had started
functioning as a separate District from 30th September 1989, on
bifurcation of the erstwhile North Arcot District. Tiruvannamalai is one of the
most venerated places in Tamilnadu. In ancient times, the term
"Annamalai" meant an inaccessible mountain. The word
"Thiru" was prefixed to signify its greatness, and coupled with the
two terms, it is called Tiruvannamalai.
Legends
In Hindu
mythology, Parvati, wife of Shiva, once closed the eyes of her husband
playfully in a flower garden at their abode atop Mount
Kailash. Although only a moment
for the gods, all light was taken from the universe, and the earth, in turn,
was submerged in darkness for years. Parvati performed penance with other
devotees of Shiva, and her husband appeared as a column of fire at the top
of Annamalai hills, returning light to the world. He then merged with
Parvati to form Ardhanarishvara, the half-female, half-male form of Shiva. The
Annamalai, or red mountain, lies behind the Annamalaiyar temple, and is
associated with the temple of its namesake. The hill is sacred and considered
a lingam, or iconic representation of Shiva, in itself.
Another
legend is that once, while Vishnu and Brahma contested for superiority, Shiva appeared as a
flame, and challenged them to find his source. Brahma took the form of a swan,
and flew to the sky to see the top of the flame, while Vishnu became the
boar Varaha, and sought its base. The scene is called Lingodhbava,
and is represented in the western wall at the sanctum of most Shiva temples.
Neither Brahma nor Vishnu could find the source, and while Vishnu conceded his
defeat, Brahma lied and said he had found the pinnacle. In punishment, Shiva
ordained that Brahma would never have temples on earth in his worship.
In
Tamil, the word Arunam means red or fire and Asalam means
hill. Since Shiva manifested himself in the form of fire in this place, this
name Arunachalam came to be associated with Annamalai hill and the
town. The first mention of Annamalai is found in Thevaram,
the seventh century Tamil Saiva canonical work by Appar and Tirugnanasambandar.
History
For
brief details, please refer below link;
Demographics
& Geography
According
to 2011 census, Tiruvannamalai District had a population of 2,464,875
with a sex-ratio of 994 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national
average of 929. A total of 272,569 were under the age of six, constituting
141,205 males and 131,364 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes accounted for 22.94%
and 3.69% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the district
was 66%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The district had a
total of 588,836 households. There were a total of 1,238,177 workers,
comprising 265,183 cultivators, 351,310 main agricultural labourers, 37,020 in
house hold industries, 316,559 other workers, 268,105 marginal workers, 27,458
marginal cultivators, 173,753 marginal agricultural labourers, 9,700 marginal
workers in household industries and 57,194 other marginal workers.
Tiruvannamalai
District has an area of 6,191 km2. It is bounded on the north by Vellore
District, on the east by Kanchipuram District, on the south by Villupuram District, and on the west by Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts.
Tiruvannamalai District is divided into ten taluks, 27 blocks and 1,061
villages covering an area of 631,205 ha. The ten taluks of Tiruvannamalai are listed below:
S.No
|
Taluk
|
Headquarters
|
Area
|
Population
(2011) |
Pop.
density
|
1
|
Polur
|
Polur
|
509 km2
|
328,381
|
645 /km2
|
2
|
Tiruvannamalai-Urban
|
Tiruvannamalai
|
102 km2
|
345,087
|
3,382 /km2
|
4
|
Thandarampattu
|
Thandarampattu
|
691 km2
|
410,880
|
593 /km2
|
5
|
Arni
|
Arni
|
327 km2
|
220,220
|
673 /km2
|
6
|
Cheyyar
|
Tiruvethipuram
|
344 km2
|
200,157
|
618 /km2
|
7
|
Kalasapakkam
|
Kalasapakkam
|
532 km2
|
329,013
|
618 /km2
|
8
|
Javadhu Hills
|
Jamunamarathoor
|
645 km2
|
188,897
|
291 /km2
|
9
|
Vandavasi
|
Vandavasi
|
645 km2
|
421,174
|
652 /km2
|
10
|
Chengam
|
Chengam
|
510 km2
|
325,993
|
639 /km2
|
11
|
Chetpet
|
Chetpet
|
493 km2
|
290,100
|
588 /km2
|
12
|
Vembakkam
|
Vembakkam
|
310 km2
|
180,210
|
581 /km2
|
The
average annual rainfall is 987 mm, out of which 80 percent is received
during monsoon. The soils have an Ustic moisture regime and Hyperthermic
temperature regime. Tiruvannamalai District comes under the Eastern Ghats (TN
uplands) and Deccan plateau, hot semiarid region with red loamy soil with
cropping period of 90 to 150 days. Excepting hills, the district falls in the
North Eastern agro climatic zone of Tamilnadu.
Culture
Annamalaiyar
Temple is the most prominent landmark of Tiruvannamalai. The temple complex
covers an area of 10 ha (25 acres), and is one of the largest temples in
India. It houses four gateway towers known as gopurams. The tallest is the eastern tower, with 11 stories and
a height of 66 m (217 ft.), making it one of the tallest temple
towers in India. The temple has numerous shrines, with those of
Annamalaiyar and Unnamulai Amman being the most prominent. The temple complex
houses many halls; the most notable is the thousand-pillared hall built during
the Vijayanagar period.
The
Annamalaiyar temple is one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalas, or five Shiva
temples, with each a manifestation of a natural element: land, water, air, sky or fire. In Annamalaiyar
temple, Shiva is said to have manifested himself as a massive column of fire,
whose crown and feet could not be found by the Hindu gods, Brahma and Vishnu. Aathara Sthala are Shiva
temples which are considered to be personifications of the Tantric chakras of human anatomy. The Annamalaiyar temple is called
the Manipooraga Sthalam, and is associated with the Manipooraga chakra.
The
temple is revered in Thevaram, the Tamil Saiva canon and classified
as Paadal Petra Sthalam, one of the 276 temples that find mention in the Saiva
canon. The most important festival of the Annamalaiyar temple is celebrated
during the Tamil month of Karthikai, between November and December, concluding with the
celebration of Karthikai Deepam. A huge lamp is lit in a cauldron, containing three tons of ghee, at the top of the Annamalai hills during the
Deepam. To mark the occasion, the festival deity of Annamalaiyar circumambulates the mountain.
Inscriptions
indicate that the festival was celebrated as early as the Chola period
(850–1280) and was expanded to ten days in the twentieth century. Every full
moon, tens of thousands of pilgrims worship Annamalaiyar by circumambulating
the Annamalai hill barefoot. The circumambulation covers a distance of 14 kilometers
(8.7 mi), and is referred as Girivalam. According to Hindu
legend, the walk removes sins, fulfills desires and helps achieve freedom from
the cycle of birth and rebirth. Offerings are made in a string of tanks, shrines, pillared meditation halls, springs and caves
around the hill.
Tirumalai is
an ancient Jain temple complex in the outskirts of Tiruvannamalai that houses
three Jain caves, four Jain
temples and a 16 feet
(4.9 m) high sculpture of Neminathar dated from the 12th century and the
tallest Jain image in Tamilnadu. The Ramana
Ashram and ashram of Yogi Ramsuratkumar, located around the Annamalai hill are popular visitor
attractions of Tiruvannamalai.
The Sathanur Dam over the Thenpennair River located 20 km
(12 mi) southwest of the town is a prominent picnic spot. This 786.37 m
Dam is 44.81m high and can store 7,321,000,000 cu ft. or 207,300,000 cubic
meters of water. A scenic park is also present adjacent to this
dam. Ulagalantha Perumal Temple in Tirukoyilur and Thiruvarangam,
situated 20 km (12 mi) south of Tiruvannamalai are prominent Vishnu
temples that are located around Tiruvannamalai.
Economy
In the
District Arani and Thiruvannamalai regions are highest revenue generations regions respectively.
In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayat Raj named Tiruvannamalai one of the country's
250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It
is one of the six districts in Tamilnadu currently receiving funds from the
Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).
Agriculture:
Tiruvannamalai
District is known for its two major businesses, agriculture and silk saree
weaving. Rice cultivation and processing is one of the biggest businesses in
this district. 112013 hectares of paddy cultivation is irrigated by 1965 lakes
and 18 reservoirs and small dams. It has 18 regulated markets through which the
farmers sell their agro products directly to the government. Through these
regulated markets, 271411 metric tonnes of paddy harvested in 2007. There are
lot of rice mills to process paddy found throughout the district. The modern
rice mill near Cheyyar is the biggest government owned mill and Arani has around 278 rice mills. Kalambur is also has
around 20 Rice mills and known for variety of rice called Kalambur Ponni rice.
Silk Weaving:
The
district has a large populace of weavers from Sengunthar caste, who specialize in making Silk sarees. Hand
looms are often engaged for weaving, although recently some have turned to
mechanized methods of using Power looms. Arni is the most important revenue
earning town in the district. Though the town is not popular off the state, a
bulk of India's Silk
apparels is produced by the
people of Arni.
Industrialization:
The
district started to industrialize following the establishment of the industrial
complex near Cheyyar by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of
Tamilnadu (SIPCOT). This is evidenced by the recent announcements of a
250-acre (1.0 km2) hi-tech Special Economic Zone for automotive components, a 300-acre
(1.2 km2) electronics hardware park and the commitment from the Taiwanese
Shoe Company to set up its unit. On Nov, 2009 Tamilnadu cabinet approved the
Mahindara & Mahindra's Rs 1800 core automobile project in 450 acres. This
unit will produce tractors, SUVs and commercial vehicles and auto parts.
Aluminum
die cast unit by Ashley Alteams, a joint venture by Ashok Leyland and
Finland-based Alteams Oy started its production on Jan, 2010. This High
pressure die cast will manufacture automobile and telecommunication components
with initial capacity of 7000 ton per year. One of the largest sugar mills
in the country - Cheyyar co-operative sugars - is situated near Cheyyar.
Factories:
There
are many factories around Tiruvannamalai. Scent factories are large in number
due to the high production of flowers around Tiruvannamalai. They are listed as
follows: 1. Hindusthan house hold factories, 2. Sarala Birla factory of aroma
oil, 3. Parthiban cottages aroma oil factory. The Tamilnadu government is
planning for a SIPCOT at naidumangalam and kilpennathur both near
Tiruvannamalai.
Places of
Interest
For
brief details, please refer below link;
Hotels
List
For
brief details, please refer below link;
Connectivity
For
brief details, please refer below link;