Palayamkottai

Infobox Indian Jurisdiction
native_name = Palayamkottai
type = city
latd = 8.7166
longd = 77.7333
altitude =
state_name = Tamil Nadu
district = Tirunelveli District
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civic_agency = Tirunelveli Municipal Corpoation
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Palayamkottai "Oxford of South India" - is a town in the Tirunelveli district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a part of Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation. It is on the eastern bank of the Thamirabarani river, while its twin city Tirunelveli is on the western bank.

Etymology

The archaic word "Palayam" in Tamil, means a small administrative region or district. A "Kottai" is a fort. The word Palayamkottai was hence derived historically from an ancient fort that was in the centre of the region. Today, the fort lies in ruins and is almost camouflaged by its surrounding old residential edifices. To anyone who reads about Palayamkottai for the first time, it may be surprising to see that atlases and other books refer to the city with both, an M or an N (Palayamkottai or Palayankottai). This uncertainty is because the actual Tamil word for the city uses an alphabet that is phonetically between M and N, and sometimes even completely substituted by G ("pronounced Palayangkottai in colloquial Tamil"). Natively speaking, it is hence correctly pronounced as Palayamnkottai. Even historically, during the British Raj, the area was referred to as Palancottah and also Palamkottah. The anglicization of the word was dropped by the locals immediately after independence, and the city is now called both Palayankottai and Palayamkottai according to official government documents and records. For disambiguation, the city is referred to as Palayamkottai in this article.

Geography

Palayamkottai is situated on the eastern bank of the perennial Thamirabarani river. The region is very fertile and supports a thriving agrarian community in the midst of many urbanized areas. Regular monsoon rains coupled with the Thamirabarani water, support the purely agricultural villages around the city. Palayamkottai is located on the National Highway in close proximity to many bigger cities (international seaport: Tuticorin - 45 km; international airport: Trivandrum - 140 km; domestic airports: Madurai - 150 km, Tuticorin) hence supporting trade and commerce.

Oxford of South India

Popularly called the "Oxford of South India", Palayamkottai is indeed a splendid little student city. A typical midweek morning traffic jam would be because of thousands of school and college students rushing to their classes. However, traffic jams are rare because the quiet little city does not have too many vehicles on the roads in comparison to the much bigger metropolises of Chennai and Bengalooru(Bangalore). For more information about the educational institutions of the city, and the significance of it being called an Oxford in South India, read the "Education" section of this article.

Growth of the City

Palayamkottai has always been a rather laid-back little city. Among the elite population, it is sometimes called as a "Pensioner's Paradise". However, in recent years, businesses are rapidly developing and local businessmen are opening up major outlets in capital cities in response to their regional successes. However, it was only in late 2004 when the first ATM was installed in Palayamkottai and it was an instant success. In 2005, the government project of Underground drainage was undertaken and finished in about mid 2006. Similarly it was only in early 2006 that the city had its first traffic lights. In 2007, the city had a popular landmark - the district Police Headquarters, a remarkable pink building in the city centre. Close to it, is also one of the first Ladies' Police stations in the southern districts. Although broadband (256 kbit/s) was introduced in 2005, it was only on new year's day 2007, that BSNL announced 2 Mbit/s broadband access in the city commercially.

Government Museum, Science Centre and Geomagnetic Research Centre

The little city also has a Government Museum with a huge and realistic fibreglass "Tyrannosaurus rex" which is very popular among the young people of Palayamkottai. The museum houses a small collection of ancient artifacts found in the areas surrounding the city. Some of its literary collections include ancient Tamil inscriptions in palm leaves. Although the museum is well known locally, it is rarely crowded and somewhat badly maintained.

Palayamkottai also has one of the most popular Science Centres in South India, a satellite unit of Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore. Since the Science Centre lies between Palayamkottai and Tirunelveli (the twin cities) and as it is difficult to mark a border between the two, it is often called as the Tirunelveli District Science Centre (by the district's name). It is a popular hangout area for young people, and is frequently visited by teams of school students to explore and learn the principles of science through the centre's interesting outdoor equipment and experiments.

Palayamkottai has a huge Geomagnetic Equatorial Research centre in the outskirts of the city, near Krishnapuram. The centre focusses on collecting Geomagnetic data all year round and sends their findings and anamolies to its main branches in Bengalooru and New Delhi for scientific research. The organization plays a vital role in predictions of major geological and geomagnetic changes that might potentially affect the region.

Hospitals

Palayamkottai has many hospitals and other medical facilities. Among them, Our Lady's Hospital, founded nearly 50 years ago by a Belgian nun called Sister Delphine Bruyndonx, was and still remains one of Palayamkottai's popular hospitals for people who are poor or disadvantaged. Sister Delphine is popularly called the "Teresa of Tirunelveli" by all the people who knew her, because she had served this society since a time when it did not have any electricity.

CSI Bell Pins Mission Hospital and the recently renovated CSI Jeyaraj Annapackiam Hospital in Palayamkottai provide free and reduced cost medical services to the local community. Dental clinics like Captain Manickam, Doss and Raakshak are popular among the locals. The Tirunelveli Medical college Hospital - a tertiary referral center, located in the High Grounds provides free services to poor people. Many nursing homes like Annai Velankani, Kartheek and Pushpalatha are famous for their maternity care with all the latest medical equipment. Other eminent hospitals in the region are Shifa, Galaxy, Devi and Sudharsanam hospital. Muthu Damian Hospital near the Palay bus-stand offers both traditional Siddha treatment and modern medicine. Palayamkottai also has a specialized kidney care centre and heart centre. The city also has three blood banks: Aarthi, Bethel and one at the Government Medical college hospital.

Playgrounds

Being a student city, Palayamkottai has many playgrounds filled with hyperactive young cricketers. Palayamkottai has two major public playgrounds: the Anna Stadium and the "VOC maithanam". The latter holds field hockey and Kabbadi matches at both district and state level. Grand celebrations during the Republic day and Independence day are conducted by various schools in the Anna Stadium. The stadium has an excellent professional German Hockey Turf, which trains a lot of young and energetic teams. State Level Hockey tournaments sponsored by Bell Pins are held in VOC grounds annually. Anna stadium also has a very good public swimming pool. VOC ground is one of the notable ground here. A beautiful park had been built here in this ground, in order to cover the small children and youngsters.

Markets, Shops and Supermarkets

There is a big market in central Palayamkottai, serviced by many bus routes. Also very popular among locals, is the Ulavar Santhai where farmers sell their products directly. The produce is very fresh and very cheap, and the market is usually very crowded in the morning with eager housewives excersing their haggling skills with the illiterate farmers. The success of the Ulavar Santhai market in Palayamkottai was under a deep speculation during the changing of governments. Now, with the ruling party DMK back in power, (which originally introduced the concept) the Ulavar Santhai is maintained well and is a popular grocery market for the locals.

Supermarkets like Aryaas Supermarket have really revolutionized shopping in Palayamkottai by bringing all homeneeds into a common commercial zone. Although there are not many supermarkets in Palayamkottai, there are practically all kinds of shops catering to the local people's needs. For example, electronic superstores like Viveks, Sathya and Vasant&Co are prime hotspots for the digital lifestyle. Eagle Book Centre, Shyamala book centre and Velavan are exclusive choices for good books and stationery. Aryaas, Arasan and Supreme are probably Palayamkottai's best contemporary bakers. The list is however, easily exhaustive. Palayamkottai being a small city, brings a visitor back to square one in terms of shopping for quality goods.

Public Services

Palayamkottai has excellent schools for the blind, deaf and mentally handicapped children. These organizations are predominantly run by the Roman Catholic diosece. Leprosy missions, orphanages and medical missions are also very active organizations in Palayamkottai. Of specific importance is the Deaf and Dumb institution, a well-known organization that is supported partly by German aid.

Palayamkottai also has an efficient fire-fighting service which conducts camps in local schools annually. The postal service is also a reputed and historic department with its statues of Nandhis (mascot of the Indian Postal department) at the facade.

Transportation

Palayamkottai has an efficient bus network. Palayamkottai bus stand, or "Palay Bus Stand" as it is popularly called by the locals, was the major connecting hub of the bus network. In 2004, ex-chief minister Jayalalithaa inaugurated a major new bus terminal in the highway near the Tirunelveli bypass road. The new bus terminal connects Palayamkottai and Tirunelveli in an extensive network of neighbouring towns, cities and also the major metropolitan cities of Chennai, Bengalooru and Hyderabad. The Palayamkottai bus terminal is also a major stopover for all buses going to Kanyakumari and Nagercoil. There are also numerous connections between the local Palayamkottai bus-stops and Tirunelveli town.

Share-autos (autorickshaws that car-pool paying customers on a common route) ply extensively along Palayamkottai's streets and are easy to flag down. The regular yellow-black Greaves Garuda autorickshaws, although plenty in number, are considered to be the common man's taxis of Palayamkottai. Autorickshaw drivers are known to overcharge tourists. Cars as taxis, are generally only available in taxi stands where tourists and locals use them to travel to short distances outside of the city. As a common practise, people of Palayamkottai or Tirunelveli do not use taxis as an alternate public transportation to buses or trains.

Religion

The city is a main hub in south Tamil Nadu for Christian missionaries and there are a lot of churches affiliated to Church of South India (CSI), Society Of Jesus and others.

The biggest and most widely recognized church in Palayamkottai is the The Holy Trinity Cathedral of CSI at Murugankurichi. With its prominent centinary steeple, it is fondly called the 'Oosi Gopuram' (Needle Tower). Wide extensions and extensive renovations of the church were done during the period of Rev. Anand Asir, Rev. Dr.Joshva Raja and Rev. Vedhanbu, who worked as priests in the Trinity Cathedral in Palayamkottai. The city is also famous among Christians for the district's first church, Clarinda Church - which was founded and consecrated by a Brahmin lady who was the first convert in the southern districts. A plaque in the church shows the dates 1660 AD. The periphery of the church has a graveyard which has wonderfully decorated tombstones which came from England during the same period.

St.Francis Xavier who was responsible for propagation of Christianity in the 14th century in Southern districts of TamilNadu had travelled to Palayamkottai. Fr. Joseph Constantine Beschi SJ, better known in Tamil as 'Veeramaamunivar', propagated Christanity in this area of Palayamottai. St Xaviers' Cathredral church, once established by Jesuit priests, and now belonging to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Palayamkottai, is situated at the end of South Bazaar, and is one of the most ancient Catholic Churches in Palayamkottai. The St. Xaviers' College church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. It is an architectural innovation combining Christian, Hindu and Muslim architectures. This church is situated at the heart of St. Xaviers' College run by Jesuits.

The city also has several famous Hindu temples: The Gopalaswamy temple, Siva Temple, Ramar Temple, Uchini Makali temples and a number of them dedicated to goddess Amman. Recently, after a very long time, the renovation of the lord Gopalaswamy temple has begun after permission was granted from the Tamil Nadu state government. Popular temples in Palayamkottai are also located in Maharajanagar, Perumalpuram and Shanti nagar. In particular, Aayirathamman temple and Thoothuvari temple (in its vicinity) are notable temples.

A popular mosque in the city is located in old Police Hospital road, with hundreds of Islamic followers chanting their prayers regularly. Melapalayam is the exclusive Muslim quarter of the city, with numerous mosques and schools for Islamic children.

Education

Palayamkottai is rightfully called as the Oxford of South India. Almost all the best schools, colleges and institutions of higher education in the district are located in Palayamkottai, some of which date back more than a century. The architecture of many of these old institutions are said to resemble the majesty, elegance and academic fortitude of the real Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The imperialistic old stone buildings maintain their name and fame after so many years of creating dynamic young individuals. The educational precincts, with large squares, beautiful gardens, elaborate cathedrals, strict headmasters and white-robed fathers create an atmosphere of an Etonian or Harrovian education.

The District Educational Officer and Chief Educational Officer control the activities of all the educational institutions in the city. Their offices are in Kokarakulam (behind the district science centre) and in Tirunelveli town respectively.

Schools

Most schools in Palayamkottai were founded by the Christian missionaries almost a hundred years ago. Today, it is these Christian institutions that own vast areas of prime properties of Palayamkottai. Schools like St. John's High School, St. Xavier's High School and Schafter High School have roughly 12,000 boys together. Girls Schools like St. Ignatius Convent and Sarah Tucker have over 10,000 girls enrolled. These girls' schools are very popular for their strict code of conduct and extraordinary skills level of their huge young girls' population. It is mostly these institutions that employ the large teaching community of Palayamkottai.

In recent years, schools in Palayamkottai have gained a state-level recognition and some are even known all around South India. Schools like Bell School have an excellent infrastructure that rival international schools in the cities. With about 2500 elite students, some of whom have represented the state in National Level Athletic Championships, the school has had a tremendous recognition in less than 15 years. Bell School is also very popular for its extraordinary children's activities, extravagant celebrations and educational excellence.

Other popular schools in Palayamkottai like Rose Mary School (4 branches; over 8000 students), Pushpalatha, Chinmaya, Jeyandra, Angelo and Little Flower are all private institutions that compete with each other for state ranks among their higher secondary students.

Colleges

Soon after completing Higher Secondary education, most young people opt for a college education right within the city. Their wide range of options include excellent medical colleges like the Tirunelveli Medical College and Govt. Siddha Medical College; [cite web|url=http://www.tnhealth.org/imedu.htm|title=Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy - Education|publisher=Government of Tamil Nadu|accessdate=2008-02-21] engineering colleges like the Government Engineering College and Francis Xavier Engineering College; Arts and Science colleges like St. Xavier's College, St. John's College, and Sarah Tucker College (STC), most of these being over 100 years old. The girls-only college has over eleven departments of education.

St. Xavier's College celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2006, of the Jesuit Priests who founded the great institution. The college truly resembles those in Oxford and Cambridge, with huge, historic and monumental stone structures. The college has also opened up a fabulous new Library in 2005 with many modern amenities. The campus also has large halls of residences for its large student population. St. Xavier's and St. John's colleges are both boys-only colleges with an age restriction for admission, similar to most other colleges in India.

Prisons

RamasamyPalayamkottai also has a popular jail, which housed several eminent people during the pre-independence era and afterwards. Tamil language poet Subramanya Bharathi spent a part of his life here. The district central jail is notable for its large capacity and tight security. The prison is a popular landmark along the periphery of the city. Even the present chief minister, Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi was once in Palayamkottai jail.

The Future

The city is expected to grow rapidly in a few years because of the large number of professional students that it produces from its Engineering and Medical colleges. Young entrepreneurs are now abundant and the environment is rapidly modernising with huge billboards, great restaurants, popular malls and big retail shops. The city has already revamped its police headquarters, telecommunications offices, district court and many other government bodies - which are all positive signs of a modernizing metropolitan society. Residential areas in Palayamkottai are getting to have unique styles, excellent roads and public utilities, along with numerous high-rise apartments in the horizon. Beautiful villas with swimming pools are becoming commonplace, along with many gyms, modern eateries and stocked libraries.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bell-school.com Bell School, Palayamkottai]
* [http://www.stxavierstn.com St.Xavier's High School, Palayamkottai]
* [http://www.stxavierstn.com St.Xavier's College, Palayamkottai]
* [http://www.palayamkottaidiocese.org Palayamkottai Diocese]
* [http://www.peaceag.org The largest AG church in Palayamkottai]