Kanniyakumari

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Kanniyakumari: memorial to Mohandas K. Gandhi

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Kanniyakumari

India

Also known as: Kanyakumari

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 14, 2024 • Article History

Also spelled:: Kanyakumari

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News •

Many areas in Thoothukudi flooded, but it is sunny in Kanniyakumari • Dec. 13, 2024, 3:46 AM ET (The Hindu)

Minor siblings from Palladam die after huge wave washes them away into sea near Kanniyakumari • Dec. 11, 2024, 9:46 PM ET (The Hindu)

Man from Kanniyakumari held for cheating multiple women • Dec. 7, 2024, 9:41 PM ET (The Hindu)

Fishing boat’s captain booked after collision with INS Karanj led to death of 2 fishermen • Dec. 3, 2024, 4:17 AM ET (The Indian Express)

Kanniyakumari, town, southern Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. The town is situated on Cape Comorin, which is the southernmost point on the Indian subcontinent.

Kanniyakumari is a tourist and pilgrimage centre noted for its Shiva temple and its memorial to Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi. Legend claims that the goddess Kanya Kumari (“Youthful Virgin”) killed a demon on the town site. Pilgrimage rites include bathing at Pitru and Matru Tirtha, two rocks over which a monument honouring Vivekananda, a Hindu religious leader, was built in 1970.

The fertile soils inland from Kanniyakumari support an extremely dense population, while the sandy coastal plain contains worked deposits of monazite and ilmenite. The area is primarily agricultural but has some hand-loom weaving industries. Pop. (2001) 19,739; (2011) 22,453.

Jodhpur. Rajasthan. Jaswant Thada an architectural landmark in Jodhpur, India. A white marble memorial, built in 1899, by Sardar Singh in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. Indian architecture

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Maren Goldberg.