Thengapattanam

Education

Geography

It is a coastal town which is 35 KM away from Nagercoil, headquarters of Kanyakumari District and 45 KM away from Trivandrum, capital city of Kerala. It shares borders with Mullimoodu and Erayumman Thurai on the western side, Panankalmukku and Mullor Thurai on the east, Amsi on the north and the Arabian Sea on the south. It is well connected with nearby villages and town by road and waterways. It is a flat, plain land with intermittent rocky hills - Chentapalli Parai - on the eastern side and Aarttupalli Parai on the western side. The Kovalam - Colachel Canal, popularly known as AVM Canal (Ananda Victoria Martanda Varma Canal) which passes through this town linking up to Kanyakumari was encroached by settlers. This waterway was operation from Mandaikadu to Poovar 30 years ago. In some places it is filled with coconut trees and suffered encroachment. AVM Canal merges with Kuzhithurai River at Thengapattanam and known as Valiyar. The development project mooted to revive AVM Canal Waterways would link Thengapattanam with Kanyakumari in the east and Kasargode in the north-west in Kerala, when it becomes operational. The Valyar, a tributary of Kuzhithurai River known as Tamiraparani flown and merges with Arabian Sea here. It is one of the most fertile lands of the district with climatic conditions like the bordering state kerala.

Geology

Thengapattanam is classified under the Seismic Zone III, indicating a moderate risk of damage from earthquakes.

Structure

Thengapattanam is divided into three regions namely they are valiyapalli,Bus stand,Thoppu. Valiyapalli and thoppu are residential and the bus stand is a commercial area with a lot of stores and bakers.

Tourist attraction

Thengapattanam has a long seashore with ferry services available. Thengapattanam is a major tourist attraction in the Kanyakumari districtknown for its sea, river, canal, paddy fields, rocky mountains and lush green groves. The water way mooted by the then travancore government popularly known as avm canal originates from Mangalore in Karnataka and reaches Thengapattinam without any hurdles. Even now passengers and goods are ferried through this canal to places like Poothurai, Thoothoor, Vallavilai, Neerodi, Kollencode and Poovar. The merger of the Tamiraparani River here with the Arabian Sea is considered to be especially beautiful. This has also been used to describe the merger of the river with sea (estuary / firth) known as 'Pozhi" in local vernacular

As one of the few picnic spots in the district, the town contains tiny hill-tops where cool wind blows throughout the year.

Mosques

Thengapattanam totally has 6 mosques

The six mosques, including the Valiya Palli, the landmark of this beautiful town, are situated at five vital areas, making it convenient for all the people to come and offer their prayers. The Valiya Palli, which is at the centre of Thengapattanam, is surrounded on the four sides at the north near the bus stand by Rifai Masjid, at the west byKuzhathu Palli, at the west on the river bank of Valiyar by Attupalli, which is situated on the rocky hill and on the south close to the beach by Muhiyuddin Masjid. Chenta Palli, the ruins of which are present on the hilly rock at the eastern side is still considered as a holy place.

List of the mosques

Religion

Thengapattanam compromises mostly of Muslims around 90% among the total population and the rest are Hindus.

Life style

It is a Muslim town which has close links with nearby towns as Thuckalay, Thiruvithancode, Colachel, Midalam, Enayam, Enayam Puthenthurai, Poothurai, Nambali and Poovar in the nearby Kerala State. Marriage and social relations thrive among the people of these towns. Other than the above, Thengapattinam has closely connected by trade and social relations with Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala State. A big number of people from Thengapattinam engage in various trade activities in Trivandrum. Houses, here, are built with separate compounds for each house. Sweet drinking water is in plenty with each house a separate well in it.

A proportionate number of people pursue trade and business activities whereas a large chunk has moved to various Gulf countries to earn their livelihood. 'Gulf' is craze here that it is not uncommon to hear that a male member of a house is working in U.A.E., Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Families living here are inter related that they celebrate family gatherings with the help of each other not feeling the absence of male-members. Though the majority of men fold is in 'Gulf', their hears go out to reach the dear and near ones in time of happiness and distress. It is common here to see a handful of men enjoying their vacation from Gulf everyday.

Thengapattinam is a main commercial hub for more than 50 small surrounding places, to name a few are, Mulloor Thurai, Raman Thurai, Enayam, Enayam Puthen Thurai, Erayumman Thurai, Poothurai, Panankal Mukku, Arasa Kulam, Keezhkulam, Chentharai, Amsi, Painkulam, Parakkani, Maniyaran Kunnu etc.

A daily market locally known as "Anthi Kadai" is a main hub here for the localers and surrounding villagers for their business and trade activities.

Capital of "THENGA NADU"

Chilappathikaram, the Tamil epic refers thengapattanam as the capital of “thenga nadu” – one of the 48 countries of lemuria, otherwise known as ‘kumari kandam’, where the Dravidian civilizations known as the ‘cradle of civilizations’ flourished. The world renowned historical research traveler ‘dalami’ refers this place as a ‘harbour town’ in this book written in ad 100. The king of ‘thenga nadu’ karunan thadangal is said to have ruled from here.

Dutch Invasion

This area, once under the domain of chera, pandya and nayakkar kings, was later ruled by the kings of travancore. Attingal queen got the right to rule this area in ad 1700. During this time in the middle of the 17th century, the naval forces headed by the Dutch colonel nicolfwar besieged this town and gained control of it. The Dutch records of ‘wrin-de-herik’ state that after the take over a Dutch infantry division, a go down and a church were established here in ad 1678. In ad 1694, the forces attingal queen fought the Dutch, chased them out and regained its control.

The rule of Venad

The Dutch again attacked thengapattinam, when it became part of ‘venad’ under the rule of marthanda varma maharaja. during this battle fought to chase out the Dutch, many Muslims lost their lives.

The ‘kuntadipattan paarai’ which came under the heavy attack of the Dutch cannons stand out to be a ‘living memorial’ today. Later, due to the ‘Tamil nadu liberation movement’ this part was annexed to Tamil nadu in 1956.

It is worth mentioning here that the famous raja kesavadas, the then divan of the king Rama varma of travancore was brought up in his youth in the well known ‘puthen veedu” here.

Religious Antiquity

Thengapattinam has the unique and rare distinction of being one of the few first places in India where Islam was propagated and accepted during the time of Prophet Muhammad (sal). Islam got firmly rooted here due to the peaceful propagation of the great spiritual leader malik ibn deenar (rah) who came from Arabia in the 7th century a.d. through kodungalloor in kerala. His Arabic team built a big mosque here made of hard rocks which is known here as ‘valiapalli’. The ancient Arabic history book ‘rihlathul muluk’ states that the headquarters of syed ubaithath kazhi’ appointed as the religious propaganda secretary of the district was located here. Many Islamic religious scholars later came to this place to propagate Islam.

The mosque built of hard rocky stones knows as malik ibn dinar palli or valia palli, the aatttupalli built on the rocky mountains by the shores of the sea and river bank, the mohideen palli located near the canal in thoppu, the chenta palli built on kuntadipattan paarai, the rifai palli located close to the bus station and the khaja palli located by the shores of the arabian sea are the mosques of this tiny town.

Work of Literature

The great poets kunju moosa pillai and alim lebbai haji whose famous literary works include the two epic poems and 14 other works such as ‘masala maalai’ ammanai’, were the natives of this town who lived here in the 18th century. Other poets of literary renown fakkir meeran pillai, Mohammed pulavar and thoppu noohkhan also lived here during the same

Language

Tamil is the major language here and a minority of people speaks Malayalam.Many People are bi-lingual who speak both Tamil and Malayalam. English is also spoken and understood. Tamil is spoken with Malayalam accent. Tamil spoken here is difficult to understand for other Tamils of the state. Some words originated from the influence of various cultures, such as Olungu (mosquito) etc. is spoken and understood only by the natives. The impact of Malabar Muslim culture is very much felt here. One example for this is the usage of Arabi-Malayalam (Malayalam language written in Arabic script) which can only read by those who know Arabic and understood only by those who know Malayalam.

Economy

Thengapattanam is famous for fisheries,sea products and coconut trees. Thengapattanam's economy has been increasing after the start of harbour construction . Fishing harbour plays an Important role in its economy.

Road

Road transport is the main mode of transport in this town . This town has bus services from Marthandam, Nagercoil, Kanyakumari, Trivandrum. Taxis are also available there for short trips

Railway

The nearest railway station to Thengapattanam is at Marthandam which is 12 km away .

Air

The nearest airport to the Thengapattanam is at Trivandrum which is almost 35 km away .

Sports

Cricket is the most popular game here like the rest of the nation.Football and Volleyball is also played here.