Palayamkottai
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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 Corpoation.It is on the eastern bank of the Thamirabarani river, while its twin city Tirunelveli is on the western bank.
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[edit] PalayaMkottai or PalayaNkottai?
For people who read 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 between M and N. So, it is actually rightly pronounced as Palayamnkottai.
[edit] 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 or Madurai.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Government Museum and Science 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.
Palayankottai 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 Palayankottai 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 experiements.
[edit] Hospitals
Palayamkottai has many good hospitals and medical facilities. Among them, Our Lady's Hospital, founded nearly 50 years ago by a Belgian nun called Sister Delphine Byrundonx, was and still remains one of Palayamkottai's popular hospitals for the poor and underprivileged. Sister Delphine is popularly called as 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 is yet another popular hospital in Palayamkottai with its often free (or very cheap) medical service to the local community.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Markets
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 bargaining skills with the illiterate farmers.
[edit] Prisons
Palayamkottai also has a popular jail, which housed several eminent people during the pre-independence era and afterwards. Tamil language poet Subramanya Bharathy spent a part of his life here. The district central jail is notable for its large capacity and tight security.
[edit] Religion
The city is a main place in south Tamilnadu for Christian missionaries and there are a lot of churches affiliated to Church of South India (CSI),Society Of Jesus and others. The major church is the The Holy Trinity Cathedral of CSI at Murugan Kurichi. Rev. Anand Asir, Rev. Dr. Joshva Raja and Rev. Vedanbu worked as priests in the Trinity Cathedral at Palayamkottai. The city is also famous among Christians for the Clarinda Church - which was founded and consecrated by a Brahmin lady who was among the first converts 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 all the way from England during the same period.
The city also has several famous Hindu temples: The Gopalaswamy temple, Siva Temple, Ramar Temple, Uchini Makali temples and a number of them for the goddess Amman. Now after a very long time, the renovation of the lord Gopalaswamy temple has begun due to permission granted from the Tamil Nadu state government.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 childrens' activities, extravagant celebrations and educational excellence.
Other popular schools in Palayamkottai like Rosemary, Pushpalatha, Chinmaya, Jeyandra, Angelo and Little Flower are all private institutions that compete with each other for state ranks among their higher secondary students.
[edit] 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 Siddha College; 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, most of these being over 100 years old.
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 amneties. 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.
[edit] 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 radidly modernising with huge billboards, great restaurants, popular malls and big retail shops.
[edit] External links
- Online worship to Temples near Palayamkottai
- PSN college of engineering and technology, Palayamkottai
- Bell School, Palayamkottai
- St.Xavier's College, Palayamkottai
- Palayamkottai Diocese
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