Tiruchirappalli ( (''tiruccirāppaḷḷi'') (spelled Trichinopoly in the records of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

), also called Tiruchi or Trichy (), is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirapalli District. It is the fourth largest

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

in Tamil Nadu and also the fourth largest

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

in the state. It is located almost at the geographic centre of the state.

Location

Tiruchirappali is located at . The city is at a distance of south-west of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and north of Kanniyakumari on the National Highway NH 45 and south-east of

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbat ...

and west from the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

coast, The city of Madurai is situated south of Tiruchirappalli. Footprint South India, Pg 128

Topology

The topology of Tiruchirappalli is almost flat with a few isolated hillocks rising above the surface, the highest of which is the '' Rockfort''. The average elevation is . The city spread over an area of is situated on the plains between the

Shevaroy Hills The Selvarayan hills, with the anglicised name Shevaroy Hills, are a towering mountain range (1620 m) near the city of Salem, in Tamil Nadu state, southern India. It is one of the major hill stations in Tamil Nadu and in the Eastern Ghats. The loc ...

to the north and the

Palni Hills The Palani Hills are a mountain range in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Palani Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palani Hills adjoin the ...

to the south and south-west.

Abram Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...

, Pg 489 The city is situated at the head of the

Cauvery Delta Chola Nadu is a cultural region of the Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It encompasses the lower reaches of the Kaveri River and its delta, and formed the cultural homeland and political base of the Chola Dynasty which ruled large parts of S ...

which commences west of Tiruchirappalli where the Cauvery River branches into two streams forming the island of Srirangam.

Moore Moore may refer to: People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army * Moore Powell (died c. 1 ...

, Pg 61 A belt of cretaceous rock known as the

Trichinopoly Group The Trichinopoly Group is a geological formation in India whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. It lies between the Ootatoor and Ariyalur Groups. It is broad in its southern extremity but thins as it gradually proceeds northwards as it ...

lies to the north of the city. It commences from the banks of the

Kaveri River The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu d ...

and extends northwards gradually thinning before joining another belt of cretaceous rock known as the Ariyalur Group. Both the northern and southern corners of the Trichinopoly Group rests on a layer of

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

Divisions

The city is divided into three parts: The

Cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

area to the south, the temples to the north and the bazaar in the center of the city.

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embark ...

, pp 411 Most of Tiruchirapalli's hotels and government and post offices are situated in the cantonment while most of Tiruchirapalli's temples are located in the north. The Rockfort and its temple are situated in the centre of the city and surrounded by a

bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in t ...

. The earliest political divisions of the city were into the Cantonment and the city. The Cantonment was situated one and a half miles to the south of the city and was bounded by

Uraiyur Uraiyur (also spelt Woraiyur) is a posh locality in Tiruchirapalli city in Tamil Nadu, India. Uraiyur was the ancient name of Tiruchirappalli City. Now, it became the one of the busiest area in Trichy City. It was the capital of the early ...

to the north and

Tennur Tennur ( ta, தென்னூர்) is a business locality in the city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated close to the Mahatma Gandhi market and forms a part of the Abhishekapuram zone of the Tiruchirappalli Municipal C ...

, Yeddatharavu and Beemanaickenpalaiyam to the south. As of 1866, the town had a population of 57,177 while the Cantonment had a population of 19,375. Currently, Tiruchirappalli is divided into four administrative zones: Srirangam, Ariyamangalam, Golden Rock and Abhishekapuram, which are further sub-divided into 60 wards. The city along with suburban areas such as Pappankurichi, Thiruverumbur, Koothappar, Krishnasamudram,

Thuvakudi Thuvakudi is a town in Tiruchirapalli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is an industrial town housing more than 250 industries and is located in the National Highway NH 65 between Tiruchirapalli and Thanjavur. The town has a dry w ...

Navalpattu Navalpattu is a census town in Tiruchirappalli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Navalpattu is a part of Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II ...

Manachanallur Mannachanallur is a Taluk and Town in Tiruchirappalli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Mannachanallur is famous for rice mills Demographics India census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calcula ...

and

Bikshandarkoil Bikshandarkoil, or Pichandarkovil, is a census town in Tiruchirappalli District of Tamil Nadu, India. It forms a part of the Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a majo ...

form the

of Tiruchirappalli.

Climate

During the summer months of March to May, Tiruchirappalli is extremely hot and dry during daytime.

, Pg 88 However, the evenings are rendered cool by cold winds that blow from the south-east. It is quite sultry during September and October but cool and pleasant from November to February. According to a popular saying, the climate of Tiruchirappalli is "eight months hot and four hotter." The city receives an average annual rainfall of

Civic amenities

The city gets its drinking water supply from five headworks on the Cauvery River and 1,470 bore wells linked to 60 service

reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

in and around the city. There are a total of 286

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...

in Tiruchirappalli with a population of about 162,000.

Notes

{{Tiruchirappalli