Agastheeswaram is a

panchayat town A nagar panchayat () or town panchayat or Notified Area Council (NAC) in India is a settlement in transition from rural to urban and therefore a form of an urban political unit comparable to a municipality. An urban centre with more than 12,00 ...

in Kanniyakumari district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

History

Agasteeswaram is named after Sage Agastya, who visited this place to teach the Ramayana. Most of the people from this village are well educated when compared with other districts in

. Vivekanandha College is located in Agasteeswararam. Along with the

talukas A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ce ...

Thovalai Thovalai is a small village located in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India. The area is well known in India for its production of flowers, especially jasmine. The taluk was among the four in Thiruvananthapuram district that with the passa ...

Kalkulam Kalkulam is a small village located in Kalkulam taluk, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India. The taluk was among several in Thiruvananthapuram district that, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, were transferred from ...

, Eraniel and

Vilavancode Vilavancode, also spelt as Viḷavaṅgōḍu, is a town panchayat in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu States and territories of India, state, India. It is part of territory among several taluks that were with the Thiruvananthapuram district ...

, Agasteeswaram was a part of the Padmanabhapuram division of the erstwhile

Kingdom of Travancore The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as st ...

until its union with

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

in 1949 and continued to be a part of the state of

Travancore–Cochin Travancore–Cochin, officially the United State of Travancore and Cochin and later the State of Travancore–Cochin, was a short-lived States of India, state of India. It was formed through the merger of two former kingdoms, Travancore and Kin ...

until November 1, 1956. File:Agastya.jpg, Sage Agastya

Travancore State Manual

According to the Travancore state manual, Volume 2 Page 57, "One of the principal devil temples in Travancore is that represented in the annexed engraving situated at Agastispuram, near

Cape Comorin Kanyakumari (Tamil; / kəɳjɑkʊmɑɾiː/; referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ...

; which is also the headquarters of the Shanar tribe where their Nadan, or Chieftain, resides, who was formerly allowed the privileges of having a fort, riding in a

palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

, and retaining 100 armed attendants, which he is too reduced to support now."

Kottaram

Kottaram is one of the Panchayat town in the Agastheeswaram Taluk. It is situated 6km from

Kanyakumari Kanyakumari (Tamil; / kəɳjɑkʊmɑɾiː/; referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ...

. People of different religions like

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

live here. Churches of the

Church of South India The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India. With a membership of over 4.5 million, it ...

, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, the

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

, and the

Indian Pentecostal Church of God The Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) is one of the largest Pentecostal Christian Denomination in India. Its organisational headquarters located in Kumbanad, Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state ...

and many other independent Christian churches can be found here. CSI District Church Kottaram

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Agastheeswaram had a population of 8978. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Agastheeswaram has an average literacy rate of 84%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 50% of the males and 50% of females literate. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Famous people from Agastheeswaram

Poongani Poongani (, also known as Poongani Ammal, Poongani Amma) (1934, Saravanan Theri – 2 November 2018, Kottaram, Tamil Nadu) was an Indian performer of Villu Paatu, a musical story-telling tradition in southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala. She was a ...

, the traditional musical story teller, was born near here in 1934. * Dr. P.H. Daniel (also, Paul Harris Daniel) – Doctor who first started employee union in the South Indian Tea Estates. The movie Paradesi is based on his novel ''Red Tea'' (also translated into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as ''எரியும் பனிக்காடு''). * Dr. J. C. Daniel Nadar – Father of Malayalam Cinema, lived here until his death in 1975. *

Kumari Ananthan Harikrishnan Nadar Ananthakrishnan (19 March 1933 – 9 April 2025), popularly known as Kumari Ananthan, was an Indian politician who was leader of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. He was Perumthalivar Kamarajar awardee of the year in 2021. ...

, his brother

H. Vasanthakumar Harikrishnan Nadar Vasanthakumar (14 April 195028 August 2020) was an Indian businessman and politician. He was the founder and chairman of Vasanth & Co, one of the largest retail home appliance chains in Tamil Nadu. He was also the founder ...

, daughter Tamilisai Soundarrajan – Political and entrepreneurial dynasty.

References