Polur is a scenic town and a Religious site for Lord Narasimha called Sampathgiri, divisional headquarters and a market center in

Tiruvannamalai district Thiruvannamalai District (previously known as Central Arcot, Tiruvannamalai Sambhuvarayar District) is the second largest district in Tamil Nadu by area after Dindigul District and one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts in the state o ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Located at the foothills of Javvadhi hills, a popular section of

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

, Polur is often regarded as ''Gateway of Eastern ghats''. Polur was once an eminent center of Tamil Jainism. The town is home to Dharani sugars, chemicals and fertiliser Pvt., Ltd, and number of agro based industries including coir industries. The famous

Chittoor Chittoor is a city and district headquarters in Chittoor district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is also the mandal and divisional headquarters of Chittoor mandal and Chittoor revenue division respectively. The city has a popul ...

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is a heavy industries hub and a port city, and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important city and port during the Britis ...

road (C.C. Road) passes through the town. The town is located 29 Kilometres north of city of

Tiruvannamalai Tiruvannamalai (Tamil: ''Tiruvaṇṇāmalai'' IPA: , otherwise spelt ''Thiruvannamalai''; ''Trinomali'' or ''Trinomalee'' on British records) is a city and the administrative headquarters of Tiruvannamalai District in the Indian state of ...

and 45 kilometres south of

Vellore Vellore ( ), also spelled Velur, is a sprawling city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River and surrounded by the Javadi Hills in the northeastern ...

Metropolis.

Geography

Polur is located at . It has an average elevation of 171 metres (561 ft). Along with many places of worship, Polur has a huge mountain temple dedicated to Lord

Narasimha Narasimha (, , or , ), is the fourth avatara of the Hindu god Vishnu in the Satya Yuga. He incarnated as a part-lion, part-man and killed Hiranyakashipu, ended religious persecution and calamity on earth, and restored dharma. Narasimha has th ...

. This mountain temple was historically referred to as Sampathgiri, which in Sanskrit means "mountain of wealth". From the top of the hill, one can have a clear view of the Tiruvannamalai Arunachala Hill. A small hill named Kunnathur Hill is also seen on the outskirts of Polur. The same term was referred to in Tamil as "Porulur", literally translating to ''Porul'' ''oor'' (place of wealth), now referred to as Polur. It is situated in the

Tiruvannamalai District Thiruvannamalai District (previously known as Central Arcot, Tiruvannamalai Sambhuvarayar District) is the second largest district in Tamil Nadu by area after Dindigul District and one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts in the state o ...

, it takes around 30 minutes to reach the

and Silk City of Arani. It takes about 1 hour to reach

Demographics

Population

As of 2001 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 ...

, Polur had a population of 43,492. Males constituted 49% of the population and females 51%. Polur had an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy was 79%, and female literacy was 65%. In Polur, 11% of the population were under 6 years of age.

Transport

The nearest Village is Kelur which is situated on the

- Thirvannamalai Highway. The town is about 193 km from Chennai and there are frequent buses (TNSTC - Villupuram) from the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus CMBT, plying on Route # 148 (Chennai - Polur) via Tambaram, Chengalepat, Utthiramerur, Vandavasi, Chetpet. The nearest airport is at Chennai. Parvathamalai 1

The remote village Sothukanni is 8 km east of Polur. It is famous for Kanum Pongal. Kalambur town is 17 km away and is famous for rice production. Polur Railway Station is on the Vellore-Thiruvannamalai rail route. The station is served by the Southern Railway. The station is located about 35 km from Thiruvannamalai. Going north, Vellore Cantonment Railway Station is the main station next to Polur. Traveling south, Thiruvannamalai Railway Station is the nearest major station. The original name (with diacritics) of the town is Polūr. Airports nearest to Polur are sorted by the distance to the airport from the city centre. *Vellore Airport (45 km) *Pondicherry Airport (94 km) *Neyveli Airfield (110 km) *Tambaram Airfield (120 km) *

Chennai International Airport Chennai International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located in Tirusulam in Chengalpattu district, in the Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area around southwest of the c ...

(130 km)

Arahanthgiri Jain Math

Arahanthgiri Jain Math is a Jain

Math Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

that was established at the ancient Jain site of Tiruvannaamalai in August 1998. The complex includes three Jain caves, four

Jain temples A Jain temple, Derasar (Gujarati: દેરાસર) or Basadi (Kannada: ಬಸದಿ) is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is essentially restricted to temples and monasteries, and Jain buildings gen ...

and a 16 meter high sculpture of

Neminatha Neminātha (Devanagari: नेमिनाथ) (Sanskrit: नेमिनाथः), also known as Nemi and Ariṣṭanemi (Devanagari: अरिष्टनेमि), is the twenty-second tirthankara of Jainism in the present age (). Nemina ...

thought to date from the 12th century that is the tallest Jain image in Tamil Nadu.

References

{{Chennai - Suburban Railway, West South, Polur, Tamil Nadu, Arni Road (Kalambur), Tamil Nadu, Agaram Sibbandi, 48, 190.95 Cities and towns in Tiruvannamalai district