The Servarayan hills, with the

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

name Shevaroy Hills, are a towering mountain range (1620 m) near the city of Salem, in

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 ...

state, southern

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 ...

. The local

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 ...

name comes from a local deity, ''Servarayan''.

Geography

The Servarayans form part of the southern ranges of the

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 ...

System. Shevaroys cover an area of , with

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

s from above sea-level. The main town here is

Yercaud Yercaud, also spelt Erkad, is a town and hill station in Salem District in Tamil Nadu, India. Located in Servarayan Hills in the Eastern Ghats, it is situated at an altitude of . History Stone-age implements have been found near an ancient s ...

. As earlier stated, it also represents the highest peak in southern part of the

, with the Solaikaradu peak towering to 1620 m above mean sea-level. It is nestled parallel to the lower Chitteri hills - Kalrayan hills, just north of the

Kolli Hills Kolli Malai also known as Kolli Hills, is a Town,Hill station and Kollimalai Taluk, Taluk in Namakkal district, in Tamil Nadu, India. Origin of the name The Mountain is named Kolli Malai after the name of Goddess Etukkai Amman (also known as Ko ...

and Pachaimalai Hills. Westwards, lie the

Mettur Mettur is an industrial and tourist town located in the Salem district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for the Mettur Dam which is the largest dam in south India. Mettur is also known for its power generation, chemical man ...

hills. This range forms an important link in the southern part of

hill chain. Photograph of two men and two women of the Malaiyali tribe in the Shevaroy Hills in Tamil Nadu - 1860

Features

The Servarayan hills have several old

coffee plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

s, and a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

. The major areas of tourist interest are the Yercaud Orchidarium of the

Botanical Survey of India Botanical Survey of India (BSI) is a governmental research institution in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was founded on 13 February 1890 during British Raj in India and now is under the Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest an ...

, and the old coffee estates.

Flora and fauna

Some patches of the original forests still exist in the Shevaroy hills and those in higher slopes and peaks contain several endemic species of plants and fauna. The faunal and floral elements high up here have stark similarities to the Western Ghats. Such highlights include ''

Strobilanthes kunthiana ''Strobilanthes kunthiana'', known as Kurinji or Neelakurinji in Tamil language and Malayalam and Gurige in Kannada, is a shrub of the bear's breeches family (Acanthaceae) that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Kar ...

'' (Neelakurinji) in the peaks here, which apart from upper reaches of Western Ghats, is not known from the

elsewhere. Natural forests apart, coffee and citrus fruits, most notably oranges, are grown in abundance, as well as bananas, pears and jackfruit. Fauna such as

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, South China and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe huntin ...

spotted deer The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also called spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, mal ...

Indian pangolin The Indian pangolin (''Manis crassicaudata''), also called thick-tailed pangolin and scaly anteater, is a pangolin native to the Indian subcontinent. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping Scale (zoology), scales on its body which act as ...

jackal Jackals are Canidae, canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe Canina (subtribe), canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-b ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es, mangoose,

civets A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term ''civet'' applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species's div ...

, giant squirrels, and many reptiles including endemic ones such '' Hemiphyllodactylus aurantiacus'', '' Calotes calotes'', '' Monilesaurus rouxii'', '' Mabuya beddomii'' and shield tail snake like '' Uropeltis ellioti'' and '' Uropeltis shorttii'' (which is endemic to the hill range), the endangered '' Python molurus'', '' Rhabdophis plumbicolor'', '' Calliophis beddomei'' and ''

Trimeresurus gramineus ''Craspedocephalus gramineus'', known as the bamboo pit viper, Indian green pit viper, or common green pit viper, is a venomous pit viper species found in the southern and north eastern parts of India. No subspecies are currently recognized. De ...

'';

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

such as '' Hylarana'', ''

Raorchestes ''Raorchestes'' is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Rhacophorinae that are found in mountainous regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and southern China. A recent study places ''Raorchestes'' as a sister taxon of '' Pseudophilautus''. Before ...

'', ''

Fejervarya ''Fejervarya'' is a genus of frogs in the family Dicroglossidae found in Asia. First proposed in 1915 by István József Bolkay, a Hungarian naturalist, the genus did not see widespread adoption at first. As late as the 1990s it was generally in ...

'' and scores of birds like the whistling thrush,

racket-tailed drongo The greater racket-tailed drongo (''Dicrurus paradiseus'') is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips. They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dicr ...

peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

, shama, Oriental leafbird and

Indian grey hornbill The Indian gray hornbill (''Ocyceros birostris'') is a common hornbill found on the Indian subcontinent. It is mostly arboreal and is commonly sighted in pairs. It has grey feathers all over the body with a light grey or dull white belly. The hor ...

occur in Shevaroy Hills.

References

Landforms of Tamil Nadu Mountain ranges of India Tourist attractions in Salem district Eastern Ghats South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests {{SalemIN-geo-stub