Tindivanam is a town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in Viluppuram district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

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 languag ...

. It is the second largest town in

Villupuram District Viluppuram, Villupuram or Vizhuppuram is one of the 38 districts that make up the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded on 30 September 1993, prior to which it was part of the Cuddalore district. Vizhuppuram district lies in the way of the ...

after the headquarters town Villupuram. Important roads from north to south (NH 45) Tamil Nadu pass through Tindivanam and similarly from west to east (NH 66).

History

Tindivanam was earlier known as (திந்திரிவனம்) due to the

shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

n (Eswaran) temple located at Tindivanam. The name of Shiva(Suyambu linga) located there is திந்திரிஈஸ்வர். (Thinthrineeswarar) with Maragadhambigai Amman is a Thevara Vaipu Sthalam. Tindivanam is a Selection grade Municipal Town. Tindivanam was constituted as a Municipality in 01.04.1949 then it was upgraded as 2nd grade Municipality from 03.04.1970, 1st grade Municipality in 22.05.98 and Selection Grade in 02.12.2008. Ennairam, located near Tindivanam, has inscriptions about the Hindu shastras that date back to the 11th century. The

Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century B ...

temple of Narasimma swamy koil built by Rajaraja Chola 1 (985 –1010) and has reached 1,000 years. 8,000 samanaras lived in this village. As of 2011, the town had a population of 72,796.

Etymology

It was initially known as "Tinthrivanam"(Jungle of Tamarind-புளியங்காடு) where "Tinthiri" means 'tamarind' and "vanam" means 'Jungle' in Tamil.

Geography

Tindivanam is located at . It has an average elevation of 58 metres (190 feet). Tindivanam is southwest from

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 ...

and northwest from

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. Tindivanam is one among the three sub-divisions of Viluppuram District, Tamil Nadu. This small town lies about northwest of

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj. While the early history of Cudda ...

. Tindivanam is divided into 234

Revenue Village A Revenue Village is a small administrative region in India, a village with defined borders. One revenue village may contain many hamlets. Each revenue village is headed by a ''Village Administrative Officer'' ''(VAO)''. History The advent of th ...

s under Tindivanam Taluk. It lies in the stretch of NH-45, about from

, capital city of

. Tindivanam is at the junction of roads going to

Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli () (Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headqu ...

, Thiruvannamalai, Kanchipuram, Viluppuram, Thellar, Marakkanam and

. Tindivanam is about from Chengalpet; it takes about 1.30 hours to reach by roadways. Tindivanam Taluk

Demographics

According to 2011 census, Tindivanam had a population of 72,796 with a sex-ratio of 1,003 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 7,664 were under the age of six, constituting 3,922 males and 3,742 females.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

accounted for 16.59% and 0.49% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 78.19%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of 17,088 households. There were a total of 24,415 workers, comprising 595 cultivators, 672 main agricultural labourers, 465 in house hold industries, 19,541 other workers, 3,142 marginal workers, 51 marginal cultivators, 431 marginal agricultural labourers, 207 marginal workers in household industries and 2,453 other marginal workers. As per the religious census of 2011, Tindivanam had 82.16%

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 11.95%

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

, 4.39%

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 0.04%

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

, 0.02%

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and g ...

, 1.36% Jains, 0.08% following other religions and 0.0% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.

Climate

Tindivanam's climate is classified as tropical. In winter, there is much less rainfall in Tindivanam than in summer. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is Aw. The average annual temperature is 28.4 °C in Tindivanam. In a year, the average rainfall is . Precipitation is the lowest in March, with an average of . With an average of , the most precipitation falls in October. At an average temperature of 32.3 °C, May is the hottest month of the year. January has the lowest average temperature of the year. It is 24.5 °C. Between the driest and wettest months, the difference in precipitation is . During the year, the average temperatures vary by 7.8 °C.

Transport

Road

Tindivanam is connected by roads to major cities and to the rest of the state. The major National Highways in the town are * National Highway 32 (India) which connects

and Tuticorn via Tindivanam, Puducherry,

and Nagapattinam. * National Highway 77 (India) which connects Tindivanam and Uthangarai via

Tiruvannamalai Tiruvannamalai ( Tamil: ''Tiruvaṇṇāmalai'' IPA: , otherwise spelt ''Thiruvannamalai''; ''Trinomali'' or ''Trinomalee'' on British records) is a city, a spiritual, cultural, economic hub and also the administrative headquarters of Tiruva ...

and joins

National Highway 48 (India) National Highway 48 (NH 48) is a National Highway of India that starts at Delhi and terminates at Chennai traversing through seven states of India. It has a total length of 2807 km (1744 miles). NH 48 passes through the states of Delhi ...

at Krishnagiri. * National Highway 132 (India) which connects Tindivanam and Viluppuram.

Rail

Tindivanam railway station is a railway station serving Tindivanam, a city and taluk headquarters in Viluppuram district,

. It is a station on the South line of the

Chennai Suburban Railway The Chennai Suburban Railway is a commuter rail system in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, operated by the Southern Railways branch of Indian Railways. It is the second largest suburban rail network in terms of route length and the third ...

and comes under the Chennai railway division of the Southern Railway Zone. The station code is TMV.

Air

The nearest airport is Pondicherry Airport at

, in Puducherry, approximately from Tindivanam. Pondicherry Airport is connected to Bangalore and Hyderabad by commercial airlines. The nearest major airport is Chennai International Airport (MAA), approximately from the town; the next closest major airport is Tiruchirapalli Airport, approximately from the town.

Politics

* Tindivanam assembly constituency is part of Villupuram (Lok Sabha constituency) (up to 2009 Tindivanam was a Lok Sabha constituency). *Tindivanam legislative assembly: #Member of legislative assembly : Seethapathy P * Tindivanam Municipal Council: # Chairman: nil # Vice chairman # Commissioner: S.Annadurai, B.A.

Notable people

* O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar *

S. Ramadoss S. Ramadoss is an Indian politician. He is the founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, an Indian political party. Vanniyar reservation protest In 1987, the Vanniyar Sangham under Ramadoss organized the 1987 Vanniyar reservation agitation deman ...

* Anbumani Ramadoss * Tindivanam K. Ramamurthy * C. V. Shanmugam

Oil Seed Research Station

Oilseeds Research Station is located in a distance of 3 km from Tindivanam town. Started as Agricultural Research Station in 1935, later inducted with

Tamilnadu Agricultural University Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is the state agricultural university of Tamil Nadu located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. History The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural sch ...

in the year 1981. Oilseeds Research Station has been established by Govt of Tamilnadu to evolve '' groundnut'', ''

sesame Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is c ...

'' and '' castor'' varieties with desirable attributes viz., short duration, high yield, high oil content, drought tolerance, fresh seed dormancy, resistance to major insect pests and diseases etc. Groundnut (Has separate Kolmudal Nilayalam (Tamil)) & Oil seeds research station – affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University * Pioneer research station in Tamil Nadu exclusively for oilseeds. * Started as Agricultural Research Station in 1935 * Upgraded as Regional Research Station in 1962 * Renamed as Oilseeds Research Station and brought under Tamil Nadu * Agricultural University in 1981

Temples

# Mailam or Mayilam is located 15 kilometres from Tindivanam. # Chandramouleeswar temple, Thiruvakkarai
Shri Lakshmi Narasimmar temple
Tindivanam
Shri Nerkuthi Vinayagar temple
Theevanur
Shri Bheemeshwarar temple
Omandur
Shri Agastheeshwarar temple
Kiliyanur # Shri Maragathambigai Sametha Thindrinishvarar temple, Tindivanam

Enga Ooru Tindivanam flyover

The Enga Ooru Tindivanam flyover is the state's second railways flyover, which was built under the former union Minister Tindivanam G.Venkatraman, who was the minister for surface transport government of India and Member of parliament of Tindivanam constituency. The foundation was laid by former union Minister Murasoli Maran on 02/02 1997, which uplifted the town on various departments and solved so many issues in and around Tindivanam town. It has roundana and four lanes. The flyover is located in the heart of the Tindivanam, between NH 66 (Bangalore – Pondicherry) and NH 45 (Chennai - Dindukkal). This flyover was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanithi in 2000. This flyover was constructed at a cost of Rs.22 crores.

National Fossil Wood Park

National Fossil Wood Park, Tiruvakkarai is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument located in the

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indep ...

and is maintained by the Geological Survey of India. The park was established in 1940 and is located 1 km east of Thiruvakkarai village on the road between Tindivanam and

. The park contains

petrified wood Petrified wood, also known as petrified tree (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of '' fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. ' ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s approximately 20 million years old, scattered throughout the park, which covers about 247 acres (100 ha). The park consists of nine enclaves, but only a small portion of the 247 acres (approx 1 square km) is open to the public. Officials of the GSI believe the fossils were formed during massive flooding that occurred millions of years ago. The park hosts about 200 fossilized trees.

References

{{Chennai - Suburban Railway, South, Tindivanam, Panchalam, Mailam, 41, 125.48 Cities and towns in Viluppuram district