Kanyakumari district

Kanyakumari district
District of Tamil Nadu
Anti-Clockwise from top: Thiruvalluvar Statue, Padmanabhapuram Palace, Nagaraja Temple, Udayagiri Fort
Kanniyakumari district Location in Tamil Nadu
Coordinates: 8°19′N 77°20′E / 8.32°N 77.34°E / 8.32; 77.34
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Kanyakumari
Headquarters	Nagercoil
Taluks	Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam, Thovalai, Vilavancode, Killiyur, Thiruvattar
Government
• District Collector	P. N. Sridhar, I.A.S
• Superintendent of Police	E. Sundaravathanam, IPS,, I.P.S
• District Forest Officer	M. Ilayaraja, I.F.S
Area
• Total	1,672 km2 (646 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	1,870,374
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Tamil
• Minority	Malayalam
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	629 xxx
Telephone code	04652 for Nagercoil & 04651 for Marthandam
Vehicle registration	TN-74 for Nagercoil & TN-75 for Marthandam
Coastline	72 kilometres (45 mi)
Sex ratio	M-1000/F-1014 ♂/♀
Literacy	97.6%
Legislature type	Elected
Current Member of Parliament	Vijay Vasanth
Lok Sabha constituency	Kanniyakumari
Legislative Assembly Constituencies (6) Current Members	N. Thalavai Sundaram (Kanniyakumari), M. R. Gandhi (Nagercoil), J. G. Prince (Colachel), T. Mano Thangaraj (Padmanabhapuram), S. Rajeshkumar (Killiyoor), (Vacant) (Vilavancode), District Panchayath Chairman S. Merliant Dhas
Precipitation	2,382 millimetres (93.8 in)
Avg. summer temperature	31 °C (88 °F)
Avg. winter temperature	22 °C (72 °F)
Central location:	8°03′N 77°15′E / 8.050°N 77.250°E / 8.050; 77.250
Website	kanniyakumari.nic.in

Kanyakumari district, officially Kanniyakumari district, is one of the 39 districts of Tamil Nadu state and the southern most district in mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu.^[1] It is also the richest district in Tamil Nadu in terms of per capita income,^[2][3] and also tops the state in Human Development Index (HDI), literacy, and education.^[4][5] The district's headquarters is Nagercoil.

Kanyakumari district has a varied topography with the sea on three sides and the mountains of the Western Ghats bordering the northern side. Except for a small stretch of land to the east of Kanniyakumari town, almost the entire district is sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea – the only district in Tamil Nadu state facing the Arabian Sea.

Historically, Nanjinad and Edai Nadu, which comprise the present-day Kanniyakumari district, were ruled by various Tamil and Malayalam dynasties: the Cheras, the Ay/Venad/Travancore dynasty, the Pandyans, the Chozhans and the Nayaks. A few artifacts have been unearthed by archeological excavations.^[6] It was part of the princely state of Travancore during the colonial times prior to India's independence;^[7] four of the eight tehsils of Thiruvananthapuram district were separated from the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom to form the new district of Kanniyakumari, and they were made the part of Madras Presidency under recommendations from the States Reorganisation Commission in 1956. The Presidency was later renamed Tamil Nadu and Kanniyakumari, today, is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state.

The district is the birthplace of Ayyavazhi. Many historical assumptions persist in the district and state, which associate sages such as Agastya, Vyasa, Tolkappiyar, Avvaiyar and Thiruvalluvar with the district.