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Karur
HomeTextile city, Vanji ma nagar
—  city  —
Entrance of Kalyana Pasupatheeswarar Temple
Karur Location of Karur in Tamil Nadu and India
Coordinates	10°57′N 78°05′E / 10.95°N 78.08°E / 10.95; 78.08Coordinates: 10°57′N 78°05′E / 10.95°N 78.08°E / 10.95; 78.08
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District(s)	Karur
Municipal Chairman	Tamilnadu M.Selvaraj
Population • Density	210,830[1] (2001[update]) • 372 /km2 (963 /sq mi)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	2985 km2 (1153 sq mi) • 122 metres (400 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 6390(xx) • Telephone • +91-(0)4324 • Vehicle • TN 47
Website	municipality.tn.gov.in/karur/

Karur is a large town, municipality and head of the Karur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu situated on the banks of Amaravati. Karur district was formed on 30 September 1995 by trifurcating Tiruchirappalli district. It is the administrative headquarters of Karur District. Karur has a very long history and has been sung by various sangam poets. It has been the battleground of various Tamil Kings like Chera, Chola and Pandya because of its strategic location in Kongu Nadu. The district has a very rich and varied cultural heritage. The town and the country side is made fertile by the perennial flows of the Kaveri River on the northern side(Thavittupalayam, Vangal, Muniyappanur, Kattalai (confluence of Kaveri River and Amaravati River) Mayanur, Kulithalai) and also the Amaravati, Nalkasi, Kudaganar and Noyyal rivers. The area is famous worldwide for its hand-loom textile products.

History[link]

Karur is one of the oldest towns in Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. Its history dates back over 2000 years, and has been a flourishing trading center in the early Sangam days. It was ruled by the Cheras, Gangas, Cholas, the Vijayanagara Nayaks, Mysore and the British successively.

It is repeatedly mentioned in inscriptions and literature by two names, Karuvoor and Vanji. It had other names too: Adipuram, Tiruaanilai, Paupatheechuram, Karuvaippatinam, Vanjularanyam, Garbhapuram, Thiru vithuvakkottam, Bhaskarapuram, Mudivazhangu Viracholapuram, Karapuram, Aadaga maadam, Cherama nagar and Shanmangala Kshetram. Among them, the name Adipuram i.e. the first city seems to indicate that it was held as the foremost city by the mediaeval writers. It was also called Vanci moothur, the ancient city of Vanji. In the foreign notices of Ptolem, it was called Karoura - an inland capital of the Cheras.

Karur was built on the banks of river Amaravathi which was called Aanporunai during the Sangam days. According to the Hindu mythology, Brahma began the work of creation here, which is referred to as the "place of the sacred cow." The names of the early Chera kings who ruled from Karur, have been found in the rock inscriptions in Aaru Nattar Malai close to Karur. The Tamil epic Silapathikaram mentions that the famous Chera King Senguttuvan ruled from Karur.

Epigraphical, numismatic, archaeological and literary evidence have proved beyond doubt that Karur was the capital of early Chera kings of Sangam age. It was called Karuvoor or Vanji during Sangam days. There has been a plethora of rare findings during the archaeological excavations undertaken in Karur. These include mat-designed pottery, bricks, mud-toys, Roman coins, Chera Coins, Pallava Coins, Roman Amphorae, Rasset coated ware, rare rings, etc.^[2] Karur may have been the center for old jewellery-making and gem setting (with the gold imported mainly from Rome), as seen from various excavations. In 150 Greek scholar Ptolemy mentioned “Korevora” (Karur) as a very famous inland trading center in Tamil Nadu.^[3]

Karuvurar born in medieval Karur, is one among the nine devotees who sung the divine Music Thiruvichaippa, which is the ninth Thirumurai. He is the single largest composer among the nine authors of Thiruvichaippa. He lived during the reign of the great Raja Raja Chola I. In addition to the famous Siva temple, there is a Vishnu temple at Thiruvithuvakkodu suburb of Karur, sung by famous Kulasekaraazhvaar [7-8th century AD]. The same temple is presumably mentioned in epic Silappadikaram as Adaha maadam Ranganathar whose blessings Cheran Senguttuvan sought before his north Indian expedition.^[4][5]

Karur municipality was constituted in 1874. It was upgraded to I grade municipality from 24.10.69 and upgraded to selection grade municipality from 24.05.1988 and as special grade municipality from 07.04.1988^[6].

Politics[link]

Karur assembly constituency is part of Karur (Lok Sabha constituency).^[7]

Geography & Climate[link]

Karur is located at 10°57′N 78°05′E / 10.95°N 78.08°E / 10.95; 78.08.^[8] It has an average elevation of 122 m (400 ft). It is about 371 km south west of Chennai (Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu, 66 km to the South-East of Erode and 75 km to the West of Trichy, 100 km to the South of Salem, 124 km to the East of Coimbatore and 145 km to the North of Madurai.

It is the Major junction point of three Roadways connecting,

• Bangalore & Salem to Madurai & Tirunelveli.
• Coimbatore & Tirupur to Trichy & Tanjore.
• Mangalore, Mysore & Erode to Trichy, Madurai & Tuticorin.

The highest temperature is obtained in early May to early June usually about 34 °C, though it rarely exceeds 38 °C for a few days. Average daily temperature in Karur during January is around 23 °C, though the temperature rarely falls below 17 °C.

The average annual rainfall is about 855 mm. The city gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the north-east monsoon winds, from late September to mid November.

Demographics[link]

As of the^[update] 2001 census, Karur municipality had a population of 210,830 in 54,649 households. But the total city has the population above 4 lakhs. ^[1] The municipality had a sex ratio of 989 females per 1,000 males;^[1] the surrounding district has a majority of females in the population,^[1] which is unusual in India. Karur has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 59.5%, male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 72%. In Karur, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Arts, Society & Culture[link]

The town formed a part of the traditional Chera and Chola empires and has a number of exquisitely-sculpted temples. Verappur, a place of pilgrimage connected with the history of Ponner-Sankar and temples dedicated to them is situated in Karur district.The people are very happy and unity among themselves

Pongal, Tamil New Year, Aadi Perukku, Vaikunta Ekadasi, Annual festival at Veerapur, Annual festival for Karur Mariamman are some of the important festivals celebrated in Karur.

Temples in Karur[link]

Sri Balasubramania swamy temple, Vennamalai

• Balamalai Murugan Kovil - Kovai road

• Kalyana Pasupatheeshwara swamy Temple - shiva temple

• Mariyamman Kovil

• Sri Balasubramania swamy temple - vennamalai

• kalyana venkataramana swamy - Thanthontri Malai

• Sadasiva Temple - Shiva temple at Nerur. Along with, Jeeva samadhi of Sri Sadashiva Brahmendra an Indian saint lived who lived during the 17 and 18 centuries, is located there.

Economy[link]

Agriculture[link]

Utilization of land area in Karur district is up to 44.59%. 4.76% of the land area remains as other uncultivated land. 2.74% is forest area in Karur district.

Black soil is the predominant soil type in this district accounting for 35.51% followed by lateritic soil for 23.85%. The remaining 20.31% is alluvium soil.

The main crops are Paddy, Banana, Sugarcane, Beetle leaf, Grams & Pulses, Tapioca, Kora grass, Groundnuts, Oil seeds, Tropic-Vegetables, Garland Flowers, Medicinal Herbals etc.

Financial Services =[link]

KARVY STOCK BROKING LTD., No 6 Thiru Veeka Road Karur 639001

KARVY Stock Broking Limited, one of the cornerstones of the KARVY edifice, flows freely towards attaining diverse goals of the customer through varied services. It creates a plethora of opportunities for the customer by opening up investment vistas backed by research-based advisory services. Here, growth knows no limits and success recognizes no boundaries. Helping the customer create waves in his portfolio and empowering the investor completely is the ultimate goal. KARVY Stock Broking Limited is a member of: 1) National Stock Exchange (NSE) , 2) Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 3) MCX Stock Exchange(MCX-SX)

Home textiles[link]

Karur a tex-city is famous for its home textiles.Karur has a niche in five major product groups — bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens and wall hangings. Overall Karur generates around Rs.6000 crores ($300 million dollars a year) in foreign exchange through direct and indirect exports. Allied industries like ginning and spinning mills, dyeing factories, weaving etc. employs around 300,000 people in and around Karur. ^[9]

On the international textile map Karur has become synonymous with hand-loom “made-ups” like Tirupur is known for the hosiery product. Hand-loom Exports from Karur began on a modest scale with just 15 exporters in 1975 and today Karur has thousands of exporters and the products are supplied to world leading chain stores like WalMart, Target, IKEA, JC Penny, Ahlens etc...

Paper[link]

TNPL is promoted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from the World Bank. Today TNPL is the 2nd largest producer of bagasse (sugarcane waste from Sugar mills) based paper in the world and the largest paper producer in Asia. TNPL produces 230,000 tons of Printing & writing paper and consumes 1 million tones of bagasse every year.

Bus body building[link]

Karur is a hub for bus body building industries. Most of the South Indian private bus bodies are built in Karur. The total business from building bus bodies is estimated to be around Rs.324 crore per annum.

Cement[link]

Karur is also home to Chettinad Cements. It has an installed production capacity of 600,000 tons per annum, with another 1.1 million tons expansion in the pipeline.

Sugar[link]

EID Parry has a sugar factory in Pugalur, Karur. It has a capacity of 4000 TCD per year. It also has a 22 MW co-generation Power plant, with TNPL.

Banking[link]

Karur is the home own of India's Oldest Private Scheduled Commercial Banks, Karur Vysya Bank Limited and The Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

HDPE Monofilaments[link]

HDPE monofilament and associated product manufacturing. Its mainly for manufacture of Mosquito Nets. Above 80% of plastic nets in India are made in Karur. Many Mosquito Nets company don't put the contact no in the company website.

Gem Stones[link]

The Karur belt also produces some very good Cats eyes, Feldspar, Moonstones, Aquamarines, Q artz, Elastial Quartz, Sapphires, Jasper and Beryls.

Health[link]

Karur district has 29 Primary Health Care centres, 168 health sub-centres and Government General Hospital in the city. In recent years, it has gained notoriety as one of the districts with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country. In response to the epidemic, a massive district-level communication campaign (DLCC) was launched in 2006 by the USAID-funded APAC-VHS project in the district. In 2007, the district received its own ART (Antiretroviral drug therapy) Centre, located at the Government General Hospital. Also in 2007, Karur was selected as an IMAI pilot district by the World Health Organization and Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India, with support from the District Collectorate and Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society. The IMAI initiative aims to facilitate decentralization of HIV care to the district and sub-district levels.^[10][11]

Transportation[link]

Road
Karur is well connected with rest of India through all modern means of transportation. There are 2 National highways NH-7 (Varanasi - Kanyakumari) and NH-67 (Nagapattinam - Trichy - Karur - Coimbatore - Ooty) that ply through Karur.

Railways

Entrance of Railway station

Karur (Station Code - KRR) is connected to the Indian Railways network. Trains from Mysore to Tuticorin, Mangalore to Chennai, Coimbatore to Mayiladuthurai Janshatabdi Express and Mysore to Mayiladuthurai, Nagercoil to CST Mumbai, Rameswaram to Okha and Tirunelveli to Jammu Tawi via New Delhi, Rohtak, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Pathankot (Chakki Bank) travel via Karur. Karur is also connected by rail to major towns like Trichy, madurai, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Tirupathy, Mumbai. Now it become a very important 4 route junction.

Airport
The nearest airports are in Tiruchirapalli International Airport (78 km), Salem (100 km), Coimbatore International Airport (122 km) and Madurai (135 km).

Sea Port
The nearest major sea port is at Cochin (280 km), Tuticorin (344 km) and Chennai (332 km).

Education Institutions in Karur[link]

Karur has famous and quality educational institutions for higher secondary education. Most of these institutions are owned by private.

Schools[link]

• Aero Kids International Pre-School
• Little Angels' English Higher Secondary School
• Velammal vidhyalaya & Matriculation School
• Bharani Park Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• Chettinad vidhya mandhir
• Cheran Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• CSI Boys Higher Secondary School
• Kongu Vellalar Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• K.V.B.O.A Matriculation School
• Lords park Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• Pon vidhya mandhir
• P.A. Vidhya Bhavan
• Rani Meyyammai Matriculation School
• Rasama Matric School
• Sree Krishna Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Velayuthampalayam
• St Antony's Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• St Mary's Matriculation School
• St Theresa's Matriculation School
• TNPL Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Kagithapuram Website
• Vallalar Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• Vivekananda Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• Zee mount Matriculation Higher Secondary School

Engineering colleges[link]

• M.Kumarasamy College of Engineering
• V.S.B. Engineering College
• Chettinad College of Engineering and Technology
• Karur College of Engineering
• NSN college of Engineering and technology

References[link]

External links[link]

• Karur Today - News
• District Museum
• Karur District schools fee particulars

See also[link]

• Karur (Lok Sabha constituency)

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