Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India - City View - postcard c.1980s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  City View, Kodaikanal, [Tamil Nadu, India]
• Publisher:  The Visual Information of India / Photo V.B. Anand
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Kodaikanal(தமிழ்:கொடைக்கானல்) is a city in the hills of the Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.^[2] Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest".^[3] Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long history as a retreat and popular tourist destination.

Kodaikanal was established in 1845 as a refuge from the high temperatures and tropical diseases of the plains.^[4] Much of the local economy is based on the hospitality industry serving tourism. As of 2011, the town had a population for 36,501.

It is not known who first used this name or what they intended it to mean.

The word Kodaikanal is an amalgamation of two words: kodai and kanal. The Tamil language has at least four possible interpretations of the name Kodaikanal.

By pronouncing the first syllable of Kodaikanal with a long Tamil 'O', as in koe-dei, it means "summer", whilst the final two syllables kanal can mean "to see", rendering Kodaikanal as a "place to see in summer". Kodaikanal is a summer forest, and it is a place that the first missionaries used as a refuge to escape the overbearing and mosquito-ridden heat of the plains — a place that they would have counted on seeing in the summer!

Kanal, in Tamil, can mean dense or closed forest. In this case, Kodai can have at least four meanings. By pronouncing Kodai with the long Tamil 'O' and short 'e', Ko-dai means "the end". Kodaikanal could mean "the end of the forest" which makes poetic and geographical sense — Kodaikanal is at the crown of the Palani Hills and is effectively surrounded and protected by thick forests.^[3]

By pronouncing Kodai with the short Tamil 'O' (as in Kodi), it means "creepers" or vines. Kodaikanal could mean "forest of creepers" or the forest of vines. "The forest of creepers" is thought to be the English language meaning given in 1885 during the early western habitation of the place^[5] and is still accepted.^[6]

By pronouncing Kodai with a short Tamil 'O', and a long 'E', it might be interpreted to mean "gift", rendering "Kodaikanal" as "gift of the forest". Keeping the short Tamil 'O' but adding a long 'A', Kodai could be understood as the Tamil word for umbrella, where Kodaikanal is a forest fashioned like a protecting umbrella. Or perhaps 'umbrella' just because of the once pristine shola, it rained so much in Kodai!^[3]

Another Tamil word for creeper or vine is valli, the honey collecting daughter of the chief of the Veddas mountain tribe. The chief and his wife prayed to the Mountain God for a girl and their prayers were answered when the chief found a newborn girl child during a hunting expedition. As she was found among creeper plants, they named her Valli and she grew up as princess of the tribe in Kurinji and became the consort of lord Murugan.^[7] The romantic traditions of Murugan in Sangam literature are thus associated with the name Kodaikanal.

The town of Kodaikanal sits on a plateau above the southern escarpment of the upper Palani Hills at 2,133 metres (6,998 ft), between the Parappar and Gundar Valleys. These hills form the eastward spur of the Western Ghats on the Western side of South India. It has an irregular basin as its heartland, the centre of which is now Kodaikanal Lake a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) circumference manmade lake. A few kilometers away from Kodaikanal a small village named Vattakanal is located in the Dindigul District on the southern tip of the upper Palani hills in the state of Tamil Nadu, along the eastern coast of the Western Ghats. Vattakanal is better known as 'Vatta' by most or 'Little Israel' by the villagers that observe a large number of Israeli tourists who flock there from October onwards.

Meadows and grasslands cover the hillsides. Gigantic Eucalyptus trees and shola forests flourish in the valleys. Mighty rocks and cascading streams lie above the valleys. There are many high waterfalls and ubiquitous gardens and flower beds in bloom.^[9]

Kodaikanal is known for its rich flora. Of the big trees, cypress, eucalyptus and acacia are the dominant varieties. Pear trees are numerous and the fruits are of high quality. Competing with the fruit trees are the flowering ones - mainly rhododendron and magnolia. Large dahlias of different hues are the main attraction of Bryant Park, situated close to the Kodai lake. Water lilies in the park's pond are another pleasing sight. The town abounds in a kind of beautiful yellow wild flowers.^[11]

North of the town, high hills that slope down into the villages of Pallangi and Vilpatti stand guard. On the east the hill slopes less abruptly into the lower Palnis. A precipitous escarpment facing the Cumbum Valley is on the south. On the west is a plateau leading to Manjampatti Valley, Indira Gandhi National Park, the Anamalai Hills and the main body of the Western Ghats of Kerala boarder.