2 weeks ago
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A traveller entering Kanniyakumari district, astatine the confederate extremity of the country, from Tirunelveli district, volition instantly consciousness a perceptible alteration successful the weather. A chill breeze greets the visitor, portion paddy fields—interspersed with coconut and banana groves—stretch towards the horizon, though progressively encroached upon by existent property development.
Once celebrated arsenic the atom vessel of the erstwhile Travancore—and annexed to Tamil Nadu successful 1956—its fertility finds notation in Manonmaniam, a verse play by P. Sundaram Pillai. “In Vanchi state lies Nanjil Nadu, and who is not alert of its immense wealth,” goes a celebrated line. In the drama, the Pandya king, anxious to wed the Chera princess Manonmani, seeks Nanjil Nadu—part of present-day Kanniyakumari—as dowry.
