Salem, Tamil Nadu

Salem, Tamil Nadu Salem
city
Government
• Mayor	Rekha Priyadharshini
Population  (2001)
• Total	693,236

Salem (Tamil: சேலம்) is a city and a municipal corporation in Salem district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located in the western part of the southern most state of India, it is the fifth largest city of Tamil Nadu, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli. Almost completely surrounded by hills, Salem is a major textile centre.

Salem is at the base of the renowned tourist destination of Yercaud hills, which offers breathtaking views both along the ride up the hill and from the peak. There are also remote sites of beauty such as Kiliyur Falls. Yercaud is at an altitude of 1600 m above mean sea level.

The city is surrounded by a natural amphitheatre of hills formed by the Nagaramalai to the north, the Jeragamalai to the south, the Kanjanamalai to the west and Godumalai to the east. It is divided by the Thirumanimuthar in the main division. The fort is the oldest building in town.

History

The name Salem appears to have been derived from Sela or Shalya which are found inscriptions referring to the country around the hills. Local folklore claims Salem as the birth place of the Tamil poetess Avvaiyar. Inscriptions from the Ganga dynasty have been recovered from parts of the district.

Salem along with Coimbatore remained under the Madurai Nayaks. Later, in the early 18th Century, it came under Hyder Ali after a long feud know as Mysore-Madurai war. Salem was then taken from Hyder Ali by Colonel Wood in the beginning of 1768. It was recaptured by Hyder towards the end of the year 1772. Under Lord Clive in 1799, it was again occupied by a detachment of the residents stationed at Sankari drug (pronounced as droog) and remained a military station until 1861 when the troops were altogether withdrawn.

Many great personalities like Ramaswamy Mudaliar, C. Vijayaraghavachariar, Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu, C. Rajagopalachari , Dr. P. Subbarayan, and others started their political careers in Salem.

Geography

Salem is located at 11.669437°N 78.140865°E / 11.669437; 78.140865. It has an average elevation of 278 metres (912 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,Template:GR Salem had a population of 693,236. In 2006, the population of the city is estimated to have over 9 lakhs. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Salem has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 65%. In Salem, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

It stands in fifth place in the state of Tamil Nadu next to Trichy in land area (Salem=94 km² Trichy=146 km²). The total urban population of Salem district is about 1,390,000. The population figures shown in the census for Salem are given excluding many important suburbs like Kondalampatti, Kannankurichi, Malla Moopanpatti etc. which have been included into Salem City Municipal Corporation limits.

Religious sites

There are several Mariamman temples in Salem. Mariamman is a Hindu goddess, an incarnation of Shakti. Every year around July the city celebrates Mariamman festival for a fortnight. During this festival, Goddess Mariamman is decorated with jewellery and flower chariots and taken around the city at midnight. On the first important day of the festival, people walk on fire (Note:devotees call fire as flower) with their prayers. The second day is colourful with parades of fancy dress. This is one of the best times to visit Salem. This festival is celebrated at temples at Fort, Shevapet, Ammapet, Gugai, Andheripati etc. Shevapet Mariamman temple car is the biggest one among the cars of Amman temples across the state. This festival is celebrated for a week. The Kottai Marriamman temple is very famous not only in Salem but throughout Tamil Nadu.

There is a Alagirnathar Thirukoil popularly known as "Kottai Perumal Koil", located at the heart of the city. The temple has been built centuries ago and has some beautiful sculptures. "Vaikunda Ekadasi" is the most famous festival in the temple and on that day, lakhs of devotees visit the temple.

The Sugavaneshwarar temple is also very important shrine of Salem. Mythology records that sage sugha brahmarishi worshipped the lord here. Arunagirinadhar has sung a song on Lord Muruga in Sugavaneshwarar temple.

Kandashramam is small hill temple for Lord Muruga. It is situated 10 km from Salem City towards Chennai highway. Kandashramam houses statues of unique and vital gods. It has the statues of Panchamukha Anjaneya, Panchamukha Vinayagar, Swarna Bhairavar, Dhanvanthri, etc,. In Salem City, at Seelanaickenpatty there is another hill for Lord Murugan. Hill is named as OOTHUMALAI.

Kumaragiri is a small temple for Lord Muruga. It is situated 5KM from Salem city.

Two more mountain temples are there in Salem for Lord Vishnu.

Salem also has Heritage Temple called Sitthar Koil, which is located about 10 km from Salem. This is a Shiva Temple, which is located on the foot hills of Kanja Malai. Some believers say that, this temple was built by Sitthar's which is believed that they still survive in the Mount of Kanja Malai. The famous Tamil Poetess Avvayar is believed to be living in this hills.

Aragalur is located approximately 21 km from Attur that boast of 2 old temples and a large Buddha statue. The one day Temple car festival in summer invites lots of people in the region. The Kailasanatha Temple situated at Tharamangalam is very famous for its architectural beauty. The Tharamangalam temple has many beautiful sculptures, note worthy amongst them are the sculptures of Arjuna's penace, Shiva-parvathi & Manmadha, Rama killing Vaali, etc. There are ancient shiva temples at Belur(Thanthondreeshwarar) and Uttamacholapuram(Karaburanathar). Ayothiappattanam, located 7 km away from city houses a beautiful Kothandaramar temple.

A Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama is located in Salem. It is was started in 1928 and made a branch of the mission in 1941.

Education

Salem, which was once considered the most educationally backward district in Tamil Nadu, now has a few good educational institutions. New schools and colleges have come up recently. Government College of Engineering was started during the Third Five Year plan in the year 1966 and is located on a beautiful 162 hectares site surrounded by hills. This was then the third government engineering institution in Tamil Nadu. The first batch of students was selected for the academic year 1966-67 for courses in Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering. In the year 1973-74, the Metallurgical Engineering branch was started. Electronics and Communication branch was introduced in the year 1985-86. Computer Science engineering course was introduced in the year 2001. The Government Arts and Science College situated in Salem is one of the oldest colleges in the country. It is more than 100 years old.

In the year 1997, Periyar University was started. The colleges in Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Namakkal districts come under the control of Periyar University.

Now Salem region has about 20+ Engineering colleges, 2 medical colleges, 79 other colleges and two universities.

Salem also has a ladies special college called Sri Saradha College for Women.

Transport and Traffic

Salem is a transport hub, as several of the important transport routes in South India intersect at Salem. It is the major transit point for travel between Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Madurai, Ernakulam/Cochin, Pondicherry, and other places.

Road

Three important National Highways (NH7, NH47 and NH68) intersect each other at Salem. All three highways are proposed to be upgraded into 4 lane highway and the work is expected to be completed by December 2008. As a result, the city sees an enormous amount of road traffic. The Dr. MGR Central Integrated Bus Terminus has buses for almost all the places of the state and Bangalore/Pondy round the clock.As the traffic increases day by day, the govt has decided to lay fly overs in the main areas of the city.

Rail

Salem is an important rail junction in the Southern Railway. Because of its location almost midway between Chennai, Bangalore, and Coimbatore, the junction sees most passenger trains passing through only at night. Once under Palghat division, Salem now houses the Divisional Headquarters covering 250 km including Southern Railway's Coimbatore, Ooty, Erode, Attur, Namakkal and Pollachi lines.

Air

Salem also has one airstrip at Kamalapuram, on NH7 towards Dharmapuri. Contact Address: Airport-in-Charge, Airports Authority of India (NAD), Salem Airport, Salem District, Tamil Nadu, Telephone 91-4290-20060, 91-4290-20166. It is not in process for past few years. Now the private airlines are making arrangement to fly some flights within Tamil Nadu from Salem airport.

External links

• Official Website of Salem City Municipal Corporation
• Salem, Tamil Nadu at Curlie
• NIC website for Salem, Tamil Nadu
• Police and prisons
• Department of Geology & Mining, Govt. of Tamilnadu