Gudiyatham

Gudiyatham
Town
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Vellore
Population  (2001)
• Total	91,376
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	632 601, 632 602
Telephone code	91 4171
Vehicle registration	TN 23

Gudiyatham (also called Gudiyattam or Gudiyettram) is a municipality in Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a town located 31 km from the city of Vellore.

Location

Gudiyatham is about 172 km west of Chennai and 165 km southeast of Bangalore. The town is located near border of Andhra Pradesh state. Gudiyatham has more than 500 small villages around it.The recently announced NH 234 passes through it from Mangalore to Villupuram via Sira,Chintamani,V.Kota,Pernambut,Gudiyattam,Katpadi,Vellore and Tiruvannamalai.

• Nearest Airport: Vellore and Chennai
• Nearest Seaport: Chennai
• Nearest Railway Stations : Gudiyatham and Ambur
• Nearest Railway Junction: Katpadi

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Gudiyatham had a population of 91,376. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Gudiyatham has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 64%. In Gudiyatham, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Tourist attractions

Gangai amman Temple located in Gudiyattam, famous for its yearly carnival every year on May 14–15 (Tamil month - Vaigasi 1st) which attracts thousands of people from various places. The Temple is famous for its fair. The temple is located on the bank of Goundanya Maha nadhi near the bus stand of Gudiyattam.

The Navagraha Anjaneyar kovil and Navagraha kottai in Pandiyan Nagar. The suriyan, Ragu, Kethu, Sukran, Sani, Buthan, Guru, Santhiran, and Ankarakan. Totally nine gods in separates in this temple Totally this temple is have in 1920 squire feet.Bus routes Katpadi to Gudiyatham.

Sethukkarai hill which is famous for the Girivalam by the people in the event of full moon day.

The Balaji Temple which is located at the Pichanoor is very famous in the month of purataasi. This temple is also called as "Then Thirupathi" (South Thirupathi in English).

The Shiva temple Balasarthuleeswarar ( Baby-Tiger-Eswarar) in Tamil translation Karupuleeswarar Aalayam in Nellorepet is more 1000 years old. It is famous for Car festival. The Shiva temple was abode for famous sage Goundanya Rishi and the river passing through the town is in his name "Goundanya Nadi". The temple has Simha tank.The temple is on Gudiyatham to Pernambut road.

Also Sri Veera Vijaya Anjaneya Swamy temple located in a nearby Village D.P.Palayam. Every month in the full moon day abhishekam takes place and a huge amount of people across the area visit the temple. It is 18 km from Gudiyattam, there are frequent buses available from Gudiyattam 2, 2a, 25 and other private services that goes towards paradarami and Chittoor.

The town is close to the recently famous religious tourism/place of worship spot called the GOLDEN TEMPLE at Sripuram.

The most attractive dam is located in mordhana.

Commerce

The Republic of India's first national flag was woven here(vengatesa perumal koil street). Gudiyatham has a thriving small scale sector manufacturing safety matches, lungis, and beedis. The safety matches industry is next largest to Sivakasi. Beedis are exported to Pakistan and other parts of India.

The town has many movie halls(more than 10) and has in total, seven pettais or colonies. Gudiyatham is famous for gold jewellery market. Being on the Katpadi - Jolarpettai railway line, it is much connected to Chennai and Bangalore. The handloom and powerloom lungies which are manufactured here are exported to many parts of India and Arab countries.

Other than these, there are two cotton mills running in Gudiyatham. One is Thirumagal Mills Limited and other one is Rajeshwari Mills Limited; both employ a considerable amount of employees. Cow and Ox market is held near Nellorepet every Tuesday and it has been so, for more than 100 years.

People

The major spoken language is Tamil. Majority of people are weavers, farmers, safety matches factory worker and beedis factory workers.

This town was one of the highest endemic areas for leprosy in India with more than 2000 new cases detected annually in the 1960s. Even now the region has not reached the World Health Organisation (WHO) elimination target of less than 1 leprosy patient per 10,000 population. This led to the establishment of "The Schieffelin Leprosy Research and Training Centre (SLRTC)- Karigiri" which had a leprosy control program in this area and actively recruited patients for treatment with multi-drug-therapy (MDT) and is still providing extra ordinary treatment to those suffering from leprosy, coming from the surrounding areas

Research Institute

The Sugarcane Research Station at Melalathur, Gudiyatham was started in 1935 under a scheme for sugarcane research of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research. From 1981 onwards, it is under the jurisdiction of the "Tamil Nadu Agricultural University", Coimbatore. (TNAU)

Major Educational Institutions

Colleges

1. Government Thirumagal Mills College of Arts and Science (http://www.gtmcgym.com)
2. K.M.G.College of Arts and Science
3. K.M.G.College OF Education
4. C.K.S College of Education(http://www.ckseducation.org)

Technical Institutions

1. Gudiyattam Polytechnic College, Kakkathopu, Gudiyattam(http://getgpc.org)
2. Guru Ragavendra Polytechnic College,Veppur,Gudiyatham
3. Rajagopal Polytechnic College (http://www.rajapoly.org)
4. Thiruvalluvar Teacher Training Institute
5. Industrial Training Institutes

Schools

1. National Higher Secondary School
2. Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Matriculation school,Gandhinagar,Gudiyattam
3. BRAMMAAS CBSE VIDHYALAYA SCHOOL,RAILWAT STATION(04171-229325)
4. Government Higher Secondary School, Nellorepet
5. St' Peter's Matriculation School, Nellorepet,Gudiyatham.
6. Saraswathi Vidhyalaya Matric Higher Secondary School, Sethuvandai
7. Ambalal Jain sri Saraswathi vidyalaya matriculation, Nellorepet.
8. Thiruvalluvar Higher Secondary School
9. Shiksha Kendra Ideal School, Pallikonda (10 km from Gudiyatham)
10. Sri Manikavasakar Vidyalaya primary School,Nellorepet.
11. Al Ameen Matriculation and Primary School, Nadupet
12. Government Municipal Higher Secondary School (Opposite the Municipal Office)
13. Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Nadupet
14. SeventhDay Adventist Matric Higher Secondary School, Gudiyatham
15. Crescent Matriculation School, Sedukkarai
16. St John's Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Gudiyatham
17. Kalaivani Thuvakkap Palli, Dharnampet
18. Dr.Krishnaswami Matriculation School, Sedukkarai
19. Immanuel English Nursery and Primary School, GPM st., Gudiyatham (Now defunct)
20. Vallallar Higher Secondary school, Nellorepet
21. Little Flower Matriculation School, Gudiyatham
22. Indira ghanthi nithi uthavi thuvaka palli, Pandiyan Nagar, Gudiyatham
23. Sri Venkateswara Nursery and Primary School, Gudiyatham
24. Sree Balamurugan Nursery and Primary school, Pudupet, Gudiyattam
25. Sree Sundarar Vidhyalaya, Pichanoor, Gudiyatham
26. thiruvalluvar elementary school, pichanoor, gudiyatham

The name of the town stems from the yesteryear name supposedly 'Kudiyetram' which literally means 'a surge in population'. There is also a myth, Karikala Cholan first cleared forest and made people habitat here so called this place 'Kudiyetram'. The passage of time and most probably British tongues have slowly lead to the now totally incomprehensible name 'Gudiyatham'.

Many archeological excavations done in this town shows that this place was a flourishing town during the Chola rule. Many Roman wine vase and coins were found in the periphery of this town.

Politics

Gudiyatham assembly constituency is part of Vellore Lok Sabha constituency. Kamarajar was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly from the Gudiyatham constituency when he was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.