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Madurai

Madurai, formerly known by its colonial name Madura is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is governed by the Madurai Municipal Corporation established in 1 November 1866. As of the 2011 census, it is the third largest metropolis in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and Coimbatore in terms of population and 27th largest urban agglomeration in India. Located on the banks of River Vaigai, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and has a documented history of more than 2500 years. It is often referred to as "Thoonga Nagaram", meaning "the city that never sleeps".

Madurai is closely associated with the Tamil language. The third Tamil Sangam, a major congregation of Tamil scholars, is said to have been held in the city. The recorded history of the city goes back to the 3rd century BCE, being mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Mauryan Empire, and Kautilya, a minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Signs of human settlements and Roman trade links dating back to 300 BCE are evident from excavations by Archeological Survey of India in Manalur. The city is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Pandyan Kingdom, Chola Empire, Madurai Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Carnatic kingdom, and the British East India Company's British Raj. The city has a number of historical monuments, with the Koodal Azhagar temple, Meenakshi Temple and the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal being the most prominent.

Madurai is an important industrial and educational hub in South Tamil Nadu. The city is home to various automobile, rubber, chemical and granite manufacturing industries. Madurai has important government educational institutes such as the Madurai Medical College, Homeopathic Medical College, Madurai Law College, Agricultural College and Research Institute and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Madurai. The city covers an area of 147.97 km2 and had a population of 1,470,755 in 2011. The city is also the seat of a bench of the Madras High Court.

It is one of the few towns and cities in List of AMRUT Smart cities in Tamil Nadu selected for AMRUT Schemes from central government and the developmental activities are taken care by government of Tamil Nadu.

Etymology
According to Iravatham Mahadevan, a 2nd-century BCE Tamil-Brahmi inscription refers to the city as matiray, an Old Tamil word meaning a "walled city".

Madurai is one of the many temple towns in the state which is named after the groves, clusters or forests dominated by a particular variety of a tree or shrub and the same variety of tree or shrub sheltering the presiding deity. The region is believed to have been covered with Kadamba forest and hence called Kadambavanam. The city is referred by various names including "Madurai", "Koodal", "Malligai Maanagar", "Naanmadakoodal" and "Thirualavai". It is believed that Madurai is the derivative of the word Marutham, which refers to the type of landscape of the Sangam age. A town in the neighbouring Dindigul district is called Vada Madurai (North Madurai) and another in Sivagangai district is called Manamadurai. The different names by which the city has been referred to historically are listed in the 7th-century poem Thiruvilayaadal Puraanam written by Paranjothi Munivar. Vaishnava texts refer to Madurai as the "southern Mathura", probably similar to Tenkasi (southern Kashi).

Koodal means an assembly or congregation of scholarly people, referring to the three Tamil Sangams held at Madurai. Naanmadakoodal, meaning the junction of four towers, refers to the four major temples for which Madurai was known for. Tevaram, the 7th- or 8th-century Tamil compositions on Shiva by the three prominent Nayanars (Saivites), namely Appar, Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar, address the city as Thirualavai.

History
The Buddhist text Mahavamsa mentions Madurai in the context of Prince Vijaya's (543–505 BCE) arrival in Sri Lanka with his 700 followers. According to the Mahavamsa, emissaries laden with precious gifts, jewels and pearls, were sent from Sri Lanka to Madurai of ancient Tamilakam. Their mission was to secure a bride for Prince Vijaya. The Pandyan King of Madurai agreed to the proposal. He not only sent his own daughter to marry Prince Vijaya but also requested other families to offer their daughters to marry the prince's ministers and retainers. So, along with the Princess and hundreds of maidens, craftsmen and a thousand families from the eighteen guilds were also sent to Sri Lanka.

Madurai has been inhabited since at least the 3rd century BCE. Megasthenes may have visited Madurai during the 3rd century BCE, with the city referred as "Methora" in his accounts. The view is contested by some scholars who believe "Methora" refers to the north Indian city of Mathura, as it was a large and established city in the Mauryan Empire. Madurai is also mentioned in Kautilya's (370–283 BCE) Arthashastra. Sangam literature like Maturaikkāñci records the importance of Madurai as a capital city of the Pandyan dynasty. Madurai is mentioned in the works of Roman historians Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 112 CE), Ptolemy (c. 90), those of the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 BCE – c. 24 CE), and also in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. After the Sangam age, most of present-day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhra dynasty, which was ousted by the Pandyas around 590 CE. The Pandyas were ousted from Madurai by the Chola dynasty during the early 9th century. The city was fought over between the Cholas and the Pandyas during the 12th century, changing hands several times, until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital. After the death of Kulasekara Pandian (1268–1308 CE), Madurai came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. The Madurai Sultanate then seceded from Delhi and functioned as an independent kingdom until its gradual annexation by the Vijayanagara Empire in 1378 CE. Madurai became independent from Vijayanagar in 1559 CE under the Nayaks. Nayak rule ended in 1736 CE and Madurai was repeatedly captured several times by Chanda Sahib (1740 – 1754 CE), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 1764 CE) in the middle of the 18th century.

In 1801, Madurai came under the direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency. The British government made donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindu festivals during the early part of their rule. The city evolved as a political and industrial complex through the 19th and 20th centuries to become a district headquarters of a larger Madurai district. In 1837, the fortifications around the temple were demolished by the British. The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct new streets – Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets. The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866 under the Town Improvement Act of 1865. The British government faced initial hiccups during the earlier period of the establishment of municipality in land ceiling and tax collection in Madurai and Dindigul districts under the direct administration of the officers of the government. The city, along with the district, was resurveyed between 1880 and 1885 CE and subsequently, five municipalities were constituted in the two districts and six taluk boards were set up for local administration. Police stations were established in Madurai city, housing the headquarters of the District Superintendent.

It was in Madurai, in 1921, that Mahatma Gandhi, pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India, first adopted the loin cloth as his mode of dress after seeing agricultural labourers wearing it. Leaders of the independence movement in Madurai included N. M. R. Subbaraman, Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar and Mohammad Ismail Sahib. The Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act passed by the government of Madras Presidency under C. Rajagopalachari in 1939 removed restrictions prohibiting Shanars and Dalits from entering Hindu temples. The temple entry movement was first led in Madurai Meenakshi temple by independence activist A. Vaidyanatha Iyer in 1939.

In 1971, the municipality of Madurai was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation. In 2011 the Corporation of Madurai expanded the area of its jurisdiction from seventy-two wards to one hundred wards, an increase in area from 51.82 sqkm to 147.997 sqkm.

Architecture
Madurai is built around the Koodal Azhagar temple and Meenakshi Temple, which acted as the geographic and ritual centre of the ancient city of Madurai. The city is divided into a number of concentric quadrangular streets around the temple. Viswanatha Nayak (1529–64 CE), the first Madurai Nayak king, redesigned the city in accordance with the principles laid out by Shilpa Shastras (Sanskrit: , also anglicised as silpa sastra meaning rules of architecture) related to urban planning. These squares retain their traditional names of Aadi, Chittirai, Avani-moola and Masi streets, corresponding to the Tamil month names and also to the festivals associated.

The temple prakarams (outer precincts of a temple) and streets accommodate an elaborate festival calendar in which dramatic processions circumambulate the shrines at varying distances from the centre. The temple chariots used in processions are progressively larger in size based on the size of the concentric streets. Ancient Tamil classics record the temple as the centre of the city and the surrounding streets appearing liken a lotus and its petals. The city's axes were aligned with the four-quarters of the compass, and the four gateways of the temple provided access to it. The wealthy and higher echelons of the society were placed in streets close to the temple, while the poorest were placed in the fringe streets. With the advent of British rule during the 19th century, Madurai became the headquarters of a large colonial political complex and an industrial town; with urbanisation, the social hierarchical classes became unified.

Geography and climate
The Corporation of Madurai has an area of 147.97 sqkm.

Madurai is located at 9.93°N, 78.12°W. It has an average elevation of 134 metres. The city of Madurai lies on the flat and fertile plain of the river Vaigai, which runs in the northwest–southeast direction through the city, dividing it into two almost equal halves. The Sirumalai and Nagamalai hills lie to the north and west of Madurai. The land in and around Madurai is utilised largely for agricultural activity, which is fostered by the Periyar Dam. Madurai lies southeast of the western ghats, and the surrounding region occupies the plains of South India and contains several mountain spurs. The soil type in central Madurai is predominantly clay loam, while red loam and black cotton types are widely prevalent in the outer fringes of the city. Paddy is the major crop, followed by pulses, millet, oil seed, cotton and sugarcane.

As is typical for Tamil Nadu, Madurai has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw/As), although it borders closely upon a hot semi-arid climate (BSh).

Madurai is hot and dry for eight months of the year. Cold winds are experienced during February and March as in the neighbouring Dindigul. The hottest months are from March to July. The city experiences a moderate climate from August to October, tempered by heavy rain and thundershowers, and a slightly cooler climate from November to February. Fog and dew are rare, occurring only during the winter season. Being equidistant from mountains and the sea, it experiences similar monsoon pattern with Northeast monsoon and Southwest monsoon, with the former providing more rain during October to December. The average annual rainfall for the Madurai district is about 85.76 cm.

Temperatures during summer generally reach a maximum of 42 °C and a minimum of 26.3 °C, although temperatures up to 43 °C are not uncommon. Winter temperatures range between 29.6 °C and 18 °C. A study based on the data available with the Indian Meteorological Department on Madurai over a period of 62 years indicate rising trend in atmospheric temperature over Madurai city, attributed to urbanisation, growth of vehicles and industrial activity. The maximum temperature of 42 °C for the decade of 2001 to 2010 was recorded in 2004 and in 2010.

Demographics
According to 2011 census based on pre-expansion limits, the area covered under the Corporation of Madurai had a population of 1,017,865 with a sex-ratio of 999 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 100,324 were under the age of six, constituting 51,485 males and 48,839 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 6.27% and 0.31% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the city was 81.95%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The urban agglomeration of Madurai had a population of 1,465,625, and is the third largest in Tamil Nadu and the 31st in India.

According to the religious census of 2011, Madurai had 85.83% Hindus, 8.54% Muslims, 5.18% Christians and 0.47% others. Tamil is the main language, and the standard dialect is the Madurai Tamil dialect, and is spoken by 89.0% of the population. Saurashtra, is the largest minority language which is spoken by 5.4% of the population. Other significant minority languages include Telugu (2.7%) and Urdu (1.5%). Roman Catholics in Madurai are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madurai, while Protestants are affiliated with the Madurai-Ramnad Diocese of the Church of South India.

In 2001, Slum-dwellers comprise 32.6 per cent of the total population, much higher than the national average of 15.05 per cent. The increase in growth rate to 50 per cent from 1971 to 1981 is due to the city's upgrade to a municipal corporation in 1974 and the subsequent inclusion of 13 Panchayats into the corporation limits. The decline in the population growth rate between 1981 and 2001 is due to the bifurcation of Madurai district into two, Madurai and Dindigul in 1984, and the subsequently of part of the city into the Theni district in 1997. The compounded annual growth rate dropped from 4.10 per cent during 1971–81 to 1.27 per cent during 1991–2004.

Administration and politics
The municipality of Madurai was constituted on 1 November 1866 as per the Town Improvement Act of 1865. The municipality was headed by a chairperson and elections were regularly conducted for the post except during the period 1891 to 1896, when no elections were held due to violent factionalism. During the early years of independent India, the Madurai municipality was dominated by reformists of the Indian National Congress. Madurai was upgraded to a municipal corporation on 1 May 1971 as per the Madurai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1971. It is the second oldest municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu, after Chennai. The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning, and the Computer Wing. All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner, who is the supreme executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 100 members, one each from the 100 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Mayor assisted by a Deputy Mayor. The corporation received several awards in 2008 for implementing development works.

The city of Madurai is represented in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by six elected members, one each for the Madurai East, Madurai West, Madurai North, Madurai Central, Madurai South and Thirupparankundram constituencies. Most of Madurai city comes under the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency and elects a member to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, once every five years. From 1957, the Madurai parliament seat was held by the Indian National Congress seven times in the 1962–67, 1971–77, 1977–80, 1980–84, 1984–89, 1989–91 and 1991 elections. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won the seat three times during 1967–71, 1999–2004 and 2004–09 general elections. The Communist Party of India (1957–61), Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (1996–98), Janata Party (1998), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (2009–2014) and All India Anna Dravida Munnertra Kazhagam (2014–2020) have each won once. Part of the city which falls under Thirupparankundram assembly constituency comes under the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency.

Law and order is enforced by the Tamil Nadu Police, which, for administrative purposes, has constituted Madurai city as a separate district. The district is divided into four sub-divisions, namely Thallakulam, Anna Nagar, Thilagar Thidal and Town, with a total of 27 police stations. The Madurai city police force is headed by a Commissioner of police, assisted by Deputy Commissioners. Enforcement of law and order in the suburban areas are handled by the Madurai district police. In 2008, the crime rate in the city was 283.2 per 100,000 people, accounting for 1.1 per cent of all crimes reported in major cities in India, and it was ranked 19th among 35 major cities in India. As of 2008, Madurai recorded the second highest SLL (Special and Local Laws) crimes, at 22,728, among cities in Tamil Nadu. However, Madurai had the second lowest crime rate at 169.1 of all the cities in Tamil Nadu. The city is also the seat of a bench of the Madras High Court, one of only a few outside the state capitals of India. It started functioning in July 2004.

Transport
The National Highways NH 7, NH 45B, NH 208 and NH 49 pass through Madurai. The state highways passing through the city are SH-32, SH-33 and SH-72, which connect various parts of Madurai district. Madurai is one of the seven circles of the Tamil Nadu State Highway network. Madurai is the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Madurai) and provides local and inter city bus transport across four districts namely Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, and Virudhunagar. Madurai has four major bus stands, namely, Mattuthavani Integrated Bus Terminus (MIBT), Arappalayam, Palanganatham and Periyar Bus stand. There are 12,754 registered three-wheeled vehicle called auto rickshaws which are commercially available for renting within the city. Over the government operated city buses that are used for public transport, there are 236 registered private mini-buses that support local transportation.

Madurai Junction is an important railway junction in southern Tamil Nadu and constitutes a separate division of the Southern Railway zone. There are direct trains from Madurai connecting the important cities in Tamil Nadu like Chennai, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Karaikudi, Mayiladuthurai, Rameswaram, Thanjavur, Tiruttani, Tirupathi and Virudhachalam. Madurai has rail connectivity with most important cities and towns in India. Madurai has rail connectivity with important cities and towns in India. The state government has announced the Madurai Monorail in 2011;, it remains in planning stages.

Madurai International Airport, first used by the Royal Air Force in World War II in 1942., is located 12 kilometers from the city. The airport was declared a customs airport in 2012 allowing limited number of international flights. It offers domestic flights to some cities in India and international services to Colombo, Dubai and for Singapore on a daily basis started by Air India Express since February 2018. The carriers operating from the airport are Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet, IndiGo and SriLankan Airlines. The airport handled 842,300 passengers between April 2015 and March 2016.

Education

Madurai has been an academic centre of learning for Tamil culture, literature, art, music and dance for centuries. All three assemblies of the Tamil language, the Tamil Sangam (about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE), were said to have been held at Madurai. Tamil poets of different epochs participated in these assemblies, and their compositions are referred to as Sangam literature. During the third Tamil sangam, the comparative merit of the poets was decided by letting the works float in the lotus tank of the temple. It was believed that a divine force would cause the work of superior merit to float on the surface, while the inferior ones would sink.

The American College is the oldest college in Madurai, and was established in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The Lady Doak College, established in 1948, is the oldest women's college in Madurai. Thiagarajar College (established in 1949), Madura College (established in 1889), Fatima College is a women's general degree college (established in 1953), Sourashtra College (established in 1967) and M.S.S. Wakf Board College (established in 1964), Tamil Nadu Polytechnic College ( established in 1946), are the oldest educational institutions of the city. Madurai Kamaraj University (originally called Madurai University), established in 1966, is a state-run university which has 109 affiliated arts and science colleges in Madurai and neighbouring districts. There are 47 approved institutions of the university in and around the city, consisting of autonomous colleges, aided colleges, self-financing colleges, constituent colleges, evening colleges and other approved institutions.

There are seven polytechnical schools and five Industrial training institutes (ITIs) in Madurai, with the Government ITI and the Government Polytechnic for Women being the most prominent of them all. There are two government medical institutes in Madurai, Madurai Medical College and Homoeopathic Medical College, Thirumangalam and 11 paramedical institutes. There are fifteen engineering colleges in Madurai affiliated to Anna University, with the Thiagarajar College of Engineering being the oldest. The Madurai Law College, established in 1979, is one of the seven government law colleges in the state. It is administered by the Tamil Nadu Government Department of Legal Studies, and affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University. There are three teacher training institutes, two music colleges, three management institutes and 30 arts and sciences colleges in Madurai. The agricultural college and research institute in Madurai, started in 1965 by the state government, provides agricultural education to aspirants in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, a premier medical institution, is also under construction in Madurai and will cover 224 acre of land, at an estimated cost of inr 12640000000, and additionally allotted inr 7360000000 total around inr 20000000000 in the sub-urban Thoppur Madurai district.

Secondary schools
There are a total of 369 primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the city.
 * Capron Hall Higher Secondary School, Madurai

Economy
Madurai was traditionally an agrarian society, with rice paddies as the main crop. Cotton crop cultivation in the regions with black soil in Madurai district was introduced during the Nayaka rule during the 16th century to increase the revenue from agriculture. The paddy fields cultivated in the Vaigai delta across Madurai North, Melur, Nilakottai and Uthamapalayam are known as "double-crop paddy belts". Farmers in the district supplement their income with subsidiary occupations like dairy farming, poultry-farming, pottery, brick making, mat-weaving and carpentry. Madurai is famed for its jasmine plantations, called Madurai Malli, primarily carried out at the foothills of Kodaikanal hills and traded at the Madurai morning flower market. An average of 2,000 farmers sell flowers daily at the flower market.

With the advent of Small Scale Industries (SSI) after 1991, the industrialisation of Madurai increased employment in the sector across the district from 63,271 in 1992–93 to 166,121 persons in 2001–02. Madurai is one of the few rubber growing areas in South India, and there are rubber-based industries in Madurai. Gloves, sporting goods, mats, other utility products and automobile rubber components are the most produced items by these industries. Automobile manufacturers are the major consumers of rubber components produced in the city. There are numerous textile, granite and chemical industries operating in Madurai. Kashmir gold granite and Kashmir white granite are the trade names of two types of granite produced in Madurai.

Madurai is promoted as a tier II city for IT and Industry. Kappalur which is sub-urban of Madurai is business hub for automotive industries such as KUN BMW, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mahindra, Tata, Maruti Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Ashok Leyland, Jeep, Fiat India (FCA). The government has created Utchapatti-Thoppur satellite Township in Kappalur. Small Industries Development Corporation Kappalur has many polymer and houseware manufacturing units.some software companies have opened their offices in Madurai. Software Technology Parks of India, an agency of the Government of India, has authorised several such companies to receive benefits under its national information technology development program. The state government proposed two IT-based Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in Madurai, and these have been fully occupied by various IT companies, HCLTech and Honeywell have their own campuses in ELCOT IT Park in Madurai.

Religious sites
Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Hindu temple located on the south side of the Vaigai River in Madurai, which is one of the most prominent landmarks of the city. It is dedicated to Parvati known as Meenakshi and her consort, Shiva as Sundareswarar. The complex houses 14 gopurams (gateway towers) ranging from 45 - 50 m in height, the tallest being the southern tower, 51.9 m high. There are also two golden sculptured vimana (shrines) over the sanctum of the main deities. The temple is a significant symbol for Tamils and has been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, though the present structure was built between 1623 and 1655 CE. The temple attracts 15,000 visitors a day and around 25,000 during Fridays. There are an estimated 33,000 sculptures in the temple.

Koodal Azhagar Temple is a historic Hindu temple located on the south side of the Vaigai River in Madurai, which is one of the most prominent landmarks of the city. The temple is dedicated to Maha Vishnu. It has idols of the Navagraha (nine planet deities), which are otherwise found only in Shiva temples. the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Viyooga Sundarrajan, and his consort Lakshmi as Mathuravalli. A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines. The temple has a five-tiered rajagopuram, the gateway tower. The temple is originally believed to be built by the Pandyas, with later additions by the Vijayanagara empire and Madurai Nayaks kings who commissioned pillared halls and major shrines of the temple during the 16th century.

The Kallalagar temple, Alagar Koyil, is a celebrated Vishnu temple 21 km northeast of Madurai situated at the foothills of Solaimalai. The deity, Kallazhagar, is believed to be the brother of Meenakshi and worshiped by Meenakshi, the presiding deity at the Meenakshi temple. The festival calendars of these two temples overlap during the Meenakshi Thirukalyanam festival. The temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 5th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Maha Vishnu, who is worshiped as Kallalagar, and his consort Lakshmi as Thirumagal. This temple is called as Thirumaliruncholai in Sangam literatures and Naalayira Divya Prabandham sung by Tamil Alvar saints.

Pazhamudircholai, one of the other six abodes of the Hindu god Murugan, is located atop the Solaimalai hill. Thiruparankundram is a hill 8 km away from Madurai, where the Hindu god Murugan is believed to have married Deivanai. The temple is the first among the six holy abodes of Murugan, the Arupadai Veedu, literally "Six Battle Camps", and one of the most visited tourist spots in Madurai. The temple has a wide range of Hindu gods carved on the walls.

Kazimar Big Mosque is the first Muslim place of worship in the city. It was constructed under the supervision of Kazi Syed Tajuddin, believed to be a descendant of the prophet Muhammed. He came from Oman and received the piece of land from the Pandya ruler, Kulasekara Pandiyan during the 13th century. It is claimed to be the oldest Islamic monument in Madurai. The dargah of Madurai Hazrats called as Madurai Maqbara is located inside the mosque. Tirupparankunram Dargah is the grave of an Islamic saint who came from Jeddah; his festival is celebrated during Rajab every Hijri year.

Goripalayam Mosque is located in Gorippalayam, the name of which is derived from the Persian word Gor, meaning Grave. The graves of Hazrat Sulthan Alauddin Badhusha, Hazrat Sulthan Shamsuddeen Badhusha and Hazrat Sulthan Ghaibuddeen Badhusha are found here. The urus festival of this dargah is held on 15th night of the Islamic month of Rabi al-awwal on every hijri year. St. Mary's Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madurai. Samanar Malai and Panchapandavar Malai are important Jain centres.

Culture and tourism
Madurai is popularly called Thoonga Nagaram meaning the city that never sleeps, on account of the active night life. The city attracts a large number of tourists from within the country and abroad. About 9,100,000 tourists visited Madurai in 2010, out of which foreigners numbered 524,000. The palace complex of Thirumalai Nayak Palace was constructed in the Indo-Saracenic style by Thirumalai Nayakar in 1636 CE. It is a national monument maintained by the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department. The daily sound and light show organized by the department explains the virtues of King Thirumalai and the features of the palace. The palace of Rani Mangamma has been renovated to house one of the five Gandhi Sanghralayas (Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai) in the country. It includes a part of the blood-stained garment worn by Gandhi when he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. A visit by Martin Luther King Jr. to the museum inspired him to lead peaceful protests against discrimination.

The Eco park, situated in Tallakulam, features fountains and lighting in trees using optical fibres. Rajaji children park, maintained by the Corporation of Madurai, is situated between the Gandhi museum and the Tamukkam grounds – it has a visitor average of 5,000 per day during holidays and 2,000–3,000 on working days. MGR Race Course Stadium is an athletic stadium which has a synthetic track and a swimming pool. Several National Meets are held here. It also hosts several international and national level Kabbadi Championships. Railway grounds at Arasaradi, Medical college grounds & Madura College Grounds are the full-fledged cricket stadiums in the city.

The people of Madurai celebrate numerous festivals, which include Meenakshi Tirukkalyanam, the Chittirai Festival and the Car Festival. The annual 10 day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival, also called Chittirai festival, celebrated during April–May every year attracts 1 million visitors. Legend has it that Hindu god Vishnu, as Alagar, rode on a golden horse to Madurai to attend the celestial wedding of Meenakshi (Parvati) with Sundareswarar (Shiva). During the Cradle festival, the festive idols of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar are taken in procession to a mirror chamber and set on a rocking swing for nine days. Avanimoolam festival is celebrated during the month of September when the 64 sacred games of Hindu god Shiva, thiruvilayadal are recited. The Thepporchavam festival or float festival is celebrated in the month of January – February, on the full moon day of Tamil Month Thai to celebrate the birth anniversary of King Thirumalai Nayak. The decorated icons of the Meenakshi and her consort are taken out in a procession from the Meenakshi Temple to the Mariamman Teppakulam. The icons are floated in the tank on a raft decked with flowers and flickering lamps.

Jallikattu is the most popular historical sport in Tamil Nadu, which is a part of the Pongal festival (harvest festival) celebrated during January. The bull taming event is held in the villages surrounding Madurai when people from the neighbouring villages throng the open grounds to watch man and bull pitting their strength against each other. Although the event was banned by the Supreme Court of India in 2014, large protests in 2017 led to the sport's reinstatement. Santhanakoodu festivals in Madurai are celebrated on various days during the Islamic calendar year to commemorate Islamic saints.

Media and utility services
The city hosts several radio stations, including the state-owned All India Radio and private channels like Hello FM, Radio Mirchi, Suryan FM and Radio City. The Hindu, The New Indian Express and The Times of India are the three principal English-language daily newspapers which have Madurai editions. Deccan Chronicle, though not printed in the city, is another English-language daily newspaper available in the city. The most read Tamil-language daily morning newspapers include Dinamalar, Dina Thanthi, Dinamani and Dinakaran – all these newspapers have editions from Madurai. There are also daily Tamil evening newspapers like Tamil Murasu, Malai Murasu and Maalai Malar published in Madurai. Television broadcasting from Chennai for whole of Tamil Nadu was started on 15 August 1975. Direct-to-home cable television services are provided by DD Direct Plus and other private service providers.

Electricity supply to the city is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The city is the headquarters of the Madurai region of TNEB and along with its suburbs, forms the Madurai Metro Electricity Distribution Circle, which is further divided into six divisions. Water supply is provided by the Madurai City Corporation with overhead tanks and power pumps. In the period 2010–2011, a total of 950.6 lakh litres of water was supplied to 87,091 connections for households in Madurai.

About 400 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city every day by door-to-door collection, and the subsequent source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the Corporation of Madurai All the major channels in Madurai are linked by the corporation to receive the flood water from primary, secondary and tertiary drains constructed along the roadsides to dispose of rain water. The sewer system was first established by the British in Madurai in 1924 to cover the core city area, which covers 30 per cent of the present city area. It was further expanded in 1959 and 1983 by a corporation plan. The 2011 Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission covered 90 per cent of households with underground drainage system.

Madurai comes under the Madurai telecom district of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services are available. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service and Caller Line Identification (CLI) based internet service Netone.

A regional passport office was opened on 17 December 2007 and caters to the needs of nine districts. The city is served by the Government Rajaji Hospital. A branch of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in Thoppur, in the outskirts of the city, is set to be completed by 2022 as per Central government press release.

title: Madurai


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Coimbatore

Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), sometimes shortened as Kovai, is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbatore is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu after Chennai in terms of population and the 16th largest urban agglomeration in India as per the census 2011. It is the administrative capital of Coimbatore District and is administered by the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation which was established in 1981.

The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during the Sangam period between the 1st and the 4th centuries CE and it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the west coast and Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore was located along the ancient trade route Rajakesari Peruvazhi that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu in South India. The medieval Cholas conquered the Kongu Nadu in the 10th century CE. The region was ruled by Vijayanagara Empire in the 15th century followed by the Nayaks who introduced the Palayakkarar system under which Kongu Nadu region was divided into 24 Palayams. In the later part of the 18th century, the Coimbatore region came under the Kingdom of Mysore and following the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Anglo-Mysore Wars, the British East India Company annexed Coimbatore to the Madras Presidency in 1799. The Coimbatore region played a prominent role in the Second Poligar War (1801) when it was the area of operations of Dheeran Chinnamalai.

In 1804, Coimbatore was established as the capital of the newly formed Coimbatore district and in 1866, it was accorded municipality status with Robert Stanes as its chairman. The city experienced a textile boom in the early 19th century due to the decline of the cotton industry in Mumbai. Post Independence, Coimbatore has seen rapid growth due to industrialisation and is one of the largest exporters of jewellery, wet grinders, poultry and auto components; the "Coimbatore Wet Grinder" and the "Kovai Cora Cotton" are recognised as Geographical Indications by the Government of India. Being a hub of textile industry in South India, the city is referred to as the "Manchester of South India".

Coimbatore was ranked the best emerging city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual survey, fourth among Indian cities in investment climate by Confederation of Indian Industry and 17th among the top global outsourcing cities by Tholons. Coimbatore has been selected as one of the Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT by Government of India. Coimbatore regularly features among the top ten best cities to live in India and is amongst the safest cities in India for women according to National Crime Records Bureau report in 2015.

Etymology
According to one theory, "Coimbatore" is a derivation of Kōvanpuddur (lit. 'new town of Kovan'), after chieftain Kovan or Koyan, evolved into Kōyamputtūr and later anglicised as Coimbatore. Another theory states that the name could have been derived from Kovaiamma. The word evolved from Koyamma, the goddess worshipped by Koyan which became Koniamma and later Kovaiamma.

History
The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during Sangam period between c. 1st and the 4th centuries CE and it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the west coast and Tamil Nadu. The Kosar tribe mentioned in the 2nd century CE Tamil epic Silappathikaram and other poems in Sangam literature is associated with the Coimbatore region. The region was located along an ancient Roman trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu. The medieval Cholas conquered the Kongu Nadu in the 10th century. A Chola highway called Rajakesari Peruvazhi ran through the region. Much of Tamil Nadu came under the rule of the Vijayanagara Empire by the 15th century. In the 1550s, Madurai Nayaks, who were the military governors of the Vijaynagara Empire, took control of the region. After the Vijayanagara Empire fell in the 17th century, the Madurai Nayaks established their state as an independent kingdom. They introduced the Palayakkarar system under which Kongu Nadu region was divided into 24 Palayams(towns).

In the latter part of the 18th century, the region came under the Kingdom of Mysore, following a series of wars with the Madurai Nayak dynasty. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Anglo-Mysore Wars, the British East India Company annexed Coimbatore to the Madras Presidency in 1799. The Coimbatore region played a prominent role in the Second Poligar War (1801), when it was the area of operations of Dheeran Chinnamalai. On 24 November 1804, Coimbatore was established as the capital of the newly formed Coimbatore district and in 1866 it was accorded municipality status. Sir Robert Stanes became the first chairman of the Coimbatore City Council. The region was hard hit during the Great Famine of 1876–78 resulting in nearly 200,000 famine related fatalities. The first three decades of the 20th century saw nearly 20,000 plague-related deaths and acute water shortage.

The decline of the cotton industry in Mumbai fuelled an economic boom in Coimbatore in the 1920s and 1930s. The region played a significant role in the Indian independence movement with Mahatma Gandhi visiting the city three times. Coimbatore was the base of operations for such political figures as S. P. Narasimhalu Naidu, R. K. Shanmukham Chetty, C.S. Rathinasabapathy and C. Subramaniam during the independence movement. Post independence, Coimbatore has seen rapid growth due to industrialisation and in 1981 it was constituted as a municipal corporation. On 14 February 1998, the radical Islamist group Al Ummah bombed 11 places across the city killing 58 people and injuring more than 200.

Geography

Coimbatore lies at 11.01833°N, 76.9725°W in south India at 427 m above sea level on the banks of the Noyyal River, in northwestern Tamil Nadu. It covers an area of 642.12 km2. It is surrounded by the Western Ghats mountain range to the west and the north, with reserve forests of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve on the northern side. The Noyyal River forms the southern boundary of the city, which has an extensive tank system fed by the river and rainwater. The eight major tanks and wetland areas of Coimbatore are namely, Singanallur, Valankulam, Ukkadam Periyakulam, Selvampathy, Narasampathi, Krishnampathi, Selvachinthamani, and Kumaraswami. Multiple streams drain the waste water from the city.

The city is divided into two distinctive geographic regions: the dry eastern side which includes majority of the urban area of the city and the western region which borders the Nilgiris, Anaimalai and Munnar ranges. Palghat Gap, a mountain pass which connects the neighbouring state of Kerala to Tamil Nadu, lies to the west of the city. Because of its location in the biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is rich in fauna and flora. The Coimbatore urban wetlands harbours around 116 species of birds, of which 66 are resident, 17 are migratory and 33 are local migrants. The spot-billed pelican, painted stork, openbill stork, ibis, Indian spot-billed duck, teal and black-winged stilt visit the Coimbatore wetlands on their migration. Apart from the species common to the plains, various threatened and endangered species such as Indian elephants, wild boars, leopards, Bengal tigers, gaurs, Nilgiri tahr, sloth bear and black-headed oriole are found in the region.

The northern part of the city has a rich tropical evergreen forest with commercially significant trees such as teak, sandalwood, rosewood and bamboo. The soil is predominantly black, which is suitable for cotton cultivation, but some red loamy soil is also found. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, Coimbatore falls under the Class III/IV Seismic Zone, having experienced an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 on the Richter scale on 8 February 1900.

Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, the city has a hot semi-arid climate (BSh), with a wet season lasting from September to November due to the northeast monsoon. The mean maximum temperature ranges from 35.9 °C to 29.2 °C and the mean minimum temperature ranges from 24.5 °C to 9.8 °C. The highest temperature ever recorded is 42.6 °C on 22 April 1976 while the lowest is 12.2 °C on 12 January 1957.

Coimbatore has a tropical wet and dry climate. It experiences hot and humid summers from March to June with temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 38 °C. The monsoon season starts from July and lasts till October. The city receives moderate rainfall from the south-west monsoon and occasional heavy rainfall from the north-east monsoon. The winter season starts from November and ends in February. The temperatures during this season range from 20 °C to 30 °C.

Due to the south-west monsoon winds passing through the Palghat gap, elevated regions of the city receive rainfall in the months from June to August. After a warm and foggy September, the north-east monsoon starts from October, lasting until early November. The average annual rainfall is around 600 mm with the northeast and the southwest monsoons contributing to 47% and 28% respectively to the total rainfall. This periodic rainfall does not satisfy the city's water requirements throughout the year and water supply schemes drawn from Siruvani and Pilloor help supplant the requirements during low rainfall months.

Demographics
Coimbatore has a population of 1,601,438. As per the 2011 census based on pre-expansion city limits, Coimbatore had a population of 1,050,721 with a sex ratio of 997 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. It is the second largest city in the state after capital Chennai and the sixteenth largest urban agglomeration in India. A total of 102,069 were under the age of six, comprising 52,275 males and 49,794 females. The average literacy of the city was 82.43%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. There were a total of 425,115 workers, comprising 1,539 cultivators, 2,908 main agricultural labourer, 11,789 in house hold industries, 385,802 other workers, 23,077 marginal workers, 531 marginal cultivators, 500 marginal agricultural labourer, 1,169 marginal workers in household industries and 20,877 other marginal workers.

As per the 2001 census, Coimbatore had a population of 930,882 within the municipal corporation limits. The population of the urban agglomeration as per 2011 census is 2,136,916 with males constituting 50.08% of the population and females 49.92%. Coimbatore has an average literacy rate of 89.23%, higher than the national average of 74.04%. Male literacy is 93.17% and female literacy is 85.3% with 8.9% of the population under six years of age. The sex ratio was 964 females per 1000 males. In 2005, the crime rate in the city was 265.9 per 100,000 people, accounting for 1.2% of all crimes reported in major cities in India. It ranked 21st among 35 major cities in India in the incidence of crimes. In 2011, the population density in the city was 10,052 per km2 (26,035 per mi2). Around 8% of the city's population lives in slums.

Administration and politics
Coimbatore is a municipal corporation administered by the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation and is the administrative headquarters of Coimbatore district. Coimbatore was established as the capital of Coimbatore district in 1804 and in 1866, it was accorded municipality status. In 1981, Coimbatore was elevated as a municipal corporation. The city is divided into five administrative zones – East, West, North, South and Central, each further subdivided into 20 wards. Each ward is represented by a councillor who is elected by direct election and the Mayor of Coimbatore is elected by Councillors. The executive wing of the corporation is headed by a Corporation Commissioner and maintains basic services like water supply, sewage and roads. The district itself is administered by the district collector and the district court in Coimbatore is the highest court of appeal in the district. The Coimbatore City Police is headed by a Commissioner of Police and there are 18 police stations in the city. Coimbatore is amongst the safest cities in India for women according to National Crime Records Bureau report in 2015.

A large part of the Coimbatore urban agglomeration falls outside the municipal corporation limits. These suburbs are governed by local bodies called Village Panchayats and Town Panchayats. Besides the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation, the Coimbatore urban agglomeration comprises the Town Panchayats of Vellalur, Irugur, Pallapalayam, Kannampalayam, Veerapandi, Periyanaickenpalayam, Narasimhanaickenpalayam, Idikarai, Vedapatti, Perur, Madukkarai, Ettimadai, Thondamuthur, Uliyampalayam, Thirumalayampalayam, Othakalmandapam, Alanthurai, Pooluvapatti, Thenkarai, Karumathampatti, Sarcarsamakulam, Mopperipalayam and Gudalur, census towns of Ashokapuram, Kurudampalayam, Malumichampatti, Selvapuram, Chettipalayam, Sulur, Chinniampalayam, Somayampalayam, Muthugoundan Pudur, Arasur, Kaniyur, Neelambur and municipalities of Kuniyamuthur, Kurichi and Goundampalayam. These local bodies are in turn split into wards each electing a councillor through direct election. The head of these local bodies are elected by the respective councillors from amongst them.

Coimbatore has traditionally been a stronghold of the Dravidian parties with national parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) also having a significant presence. The city elects ten members to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and one member to the Indian Parliament. The six legislative assembly constituencies in the city are Coimbatore North, Coimbatore South, Kaundampalayam, Singanallur, Thondamuthur and Kinathukadavu which form a part of the Coimbatore Parliamentary Constituency. Part of the urban agglomeration comes under the Nilgiris and Pollachi constituencies. In the Indian general election held in 2019, CPI (M) candidate P.R. Natarajan defeated C. P. Radhakrishnan of the BJP in the Lok Sabha constituency. In the last legislative assembly election held in 2021, the AIADMK led front won in all the assembly constituencies in the city.

Economy

A major hub for manufacturing, education and healthcare in Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore is among the fastest growing tier-II cities in India. It houses more than 25,000 small, medium and large industries with the primary industries being engineering and textiles. Coimbatore is called the "Manchester of South India" due to its extensive textile industry, fed by the surrounding cotton fields. TIDEL Park Coimbatore in ELCOT SEZ was the first special economic zone (SEZ) set up in 2006. In 2010, Coimbatore ranked 15th in the list of most competitive (by business environment) Indian cities. Coimbatore also has a 160000 sqft trade fair ground, built in 1999 and is owned by CODISSIA.

Coimbatore region experienced a textile boom in the 1920s and 1930s. Though, Robert Stanes had established Coimbatore's first textile mills as early as the late 19th century, it was during this period that Coimbatore emerged as a prominent industrial centre. In 2009 Coimbatore was home to around 15% of the cotton spinning capacity in India. Coimbatore has trade associations such as CODISSIA, COINDIA and COJEWEL representing the industries in the city. Coimbatore houses a number of textile mills and is the base of textile research institutes like the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International School of Textiles & Management, Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) and the South India Textile Research Institute (SITRA). Kovai Cora Cotton saree is a recognised Geographical Indication. The Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) founded in 1933 caters to the interests of the various textile mills and their employees.

Coimbatore is the second largest producer of software in the state after Chennai. TIDEL Park Coimbatore and other Information technology parks in the city has aided in the growth of IT and Business process outsourcing industries in the city. It is ranked at 17th among the top global outsourcing cities by Tholons. Software exports stood at inr 7100000000 for the financial year 2009–10 up 90% from the previous year. Coimbatore has a large and diversified manufacturing sector and a number of engineering colleges producing about 50,000 engineers annually.

Coimbatore is a major center for the manufacture of automotive components in India with car manufacturers Maruti Udyog and Tata Motors sourcing up to 30%, of their automotive components from the city. G.D. Naidu developed India's first indigenous motor in 1937. India's first indigenously developed diesel engine for cars was manufactured in the city in 1972. The city is also a major centre for small auto component makers catering to the automobile industry, from personal to commercial and farm vehicles. The city contributes to about 75% of the 1 lakh total monthly output of wet grinders in India. The industry employs 70,000 people and had a yearly turnover of inr 28000000000 in 2015. The term "Coimbatore Wet Grinder" has been given a Geographical indication.

Coimbatore is also referred to as "the Pump City" as it supplies nearly 50% of India's requirements of motors and pumps. The city is one of the largest exporters of jewellery renowned for diamond cutting, cast and machine made jewellery. There are about 3,000 jewellery manufacturers employing over 40,000 goldsmiths. Coimbatore has a large number of poultry farms and is a major producer of chicken eggs. The city contributes to nearly 95% of processed chicken meat exports. Coimbatore has some of the country's oldest flour mills and these mills which cater to all the southern states, have a combined grinding capacity of more than 50,000 MT per month. The hospitality industry has seen a growth in the 21st century with new upscale hotels being set up.

Culture
Coimbatore and its people have a reputation for entrepreneurship. Though it is generally considered a traditional city, Coimbatore is diverse and cosmopolitan. The World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 was held in Coimbatore. The heavy industrialisation of the city has also resulted in the growth of trade unions. The city is regularly features among the top 10 best cities to live in India. 24 November, the date of establishment of Coimbatore as a district is celebrated as "Coimbatore Day".

Language
Tamil is the official language and Kongu Tamil (also called Kangee or Kongalam), a dialect, is predominantly spoken. As per the 2011 census, Tamil is the most spoken language with 710,326 speakers, followed by Telugu (173,136), Kannada (102,000), Malayalam (76,485). Other languages spoken in the city include Urdu (15,484) and Hindi (13,608). During the 1970s the city witnessed a population explosion as a result of migration fuelled by increased economic growth and job opportunities.

Ethnicity and religion
The population of Coimbatore consists of majority of Tamils with a significant number of Telugus, Kannadigas, Malayalis,  and North Indians, mainly Gujaratis. The city's population is predominantly Hindu with minority Muslim and Christian population. Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists are also present in small numbers. According to the religious census of 2011, Coimbatore has 83.31% Hindus, 8.63% Muslims, 7.53% Christians, 0.28% Jains, 0.05% Sikhs, 0.02% Buddhists and 0.01% Others. 0.17% of the respondents did not state their religion.

The Mariamman festivals at the city's numerous Mariamman temples are major events in summer. Major Hindu temples in the city include the Perur Patteeswarar Temple, Naga Sai Mandir, Koniamman Temple, Thandu Mariamman Temple, Eachanari Vinayagar Temple,  Puliakulam Temple, Marudamalai Murugan Temple,  Loga Nayaga Shaniswara Temple,  Ashtamsa Varadha Anjaneyar Temple, Masani Amman Temple, Karamadai Ranganathar Temple, Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple and Adiyogi Shiva. The mosques on Oppanakara Street and Big Bazaar Street date back to the 18th century CE. Christian missions date back to the 17th century when permission was granted by the Nayak rulers to set up churches in the region. Sikh Gurudwaras and Jain temples are also present in Coimbatore.

Cuisine
Coimbatore cuisine is predominantly south Indian with rice as its base. Most local restaurants still retain their rural flavor, with many restaurants serving food over a banana leaf. Eating on a banana leaf is an old custom and imparts a unique flavor to the food and is considered healthy. North Indian, Chinese and continental cuisines are also available. Idly, dosa, paniyaram and appam are popular dishes.

Coimbatore has an active street food culture and various cuisine options for dining. Arisi paruppu sadam and sambar sadam, made from a mixture of dal and rice, is a recipe that existed from the 4th century CE that is unique to the area. Ariseemparuppu or arisi paruppu satham (literally translated as Rice and dal) originated from Coimbatore and the people of the city celebrate January 8 as national Aruseemparuppu day, after given light by a popular influencer and food consultant. Kaalaan is a popular dish prepared by simmering deep-fried mushrooms (usually chopped) in a spicy broth until it reaches a porridge-like consistency; the dish is served sprinkled with chopped onions and coriander leaves. Chaats made from potatoes and a mix of other vegetables and spices are also popular.

Arts
Swamikannu Vincent, who had built the first cinema of south India in Coimbatore, introduced the concept of Tent Cinema in which a tent was erected on an open land to screen the films. Central Studios was set up in 1935 while S. M. Sriramulu Naidu established Pakshiraja Studios in 1945. The city conducts its own music festival every year. Art, dance and music concerts are held annually during the months of September and December (Tamil calendar month – Margazhi). Coimbatore also houses a number of museums and art galleries like G.D. Naidu Museum & Industrial Exhibition, H A Gass Forest Museum, Government Museum, Kadhi Gandhi Gallery and Kasthuri Srinivasan Art Gallery and Textile Museum.

Air

The city is served by the Coimbatore International Airport at Peelamedu 10 km from the city center. The airport was established in 1940 with Air India operating scheduled services in 1948. Coimbatore flying club and aviation training academy was established in 1960. In 1987, the airport underwent modernization and further expansion of the existing runway to enable handling of larger jet aircraft. On 6 June 2012, Prime Minister of India declared the government's intention to upgrade the airport to international status and the Union Cabinet granted it the status of international airport on 2 October 2012. The airport is operated by Airports Authority of India and caters to domestic flights to major Indian cities and international flights to Sharjah, and Singapore. -24, the airport was the second largest airport in Tamil Nadu in terms of passengers handled. It has a single runway, which is 2990 m in length and is capable of handling medium sized aircraft.

Sulur Air Force Station, located at Sulur is an air base operated by the Indian Air Force and accommodates Antonov An-32 transport aircraft, Mil Mi-8 transport helicopters and the HAL Dhruv helicopters of the Sarang helicopter display team. The first squadron of indigenous built HAL Tejas fighter aircraft was inducted in 2020.

Rail

Train service in Coimbatore started in 1861, upon the construction of the Podanur – Madras line connecting Kerala and the west coast with the rest of India. Coimbatore lies on the Jolarpettai–Shoranur line broad gauge railway line and the city falls under the Salem division of the Southern Railway zone of Indian Railways. The major railway station is the Coimbatore Junction which is the second-largest income generating station in the Southern Railway zone after Chennai Central and is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railways. Other major railway stations catering to the city include Coimbatore North Junction, Podanur Junction and minor stations at Peelamedu, Singanallur, Irugur Junction, Perianaikanpalayam, Madukkarai, Somanur and Sulur.

Metro rail
The Central Government proposed a metro rail system for 16 tier-2 cities in India including Coimbatore in 2010. In 2011, the Government of Tamil Nadu shelved the proposal in favour of a monorail. Coimbatore Railway Struggle Committee has also protested to implement metro rail project in Coimbatore. In 2013, E. Sreedharan made survey and announced metro rail as suitable transport for Coimbatore In 2017, the Government of Tamil Nadu proposed a metro for Coimbatore. Feasibility studies were completed in 2021 and five corridors were proposed.

Road
There are six major arterial roads in the city: Avinashi Road, Trichy Road, Sathy Road, Mettupalayam Road, Palakkad Road and Pollachi Road. The Coimbatore bypass is a series of bypasses connecting the various National Highways and State Highways passing through and originating from Coimbatore. The first section of the bypass, a 28 km stretch from Neelambur to Madukkarai on National Highway 544 opened for traffic in 2000. It was the first road privatisation project to be implemented on a build–operate–transfer model in South India. In 2008, the State Highways department came up with a proposal to create a Ring road to help de-congest the main arterial roads and the 12 km road would extend from Peelamedu to Mettupalayam road. In 2011, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu announced the construction of two new flyovers at Ukkadam and Athupalam to help de-congest the Palakkad Road. In 2012, the Government of Tamil Nadu decided in favour of an eastern road that connected Mettupalayam Road with Avinashi Road and the existing bypass. The city municipal corporation is undertaking the construction of six rail-over-bridges in the city. There are five National Highways passing through the city:

Apart from State and National Highways, the city corporation maintains a 635.32 km long road network. The city is also served by auto rickshaws and taxi services. Coimbatore has four Regional Transport Offices viz. TN 37 (South), TN 38 (North), TN 66 (Central), TN 99 (West).

Bus
Town buses started operating in 1921 and serve most parts of the city, as well as other towns and villages in the district. The number of inter-city routes operated by Coimbatore division is 119 with a fleet of more than 500 buses. It also operates town buses on 257 intra-city routes. The intra-city buses operate from major bus stations in Gandhipuram Central Bus Terminus, Singanallur Bus Terminus, Ukkadam Bus Terminus and Saibaba Colony Bus Terminus to other parts across the city. Inter-city and intra-city buses that connect Coimbatore operate from different bus stands:

The Coimbatore Integrated Bus Terminus planned at Vellalore was cancelled midway in 2023 due to a lack of sufficient approach roads to the terminus and a hazardous waste dump nearby. Coimbatore BRTS is a proposed bus rapid transit project under the JNNURM scheme of the Government of India. It is planned along a 27.6 km stretch connecting Avinashi road and Mettupalayam road.

Education
Coimbatore is a major educational hub. The first school was established in 1831. The first college Government Arts College, was opened in 1875. The first engineering college in the city, the Arthur Hope College of Technology (now known as the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore), was started by G.D. Naidu in 1945 followed later by private engineering colleges PSG College of Technology, and Coimbatore Institute of Technology in the 1950s. The Air Force Administrative College, established in 1949, is the oldest training institute of the Indian Air Force. Coimbatore Medical College was opened in 1966 and a second Government run ESIC medical college was established in 2016. Government law college is a public law college that started functioning in 1978. The agricultural school established in 1868 was converted into Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in 1971 and the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History was opened in 1990.

, the district is home to seven universities, 46 engineering colleges, 21 management schools, eight architectural schools, three medical colleges, two dental colleges, 27 polytechnics and 62 arts and science colleges. The city houses three government run universities Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Bharathiar University, Anna University Coimbatore and four private universities.

The city houses Government research institutes including the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Sugarcane Breeding Research Institute, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and Tamil Nadu Institute of Urban Studies. In 2008, Government of India announced a plan to establish a world class university in the region.

Three types of schools operate in Coimbatore: government run schools, schools funded by the government but run by private trusts (aided schools) and schools funded completely by private trusts. Schools follow Tamil Nadu State Board, Matriculation, CBSE, ICSE/ISC or Tamil Nadu Anglo-Indian school board syllabus. "Samacheer Kalvi" (Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education or Equitable education system) was introduced by the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act 2010 to integrate the various school educational systems within the state. The city falls under the purview of Coimbatore education district and about 31320 students appeared for SSLC examinations in 2023.

Media
Four major English newspapers The Hindu, The Times of India, Deccan Chronicle and The New Indian Express bring out editions from the city. Business Line, a business newspaper also brings out a Coimbatore edition. Tamil newspapers which have Coimbatore editions include Dinamalar, Dina Thanthi, Dinamani, Dinakaran, Tamil Murasu and Maalai Malar (both evening newspapers). Lotus News is headquartered in Coimbatore.

A Medium wave radio station is operated by All India Radio, with programs in Tamil, English and Hindi. Five FM radio stations operate from Coimbatore – Rainbow FM, Suryan FM, Radio Mirchi, Radio City and Hello FM. All these private radio stations air exclusively Tamil-based programs, including film music. Television relay started in 1985 from Delhi Doordarshan and in 1986, after inception of the repeater tower at Kodaikanal, telecast from Madras commenced. In 2005, Doordarshan opened its studio in Coimbatore. Television services are accessible through DTH or digital cable.

Telecommunication
Coimbatore has a well-connected communications infrastructure. Till the 1990s the state owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was the only telecommunication service provider in the city. In the 1990s, private telecom companies too started offering their services. , BSNL, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Jio and ACT offer broadband service and fixed line services. MTS offers mobile broadband services. Cellular telephony was first introduced in 1997 and mobile telephone services available. Coimbatore is the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu circle of cellular service providers.

Healthcare
As of 2010, the size of the health care industry in Coimbatore is estimated at inr 15000000000. There are around 750 hospitals in the city with an in-patient capacity of 5,000 beds. These hospitals include single speciality institutions like eye care clinics (e.g. Aravind Eye Hospitals) and also multi special hospitals. The first health care centre in the city was started in 1909. Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and ESI Hospital are government run tertiary care hospitals and provide free health care. The city corporation maintains 16 dispensaries and two maternity homes. People from nearby districts and the state of Kerala visit Coimbatore for medical tourism due to the availability of hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Sports and recreation
Coimbatore is often referred to as "India's Motorsports Hub" and the "Backyard of Indian Motorsports". S.Karivardhan designed and built entry – level race cars and the Kari Motor Speedway, a Formula 3 Category circuit, is named after him. Tyre manufacturer MRF assembles Formula Ford cars in Coimbatore in association with former F3 Champion J. Anand and racing company Super Speeds designs Formula cars. Rallying is another major event with rallies conducted in closed roads around Coimbatore. Narain Karthikeyan, India's first Formula One driver hails from the city, and other motorsport drivers from Coimbatore include J. Anand and V. R. Naren Kumar.

Nehru Stadium, built originally for football, also hosts athletic meets. The stadium has been renovated with Korean grass for the field and a synthetic track around it for athletics. Apart from the stadium, other sporting venues include the Coimbatore Golf Course, an 18 – hole golf course and Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club, which is more than 100 years old. Coimbatore Flying Club is located in the Coimbatore Airport premises. The city hosts its own annual marathon called Coimbatore Marathon as an event to raise cancer awareness. Retired tennis player Nirupama Vaidyanathan, who became the first Indian woman in the modern era to feature and win a round at a main draw Grand Slam in 1998 Australian Open hails from Coimbatore. Coimbatore District Chess Association (CDCA), established in 1940, is the oldest chess association in the country.

Recreation

There are several amusement parks around the city: Black Thunder water theme park near Mettupalayam, Kovai Kondattam amusement park at Perur and Maharaja Theme Park at Neelambur. Since the 1980s, the city has had a few small shopping complexes and major shopping malls include Prozone Mall, Brookefields Mall and Fun Republic Mall. The city also has a number of parks including the VOC Park, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Park, Race Course Children's Park and Bharathi Park in Saibaba Colony. Coimbatore Zoo houses a number of animals and birds and is located near VOC Park. The grounds are used for conducting fairs and events including the annual Independence day and Republic day celebrations. Singanallur Lake is a popular tourist place and bird watcher destination. Popular cinemas include KG Cinemas, The Cinema at Brookfields, Cinepolis at Fun Republic, INOX at Prozone, Miraj cinemas, Karpagam cinemas, Senthil Kumaran cinemas, Baba complex and Broadway cinemas.

Environmental issues
Air pollution, lack of proper waste management infrastructure and degradation of water bodies are the major environmental issues in Coimbatore. There is a sewage treatment plant at Ukkadam with the capacity to process 70 million litres of sewage water per day. Garbage is collected by the corporation and sewage is pumped into the water tanks and the Noyyal River through streams. This along with garbage dumping and encroachments has led to degradation of the water bodies and depletion in the groundwater table. The tanks are renovated by the city's environmental groups with their own fund-raising and the corporation. The corporation is responsible and involved in clearing encroachment of the tanks. Siruthuli, an environmental organisation founded by the city's industrial houses, undertakes de-silting of tanks and cleaning of the Noyyal river. Environment Conservation Group based out of the city is also involved in conservation of trees and wetlands, monitoring wildlife crime and conducting awareness sessions for students.

International relations
Coimbatore has a sister city relationship with Toledo, Ohio. The relation has enabled exchange in the fields of arts and education between the cities. A twin city pact with the German city of Esslingen was signed in July 2016, enabling the two cities to collaborate on areas of mutual interest, health, education, culture and social development.

Alliance Française de Madras, a Franco-Indian non-profit association promoting the growth of French in India, has a centre at PSG Institute of Management in Coimbatore.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Coimbatore


text:
Talk:Quaternions and spatial rotation

Compared to rotation matrices
The article says

"Compared to rotation matrices they are more compact, more numerically stable, and more efficient"

However, quaternion rotation requires 24 add/mul operations but a 3x3 matrix requires only 15 add/mul operations. Also, the "more numerically stable" claim is unjustified and I cannot find a reference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.47.47.163 (talk) 15:22, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure where are those numbers from. As far as the number of operation goes, quaternions require less operations to compose rotations and more operations to apply a rotation to a vector. What ends up being more efficient depends on the application.
 * Besides, efficiency is not only the number of mul/adds. Quaternions take less than half the memory and, accordingly, bandwidth. Which is, again, important in some applications (e.g. tangent space calculations on a GPU).
 * Applying and composing rotations aren't the only operations to consider either. Quaternions are easier to interpolate (again, useful for tangent space calculations on a GPU for example, but also for animation, modeling, etc...).
 * "more numerically stable" -- this is un-doubtfuly true. When repeatedly composing rotations (eg in rigid body simulations) rotation matrices will inevitably become non-orthogonal. There are different ways to re-orthogonalize them, trading off precision and performance. In contrast to those, quaternions don't suffer from that issue at all. bungalo (talk) 20:09, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Labelling the formulas in the Alternative Convention section
The paragraph argued that usage of the Shuster convention is discouraged, as did the cited article "Why and How to Avoid the Flipped Quaternion Multiplication" by Sommer et. al. But the formulas in the paragraph are not clearly distinguished (except by red minus signs). These formulae are beginning to show up on Google Images out of context, creating a lot of confusion to students. I tried to add labelling "\qquad \text{alternative Convention, usage discouraged} to the right of the formulas but the edit got reverted by a anti-vandalism bot. If anyone (especially registered users) agree, please help with the edit.184.147.40.19 (talk) 04:04, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

 * I already reversed the bot edit a few minutes ago. I'll just nod and pretend I knew for sure it wasn't vandalism. Cheers.   signed, Willondon (talk)  04:14, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

Recover Axis Angle
Since quaternions are rotations about arbitrary axis, it makes sense as a matter of convention that the angle is always a non-negative number. Moreover, the angle must always be in the 1st and 2nd quadrant as all other quadrants have equivalent negative angles. If for example we want to represent a rotation of $$-\frac{\pi}{6}$$ about the $$\bigl( \begin{smallmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{smallmatrix} \bigr)$$ axis, this is entirely equivalent to a rotation of $$\frac{\pi}{6}$$ about the $$\bigl( \begin{smallmatrix} -1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{smallmatrix} \bigr)$$ axis.

So indeed the formula to recover the rotation angle presented $$\theta = 2\, {\rm arctan2} \left(\sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2},\,w\right)$$ will indeed produce the correct answer, in the 1st and 2nd quadrants because thee first argument is always going to be positive, but it is un-necessarily complicated. I propose to recover the angle we simply use

$$\theta =2\, \arccos \left(w \right)$$

which also produces results in the 1st and 2nd quadrants, Once the angle is recovered, then the axis is simply the vector part divided by the sine of the half angle

$$\vec{\rm z} = \tfrac{1}{\sin \left( \frac{\theta}{2} \right) }\,\vec{v}$$

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jalexiou (talk • contribs) 16:26, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

rotations and matrices

 * A geometric fact independent of quaternions is the existence of a two-to-one mapping from physical rotations to rotational transformation matrices.

Shouldn't that be the other way around? That is, one rotation has two representations – not that one matrix can represent two rotations. —Tamfang (talk) 05:41, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Quaternions and spatial rotation


text:
Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle

Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle,, and lord of De Voorst in Guelders (Gelderland) (baptised 30 January 1670 – 30 May 1718), was a Dutch military leader who fought for King William III of England and became the first Earl of Albemarle. He had a very close relationship with William and proved a capable cavalry commander. In the latter stages of the War of the Spanish Succession he sometimes assumed Dutch supreme command in absence of the Count of Tilly.

Life
Arnold Joost van Keppel was born in the De Voorst country house near Zutphen in the Dutch Republic. Born in 1670 and was the heir of a junior branch of an ancient and noble family in Gelderland; the son of Oswald van Keppel and his wife Anna Geertruid van Lintelo. De Voorst is a large country house near Zutphen, financed by William III, and not unlike the royal palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn. He achieved fame and wealth as the right-hand man of William III of Orange. He became the page of honour to William III in his mid-teens, possibly as early as 1685. It has been claimed that he was William's lover, but no conclusive evidence has been discovered. Keppel accompanied William to England in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

While some have suggested their association began when Keppel was only 16, others argue a later date, possibly at the time of a hunting accident when he is said to have attracted the king's attention by his uncomplaining demeanour upon breaking a leg. Public commentary on the relationship intensified in 1692 when Keppel began to receive grants of land from the king. He became Groom of the Bedchamber and Master of the Robes in 1695. In 1696, he was created the Viscount Bury in Lancashire, and the Baron Ashford of Ashford, Kent. On 10 February 1697, William made Van Keppel the Earl of Albemarle. In 1699, he was awarded the command of the First Life Guards.

In 1700, William gave Albemarle extensive lands in Ireland, but Parliament obliged the king to cancel this grant. William instead granted him £50,000. The same year he was created a Knight of the Garter. He served both with the English and Dutch troops, was a major-general in 1697, colonel of several regiments and governor of 's-Hertogenbosch.

Handsome and engaging, he rivalled Portland (whose jealousy he aroused in the royal favour), possessed William's full confidence, and accompanied him everywhere. In February 1702 William, then prostrated with his last illness, sent Albemarle to the Netherlands to arrange the coming campaign, and he only returned in time to receive William's last commissions on his deathbed, including being entrusted with the king's private papers.

After the death of William III, who bequeathed to him ƒ200,000 and the lordship of Bredevoort, Albemarle returned to the Netherlands, took his seat as a noble in the States-General, and became a general of cavalry in the Dutch army. He joined the forces of the allies in 1703 in the War of Spanish Succession, was present at the Battle of Ramillies in 1706, and at Oudenaarde in 1708, and distinguished himself at the Siege of Lille. He commanded at the siege of Aire in 1710, led Marlborough's second line in 1711, and was general of the Dutch forces in early 1712. As commander of the Dutch forces he successfully bombarded Arras and destroyed much of the French supplies there, but he was defeated at Denain after the withdrawal of Ormonde and the English forces and taken prisoner. He died on 30 May 1718, at the age of forty-eight.

Family
Albemarle married Geertruid Johanna Quirina van der Duyn, daughter of Major General Scravenmore (an anglicisation of 's Gravenmoer) who served as an officer in the Danish Auxiliary Corps in the Williamite War in Ireland.
 * William Anne, who succeeded him as 2nd Earl of Albemarle. He married the granddaughter of Charles II of England.
 * Sophia (1716–1773), who married General John Thomas (son of Sir Edmond Thomas, 2nd Bt.). They had at least two sons. The younger son, Colonel Charles Nassau Thomas, became Vice-Chamberlain to George IV, when he was Prince of Wales and Prince Regent.