Coastal India is a geo-cultural region in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

that spans the entire coastline of India.(7516.6 km; Mainland: 5422.6 km, Island Territories: 2094 km)

Region

Coastal India spans from the south west Indian coastline along the

Arabian sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

from the coastline of the

Gulf of Kutch The Gulf of Kutch is located between the peninsula regions of Kutch and Saurashtra, bounded in the state of Gujarat that borders Pakistan. It opens towards the Arabian Sea facing the Osman Gulf. It is about 50 km wide at the entrance bef ...

in its westernmost corner and stretches across the

Gulf of Khambhat The Gulf of Khambhat, historically known as the Gulf of Cambay, is a bay on the Arabian Sea coast of India, bordering the state of Gujarat just north of Mumbai and Diu Island. The Gulf of Khambhat is about long, about wide in the north and u ...

, and through the

Salsette Island Salsette Island is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra on India's west coast. Administratively known as Greater Mumbai, the city district of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban District, Mira Bhayander and a portion of Thane lie wi ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

along the

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

and southwards across the

Raigad district Raigad district (Marathi pronunciation: �aːjɡəɖ, previously Colaba district, is a district in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The district was renamed to Raigad after the fort that was the first capital of the former Marath ...

region and through

Kanara Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The region comprises three civil districts, ...

and further down through

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

and along the Malabar through Cape Comorin in the southernmost region of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

with coastline along the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

and through the Coromandal Coast or Cholamandalam. The coastline on the South Eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent along the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

through the Utkala

Kalinga Kalinga may refer to: Geography, linguistics and/or ethnology * Kalinga (historical region), a historical region of India ** Kalinga (Mahabharata), an apocryphal kingdom mentioned in classical Indian literature ** Kalinga script, an ancient writ ...

region extends until the easternmost Corner of shoreline near the Sunderbans in Coastal East India. There are many beaches and springs here, as well as beautiful sea and oceans like the Arabian Sea.

People

The people along coastal India exhibit vast diversity along an underlying commonality as a result of its coastal topography and sea trade between west Asian

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

traders along its west coastline. The region includes

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

s in the westernmost region,

Kannadiga The Kannada people or Kannadigaru IAST">nowiki/>IAST:_Kannadadavaru_or_Kannadigas_(English_term).html" ;"title="IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowiki/>IAST: Kannadadavaru or Kannadigas (English term)">IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowik ...

Tuluvas The Tulu people or Tuluvas are an ethno-linguistic group from Southern India. They are native speakers of the Tulu language and the region they traditionally inhabit is known as Tulu Nadu. This region comprises the districts of Dakshina Kannada ...

, Konkanis and

Maharashtrians The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as ...

along the Konkan coast or the western coastline,

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...

s in its southernmost region of

, the

Tamilians The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

along southern Cholamandalam coast, the Telugus and Odia people along the South eastern coast through Utkala

region along the Circar coast, and the Bengali people along the easternmost coastline along the Bay of Bengal.

Thriving sea trade and intermingling

A thriving trade existed between the Mediterranean world and Coastal Indian regions Bjorn Landstrom (1964) "The Quest for India", Double day English Edition, Stockholm.Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. .Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.''Periplus Maris Erythraei'' "The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 This led to significant intermingling between the people of Coastal India and the

west asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

n world, particularly along the South West Indian Coastline along the Arabian Sea. Several west Asian communities have also settled and become part of the diversity of coastal south west India. These include the

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

s,Hodivala, S. (1920), Studies in Parsi History, Bombay BohrasThe Dawoodi Bohras: an anthropological perspective, by Shibani Roy. Published by B.R. Publishing, 1984. and

Baghdadi Jews The former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East are traditionally called Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indian ...

Sargon, J(1987) 'Baghdadi Jews of India and the Sassoons' in Jewish Daily Israel Today, Perspectiv/Opinion; Tuesday 25 August in the westernmost region, the

Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" () or " Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there ce ...

along the South western region, the descendants of mediterranean traders along Coorg and

, the

Jonakan Mappila Mappila Muslim, often shortened to Mappila, formerly anglicized as Moplah/Mopla and historically known as Jonaka/Chonaka Mappila or Moors Mopulars/Mouros da Terra and Mouros Malabares, in general, is a member of the Muslim community of same n ...

s Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2 along Malabar region, and the

cochin jews Cochin Jews (also known as Malabar Jews or Kochinim, from ) are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now pa ...

Koder S. "History of the Jews of Kerala". ''The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India'', Ed. G. Menachery,1973.Leslie Brown, (1956) ''The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)Menachery G (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, , Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press and Syriac Nasranis along the southernmost region of

. The

Chola Empire The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BC ...

established vast Tamil influence across

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

n region K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, K.A (1984)

935 Year 935 ( CMXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Arnulf I ("the Bad") of Bavaria invades Italy, crossing through the Upper ...

The CōĻas. Madras: University of Madras.Keay, John. India: A History. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers. .Hermann, Kulke; Rothermund D (2001) 000 A History of India. Routledge. . across

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, Bali and Sumatra. This brought

n Heritage to

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and Bali where the Balinese Hindu traditions still thrives. This also lead to intermingling between coastal India and the south east Asia particularly in the South eastern Cholamandalam coastline along the Bay of Bengal.

Heritage

The linguistic diversity of Coastal India includes languages of the

Dravidian language family The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a language family, family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in South India, southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have b ...

including

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

, Telugu, Tulu and

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

; languages belonging to the western zone of Indo Iranian language families including

, Marathi, Konkani, languages belonging to the central zone of the Indo-Iranian language families including

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and languages belonging to the eastern zone of Indo Iranian language family including Odia and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. The region also has speakers of

Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant a ...

s like

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

. The common elements of the people of coastal India includes cuisine that consists of agrarian and coastal products and clothing that involves long flowing drapes with bare midriff for both men and women suited for humid and warm climate.Boulanger, Chantal; (1997) Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping, Shakti Press International, New York. Throughout coastal India women wear drapes called

saree A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std= ...

in various styles. In the western corner of the region the drapes are called as

Dhoti The dhoti, also known as veshti, vetti, dhuti, mardani, chaadra, dhotar, jaiñboh, panchey, is a type of sarong, tied in a manner that outwardly resembles "loose trousers". It is a lower garment forming part of the ethnic costume for men in the ...

for men. and

Chaniya choli Ghagra choli (also known as lehenga choli and locally as chaniya choli) is a type of ethnic clothing for women from the Indian Subcontinent, notably in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Pu ...

for women, further southwards the drapes are called as

lungi The lungi is a type of sarong that originated in the Indian Subcontinent. The Lungi, which usually multicoloured, is a men's skirt usually tied around the lower waist below the navel. it can be worn as casual wear and night wear, in places and ...

mundu The mundu (Malayalam: ; ) is a garment worn around the waist in the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, the Lakshadweep archipelago, and the Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives. It is closely related to sarongs like dhotis and lungis ...

for men. and veshti for women. Towards the southernmost tip of coastal south western India the social system of inheritance was once matrilineal.Craddock, Norma. 1994. Anthills, Split Mothers, and Sacrifice: Conceptions of Female Power in the Mariyamman Tradition. Dissertation, U. of California, Berkeley.Trawick, Margaret. 1990a. Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. Berkeley: U. of California Press.Wadley, Susan, ed. 1980. The Powers of Tamil Women. Syracuse: Syracuse U. Press.Smith R.T. (2002) Matrifocality, in International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (eds) Smelser & Baltes, vol 14, pp 9416. There are various festivals celebrated in the coastal states centered on deities.Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, The Lalita Cult, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi, 1942, 2d ed. 1991, 3d ed. 1999).

Tourism

The

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

is enabled by numerous

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

12 Must-Visit Blue Flag Beaches In India Known For Their Cleanliness & Beauty
The Better India, Oct 2022. and

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

in coastal India, full potential of which is yet to be exploited.

Gallery

File:Bekalfortbeach.JPG, Bekalfort beach in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

File:Mumbai 03-2016 46 evening at Marine Drive.jpg, Beach in

, Maharashtra File:An afternoon view of RK Beach in Visakhapatnam.JPG, Beach in

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

File:House Boat View DSW.jpg, Kettuvellam vembanad lake,

File:Sunrise in Kanyakumari.JPG, Sunrise at Kanyakumari,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

References

{{Geography of India Regions of India