Ottapidaram is a small town in

Thoothukudi district Thoothukudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The district was formed by bifurcation of Tirunelveli district on 20 October 1986. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters and largest city of the distric ...

and headquarters of Ottapidaram taluk. Ottapidaram is a tourism centre with accessibility to many places in Tamil Nadu.

Thoothukudi Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and he ...

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

can be easily accessed from anywhere and Ottapidaram is very close to these two places. The great freedom fighter

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai ''V.'' is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Who ...

called

VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus ...

hails from Ottapidaram. VOC is also called as "Kappalottiya Tamizhan" because he launched one of the first shipping companies, Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company which operated ship between Tuticorin and

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

against the British during the rule in India.

Geography

Ottapidaram is located at . Distances from nearby towns:

Kovilpatti Kovilpatti is an Industrial City and Special Grade Municipality in Thoothukudi District in the Indian States of India, state of Tamil Nadu. History The town already existed before 1876. Kovilpatti was a water stop for steam engines after the ...

: 36 km.

: 32 km. Vilathukulam : 53 km.

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) 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. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

: 131 km.

: 56 km.

Demographics

As of 2011, total population of Ottapidaram taluka is 1.2 lakh includes about 63 villages. The population of Ottapidaram city is 7963. Male and female population constitutes equal proportion (i.e.: 50%). There are about 33 thousand households in the Ottapidaram taluka and an average 4 persons live in every family.

Education

Ottapidaram has two schools: V. O. C. Government Higher Secondary School and T. M. B. Mcavoy Rural Higher Secondary School.

Tourism and entertainment

The main attractions in Ottapidaram are * The house of

, converted to a library which houses some rare photographs of him * Temple dedicated to the goddess Ulagamman

Panchalankurichi Panchalankurichi is a village, 3 km from Ottapidaram and 21 km from Thoothukudi in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, India. Panchalankurichi was once a Palayam and is best known as the birthplace of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, an 18th- ...

, from Ottapidaram, houses a fort constructed by the Tamil Nadu government in the place of the ruined fort constructed by

Veerapandiya Kattabomman Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and king of Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India. He refused to accept the sovereignty of the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the Briti ...

, who ruled from this place in the 17th century and fought against the British colonial rule. Portions of the original fort can be seen. Kattabomman worshiped at the Jakkammal temple in Panchalankurichi, which also survives.

Transport

Roadways: The city is connected with nearby towns like

, Maniyachi and district headquarters,

by the government and private bus services. Railways:

Vanchi Maniyachchi Junction railway station Vanchi Maniyachchi Junction railway station is a junction railway station in Maniyachchi of Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Services from north of the station pass through the station to proceed southwards to Tirunelvel ...

south-east about 16 km, the railway junction connecting

and

. The railways will connect in 45 minutes of the journey to each of the corporation cities. (Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi) Southern railways is planning to lay double line for smooth movement of trains from

Villupuram Viluppuram, Villupuram, or Vizhuppuram () is a Municipality and the administrative headquarters of Viluppuram district. Located south west of a Tiruvannamalai and north west of Cuddalore null The town serves as a major railway junction, ...

and the other phase from "

" to

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

, since long years.... Airways: The nearest domestic airport is

Tuticorin Airport Tuticorin Airport is a domestic airport located from Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, serving the districts of Thoothukkudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Kanniyakumari in southern Tamil Nadu. It is west of the city centre on Thoothukkudi-Tirunelveli ...

located at Vagaikulam about 26 km away from Ottapidaram.

Economy

The people here are mostly farmers and allied business people. The main agricultural plantations cultivate banana, rice, sugarcane, Greengram (pachchai payaru or paasi payaru or payirtham payaru (Tamil),

Blackgram ''Vigna mungo'', also known as black gram, urad bean, urid bean, mash kalai, uzhunnu parippu, ulundu paruppu, minapa pappu, uddu, or black matpe, is a bean grown in South Asia. Like its relative, the mung bean, it has been reclassified from th ...

(uḷundhu), cotton, Chili pepper and sesame.

Villages in Ottapidaram Taulka

*Ottappidaram * Tharuvaikulam *

*Sillangulam *Passuvandanai *Eppodumvendran *Kulasekaranallur *Ackanaickenpatti *Veppalodai *Swaminatham *Sinthalakottai *Marudanvalvoonaraikinar *Savarimangalam *Keela Arasadi *Adanur *Ottanatham *Kila Mudiman *Jambulingapuram *Parivallikkottai *Keela Mangalam *Mela Arasadi *Chandragiri *Keelakottai *Pudur pandiyapuram *Onamakulam *Kalappaipatti *S.Kumarapuram *Kattunayakkanpatti *Sillanatham *Thennampatti *Therkuveerapandiyapuram *Vadanatham *Ilavelangal *Vellaram *Malaipatti *Maniyachi *Minakshipuram *Terku Kalmedu *Kollankinaru *Nagampatti *Jagaveerapandiapuram *Kodiyankulam *D.Duraiswamipuram *Kudiraikulam *K.Dalavaipuram *Mela Maruthur *K.Shanmukapuram *Mullur *Muthukumarapuram *Kolamparambu *Pudiyamputhur *Pattanamarudur *Kottali *Melapandiyapuram *Araikkulam *P.Duraiswamipuram *Muramban *Govindapuram *Kumara Ettaiyapuram *Valasamuthram *Sangampatti *Venkateswarapuram *Paraikuttam *Muthuramalingapuram

References

{{reflist

Cities and towns in Thoothukudi district