Vilpatti is a

Panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

of Dindigul district,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

state,

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 territo ...

. It is composed of the main village of Vilpatti and 11 hamlets. Main Vilpatti village is 9 km North of Kodaikanal town, but hamlets within its administration extend to the Palani ghat road. It is an agricultural area with the primary crops of

potatoes The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

and bananas. The Ministry of Rural Development, rural roads connectivity project

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) () is a nationwide plan in India to provide good all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages. Of 178,000 (1.7 lakh) habitations with a population of above 500 in the plains and above 250 i ...

(PMGSY), has identified 12 habitations in Vilpatti: Vilpatty Gurusedimethu, Pethuparaipirivu, Attuvampatty, Periyaodai, Araikal, Uppuparaimethu, Bharathi annanagar, Kovilpatty, Pallangi, Perumpallam, Ganesapuram, Kurinji nagar.

Demographics

Population in 1991 was 5,140 males; 4,854 females; 9,994 total The main

Jāti ''Jāti'' is the term traditionally used to describe a cohesive group of people in the Indian subcontinent, like a tribe, community, clan, sub-clan, or a religious sect. Each Jāti typically has an association with an occupation, geography or t ...

communities are

Reddiar Reddiar (also spelt as Reddiyar) is a Telugu speaking land owning, merchants , agricultural social group in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Reddiars, Reddy, Reddappa are considered and believed to come from the same origins and they spread across ...

s, Pillais, Mannadiars, and

Mudaliar Mudaliar (alternatively spelled: Muthaliar, Mudali, Muthali, or Moodley ) is a Tamil title and surname. As title, it was historically given to high-ranking military officers and their descendants. The surname is most prevalent among Tamils from Tami ...

s. In 2001 the population of

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

in 8 villages was: The

Paliyan The Paliyan, or Palaiyar or Pazhaiyarare are a group of around 9,500 formerly nomadic Dravidian peoples, Dravidian tribals living in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are tradit ...

people are a major portion of the tribal community in Vilpatti.

Schools

There are 10 primary schools in Vilpatti Panchayat including 6 Panchayat Union Schools, Gandhiji Aided Primary School, St Marys Aided Primary School, Un Aid Primary School and Un Aid Nursery Primary School. There is a Government High School at Vilpatti and many children from Vilpatti area go to St. Xavier's High School in Kodaikanal. The Vilpatti Village Project (VVP) started on 15 February 1989, via a strong connection between local women and Christine King, (née Cox) who raised funds and was financially supported by the International Childcare Trust UK. The project initially ran medical, educational, vocational and childcare programmes to meet the practical needs of poor women and children. The Satya Surabhi School in Attuvampatti valley provides value-based education and nutritious noon meals to children of the farm labourers and petty vendors of Attuvampatti. The

Mother Teresa Women's University Mother Teresa Women's University, a state university of the Government of Tamil Nadu, is situated at Kodaikanal, in the Palani hills of South India. It was established in the year 1984 by the enactment of Tamil Nadu Act 15. This university aim ...

expanded their facilities to an additional 55 ha (22 acre) campus at Attuvampatti valley in 2004. MTWU is distinctive as India's only university exclusively devoted to women's issues. The Kodaikanal Institute of Technology at Machur Village is a 180-seat self-financed engineering college at Vilpatti granting B.E. degrees in Computer Science & Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Information Technology.

Tourism

Elephant Valley Estate at Ganesh Puram near Vilpatti, is a private

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

and

organic farm Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

welcoming eco-tourists. They offer private cottages, tent houses, an Indo-continental fusion

organic food Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...

s restaurant, trekking, nature walks and horse riding. They promote the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

of traditional varieties of fruits, vegetables and cereals. They have orchards of

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...

guava Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava ''Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family ( Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the ...

s and amla inter-cropped with

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

es,

jack fruit The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, Sri ...

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...

s and bananas. The estate provides local jobs and makes a contribution to

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

of the area. A popular 16 km

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

route between Kodaikanal and Palni passes through Vilpatti.

References

{{reflist Villages in Dindigul district