Pallikonda is a selection grade town panchayat in

Vellore district Vellore district () is one of the 38 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. It is one of the eleven districts that form the north region of Tamil Nadu. Vellore city is the headquarters of this district. As of 2011, the district had a popu ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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 ...

. It connects with 90 villages and the town of Gudiyatham.

History

Pallikonda hosts a large non-sepulchral megalithic assembly with a vast capstone supported by three equally enormous boulders. The presence of the megalith was officially reported by Col. Congreve of the Madras Regiment in 1845 and was included in the book "Rude Stone Monuments" by J. Fergusson in 1872. The capstone projections are positioned so that they point towards north and south. The surface of the capstone is riddled with more than 75 cupules, built in clusters. Cupules of a large cluster form direct sight-lines to the position of the stars Vega and Capella during solstice sun rise and sunset. "Uttara Ranganathan" temple beside the Palar river bank has the deity is "Anantashayana", the sleeping form of Vishnu. Since the deity lies north of the river Palar, it is termed as "Uttara" (North).

Geography

Pallikonda experiences hot and dry weather throughout the year. The temperature ranges from a maximum of to a minimum of . Like the rest of the state, April to June are the hottest months and December to January are the coldest. Pallikonda receives of rainfall every year. The southwest monsoon, with an onset in June and lasting up to August, brings scanty rainfall. The bulk of the rainfall is received during the northeast monsoon in October, November and December. The humidity ranges from 40%–63% during summer and 67%–86% during winter.

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Pallikonda had a population of 23,067. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Pallikonda has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 66%. In Pallikonda, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Transport

The town lies on the NH 46 of Bangalore-Chennai section which is part of the

Golden Quadrilateral The Golden Quadrilateral ( hi, स्वर्णिम चतुर्भुज, Svarnim Chaturbhuj; abbreviated GQ) is a national highway network connecting several major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a ...

. A

State Highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

connects to Gudiyattam town 0 km The nearest railway station is Gudiyattam (6 km) on Chennai-Bangalore and Chennai-Coimbatore section of Southern Railway.

References

{{Municipalities of Tamil Nadu Cities and towns in Vellore district