Kottar

Kottar
Town
Kottar is located in Tamil Nadu
Kottar
Kottar
Kottar, Tamil Nadu
Coordinates: 8°10′12.7″N 77°26′33″E / 8.170194°N 77.44250°E / 8.170194; 77.44250
Country India
StateTamil Nadu
Districtkanyakumari
Elevation
41 m (135 ft)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total224,849
Languages
 • OfficialTamil
 • SpokenTamil, Malayalam
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
629002
Telephone code04652-
Vehicle registrationTN 74
Nearest cityNagercoil
Lok Sabha constituencyKanyakumari
Vidhan Sabha constituencyNagercoil

Kottar is a locality and a bazaar area of Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu state, in the southernmost part of Peninsular India; though a part of Nagercoil today, it is the original town around which the city of Nagercoil grew. It was an ancient trade centre of both Pandyans and Cheras at various times. The ancient mercantile centre of Kottar was established on the banks of the Pahrali River (Pazhayar).

Robert Caldwell describes the extent of Malayalam in the mid 19th century as extending from the vicinity of Mangalore in the north where it supersedes with Tulu and Kannada to Kottar beyond Pahrali River near Kanyakumari in the south where it begins to supersede with the Tamil and from Malabar Coast in the west to Western Ghats in the east besides the inhabited islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.[note 1]

In the modern day, Kottar is the main commodities market area of Kanyakumari District. The main railway station of Nagercoil, the Nagercoil Junction is at Kottar. The only Government Ayurveda Medical College in Tamilnadu state is also at Kottar.

  1. ^ Caldwell, Robert (1856). A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Or South-Indian Family of Languages. Harrison and sons. pp. 7, 62–63.


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