Kanyakumari is a city located in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu state of India . It is the southernmost city of mainland India . From here there is the Indian Ocean in the south , the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Arabian Sea in the west. The coast adjacent to them extends for 71.5 km. Along the sea stand the Thiruvalluvar statue and the Vivekananda memorial stone . Kanyakumari is also an important Hindu pilgrimage site.
Kanyakumari is a popular tourist destination and pilgrimage centre in India. Notable tourist spots include its unique sunrise and sunset points, the 41-metre (133 ft) Thiruvalluvar Statue, and Vivekananda Rock Memorial off the coast. Lying at the tip of peninsular India, the town is bordered on the west, south, and east by the Laccadive Sea.It has a coastline of 71.5 kilometres (44.4 mi) stretched along these three sides.
On the shores of the city is a temple dedicated to the goddess Kanya Kumari (the virgin goddess), after which the town is named. Kanyakumari has been a town since the Sangam period and was referred to in old Malayalam literature and in the accounts of Ptolemy and Marco Polo.
The place derives its name from the goddess Kanya Kumari, considered to be the sister of Krishna. The goddess is believed to remove the rigidity from the mind, and women pray for marriage at her temple. In 1656, the Dutch East India Company conquered Portuguese Ceylon from the Portuguese East Indies, and the name eventually corrupted to “Comorin” and was called “Cape Comorin” during British rule in India. In 2016, the town and its district were renamed to “Kanniyakumari” by the Government of India and the Government of Madras.
