| Voice of Madurai : Raj
Gopal
Following are the social and developmental challenges of the district:
Due to uncertain monsoon agriculture faces lots of problems.
Poverty.
Unemployment.
The rural population is migrating to urban areas of the district
in search of job opportunities.
The quality of education in the villages needs to be improved. There
are insufficient number of schools in the villages.
Madurai District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Analysis Geographical Area : 3497.8 Km2
Population in Madurai (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 3041038
Male : 1528308
Female : 1512730
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 70256
In seeing : 44091
In speech : 4428
In hearing : 2381
In movement : 13164
Mental : 6192
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 450
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : A
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 61 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 79 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Brief About Madurai District
History
It is narrated in legend that Madurai was originally a forest known
as Kadambavanam. One day, a farmer named Dhananjaya who was passing
through the forest, saw Indra (The king of the gods), worshipping
a swayambhu (self created Lingam ) under kadamba tree. Dhananjaya,
the farmer immediately reported this to King Kulasekara Pandya.
Kulasekara Pandya cleared the forest and built a temple around the
Lingam. A city was soon planned with the temple as its centre. On
the day the city was to be named, Lord Shiva is said to have appeared
and drops of nectar from his hair fell on the town. So, the place
was named Madurai - mathuram meaning "sweetness" in Tamil. Madurai
has a rich historical background in the sense that Lord Shiva himself
performed sixty-four wonders called "Thiruvilaiyadals". As early
as the 3rd century BC, Megasthanes visited Madurai. Later many people
from Rome and Greece visited Madurai and established trade with
the Pandya kings. Madurai flourished till 10th century AD when it
was captured by Cholas the arch rivals of the Pandyas.
The Cholas ruled Madurai from 920 AD till the beginning of the 13th
century. In 1223 AD Pandyas regained their kingdom and once again
become prosperous. Pandian Kings patronised Tamil language in a
great way. During their period, many master-pieces were created.
"Silapathikaram", the great epic in Tamil was written based on the
story of Kannagi who burnt Madurai as a result of the injustice
caused to her husband Kovalan. In April 1311, Malik Kafur, the general
of Alauddin Khilji who was then the ruler of Delhi, reached Madurai
and raided and robbed the city for precious stones, jewels, and
other rare treasures. This led to the subsequent raids by other
Muslim Sultans. In 1323, the Pandya kingdom including Madurai became
a province of the Delhi empire, under the Tughlaks.
The 1371, the Vijayanagar dynasty of Hampi captured Madurai and
Madurai became part of the Vijayanagar empire. Kings of this dynasty
were in habit of leaving the captured land to governors called Nayaks.
This was done for the efficient management of their empire. The
Nayaks paid fixed amount annually to the Vijayanagar empire. After
the death of Krishna Deva Raya (King of Vijayanagar empire) in 1530
AD, the Nayaks became independent and ruled the territories under
their control. Among Nayaks, Thirumalai Nayak (1623-1659) was very
popular, even now he is popular among people, since, it was he who
contributed to the creation of many magnificent structures in and
around Madurai. The Raja Gopuram of the Meenakshi Amman Temple,
The Pudu Mandapam and The Thirumalai Nayakar's Palace are living
monuments to his artistic fervor.
Madurai started slipping into the hands of the British's East
India Company. In 1781, British appointed their representatives
to look after Madurai. George Procter was the first collector
of Madurai.
Now
after India's independence, Madurai is one of the major districts
of Tamilnadu State. In 1984, the Vast Madurai district was bifurcated
into two districts namely Madurai and Dindugul Districts. Subsequently
in 1997, Madurai district was bifurcated into two districts namely
Madurai and Theni Districts. In Madurai District, there are 10
State Assembly constituencies and two parliament constituencies.
Madurai is surrounded by several mountains. The Madurai city has
3 hills as its city boundary. Yanaimalai, Nagamalai, Pasumalai
named after Elephant, Snake and Cow respectively. It is famous
for Jasmine Flowers. Jasmine flowers are transported to other
cities of India from Madurai.
About District
Madurai District is situated in the South
of Tamil Nadu state. It is bounded on the North by the districts
of Dindigul, Thiruchirapalli and on the East by Sivagangai and
on the West by Theni and South by Virudhunagar .
Geographical
location
North Latitude :
Between 9°30.00 and 10°30.00
East Latitude :
Between 77°00.00 and 78°30.00
Languages spoken
:
Tamil, Telegu, Sourashtra,
English, Hindi
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