Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin, is a town in Kanyakumari District in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It lies at the southernmost tip of mainland India. Cape Comorin is the southern tip of the Cardamom Hills, an extension of the Western Ghats range along the west coast of India. The nearest major city is Nagercoil. Kanyakumari was one of the important towns of the ancient Tamilakam and is a popular tourist destination.

Kanyakumari is notable for pilgrimage and tourism. The place takes its name from the goddess Devi Kanya Kumari, considered to be a sister of Kṛṣṇa. The temple here is a Shakti Peetha, one of the holiest shrines of the Mother goddess.

The place was called Kanyashram of the Baalaambika, the deity of the temple. This is one of the rare temples in India where Devi (Mother Goddess) is worshipped as a child. The rites and rituals are done in the Kerala Namboothiri method, so there are slight differences in the way of worship compared to the temples of the nearby region. The deity is the goddess of Sanasa, so people from all over India who desire to devote their life as Sanyasin come here and take the deeksha.

The beach sands are multi-coloured and likened to a mythological story.

There is a shrine for Kalabhairava in the temple. It is said that the backbone area of Sati Devi’s corpse fell here. Another pilgrimage is Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil nearby. At the Thanumalayan Temple in Suchindram, the three main gods of Hindu mythology – Śiva, Brahmā and Viṣṇu – are in one form called Sthanumalayan.