Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of India. This is the place where India actually opened up to the world through the speech of the philosopher and disciple of Ramakrishna Swami Vivekananda Kanyakumari, the southernmost city of India

As I wrote in a previous post about southern India, Kanyakumari is a unique place - the waters of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal merge here, one of the pilgrimage routes sacred for Hindus ends here, the ashes of the most famous Indian - Mahatma Gandhi - were scattered here. But that's not all! It is here, because of the waves, the sun appears, it is here that people are the first in all of India, and in almost all of Eurasia they meet the dawn.

1. The wife categorically refused to stand in line for the girls' ferry. I translate the expression on my wife's face: "And what am I doing here at 8 am, waking up at 5.30 without having breakfast, and even in a crowd of people in black, with painted foreheads?" :)

2. But back to dawn. Time is about 6 am. It should be getting light soon. In the distance, an island with the temples of Swami Vivekanda and the goddess Kanyakumari is illuminated.


3. We were unlucky to see a flat solar disk emerging from behind the sea, obstructed by clouds. If you look closely, people are standing on the rooftops everywhere.


4. The roof of our hotel was no exception. It's good that we came early, because in literally 10 minutes all the parapets were occupied and the view would be closed.


5. We admired the dawn colors and went to get ready for the ferry.


6. At 7 o'clock in the morning the city no longer sleeps.


7. Followers of one of the Hindu cults - Ayappa. It is here that the pilgrimage route ends for them.

8. A small queue for the ferry - about 300 meters long :)


9 A man with glasses "breaks" the line at a certain place, where rickshaws and motorcycles sometimes pass.

10 While standing in line, I catch interesting characters. How do you like the mustache?

11. Closer to the cash register, they begin to manipulate the queue and force people to walk in circles so as not to create a crush.


12. And these are the pilgrims who have already made a trip to the island and are returning back.


13. Saffron robes are the only thing that sannyasi monks have. These are people who have given up everything material, live on alms and are constantly in spiritual activities.


14. I wouldn't post this photo, if not for one moment. Pay attention to the old man, who is to the left of the bald boy in a green checkered shirt. The spitting image of Mahatma Gandhi!


15. Rods as thick as the thumb of an adult male protect ferry ticket tellers A roundtrip ferry ticket costs 20 rupees, i.e. 15 rubles for our money.


16. After buying tickets, you have to sit a little more.


17. In order not to get bored, I examine the coastline through the holes in the wall.


18. Fishermen in traditional men's loincloth called lungi.


19. As you can see, the habit of ruining walls is international.


20. It is cold in the morning by Indian standards. In order not to freeze their ears, Indians wear such special headphones. Seen in many places, but with such a cheerful colors only here. I can imagine a security guard in some Moscow bank who went outside to smoke and put on such things in polka dots :)


21. A woman's leg is being detected!


22. And here is our floating craft


23. At first they are all serious. Indeed, everyone is forced to wear vests without fail. But as you can see, not everyone takes this seriously.


24. Video with views from the ferry and with close neighbors

25. And this is a rather unique thing for India - a trash can, and even such a funny design. Trash cans are seen only in some tourist places.

26 While they are collecting your change for a ticket, the bill is pressed with a weight for the scales so that the wind does not blow away. Just like some grandmothers when selling tickets in the Moscow metro. Only our weights are not used for scales.


27. A must-have item when visiting any place is shoes.


28. Thousands of years ago people living on this cape were annoyed by a demon. The gods turned to the supreme goddess Devi to help deal with this demon and she took the form of a Kanyakumari girl. But she overdid it, because the girl turned out to be so beautiful that Shiva fell in love with her and decided to marry her. The gods were frightened, because after the wedding, she would have lost all her strength to fight the demon. One of the sages turned into a rooster and crowed at an inopportune time, as a result of which Shiva decided that the time for the wedding was lost and returned to his city. And Kanyakumari only had to stand on one leg for 1000 years and wait for the demon, which was eventually killed by her.
Inside this temple is the print of her foot. Taking pictures inside is forbidden, but that doesn't stop everyone :)


29. Island with a monument in honor of the poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar. If I am not mistaken, it is opened for tourists several times a year.


30. Being in any tourist place, you need to be prepared for the fact that you will be asked to photograph ...


31. ... and take a picture with you


32. And in this photo, taken against the sun, the entrance to the temple of Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda is the man who spoke at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. It is he who is considered the man who sowed the seeds of Hinduism in the West. He founded several Vedanta centers in New York and London.


33. Frozen compass.


34. Friends, who knows what this sign means? Bulky, right in front of the entrance to the temple.


35. Married couple chtoli?


36. And this is the entrance to the meditation room. Inside the room, 15 by 30 meters, people sit and meditate to the music. I didn’t manage to dive into myself - it’s hard to do it when there are many more interesting things ahead of you!


37. As you can see, there are plenty of tourists here


38. According to legend, directly from the Gulf of Vivekananda, he swam independently to this stone island and meditated here for 3 days. And after the ideas appeared, with the help of friends, he went to America to bring the knowledge of Hinduism to the world.


39. But I saw shaved women for the first time. Why do they shave their hair?


40. Standing at the exit to the ferry, we were also haunted and took pictures with us and asked to photograph them.


41. While I was taking the previous shot, I felt a touch on my leg. Thought it seemed to me. The touches turned into light jabs and pinching. When I turned around, I saw a baby in pink, and heard the laughter of her parents. The child could not believe that my wife and I were real and tested us by touch :)


42. And this is just an epic video, boarding the ferry. If you do not know what it is, then you might think that this is a recording of military exercises :)

43. Part of Cape Comorin, Kanyakumari coast


43 On the way back, they filmed the queue at the box office, but the queue was significantly shortened. Add to what you saw another minute and a half - then you will understand in which line we defended in the morning.

44. Breakfast of a tourist - coconut milk and a couple of bananas on top.


45. This is the border between the states. Almost "Thank you" is written on the spare wheel of the jeep on the left :)


46. \u200b\u200bI saw myself on a poster and could not help but take a picture :) This and other photographs were taken with my wife's camera.


47. What can you not see on the roads of India!


48. The movement is really fun! I learned to drive our scooter like an Indian, and at a speed of 50 km I calmly rushed through such cracks. True, after such "leaps" hands sweated even more :)


49. The cost of gasoline is 50 rubles per liter


50. Delivery of live chickens


51. Honestly, I would not have thought of this :)


52. Telephone + tariff of almost 500 rubles for our money. Where are our prices?

53. Three is not the limit! Saw immediately

Kanyakumari is the southernmost point of India and the confluence of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The city is named after the virgin goddess Kanyakumari, and the temple built in her honor is located here. Kanyakumari is the city of the eternal bride who never became a wife.

The temple is dedicated to Kanye Devi - a manifestation of the virgin goddess Parvati, who is always waiting for the appearance of her betrothed (Shiva). According to legend, the wedding of the goddess with Shiva was scheduled, but Shiva did not appear at the wedding ritual. In connection with the amazing legend of the emergence of the temple, people invented many other legends associated with the temple of the Virgin Goddess.

You can enter the temple through the northern gate, despite the fact that the deity is directed towards the east. The east entrance remains closed except on special occasions.

Vivekananda stone memorial

Vivekananda Stone Memorial is a sacred monument and popular tourist destination located on an Indian island near Kanyakumari. The monument was erected in 1970 to commemorate the visit of the great spiritual teacher Swami Vivekananda to Sripada Parai in December 1892. He swam to this rock and on it he reflected on the past, present and future of India. On the rock, he managed to achieve enlightenment, and since then he has become a famous reformer and philosopher.

The rock has been considered sacred since ancient times. It is also known as Sripada Parai, meaning the stone that became holy at the touch of the feet of the goddess Kumari.

Visitors can see the meditation hall (Dhyana Mandapa), where everyone can meditate. Externally, Mandapa combines various Indian styles of temple architecture. Inside the building is a statue of Vivekananda.

What sights of Kanyakumari do you like? There are icons next to the photo, by clicking on which you can rate a particular place.

Church of Our Virgin Ransom

A large whitewashed Catholic church. It is located on the eastern outskirts of Kanyakumari in the middle of a fishing village. The huge blue and white Gothic church tower rises among the fishing huts.

The statue of Saint Thiruvalluvar is located on a small island near the city of Kanyakumari at the point where the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meets the Indian Ocean. The statue is dedicated to the saint, Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar.

His famous work "Tirukkural", which is a kind of ethical code for all mankind, has been translated into more than 60 languages \u200b\u200bof the world. The total height of the statue is 133 feet, which represents the number of chapters in the significant work. The statue was opened for visiting in 2000. You can get to the memorial by ferry from the mainland.

The most popular attractions in Kanyakumari with descriptions and photos for every taste. Choose the best places to visit the famous places of Kanyakumari on our website.

February 12th, 2013

So we got to the southernmost point of the Indian subcontinent - Cape Comorin, on which the sacred Hindu city of Kanyakumari is located. Many also call it the southernmost point of India, but this is not entirely true. The southernmost point of India is Indira Cape on the Big Nicobar Island.

We immediately go to the beach. And ahead of the horizon is only Antarctica!

Beautiful uninhabited landscapes.

It is assumed that the mythical continent of Lemuria was located south of Cape Comorin.

Fishermen.

The sunsets and sunrises of these places are amazingly beautiful!
We greet the sunrise from the balcony of our hotel.

Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi Memorial), built in 1956.
Mahatma Gandhi - "the father of the nation" - visited Kanyakumari twice: in 1925 and in 1937. Memorial with designed in such a way
that during Gandhi's birth on October 2 at noon, sunlight penetrates the memorial through a hole in the ceiling. This event attracts many people here every year. An urn with the ashes of the Mahatma was also installed at this place so that people would pay the last tribute before his ashes were scattered over the waters of the ocean here in Kanyakumari on his birthday in 1948.
During the tsunami in 2004, the lower two floors of the memorial were flooded with water

Cape Kanyakumari is the southernmost mainland point of India. The waters of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean meet here. This is a sacred place for every Hindu.

Maybe it seemed to me because I was already a little used to Indian landscapes, but we drove much longer than to Nyardam. The driver and the car were the same. The road was different, it ran not only through densely planted settlements, but also through plantations.
On the way, we stopped in for gas. India has only two fuels: diesel and petrol. No gradations at 95-98.
Kanyakumari is not located in Kerala, but in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. When crossing the state border, we were charged a duty (25 rupees per car). The border passes right in the middle of the village, the driver showed: "this house is located in Kerala, and this one is already in Tamil Nadu." The language in Tamil Nadu is already different, Tamil, so my "nani" (thank you) didn't work here :)
To the south of Kovalam, a larger percentage of the population is Roman Catholic. Therefore, there are a lot of churches. Including there are modern, with an ambiguous architecture.
We drove past a Hindu temple:

Its representatives collected donations from passing cars and painted dots on their foreheads with white clay. They also collected from us, they also drew for us.

Sewing machines sell:

City:

Our first man-made object is Padmanabhapuram. In this place in the pre-colonial era was the capital of the principality (now part of it belongs to Kerala, and part to Tamil Nadu), and the maharajas settled in the palace. The last ruler lived there about three hundred years ago. When entering the palace, you should take off your shoes and leave them in a special storage room, having received a number in return. The palace is a fenced area with buildings of different times and purposes, in some places connected by corridors. There are 14 buildings in total, but not all are open to the public. The buildings are remarkable for their carvings. In my opinion, there is much in common with Russian architecture. The interior is almost empty, everything that the British could have taken out. There are many mysteries in the palace, for example, the ventilation system and the composition of the floor covering, which is cool and has not been erased for 300 years, it seems that it includes egg whites, sugar, coconut and something else.
At the entrance, they take off and hand over their shoes, walk barefoot around the territory of the palace.

Schoolchildren were brought on a tour:

In general, there were quite a lot of people. Indians love to travel, but it is difficult for them to travel abroad, so they travel around their country.
Ceiling:

Maharaja's bed. Made from 64 (!) Pieces of Ayurvedic wood. The breeds are selected so as to have a positive effect on the health of the last Maharaja:

And these are meeting chairs. They are deliberately made inconvenient so that people do not sit up and solve all political issues in a straightforward manner:

Comforter prototype. Firewood was laid down, and in this oblong recess something was being prepared:

The maharaja's daughters had an unenviable fate. They could not be married off to just anyone, and not all of the noble people were enough. Unmarried women did not have the right to leave the palace buildings, they only moved inside. In one of the "buildings" there is a pool with water, which played a role in the cooling system, above the pool there is an open sky. This was the only place where the maharaja's daughters could see the sky.

On my way:

So directly, Kanyakumari.
A legend is associated with this place:
Shiva was happy and expressed his willingness to marry Kumari (Kanya is a virgin, Kumari is a princess, a goddess). The evil Narada, who set the exact and best time for the wedding, insisted that the date he had indicated could not be missed. To the smallest detail, the elaborated wedding was to be held in Kumari territory. And the god Shiva at that time was not far away in the village of Suchindram. The groom's party started in this place with glamor and glamor. Narada decided to think of something to prevent the wedding. Narada turned into a rooster and hid in the path of Shiva's wedding procession, and as soon as the guests and the groom appeared, he began to crow. Shiva, deciding that it was already dawn, that another day had already come and he did not manage to get married on the date predicted by Narada, was very upset and turned the procession back. Without waiting for the groom, the bride vowed to remain forever virgin. All her wedding preparations turned into sand and pebbles like rice. The colorful and varied sand of Cape Kanyakumari still reminds us of this incident.
There are many variations on this legend. I read somewhere that Narada prevented the wedding not because of natural harm, but because after getting married, Kumari will lose part of his strength and will not be able to fulfill his divine destiny with dignity.
This place is also associated with the classic of Tamil literature, who lived in the 1st century AD - Tilluvaruwalu and the religious philosopher Vivekananda.
General form:

The two rocky islets are what Kumari's wedding preparations have become. On the left island: a higher building is the Vivekananda temple, a lower building is the Kumari "chapel". On the right island there is a huge sculpture of Tilluvaruwalu.
To get to the island (now the boat goes only to the left island, on the right, something is being repaired and completed), you need to defend a HUGE queue for the boat. Despite the fact that a special building has been made for a queue with air conditioners and benches, some people still stand on the street, because there are more people who want it than it is supposed to.
Expectation:

Everyone is dressed very smartly in bright saris. Many have jasmine garlands in their hair. This is the same building for the queue. The benches there stand in a zigzag pattern to accommodate more people:

We waited a long time, maybe an hour. I got into conversation with the girl and her family. The girl's name is Puni, as her mother said, Dr. Puni. She recently completed her law degree. They live in Tamil Nadu.
Some two comrades really wanted me to photograph them, put them in my LJ, let them rejoice:

Planting process:

We swim:

Windmills were visible in the distance.
On the island, they also donate shoes to the storage room and go barefoot. I liked it.

"Chapel" Kanikumari.

Inside the chapel, Kumari's footprint on a rock (a normal female foot). It is believed that her spirit still stands there on one leg. You can't take pictures, so here's a picture from the tourist brochure:

There is also a large Kumari temple on the shore, but non-Hindus are not allowed there.
Kumari patronizes love affairs, inside the "chapel" you can make a thematic wish and throw a coin. I also made a fortune and left. When I returned home, at first it seemed to me that Kumari messed up something and did the opposite. But then she corrected herself :)

Vivekananda represented Hinduism in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. There he overshadowed all the speakers. His speech is considered the starting point of Western interest in Hinduism. Before the performance, Vivekananda retired to the island and meditated there for three days.
Vivekananda Temple:

Three years ago there was a tsunami, the people on the island took refuge in a temple and the wave did not reach them one meter.
Somewhere far away the South Pole. There is no more sushi in that direction.

On certain days of the year, if you look the whole day in that direction, you can see both sunrise and sunset.
Girls taking pictures:

And this is the meditation room:

It's dark, the rug is on and the "ohmmmm ohmmmm" record is spinning. You can go in and sit as long as you want. I went in and sat.
Let's swim back. View from the boat:

A statue of the 1st century AD classic Tamil literature Tilluvaruwalu:

A house entirely of palm leaves on the shore:

And here they scattered some of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes:

The last stop is the Temple of Suchindram. It is about 2300 years old! One of the few temples to which non-Hindus are allowed. Taking pictures is prohibited at all. Not even postcards. Men must take off their shirts upon entering. Can be left on one shoulder. Twice-born Brahmins serve in the temple. In adolescence, they undergo a rite of initiation - a second birth, after which they hang a string over their shoulder.
The temple is dedicated to Vishnu, Rama and Shiva. The temple portal is made of shell rock, sugar and egg white. The huge territory is surrounded by a gallery of high columns, along which processions are held during the holidays; inside there are many "pavilions" dedicated to different gods. One of them is dedicated to 9 planets. With her, you can light 9 candles, make a wish, twirl the saucer with them three times clockwise and walk around the stone table with saucers three times. I did all this, the candles were very difficult to light, they were a wick in oil. Sveta said she needed to be squeezed out.
Puja was performed in the gazebos of Ganesha. They lit candles, and carried the fire past the people, everyone put their hands on the fire and washed themselves with it. So do I.
There are singing columns in the temple. They are made of a single piece of granite, not empty inside, but if you knock on them, they sing. I tried - they really sing! Nobody knows how. Riddle. In one group of columns, they emit sounds exactly in tonality, I don't remember what notes, the accompanying one spoke. And in another group, not all the columns are singing. The last place was dedicated to Shiva. They said that if he is depicted with four hands, then he destroys only what has become obsolete, and if there are more hands, everything. At the entrance to the temple, there is usually a "gazebo" of Ganesha, but in the one we visited - Jupiter. This is an exception. Another exception - the figure of Ganesha is depicted with breasts - a female avatar.
Temple gates in thorns - protection from the raids of wild elephants.


On the way back, we met a Catholic procession, which was celebrating some kind of religious holiday.

The city of Kanyakuma? Ri is located on Cape Comorin, at the southernmost point of the Indian subcontinent. The waters of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean converge here, so it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South India, which is visited by more than 2 million tourists a year.

A legend is connected with the name of the city, according to which for many thousands of years the inhabitants of the cape were haunted by the demon Banasura. People began to pray to Goddess Parashakti to deliver them from this evil demon. To kill Banasura, Parashakti took the form of a young girl, Kanyakumari ("kumari" in Tamil means "virgin, virgin"). She was so beautiful that Shiva himself, the god of destruction, fell in love with her. But if Kanya married Shiva, she would lose her power and would not be able to destroy the evil demon. Then the gods decided to upset the appointed wedding. On the wedding day, when Shiva began the corresponding ceremony, which was supposed to end before dawn, the sage Narada, at the behest of the gods, turned into a rooster and crowed the dawn ahead of time. Shiva considered that the favorable time for the wedding was missed and disappeared.

And the goddess went to the island of Vivekananda near Cape Comorin and stood there on one leg, as it should be for killing a demon, for a thousand years. After that, the evil Banasura was destroyed.

On the same island there is a small Kanyakumari temple, where the footprint of the goddess has been preserved, and the temple of Vivekananda, the main disciple of Ramakrishna and the founder of the Ramakrishna Order. In 1892, before traveling to America, Swami Vivekananda acquired divine consciousness. Later in 1970, his memorial was built on two rocks in the ocean.

Also on the headland is the Kanyakumari Shrine (in addition to the temple on the island). Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter it (but everything can be negotiated for money), and men at the entrance must take off their outerwear and undress to the waist (top).

On the neighboring island there is a monument to the Tamil poet Thiruvallura (1st century BC), who wrote "Tyrukkural" - a collection of poetic moral sayings in Tamil. The memorial was opened on January 1, 2000.

View of Cape Comorin from the island of Vivekananda.

On the very cape there is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.

The memorial is designed in such a way that every year at 14:00 on October 2 (the day and time of M. Gandhi's birth), through a tiny hole in the ceiling, the sun's rays fall on the place where the ash of Gandhi is located, which was scattered here over the ocean in 1948. The memorial was opened 8 years later. The central tower of the monument is 79 feet high, which corresponds to the age of the "Father of the Nation".

Beach Road - Beach street, where vegetarian restaurants and cafes, hotels and shops are concentrated.

The main assortment of shops is sarees,

shell products and bright garlands of flowers.

Most of the local population is engaged in fishing.

Fishermen are dismantling the nets.

The only road along the coast

leads to purple sand

and a sandy beach where you can swim. The urban coastline is too rocky.

Sunrise and sunset are important events during the day for every Kanyakumari resident.

Especially in order to meet the sun, residents put off their affairs and go out to the embankment, climb onto roofs,

take places on a special observation tower. The whole city is quiet, waiting for the light.

The first rays of the new day are greeted with applause

A common sight at a train station