KANNIYAKUMARI

also spelled Kanyakumari, town, southern Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. The town is situated on Cape Comorin, which is the southernmost point on the Indian subcontinent. Kanniyakumari is a tourist and pilgrimage centre noted for its Siva temple and its Gandhi memorial. Legend claims that the goddess Kanya Kumari (Youthful Virgin) killed a demon on the town site. Pilgrimage rites include bathing at Pitru and Matru Tirtha, two rocks over which a monument honouring Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu religious leader, was built in 1970. The fertile soils inland from Kanniyakumari support an extremely dense population, while the sandy coastal plain contains worked deposits of monazite and ilmenite. The area is primarily agricultural but has some handloom weaving industries. Pop. (1991 prelim.) town, 17,206.