Places of Tourist Interest
Kanyakumari district, which lies in the southern most tip of Peninsular India, is famous for its majestic hills, virgin beaches, pristine rivers and meandering rivulets.
The district has a fragrance of architecture culture and customs of neighbouring Kerala mixed with the rich deep traditions, culture and architecture of Tamil Nadu. However, for want of promotional campaign and lack of basic amenities most of the tourists coming to this district return back after seeing just Kanyakumari and Padmanabhapuram Palace. It was at this juncture that the district administration decided to take up tourism promotion initiatives in a major way. Attempt has been made to put up basic amenities at the virgin beautiful spots so as to facilitate the inflow of the tourists.
Fountains at Kanniyakumari
The place has been associated with great men like Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi in whose names memorials have been here. They are very beautiful and add to the attraction of this place. The beautiful Gandhi Memorial completed in 1956, is situated as a memorial to the Father of the Nation. An urn of Mahatma Gandhi was kept here for public to pay homage before immersion.
Mahatma Gandhi visited Kanyakumari twice in 1925 and 1937. Mahatma Gandhi visited Kanyakumari in January 1937. In 1948 his ashes were immersed in the sea waters in Kanyakumari. In commemoration of this event a beautiful monument has been constructed here. Its central shape is 79 feet high representing the age of the Mahatma at the time of the sun at Mid day on 2nd October would fall on the peedam through a hole in the roof. The memorial was transferred to the administrative control of the Public (Information and Public Relations) Department from Public Works Department of Government of Tamil Nadu in the year 1978.
Thiruvalluvar Statue
Thiruvalluvar is the immortal poet of Tamil Nadu and has given to the world Thirukkural. The memorial statue of Thiruvalluvar is in Kanyakumari. The pedestal of the statue is of 38 feet height and the statue over it is 95 feet tall with a grand total of 133 feet for the entire sculpture. The 3 tier pedestal known as Atharapeedam is surrounded by an artistic Mandapa known as Alankara Mandapam with 38 feet height. Surrounding the Alankara Mandapa stand 10 elephant statues signifying 8 directions with earth and space down. The father of Sri. Rama, the hero of Ramayana was called Dasaratha as he was able to charioteer in ten directions. To help the tourists to worship the holy feet of Thiruvalluvar 140 steps are constructed inside the Mandapa.
The pedestal with a height of 38 feet represents the 38 chapters in the Book of Aram in Thirukural and the statue of 95 feet on the pedestal represents the total chapters in Porul (70 chapters) and Inbam (25 Chapters). Thus the statue symbolically, and artistically signifies that the theme of Porul and Inbam are based on Aram.
SOME DETAILS ABOUT THE STATUE OF THIRUVALLUVAR
| Chief Sculptor | Dr. V. Ganapathy Sthapathi |
| Height of the statue of Thiruvalluvar | 95 feet |
| Total pieces of stones utilised for the statue | 1283 |
| Weight of the statue | 2000 tones |
| Height of the Athaara Peedam | 38 feet |
| Total pieces of stone utilized | 672 |
| Weight of the stones in the Peedam | 1500 tons |
| Total height of the monument | 133 feet |
| Height of the Alankara-Mandapam | 38 feet |
| Total pieces of stones utilized for the Mandapam | 1726 |
| Weight of the stones in the Mandapam | 3500 tons |
| Total weight of the whole structure | 7000 tons |
| Number of steps upward | 70 |
| Number of steps downward | 70 |