Kanchipuram or Kancheepuram (also sometimes Conjeevaram) is the name of a temple town and district in Tamil Nadu, India's southernmost state.

Kanchipuram is located on the Palar River, and known for its temples and silk sarees. There are several big temples, notably Kamakshi Amman Temple, Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kumara Kottam, Kachapeshwarar Temple and many more. Kanchipuram is also famous for its silk sarees, which are woven manually and considered as a finest quality in India.

Kanchipuram district is in the northeast of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal. It is bounded in the west by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai districts, in the north by Thiruvallur district and Chennai district, in the south by Villuppuram district. It lies between 11° 00' to 12° 00? North latitudes and 77° 28' to 78° 50' East longitudes. The district has a total geographical area of 4,432 km² and coastline of 57 km.

History

Kanchipuram is one of the oldest cities in South India, and was a city of learning for both Tamil and Sanskrit, and was allegedly visited by Hsuan Tsang. But during the reign of Pallavas, Kanchipuram became their capital and attained its limelight. It was during their reign many of the known temples are built.

The Kanchi Matha

Kanchipuram is also one of the seat of Adi Sankara Pedams, which was founded some 2500 years ago, but this time frame is widely disputed.

It hit nationwide headlines in November 2004 when the present Kanchi Shankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, was arrested by the Tamil Nadu government. On January 10th the Supreme Court of India announced that there was no evidence against the Acharya and granted him bail. Acharya Sri Jayendra Saraswathi was actively involved in various social programs to improve the living conditions of the poor and needy in the society.

External links

• Homepage of local government (http://www.kanchi.tn.nic.in/)
• Kanchipuram on the Web (http://www.geocities.com/~kanchipuram/)