Karur is a city and district in Tamil Nadu state of south India.

One of the ancient cities in Tamil Nadu, it was ruled by the Cheras, Cholas, the Naickers, and the British successively. There is proof that Karur may have been the centre for old jewellery-making and gem setting (with the gold imported mainly from Rome), as seen from various excavations. According to the Hindu mythology, Brahma began the work of creation here, which is referred to as the "place of the sacred cow."

Karur District, with headquarters at Karur, is the most centrally located district of Tamil Nadu. Its about 371 km south west of Chennai (Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu. Karur has a very long history and has been sung by various sangam poets. In history, it has been the battleground of various Tamil Kings like Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallavas because of strategic location. The district has a very rich and varied cultural heritage. The district is made fertile by the perenial flows of Cauvery on the northern side and Amaravathy, Nanganjiyar and Noyyal rivers. Its economy is mainly agrarian. Presently, the district is famous world-wide for its handloom products.

Karur district is bounded by Namakkal District in the north, Dindigul District in the south, Tiruchirapalli District on the west and Erode District on the east.

History

Karur is one of the oldest towns in Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. Its history dates back over 2000 years, and has been a flourishing trading centre even in the early Sangam days. Epigraphical, numismatic, archaeological and literary evidences have proved beyond doubt that Karur was the capital of early Chera kings of Sangam age. It was called Karuvoor or Vanji during Sangam days. There has been a plethora of rare findings during the archaeological excavations undertaken in Karur. These include mat-designed pottery, bricks, mud-toys, Roman coins, Chera Coins, Pallava Coins, Roman Amphorae, Rasset coated ware, rare rings etc. Karur was built on the banks of river Amaravathi which was called Aanporunai during the Sangam days. The names of the early Chera kings who ruled from Karur, have been found in the rock inscriptions in Aru Nattar Malai close to Karur. The Tamil epic Silapathikaram mentions that the famous Chera King Cheran Senguttuvan ruled from Karur. In 150 Greek scholar Ptolemy mentioned “Korevora” (Karur) as a very famous inland trading centre in Tamil Nadu. After the early Cheras, Karur was conquered and ruled by Pandyas followed by Pallavas and later Cholas. Karur was under the rule of Cholas for a long time. Later the Naickers followed by Tipu Sultan also ruled Karur. The British added Karur to their possessions after destroying the Karur Fort during their war against Tipu Sultan in 1783. There is a memorial at Rayanur near Karur for the warriors who lost their lives in the fight against the British in the Anglo-Mysore wars. Thereafter Karur became part of British India and was first part of Coimbatore District and later Tiruchirappalli District.

Karur is also a part of Kongunadu. The history of Kongunadu dates back to the 8th century. The name Kongunadu originated from the term "Kongu", meaning nectar or honey. Kongu came to be called as Kongunadu with the growth of civilization. The ancient Kongunadu country was made up of various districts and taluks which are currently known as Palani, Dharapuram, Karur, Nammakkal, Thiruchengodu, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Satyamangalam, Nilgiris, Avinashi, Coimbatore, Pollachi and Udumalpet. Kongunadu was blessed with enormous wealth, a pleasant climate and distinct features. Kongunadu was ruled over by the Chera, Chola, Pandya, Hoysala, Muslim rulers and finally the British.

Karur District

Karur district has 2 Municipalities, 13 Town Panchayats and 158 Village Panchayats and 203 Revenue Villages. Karur District has 4 Assembly constituencies of which one is a reserved namely Krishnarayapuram Constituency. Karur Parliamentary constitutes 6 Assembly constituencies, 2 are from Tiruchirappalli revenue district, namely Marungapuri and Thottiam and 4 Assembly Constituencies from Karur.

Agriculture

Utilisation of land area in Karur district is upto 44.59%. 4.76% of the land area remains as other uncultivated land. 2.74 % is forest area in Karur district.

Black soil is the predominant soil type in this district accounting for 35.51% followed by lateritic Soil for 23.85%. Rest 20.31% is comprised of sandy, coastal and alluvium soil.

Industries

Home Textiles

Karur is famous for its home textiles. Karur has a niche in five major product groups — bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens and wall hangings. Overall Karur generates around $300 million dollars a year in foreign exchange through direct and indirect exports. Allied industries like ginning and spinning mills, dyeing factories, weaving etc employs around 200,000 people in and around Karur.

Paper

TNPL (http://www.tnpl.co.in) is promoted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from the World Bank. Today TNPL is the largest producer of bagasse (sugarcane waste from Sugar mills) based paper in the world and the 2nd largest paper producer in India. TNPL produces 230,000 tons of Printing & writing paper and consumes 1 million tones of bagasse every year.

Cement

Karur is also home to Chettinad Cements (http://www.chettinadcement.com/index.htm). It has an installed production capacity of 600,000 tons per annum, with another 1.1 million tons expansion in the pipeline.

Sugar

EID Parry (http://www.eidparry.com/ThePlants.asp) has a sugar factory in Pugalur, Karur. It has a capacity of 4000 TCD per year. It's also seting a 22 MW co-generation Power plant, with TNPL.

Banking

Karur has two of India's oldest private scheduled banks, The Karur Vysya Bank and The Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

Other industries include bus-body building, HDPE filament and associated product manufacturing.

Transportation

Karur is well connected with rest of India through all modern means of transportation. There are 2 National highways NH-7 (Varanasi - Kanyakumari) and NH-67 (Nagapattinam - Trichy - Karur - Coimbatore) that ply through Karur. Karur (Station Code - KRR) is connected to the Indian Railways network. Trains from Bangalore to Madurai, Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Mangalore to Tiruchchirappalli, and Mysore to Thanjavur travel via Karur City. The nearest airport is in Trichy (78 km) or Coimbatore (120 km). The nearest major port is at Chennai (391 km).

Communication

Karur comes under BSNL's Tamil Nadu telecom circle under Trichy SDCA. It is also connected to BSNL's nationwide VPN network through a virtual node. Cell phone service is provided by BSNL, Air-Cel, BPL and Reliance.

External links

• Kongunadu (http://www.coimbatore.com/kongunadu/home.htm)
• Karur District Official Website (http://www.karur.tn.nic.in/default.htm)
• Cheras in Wiki (http://chera.wikiverse.org/)
• City Guide (http://www.webindia123.com/city/tamil/karur/intro.htm?cat=Introduction)