Tamil Nadu the richest agricultural state of South India is having plenty of places to visit. Our target for today is Kallidaikurichi a town not much popular but covered with greenery and pollution free air. I don�t know about others but once the name Tamil Nadu comes in my mind the image of green farms, beautiful towns and amazing scenery area start moving in my mind. The coconut trees, delicious south Indian food served on banana leaves and many other things are special of Tamil Nadu. The best and richest temples, holy towns are other best parts of the state.

Today we are going to discuss about the town that is not much popular among travelers. However, the town is key part to reach some big tourism spots in region. Kallidaikurichi is established on the bank of Thamiraparani River. It comes under Ambasamudram Taluk, Tirunelveli region. Just like other south Indian rural urban, this town is also steeped soaked in traditional rich heritage. People of town is struggling a bit to hold its past glories.

Kallidaikurichi is full of rich heritage and many ancient temples are located in various parts of the town. The structural designs of these temples are of ancient age like they have higher gopurams. Gopurams are the ornamental entry points of temples having elaborated sculptures. 

As we told you already that Kallidaikurichi is entry point to many big tourist places, once you reach this town you can also enjoy the last point of India that is Kanyakumari located at 70 km distance in north Tamil Nadu. The other two important spots near the town are Palayamkottai and Tirunelveli. Forgot to tell you one important part of this town, it is located in the middle of hills that means surrounding areas are full of hills with greenery and scenery.

Temples (Shrines):
The most beautiful shrine of town is Manenthiappar that is dedicated to God Shiva. You will also find the idol of Aadhivaraga (Lord Vishnu) in the temple. Many big and small shrines are available in the city where you can visit.

Few Important Areas to Visit:
Thamirabarani River: The ever flowing river Thamirabarani flows through town Kallidaikurichi. The origin place of this river is near Pothigai and it flows down to the Bay of Bengal. Once you reach the river area you will find good green hills having plenty of small and big striking waterfalls such as Courtallam Falls, Agasthiar Falls, Banatheertham Falls and Manimuthar Falls.

Manjolai Hills: Travel for nearly 40 km distance from Kallidaikurichi to reach Manjolai Hills. The spot is full of rich nature splendor with tea agricultural estates. The average height of Manjolai is from 1000 to 1500 Meters. KMRT (Kalakkad Manimuthar Tiger Reserve) is key attraction point of the spot. Some other nearby spots from Manjolai is Manimuthar Dam, Water Falls, Manjolai tea plantations and few small tea plantations at Upper Kodaiyar Dam as well. Upper Dam area is famous for windy view point. 

 

Agasthiar Kootam (famous for medicinal herbs) is another hill area near village. It is fully filled with flora and fauna specifying this place as bird watch area will be better. Don�t forget to reach Kalakkad Mundanthurai wild life park, but be careful while entering the area. It is the dense jungle and you might find Tiger standing in front of you. 

Kallidaikurichi is the small town so you will not get many areas to visit, but the greenery and peaceful surrounding will fresh your mind. Instead of spending huge amount on hill stations or expensive tourism places you can visit to Kallidaikurichi town. Make your holidays memorable by attaining to this place.

How to reach Kallidaikurichi?
By Rail: Kallidaikurichi railway station is properly linked with many big cities of Tamil Nadu. It is also linked with some big stations of nation.

By Road: Tamil Nadu Roadways is having buses for Kallidaikurichi from Tirunelveli, Nagarcoil and some more cities. You might feel discomfort as road conditions are not perfect.
 

By Air: Closest airport for Kallidaikurichi is Madurai that is domestic airport located at 250 km distance. The other big air hub for Kallidaikurichi is Trivandrum that is International Airport located in Kerala. Trivandrum airport is 145 km far from Kallidaikurichi so you can plan either way to reach this best destination for holidays.

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Unakoti is the ancient town of Tripura also famous as religious place. The old temple of Shiva is primary place to visit in town. We can say Unakoti is the prime tourism spot of Tripura region in the North East India. This holy place dates back between 7th to 9th centuries. The masterpiece or the work done at this place is amazing especially on rock carvings. Their primordial beauty and waterfalls are some other finest spots of Unakoti.

The sources available state the place as historical pilgrimage destination with stunning shrine of Lord Shiva as first place to visit. Actually it is the hill area with natural scenery and sweet valleys with some all time favorite waterfalls. Unakoti is also described in Hindu myths. As per sources God Shiva was came to Unakoti with 1 crore gods and goddesses visiting visit Kashi. He stayed in this town for a night and asked all gods and divinities to wake him up before sunrise to precede Kashi. However, only Lord Shiva wake up in the morning and no one besides could get up. As all of them were sleeping lord Shiva curse others to turn into stone images. The proof of such incident is you will find one less than crore images carving on rocks at Unakoti, though the images are beautifully reshaped in the area with green floras all around.

The stone images are found of two type one stone image and other rock-carved figures. There is one Shiva�s head in the central part with huge figure of Ganesha. The name of this central Shiva head is Unakotiswara and that turned as the name of this special town as well. The complete name of this image is Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava which is around 30 feet in height with an overstated head-dress. Each side of Shiva�s head is dress and two sized figured female in place. Among these two statues one is of Goddess Durga. The other 3 massive images are of Nandi Bull found partially buried. There are many other images and statues in Unakoti and one day is not enough to view these finest images.

Festival: Ashokastami is the biggest festival of this region held in the middle of April visited by huge amount of devotees.

Maintenance: Till last few years the site was neglected by the local administration causing degradation of images. The loss of significant rock art work is seen here easily. After adoption of site by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) the place introduced to the world as a heritage town of India. Now condition of Unakoti is slightly improved, but still lots of things need to be done here. The positive approach of Indian Government towards UNESCO to announce Unakoti as world heritage spot is the fact that places is under secure hands now. Central government has announced Rs 12 crore for development of this place as it can become the world�s best tourism spot. Unakoti is having features that this town can introduce north-east India to global visitors with different approach.

Our purpose to introduce this place to our viewers is we want Unakoti to become a symbolic tourism spot. Once you reach this place you will learn about the Indian mythology. The facts available here are enough to change your mind. It is almost at lost situation and we want this to be renewed and renowned to the world so that people will know the reason behind creation of beautiful amazing striking images on the hard rocks. It's not at all easy to create such huge images with so many carvings. It is the special destination having all Hindu religious values. We want the nation to gather and save the place so that we will not lose the important part of our historical places.

According to information provided by the localities at Unakoti, a sculptor named as Kallu Kumar carved all these images. However, single person can never carve these much of images. Many other stories are also there behind creation of these images and the fact is people are having valid reason behind these stories. Apart these stories the place is amazing and you are really going to enjoy the greenery and the sculptures and the rock images and valleys and many more. 

How to reach Unakoti?
Unakoti is 178 km away from the northeast city Agartala. The best part is you can fly to Agartala from various parts of India. Agartala airport is properly connected to many big cities of India. You can also plan for Silchar that is 148 km away from Unakoti. However, Silchar is not having airport, but you can get the train for this important station. The other closest railway station for Unakoti is Kumarghat that is just 20 km far from Unakoti.

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