Sengottai

Sengottai (also known as Shencottah, Chenkotta or Shenkottai) is a town in the Tenkasi district, of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the gateway to southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Spread over an area of 2.68 km2 with a population of over 26,823, the economy of the town and Sengottai Taluk revolves around the cultivation of rice,coconut,Mango,clove and pepper. Sengottai is well known in Tamil Nadu as a major market of Dosa kal (commonly known as Dosa tawa). This town has lot of Black smith shops.

History
Sengottai was originally part of the Travancore Kingdom. In December 1851, the boundary between Tirunelveli and Travancore on the Sengottai side was clearly defined as proposed by General Cullen as early as 1846, and finally sanctioned by the Madras Government. Sengottai Municipality was constituted in 1921. In 1949, Sengottai was part of the newly formed state of Travancore-Cochin. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 came into effect from 1 November 1956, and consequently, the Tamil-speaking area of Sengottai taluk of Quilon district were transferred from Travancore-Cochin to Tirunelveli district of Madras State. Sengottai was reclassified from a Grade III municipality to a Grade II municipality as per G.O. No.85 dated 22 May 1998.

Demographics
According to 2011 census, Sengottai had a population of 26,823 with a sex-ratio of 1,035 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 2,642 were under the age of six, constituting 1,327 males and 1,315 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 10.06% and 1.21% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 78.09%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of 7146 households. There were a total of 10,736 workers, comprising 114 cultivators, 674 main agricultural labourers, 1,923 in household industries, 7,435 other workers, 590 marginal workers, 14 marginal cultivators, 60 marginal agricultural labourers, 105 marginal workers in household industries and 411 other marginal workers.

As per the religious census of 2011, Shenkottai had 76.98% Hindus, 21.19% Muslims, 1.77% Christians and 0.06% following other religions.

Geography and climate


Sengottai is located at 8.59°N, 77.14°W. It has an average elevation of 181 metres (594 ft). The town is surrounded by the Western Ghats in three sides and lies on the Tirunelveli to Kollam and Madurai to Kollam highways. The Harihara and Gundar rivers flows through the city.

Road
The National Highway NH-744 from Madurai to Kollam passes through the town. State highway SH-39 (Sengottai-Courtallam-Ambasamudram-Tirunelveli) links the major parts of the extreme south of Tamil Nadu, including Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari. The road also offers good freight connectivity to Tamil Nadu's second largest seaport, Tuticorin and Cochin Port.

Bus
Sengottai's long-distance bus station, located on Madurai - Kollam Road, is served by buses from the government of Tamil Nadu's TNSTC Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, KSRTC Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and private transport companies. Several private and government operated services connect to Chennai, Bangalore, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Theni, Tirupati, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Trichy, Puducherry, Kollam, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kottarakkara, Ernakulam, Ooty, Gudalur, Velankanni, Tirupur and other major cities. It has a bus stand in town and the region also has a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus depot.

Rail
The Sengottai railway station is in the Southern Railways zone/Madurai division of Indian Railways and falls on the Virudhunagar to Kollam line. The station code is SCT.

Air connectivity
The nearest airports are as follows:-
 * 1) Thoothukudi Airport (111 km)
 * 2) Trivandrum International Airport (104 km)
 * 3) Madurai International Airport (170 km)
 * 4) Cochin International Airport (236 km)
 * 5) Tiruchirappalli International Airport (311 km)

Govt And Govt Aided Schools

 * SMSS Govt Boys HSS
 * SRM Govt Girls HSS
 * Govt High School
 * Veera vanchinathan memorial middle school
 * Govt Middle school Kacheri Compound
 * M.M Middle School, SCT RS
 * AG Primary School, Keelur SCT
 * AG Primary School, Melur SCT
 * Ariyanallur Govt Primary School

Banks

 * State Bank of India
 * Canara Bank
 * Indian Overseas Bank
 * HDFC Bank
 * Federal Bank
 * TMB Bank
 * Tirunelveli Co-operative Bank
 * Pandiyan Grama bank Sengottai RS

Entertainments
Parks

Sengottai town has two parks. Muthusamy park near municipal office and another one is Musthafa memorial park located near Taluk Office shencottah.

Dams
 * Gundaru Dam (6 km From Shencottah)
 * Adavinainar Dam also known as mekkarai dam (12 km from shencottah)
 * Sri mulapperi dam - Puliyarai (12 km From Shencottah)
 * Thenmala Dam - Thenmala (28 km From Shencottah)

Temples
 * Thirumalai kovil 9 km from Shencottah
 * Kasi Viswanathar Temple, Tenkasi 8 km from Shencottah
 * Aryankavu Sastha Temple 15.7 km from Shencottah
 * Achankovil Sastha Temple 27.3 km from Shencottah
 * Ilanji Kumarar Kovil

Eco Tourism
 * Five Falls eco tourism - Courtallam (6 km From Shencottah)
 * Thenmala ecotourism (28 km From Shencottah)

Villages

 * Vallam
 * Piranoor
 * Periyapillaivalasai
 * Moondru vaaikkaal
 * Irattai kulam
 * Subramaniyapuram

Notable People

 * Nigar Shaji - ISRO Scientist and Project director of Aditya-L1
 * Vanchinathan- Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary.