Devakottai

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Devakottai
Devakottai
State - District(s)	Tamil Nadu - Sivaganga
Coordinates	9.95° N 78.82° E
Area - Elevation	- 52 m
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Population (2001) - Density	40,846 -

Devakottai is a city and a municipality in Sivaganga district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Devakottai is one of the most popular and biggest cities of the nagarathar community.

[edit] History

Devakottai is a hot bed of literature, shaivite temple buildings, publishing and politics. It was active during the Indian independence movement. The municipal court in Devakottai was burned to ground during the quit india movement and the town suffered punitive fines and some citizens served prison terms.

in the first half of the 20th century the temples of Rameswaram, Kalahasti, Kalayar koil, Thiruvengadu, Thiruvadanai, Thirupunavasal, Thiruvanmiyur, thiruvidaimaruthur, thiruchuli were all converted to stone structures in whole or part by pious nagarathar families of Devakottai .

Mahatma Gandhi visited Devakottai in 1934 to condole the death of Poochi, a Dalit, in the movement against untouchability, and held discussions with Dalits and Nattars, who were opposed to Dalits wearing shirts.

Until 1947, Devakottai was admistered by a zamindar.Two of their palaces remain, 'Lakshmi Vilas' on vattanam road and 'Swarnavalli Vilas' on kuthirai pathai road. Today Devakottai is a favoured site for movie shootings mainly for its palatial bunglows.

Muslim population comes next to Nagarathar.Three mosques are located in Devakottai.

[edit] Demographics

A Zamindar palace in Devakottai

As of 2001 India census^GRIndia, Devakottai had a population of 40,846. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Devakottai has an average literacy rate of 80%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85% and, female literacy is 75%. In Devakottai, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.