The Princess Of Hills In India

Kodaikanal is a city in the hills of the Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as

the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long history

as a retreat and popular tourist destination.

Kodaikanal was established in 1845 as a refuge from the high temperatures and tropical diseases of the plains.

Much of the local economy is based on the hospitality industry serving tourism. As of 2011, the city had a population of 36,501.

The earliest residents of Kodaikanal were the Palaiyar tribal people. The earliest specific references to Kodaikanal

and the Palani Hills are found in Tamil Sangam literature of the early Common era. Modern Kodaikanal was

established by American Christian missionaries and British bureaucrats in 1845,

In the 20th century a few elite

Indians came to realise the value of this enchanting hill station and started relocating here.

Tourism has been impacted by industrial pollution issues including the closure of a mercury factory

owned by Unilever's Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever after evidence of widespread mercury pollution.

To date no proper clean-up operation has been mounted. The issue gained prominence in early 2015 when

"Kodaikanal Won't", a rap music about mercury pollution in the region went viral globally getting more

than a million views in 4 days.

The town of Kodaikanal sits on a plateau above the southern escarpment of the upper Palani

Hills at 2,133 metres (6,998 ft), between the Parappar and Gundar Valleys. These hills form

the eastward spur of the Western Ghats on the Western side of South India. It has an irregular

basin as its heartland, the centre of which is now Kodaikanal Lake a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi)

circumference manmade lake. A few kilometers away from Kodaikanal a small village named Vattakanal

is located in the Dindigul District on the southern tip of the upper Palani hills in the state of

Tamil Nadu, along the eastern coast of the Western Ghats. Vattakanal is better known as 'Vatta'

by most or 'Little Israel' by the villagers that observe a large number of Israeli

tourists who flock there from October onwards.