Kanyakumari
coastal city in the state of Tamil Nadu on main land India's southern tip
Kanyakumari (lit. 'The Unmarried Girl', referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southernmost tip of the contiguous Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland India, and thus it is informally referred to as "The Land's End". Kanyakumari town is about 90 kilometres (56 mi) from Thiruvananthapuram and 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Nagercoil, the headquarters of Kanyakumari district.
Kanyakumari is a popular tourist destination and pilgrimage centre in India. Notable tourist spots include its unique sunrise and sunset points, the 41-metre (133 ft) Thiruvalluvar Statue, and Vivekananda Rock Memorial off the coast. Lying at the tip of peninsular India, the town is bordered on the west, south, and east by the Laccadive Sea. It has a coastline of 71.5 kilometres (44.4 mi) stretched along these three sides.
On the shores of the city is a temple dedicated to the goddess Kanya Kumari (the unmarried goddess), after which the town is named. Kanyakumari has been a town since the Sangam period and was referred to in old Tamil and Malayalam literature and in the accounts of Ptolemy and Marco Polo.
History
Etymology
The place derives its name from the goddess Kanya Kumari, considered to be the sister of Krishna.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kanyakumari” is coastal city in the state of Tamil Nadu on main land India's southern tip. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kanyakumari, coastal and city, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “coastal city in the state of Tamil Nadu on main land India's southern tip” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q222267. VIAF identifies the subject as 133816563. The Library of Congress control number is n89291771. Authority coordinates are 8.091, 77.542. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow Kanyakumari primary sources, Kanyakumari archive and Kanyakumari research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Kanyakumari” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.