Pudukkottai

[1] It has been ruled, at different times, by the Mutharaiyar dynasty, Cholas, Early Pandyas, Thondaimans.

Pudukkottai is a part of the Pudukkottai constituency and elects its member to the legislative assembly every five years; and is a part of the Lok Sabha constituency comprising Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tiruchirappalli and Karur.

It is one of the few towns and cities in List of AMRUT Smart cities in Tamil Nadu selected for AMRUT Schemes[2] from central government and the developmental activities are taken care by government of Tamil Nadu.

In later centuries, the Thondaiman rulers, while nominally feudatories of the Ramnad state, often pursued an independent foreign policy, a trend common in all parts of India at that time.

This was arguably unavoidable since the Thondaimans were much menaced in that period by a resurgent Mysore, ruled by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

Pudukkottai became a princely state of British India under the political authority of Madras Presidency.

The state was reorganized twice in the succeeding decade, taking its present form in 1956; it was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1968.

The city has a semi-arid climate with high temperatures throughout the year and relatively low rainfall.

Like the rest of the state, April to June are the hottest months, and December to January are the coldest.

The Southwest monsoon, starting in June and lasting up to August, brings scanty rainfall.

A bulk of the rainfall is received during the North-East monsoon in the months of October, November and December.

As per the religious census of 2011, Hinduism is the majority religion in Pudukkottai city with 79.40% followers.

[11] Out of the total area, 80.85% of the land is marked developed and 19.15% of the city remains undeveloped.

The density ranges from 200 to 300 persons per hectare in the central part of the town and 16 – 55 persons per hectare (PPH) in the peripheral areas with low-density Hindus form the majority of the urban population, followed by Muslims and Christians.

[22] The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT).

[25] Pudukkottai is a part of the Pudukottai and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years.

[30] From the 2009 elections, the town is part of Tiruchirappalli constituency and the current Member of Parliament is Su.

[44] Law and order in the city are maintained by the Pudukottai subdivision of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a Deputy Superintendent.

TNSTC Kumbakonam division operates frequent intercity and intrastate buses to cities like Kumbakonam, Tiruchchirapalli, Thanjavur, Madurai, Coimbatore, Aranthangi, Karaikudi, Devakottai, Sivagangai, Pattukkottai, Ponnamaravathi, Rameswaram, Kodaikanal, Dindigul, Theni, Tiruppur, Karur, Palani, Salem, Erode, Mettupalayam, Nagapattinam, Velankanni, Villupuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Nagercoil, Tiruchendur and Thoothukudi.

The town has passenger train services to Trichy, Manamadurai, Rameswaram and Karaikudi.

Pudukulam (this is a large man-made tank supporting the water needs of Pudukottai town) Pudukottai palace – A sand casket with a mantra written by saint Sadasiva Brahmendra of the 18th century is preserved.

The SIPCOT Industrial Complex is located on Tiruchirappalli – Rameswaram National Highways (NH 210).

Other than Paddy, Groundnut is the major crop in this district which is mainly cultivated under rainfed conditions.

Millet, pulse, cotton, sugarcane, gingelly are the other crops cultivated in this district.

In the period 2000–2001, a total of 7 million litres of water was supplied every day for households in the town.

[54] As per the municipal data for 2011, about 30-35 metric tonnes of solid waste were collected from Pudukkottai every day by door-to-door collection and subsequently the source segregation and dumping was carried out by the sanitary department of the Pudukkottai municipality.

This club trains young talented athletes who are doing good in District, State, Country, and even World level sports.

Lakshmanan received gold medals for both 5,000 and 10,000 meters running in the Asian Athletic championship, 2017.

He is the first person from India to win two gold medals in the Asian Athletic championship.

He also took part in world championships in London, 2017, and finished the 5,000 meters heat with a personal best of 13:35.69 minutes.

1913 map of the Madras Presidency showing location of Pudukkottai State
Coin of the Roman emperor Augustus from the Pudukottai hoard ( British Museum ).
Thondaiman King in his Durbar, Pudukkottai, 1858.
Revenue stamp issued by the princely state of Pudukkottai with a portrait of Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman
A paddy field in Regunathapuram Village of Pudukkottai district