Karur, Tamil Nādu, India

🇮🇳 Karur is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Karur is the administrative headquarters of Karur district. It is located on the banks of River Amaravathi, Kaveri and Noyyal. Karur is well known for the export of Home Textile products to USA, UK, Australia, Europe and many more countries. It is situated at about 395 km south-west of the state capital Chennai, 75 km from Tiruchirappalli, 120 km away from Coimbatore, 295 km away from Bengaluru and 300 km away from Kochi.

History Karur has been ruled at different times by the Murkala Cheras (before the sangam period) before the kodungalur Cheras, Later Cholas, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Mysore Kingdom and the British.

Karur is one of the oldest towns in Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. The history dates back to the Sangam period when it was a flourishing trade centre. Karur was built on the banks of river Amaravathi which was called Aanporunai during the Sangam days. According to Hinduism, Brahma began the work of creation here, which is referred to as the "place of the sacred cow". Karuvur, identified with Karur, was also the capital of the ancient king Musuguntha Solan.

Epigraphical, archaeological and literary evidence indicate that Karur was the capital of early Chera kings of Sangam age. The names of early Chera kings who ruled from Karur have been found in the rock inscriptions in Aaru Nattar Malai close to Karur. The Tamil epic Silapathikaram mentions that the famous Chera King Senguttuvan ruled from Karur. The archaeological excavations undertaken in Karur resulted in the excavation of mat-designed pottery, bricks, mud-toys, Roman coins, Chera coins, Pallava coins, Roman Amphorae, Rasset coated ware and rare rings. Karur might have been the centre for old jewellery-making and gem setting (with the gold imported mainly from Rome), as seen from various excavations. In 150 CE, Greek scholar Ptolemy mentioned "Korevora" (Karur) as a very famous inland trading centre in South India. It was ruled by the Cheras, Western Gangas, Cholas, the Vijayanagara Nayaks, Tipu Sultan and the British successively.

Karur municipality was constituted in 1874. It was upgraded to a I grade municipality on 24.10.69, upgraded to selection grade municipality on 24.05.1988, and upgraded to a special grade municipality on 07.04.1988. The town is very expanded now, with 48 wards, much like a city corporation.

Geography Karur is located at an average elevation of 101 metres or 331 feet. The town is located in Karur district of the South Indian state, Tamil Nadu, at a distance of 370 km (230 mi) from Chennai.

Geography: Topography Karur is located on the banks of the Amaravathi River and noyyal river. The topography is almost plain, with no major geological formation.

Geology There are no notable mineral resources available in and around the town. The soil types are black and red that are conducive for common crops in the Cauvery delta.

Utilities Electricity supply to Karur is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The city along with its suburbs forms the Karur Electricity Distribution Circle. A Chief Distribution engineer is stationed at the regional headquarters. Water supply is provided by the Karur Municipality from the Cauvery river through Chinnandan Kovil head water work and Thirumanilaiyur water pumping station. In the period 2000–2001, a total of 7 million litres of water was supplied every day for households in the town.

As per the municipal data for 2011, about 45 metric tonnes of solid waste were collected from Karur every day by door-to-door collection and subsequently the source segregation and dumping was carried out by the sanitary department of the Karur municipality. The coverage of solid waste management in the town by the municipality had an efficiency of 100% as of 2001. There is no underground drainage system in the town and the sewerage system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks, open drains and public conveniences.

The municipality maintained a total of 115 km (71 mi) of storm water drains in 2011. As of 2011, there is one government medical college hospital, one municipal dispensary, 19 private dispensaries, one ESI dispensary, one municipal Siddha centre, two Ayurvedic clinics, three private general clinics, one private skin care clinic, nine private ENT clinics and one private tuberculosis clinic that take care of the health care needs of the citizens. As of 2011, the municipality maintained a total of 2,584 street lamps: 706 sodium lamps, 151 mercury vapour lamps, 2,274 tube lights and three high mast beam lamp. The municipality operates three markets, namely the Gandhi Market, Kamaraj Market and Uzhavar Santhai that cater to the needs of the town and the rural areas around it.

Arts, society and culture The town formed a part of the traditional Chera and Chola empires and has a number of exquisitely sculpted temples. Karuvurar born in medieval Karur, is one among the nine devotees who sung the divine Music Thiruvichaippa, which is the ninth Thirumurai. He is the single largest composer among the nine authors of Thiruvichaippa. He lived during the reign of the Chola king Raja Raja Chola I. In addition to the Pasupatheeswarar Siva temple, there is a Vishnu temple at Thiruvithuvakkodu suburb of Karur, sung by famous Kulasekaraazhvaar (7th-8th century CE). The same temple is presumably mentioned in epic Silappadikaram as Adaha maadam Ranganathar whose blessings Cheran Senguttuvan sought before his north Indian expedition.

Economy The city has about 19% of its total area under agricultural land use. The major crops are rice, cotton, sugar cane and oil seeds, while the major horticultural crops are coconut, banana, betel and mango. The town is the commercial centre for trading of agricultural commodities from the nearby towns and villages. Karur, being the headquarters of the district, has registered growth in tertiary sectors, with a corresponding decrease in the primary sector. Approximately 80 per cent of the workforce is employed in tertiary sector, 17 per cent in primary sector and 4% in secondary sector activities.

All major government and private banks have branches at Karur. Private banks Karur Vysya Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank have their headquarters in Karur.

Economy: Home Textiles Karur is a major home textile centre and has five major product groups — bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens and wall hangings. The city generates around ₹10000 crores. More than 1.5 Billion US$ in foreign exchange through direct and indirect exports. Major importers are Wallmart, Sears in the US, IKEA in Sweden and other major retailers in the UK. Allied industries like ginning and spinning mills, dyeing factories and weaving employ around 300,000 people in and around Karur. Hand-loom Exports from Karur began on a modest scale with just 15 exporters in 1975. Karur is also home to an integrated textile park, ₹190 crore Karur Textile Park Limited (KTPL) a premier facility of its kind in the country for its technical and ancillary facilities.

Economy: Bus Body manufacturing Karur is a major hub for Bus Body [coach] building in South India, with a major market share of almost 70% of bus coaches being built here locally. The total business turnover from building bus coaches is estimated to be around ₹1000 crore per annum.

Economy: Mosquito nets About 60% of mosquito nets in India are manufactured in Karur. About 2000 units are engaged in making High-density polyethylene (HDPE) mono filament yarn and associated products and employ about 50,000 people.

Economy: Newsprint TNPL promoted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from the World Bank, located near Karur, is the largest producer of bagasse (sugarcane waste from Sugar mills) based paper in the world and the second-largest paper producer in Asia. The firm produces 230,000 tonnes of printing and writing paper and consumes 1 million tonnes of bagasse every year.

Economy: Others Bharat Petroleum Corporation formed a joint venture with Petronet CCK and has installed a pipeline facility from Cochin to Karur for transporting petroleum products. The petroleum products received at the BPCL-Karur terminal in Athur is supplied to more than 20 districts of Tamil Nadu through tanker trucks. Chettinad group has established a wet process cement plant at Puliyur near Karur with a capacity of 1.7 MTPA.

Transport: Road The Karur corporation maintains 59.02 km (36.67 mi) of roads. The city has 17.77 km (11.04 mi) concrete roads, 0.53 km (0.33 mi) WBM roads, 0.57 km (0.35 mi) gravel roads and 40.15 km (24.95 mi) bituminous road. A total of 9.51 km (5.91 mi) of state highways is maintained by the State Highways Department and 7 km (4.3 mi) of national highways by the national highways department.

There are 2 national highways namely the NH 44 (new numbering) National Highway 7 (India)(old numbering) (Varanasi - Kanyakumari road (now called NSC North–south corridor road NH 44) and NH 67 Nagapattinam - Gudalur road that pass via Karur. It connects the city with all other parts of the country.

Karur bus stand is a B-grade bus stand located in the centre of the town. The State Express Transport Corporation operates long-distance buses connecting the city to important cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Thirupathi, Nagercoil, etc. Apart from this, Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates city and moffusil busses from Karur to other parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbourhood states. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and Kerala State Road Transport Corporation also operates few busses to and from Karur. Karur is situated at the centre of Tamil Nadu so you can reach any part of Tamil Nadu within seven hours.

Transport: Rail Karur Junction railway station (station code - KRR) is one of the railway junctions under the Salem division of the Indian Railways network. It is one of the major railway station in Southern Railways and also an A grade junction in salem division. Almost All trains to various part of the country halts here. It has 5 active Platforms and 7 broad gauge electrified tracks, that forms the intersection between Erode-Tiruchirapalli, Erode-Madurai and Salem-Karur. section.

Transport: Air The nearest local and international airport is the Tiruchirapalli International Airport, located 78 km, Coimbatore International Airport, located 121 km & Salem Airport, located 116 km away from the city.

Education There are 72 government and private schools, 1 government arts college, 1 government medical college and number of private arts and science, architecture, engineering, polytechnic, Teacher training, nursing, catering colleges and large number of engineering colleges are in and around Karur. Karur medical college has recently been established at the cost of 115 crores.