# Sengottai

Sengottai (also known as Shencottah, Chenkotta or Shenkottai) is a town in the Tenkasi district, of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the gateway to southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Spread over an area of 2.68 km$^2$ with a population of over 26,823, the economy of the town and Sengottai Taluk revolves around the cultivation of rice, coconut, mango, clove and pepper. Sengottai is well known in Tamil Nadu as a major market of Dosa kal (commonly known as Dosa tawa). This town has lot of blacksmith shops.

## History

Sengottai was originally part of the Travancore Kingdom. In December 1851, the boundary between Tirunelveli and Travancore on the Sengottai side was clearly defined as proposed by General Cullen as early as 1846, and finally sanctioned by the Madras Government. Sengottai Municipality was constituted in 1921. In 1949, Sengottai was part of the newly formed state of Travancore-Cochin. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 came into effect from 1 November 1956, and consequently, the Tamil-speaking area of Sengottai taluk of Quilon district were transferred from Travancore-Cochin to Tirunelveli district of Madras State. Sengottai was reclassified from a Grade III municipality to a Grade II municipality as per G.O. No.85 dated 22 May 1998.

## Demographics

Religious census :
| Religion | Religion | Percent(%) | Percent(%) |
| Hindu | Hindu | 76.98% | 76.98% |
| Muslim | Muslim | 21.19% | 21.19% |
| Christian | Christian | 1.77% | 1.77% |
| Other | Other | 0.06% | 0.06% |
According to 2011 census, Sengottai had a population of 26,823 with a sex-ratio of 1,035 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 2,642 were under the age of six, constituting 1,327 males and 1,315 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 10.06% and 1.21% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 78.09%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of 7146 households. There were a total of 10,736 workers, comprising 114 cultivators, 674 main agricultural labourers, 1,923 in household industries, 7,435 other workers, 590 marginal workers, 14 marginal cultivators, 60 marginal agricultural labourers, 105 marginal workers in household industries and 411 other marginal workers.
As per the religious census of 2011, Shenkottai had 76.98% Hindus, 21.19% Muslims, 1.77% Christians and 0.06% following other religions.

## Geography and climate

vteNeighbouring cities & towns
Achankovil
Vadakarai
Ilathur
Kollam district
Sengottai
Tenkasi
Vallam
Courtallam
Ambasamudram :
Sengottai is located at 8°35′N 77°08′E﻿ / ﻿8.59°N 77.14°E﻿ / 8.59; 77.14. It has an average elevation of 181 metres (594 ft). The town is surrounded by the Western Ghats in three sides and lies on the Tirunelveli to Kollam and Madurai to Kollam highways. The Harihara and Gundar rivers flows through the city. Sengottai Gap is a major mountain pass connecting Kerala and Tamil Nadu in addition to Palakkad Gap.
Climate data for Sengottai, Tamil Nadu :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.7 (85.5) | 31.1 (88.0) | 32.7 (90.9) | 33.0 (91.4) | 33.1 (91.6) | 31.5 (88.7) | 30.6 (87.1) | 30.9 (87.6) | 31.3 (88.3) | 30.5 (86.9) | 29.2 (84.6) | 29.1 (84.4) | 31.1 (87.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21.6 (70.9) | 22.2 (72.0) | 23.6 (74.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.5 (76.1) | 24.0 (75.2) | 24.0 (75.2) | 23.9 (75.0) | 23.5 (74.3) | 22.8 (73.0) | 21.8 (71.2) | 23.5 (74.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 43 (1.7) | 37 (1.5) | 68 (2.7) | 106 (4.2) | 92 (3.6) | 150 (5.9) | 134 (5.3) | 66 (2.6) | 73 (2.9) | 226 (8.9) | 219 (8.6) | 98 (3.9) | 1,312 (51.8) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org ||||||||||||||

## Transport
### Road

The National Highway NH-744 from Madurai to Kollam passes through the town. State highway SH-39 (Sengottai-Courtallam-Ambasamudram-Tirunelveli) links the major parts of the extreme south of Tamil Nadu, including Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari. The road also offers good freight connectivity to Tamil Nadu's second largest seaport, Tuticorin and Cochin Port.

### Bus

Sengottai's long-distance bus station, located on Madurai - Kollam Road, is served by buses from the government of Tamil Nadu's TNSTC Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, KSRTC Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and private transport companies. Several private and government operated services connect to Chennai, Bangalore, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Theni, Tirupati, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Trichy, Puducherry, Kollam, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kottarakkara, Ernakulam, Ooty, Gudalur, Velankanni, Tirupur and other major cities. It has a bus stand in town and the region also has a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus depot.

### Rail

The Sengottai railway station is in the Southern Railways zone/Madurai division of Indian Railways and falls on the Virudhunagar to Kollam line. The station code is SCT.

### Air connectivity

The nearest airports are as follows:-
* Thoothukudi Airport (111 kilometres or 69 miles)
* Trivandrum International Airport (104 kilometres or 65 miles)
* Madurai International Airport (170 kilometres or 110 miles)
* Cochin International Airport (236 kilometres or 147 miles)
* Tiruchirappalli International Airport (311 kilometres or 193 miles)

## Educational institutions
### Govt And Govt Aided Schools

* SMSS Govt Boys HSS
* SRM Govt Girls HSS
* Govt High School
* Veera vanchinathan memorial middle school
* Govt Middle school Kacheri Compound
* M.M Middle School, SCT RS
* AG Primary School, Keelur SCT
* AG Primary School, Melur SCT
* Ariyanallur Govt Primary School
* Sri Jayadra Higher Secondary School
* Thiruveni Vidhyalaya School.
* jothi kurinchi vidhyalaya School.
* The gurugull primary school.
* Nivetha primary School.
* Sri primary School,
* Ssv primary School.
* Muslim High School Vadakarai

## Banks

* State Bank of India
* Canara Bank
* Indian Overseas Bank
* HDFC Bank
* Federal Bank
* TMB Bank
* Tirunelveli Co-operative Bank
* Pandiyan Grama bank Sengottai RS
FINANCE COMPANY
* Muthoot finance
* Mini muthoot finance
* Muthoot Fincorp finance Ltd
* IIFL finance
* Muthalagu Finance
* Kadanthottu finance
* Sri Ram Finance
* IDFC first Bharath Finance Ltd
* kosamattam finance
* Sapthagri Finance Ltd
LIC
* Life insurance corporation of India.
SHOW ROOM.
* Sathiya Home appliance
* Darling home appliance.
* selva Ganapathi home appliance.
* ST pandiyan home appliance
* Indian Mobiles
* Medina home appliance.

## Entertainments & Tourism

Parks
Sengottai town has three parks. Muthusamy park near municipal office, Municipality park near pump house and another one is Musthafa memorial park located near Taluk Office shencottah.
Water falls
* Courtallam water falls 5 km from shencottah
* Old Courtallam water falls 11 kms from shencottah
* Five Falls water falls 7 km from shencottah
Dams
* Gundaru Dam (6 km From Shencottah)
* Adavinainar Dam also known as mekkarai dam (12 km from shencottah)
* Sri mulapperi dam - Puliyarai (12 km From Shencottah)
* Thenmala Dam - Thenmala (28 km From Shencottah)
Temples
* Thirumalai kovil 9 km from Shencottah
* Kasi Viswanathar Temple, Tenkasi 8 km from Shencottah
* Aryankavu Sastha Temple 15.7 km from Shencottah
* Achankovil Sastha Temple 27.3 km from Shencottah
* Kulathupuzha - 40 km from Shencottah
* Kottavasal Karuppasamy - 9 km tamilnadu border.
* Puliyarai thatchina moorthy temple.
* Ilanji Kumarar Kovil
* Saiva pillyar kovil
* sekadi Vinyagar temple
* kulasekara nathar, Kulalvaimozhi amman temple.
* nithyakalayani amman temple.
* vandimalachi amman temple.
* perumal kovil Temple.
* Navanitha krisannan temple.
* Sarguru Malayalasamy temple.
* Sarguru Arumugasamy temple.
* Suppan Setti Palam Sudalai Madasamy temple.
Eco Tourism
* Five Falls eco tourism - Courtallam (6 km From Shencottah)
* Thenmala ecotourism (28 km From Shencottah)

## Villages

* Panpoli
* Vallam
* Piranoor
* Periyapillaivalasai
* Moondru vaaikkaal
* Irattai kulam
* kathirvan colony
* Shengottai Melur,
* kannupuli mettu
* kaduvetti,
* Visawanatha puram
* Subramaniyapuram

## Notable People

* Nigar Shaji - ISRO Scientist and Project director of Aditya-L1
* Vanchinathan- Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary.