Courtallam (Kutralam)

Overview

Courtallam, also spelt Kutralam, is a foothill town of the Western Ghats in Tenkasi district, Tamil Nadu, about 5 km from Tenkasi at an elevation of roughly 160 m. People come to bathe under falls fed by the Chittar river, and the Tenkasi district website gives mid-June to September as its first-named season, with a second window from October to January. A tourism-department event listing calls it the Spa of South India, a reference to water said to run over medicinal plants.

Several falls lie within a few kilometres of each other. Main Falls is in the town itself. Tiger Falls is about 1 km from it, Five Falls about 4 km, and Old Falls roughly 8 km, according to the district website. Chitraruvi is a smaller fall that the same page describes as suitable for children. Other falls, among them Honey Falls and Shenbagadevi Falls, are closed to the general public, and the authorities also shut falls when heavy rain hits the ghats, so ask locally which are open on the day. Separate queues for men and women are noted at Main Falls in the peak season.

The Kutralanathar Temple stands in the town. Its presiding deity is Shiva, with his consort Kuzhalvaimozhi Amman, and the sanctum follows a conch-shaped plan known as Sangakkovil. A separate hall, the Chitra Sabha, is counted as one of the five halls in which Nataraja is said to have danced, and it carries hundreds of murals. Tamil Shaiva hymn-poets sang of the shrine, which gives it the status of a Paadal Petra Sthalam. The district's temple page lists ten-day festivals in Chithirai, Aippasi and Margazhi, and a nine-day Navarathri.

Weather shapes any plan here. Daily highs average about 30 C through the year and rainfall comes to roughly 52 inches, with the falls running strongest in the south-west monsoon months. In June and July the tourism department lists a Saral festival with cultural programmes, and it draws large crowds. Tenkasi Junction, about 5 km away, is the nearest station, and the closest airports are Thoothukudi and Thiruvananthapuram, both roughly 90 km or more by road. Two days leave time for a morning at the falls, an unhurried visit to the temple and a trip into Tenkasi, where the Kasi Viswanathar Temple was built in the 15th century.

Known for

The town's central fall, with bathing queues for men and women