Dindigul (Tamil ISO: , ) is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Dindigul district. Dindigul City is Located in the Southwest Region of Tamil Nadu. Dindigul is an ancient settlement region and has been ruled at different times by the Cheras, Early Pandyas, Cholas, Pallava dynasty, later Pandyas, Madurai Sultanate, Vijayanagara Empire, Madurai Nayak Dynasty, Kingdom of Mysore, Chanda Sahib, and British. It is the 11th-largest Urban Agglomeration in the state. Dindigul has a number of historical monuments, the Dindigul Fort being the most prominent. Dindigul is located southwest from the state capital, Chennai, away from Tiruchirappalli, away from Madurai and away from Coimbatore. The city is known for its Famous Locks and its Authentic Biriyani.
The Dindigul Municipality has been upgraded as City Corporation with effect from 19 February 2014. Hon'ble Chief Minister Jayalalithaa handed over the government order to Municipal Chairman V. Marudharaj.
Industries in Dindigul include safety lock makers, leather tanneries, textile spinning, administrative services, agricultural trading, banking, agricultural machinery and educational services. Dindigul is upgraded to a municipal corporation. The city covers an area of and had a population of 207,327 in 2011. Dindigul is well-connected by road and rail with the rest of Tamil Nadu. it had a population of 292,512 according to Tamil Nadu's 2011 census. Dindigul has 200,000 hectares of cultivation land, and agriculture continues to be the main occupation of its inhabitants. Located between the Palani and Sirumalai Hills, Dindigul has a reserved forest area of 85 hectares.
It is one of the few towns and cities in List of AMRUT Smart cities in Tamil Nadu selected for AMRUT Schemes from central government and the developmental activities are taken care by government of Tamil Nadu.
Etymology
The Śaiva poet Tirunavukkarasar| visited the city and noted it in his Tevaram. Dindigul was mentioned in poet Palupatai sokkanathar's book . This was later stated by U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855-1942) in his foreword to the above book. He also mentions that Dindigul was originally called Thindicharam.
History
The history of Dindigul is centered around the Dindigul Fort, located on a small rock hill near the city. Dindigul was on the border of the moovendars of ancient Tamilakam, the Pandyas, Cheras and Cholas. The Chera king Dharmabalan is believed to have built the temples of Abirami and Padmagirinathar. The ancient Tamil book, Silappathikaram records the city as the northern border of the Pandya kingdom whose capital was Madurai. Historian Strabo mentions about the city in his 20 A.D. work and Pliny, the great historian of the time described the Pandya king in his works. In 1748, Venkatappa was made governor of the region in place of Venkatarayar, who also failed. In 1755, the Maharaja sent Haider Ali to Dindigul to handle the situation. Later Haider Ali became the Maharaja of Mysore, and in 1777, he appointed Purshana Mirsaheb as governor of Dindigul. Mirsaheb strengthened the fort and the garrison around it. His wife Ameer-um-Nisha-Begam died during her delivery and her tomb is now called Begambur. In 1783 the British Army, led by Captain Long, occupied Dindigul. In 1784, after an agreement between Mysore and the British army, Dindigul was restored by Mysore province. In 1788, Tipu Sultan, the Son of Haider Ali, was crowned as King of Dindigul. In 1790, James Stewart of the British army conquered Dindigul again during third war of Mysore. In a pact made on 1792, Tipu ceded Dindigul to the British. In 1798, the British army strengthened the hill fort with cannons and built sentinel rooms in every corner. The British army, under Statten stayed at Dindigul fort from 1798 to 1859. After that Madurai was made headquarters of the British army and Dindigul was attached to it as a taluk. Dindigul was under the rule of the British until India gained Independence on 15 August 1947. and has an average elevation of . The town is in Dindigul district, from Chennai and south-west of Tiruchirappalli. Dindigul is located in the foothills of Sirumalai hills. The topography is plain and hilly, with the variation resulting in climatic changes. There are no notable mineral resources available in and around the town. The soil type is thin veneer soil, which is mostly black clayey soil with red soil. Summer season is from March to July, while December to January marks the winter season. The temperature ranges from a maximum of to a minimum of during summer and a maximum of to a minimum of during winter. Dindigul receives rainfall with an average of annually. The Southwest monsoon, with an onset in June and lasting up to August, brings scanty rainfall. Bulk of the rainfall is received during the North East monsoon in the months of October, November and December.
The climatic conditions of Dindigul are favourable for horticulture and cultivation of different flower varieties. Apart from flowers, Dindigul is famous for producing fruits like orange, pineapple, guava, vegetables like onions, and other non-food crops like tobacco, eucalyptus, and coffee.