Idinthakarai description

Idinthakarai (Broken Shore) also known as Vidinthakarai (Shore of dawn) is a coastal village in Radhapuram Taluk in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu State. The eastern high rocky shore often breaks and falls on the sea shore. That is the reason why this village is called in this name. It is located about 12 km south of Radhapuram, and 27 km north east of Kanyakumari. It is about 650 km away from the state capital Chennai and 75 km from district capital Tirunelveli. The population of Idinthakarai is around 12000 to 13000. This village is under Vijayapathi Panchayat. The nearest railway station to Idinthakarai is Aralvaimozhy(27 km). However Vallioor Railway station (29 km) is used mainly because of its connectivity to Idinthakarai. Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (142 km) and Thoothukudi Domestic Airport (95 km) are the nearest airport. The nearest sea port is V.O.C port at Thoothukudi. Limited direct bus services to Idinthakarai are available from Tirunelveli, Vallioor, Nagerkovil, Kanyakumari, Tiruchendur and Thoothukudi. Otherwise one can reach koodankulam and private vehicles are available from there to reach Idinthakarai. The distance is just 3 km.

Most of the villagers are engaged in fishing and fish related industry. Some women are engaged in Beedi rolling. The village has 2 primary schools for each gender and 1 higher secondary school. Roman Catholics are majority and Hindus & Different group of Christian churches are minority. Idinthakarai comes under Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Tuticorin.

Idinthakarai has tropical climate throughout the year since the village is very close to the sea, except the months of April, May and June. The temperature may reach beyond 37 deg during these months. It comes under rain shadow area of Tirunelveli district. Idinthakarai is 3 feet above the sea level. Latitude is 8.1833 and longitude is 77.7500.

Idinthakarai first came into lime light on 27th October 1967, when the Roman Catholic fishermen revolted against the church which taxed them and asked a bulk share of their earnings. Upset with the church these poor fishermen converted into Hinduism at the end of their 8 years long fight. This courageous village is now fighting against Koodankulam Atomic Power station, which has set up 2x1000MW Nuclear Reactors on the west shore of Idinthakarai for the past 25 years in a peaceful manner. At the same time the government has filed more than 8000 sedition charges against these villagers, which is a world record.