Dhanushkodi
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use Indian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox settlement Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is south-east of Pamban and is about Template:Convert west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclone and remains uninhabited in the aftermath. Although devoid of inhabitants, Dhanushkodi remains a tourist attraction due to its historical and mythological relevance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Geography
Dhanushkodi is on the tip of Pamban island, separated from the Indian mainland by the Palk Strait.
Transport
The National Highway completed the 9.5-km-long road – 5 km from Mukuntharayar Chathiram to Dhanushkodi and 4.5 km from Dhanushkodi to Arichal Munai.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Until 2016, Dhanushkodi was reachable either on foot along the seashore or in jeeps.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2016, a road was completed from the village of Mukundarayar Chathiram.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A metre gauge railway line connected Mandapam on mainland India to Dhanushkodi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Boat mail express ran from Chennai Egmore to Dhanushkodi till 1964 when the metre-gauge branch line from Pamban to Dhanushkodi was destroyed during the 1964 Dhanushkodi cyclone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2003, Southern Railway sent a project report to Ministry of Railways for re-laying a Template:Convert railway line to Dhanushkodi from Rameswaram. The planning commission looked into the possibility of a new railway line between Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1964 cyclone
Template:Main article The area around Rameswaram is prone to high-intensity geomorphic activity. A scientific study conducted by the Geological Survey of India indicated that the southern part of Dhanushkodi facing the Gulf of Mannar sank by almost Template:Convert in 1948 and 1949, due to vertical tectonic movement of land parallel to the coastline. As a result of this, a patch of land of about Template:Convert in width, stretching Template:Convert from north to south, was submerged under the sea.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
On 17 December 1964, a tropical depression formed at 5°N 93°E in the South Andaman Sea. On 19 December, it intensified into a cyclonic storm. After 21 December 1964, it moved westwards, almost in a straight line, at the rate of Template:Convert per day. On 22 December, it crossed Vavuniya in Sri Lanka and made landfall at Dhanushkodi on the night of 22–23 December 1964. Estimated wind velocity was Template:Convert and tidal waves were Template:Convert high.<ref name="ApplMet1966">Template:Cite journal</ref>
An estimated 1,800 people died in the cyclonic storm on 22 December including 115 passengers on board the Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Railway Accident Report, Government of India, 1967</ref> The entire town was marooned and the Government of Madras declared Dhanushkodi as a ghost town, unfit for living.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Around the 40th anniversary of the deadly cyclone, the sea around Dhanushkodi receded about Template:Convert from the coastline, briefly exposing the submerged part of the town before massive tsunami waves struck the coast on 26 December 2004.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Gallery
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Mini Trucks take people to Land's End, Dhanushkodi, through deep sand and shallows, using planks put under wheels by local kids as the vehicle struggles.
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The sea from Land's End, Dhanushkodi. Sri Lanka is about 15 miles from here.
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Front view of the Kothandaramaswamy Temple at Dhanushkodi
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The Gulf of Mannar Marine Sanctuary is host to many marine animals and birds. Birds sighted here include flamingoes, curlew, gulls, terns, sandpipers, plovers, reef herons and egrets.
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A church in Dhanushkodi.
See also
- Dhanushkodi Tirtham
- Palk Strait bridge
- Kothandaramaswamy Temple
- Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park
- List of lost lands