Nazareth, Tamil Nadu

Nazareth, Tamil Nadu
—  town  —
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District(s)	Tuticorin
Nearest city	Tirunelveli
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Codes • Pincode • 628617

Nazareth is a town in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, India.

Geography

Nazareth is a town and too small to be marked on the map of India [but you can find it in Google Earth]. Situated near the southern tip of the country, it was named as Nazareth by the early missionaries. There is a 100+ year old church in the center of the town. It has a very tall tower, the tower has a flat top. The story goes that if the tower had been built any taller the tower would have been unstable. This part of Southern Tamil Nadu has a very high density of gothic styled churches- living relics from a bygone missionary era.

Nazareth is in Thoothukudi district. It is about 50 km from Thoothukudi; and about 36 km from the city of Tirunelveli. It has a railway station, as well as a bus station. There are several villages surrounding Nazareth and all of them are considered part of Nazareth; the postal address for those villages needs to be addressed as Nazareth in order for those villages to receive incoming mail.

There are several daily trains to Chennai through Tirunelveli . Nazareth is well connected to major cities in Tamil Nadu as well as to several villages in the area. Bus services abound to various places including direct nightly services to the State capital Chennai, the commercial city of Coimbatore, Bangalore, and a host of other places.

This place has separate higher secondary schools for boys and girls, an arts and science college, an engineering college, a polytechnic and an industrial training institution called Art Industrial School.

Climate

The climate of Nazareth is usually dry. A short rainy season exists but the weather is for the most part hot and humid.

History

Nazareth is a Christian town. The town was created by missionaries from Europe. 90% of its population are Christians. Town is surrounded by many Hindu communities. The main temple is for lord vinayaka founded ~40 years back.

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census^[1] Nazereth had a population of 16,943. Males constitute 48% of the population and females 52%. Nazereth has an average literacy rate of 84%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 83%. In Nazereth, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Education

The Margoschis Higher Secondary School for boys and the St. John's Higher Secondary School for girls are two famous schools with a prestigious past (St. John's GHSS is the first school for girls in South India). Mr. John Ponratnam was the first headmaster. They have students and alumni from all over the general area. Margoschis College is in the neighbouring village of Pilliamanai, and is famous for its education in the area as well. It also has several small schools including a higher level educationally challenging English medium Matriculation School along with several Tamil medium schools for poor and disabled. There are also 3 more private schools: Seventh day Adventist, Solomon Matriculation School and Nightingale Nursery and Primary School, which was started in 2010. There are many Tamil medium schools like Kaspa, St. Johns model School, Dr. Maduram School, etc. Margoschis Higher Secondary School is famous for its studies, discipline, sports like Football, Hockey,Kabadi etc. Both Margoschis HSS and St. John's GHSS produced many district rank holders and some state rank holders.

A College of Polytechnic and Engineering has also recently been set up in Margoschis Nagar in Nazareth. Jayaraj Annapackiam CSI Polytechnic and Engineering colleges are one of the best Institutes in Tamilnadu. The Art Industrial School in Nazareth is a relatively well known technical training school in that part of Thoothukudi district. In 2006 B.Sc Nursing college also start in Nazareth. It also has one teacher training school and community college.

Margoschis Higher Secondary School

Margoschis Higher Secondary School is the Jesuits' gift to Nazareth and the surrounding poor people. They provide quality education in a disciplined atmosphere. Many orphanage students also study at the school, which now has an enrollment of nearly 1600. Most students who have graduated from the school are working abroad now. The school provides an excellent education and extra curricular activities as well. Its football team is famous statewide.

One of the “good things” that have come out of Nazareth is the Margoschis Hr. Sec. School, which has been catering to the educational needs of this backward region for nearly two centuries. Every year this school sends out to the four corners of the world hundreds of students who later on occupy a high position in all spheres of activities all over the world. Throughout its existence, this http://www.margoschishssnazareth.com/ institution has prepared its students for academic excellence and vests in them a sense of discipline and decorum which stands them in good stead in the future. On the whole it aims at a holistic development of its student as a useful citizen and an asset to the society wherever he lives. Our school is a Tamil Nadu Government-aided minority educational institution owned and managed by the CSI Thoothukudi-Nazareth Diocese

ROLL OF HONOUR  -  HIGHER SECONDARY (CURRENT +2 PATTERN)

Sl. No.	Year	Name of the Student	Marks Scored	Position
1	1980	Sam Hamilton	896/1200	I
		Balasingh Ponraj	827	II
2	1981	John Devadhason	1014	I
		Babu Immanuel	939	II
3	1982	A. Selvakumar Kingslin	1062	I
		R. DevaKumar	979	II
4	1983	Raguveer	1072	I
		Godfred Ponraj	943	II
5	1984	Arpurtharaj Jeyaseelan	1125	I
		Chinnadurai	992	II
6	1985	H. Selvakumar	1041	I
		Ponsingh Penniamean	942	II
7	1986	Samuel Jebakumar	1053	I
		J. Jaison Samuel	990	II
8	1987	Reginald George Alex	1092	I
		S. Subramani	1015	II
9	1988	A. Bernett Devadoss	1090	I
		A. Joseph Sunderraj	1008	II
10	1989	N. Godwin Raja Ebenezar	1045	I
		P. Gopinath	1006	II
11	1990	A. Manikandan	1064	I
		V. Venkatachalapathy	1048	II
12	1991	S. Rajagopal	1081	I
		S. Jeganathan	1066	II
13	1992	A. Shanmugam	1086	I
		A. Meriton Stanley	1074	II
14	1993	M.D. Mohan Gift	1064	I
		J. Richard Umbrand	1056	II
15	1994	J. Jellsingh	1122	I
		G. Ambrose Ugine Thinesh	1049	II
16	1995	A. Anil Lionel	1113	I
		P. Balamurgan	1072	II
17	1996	R. Sandeep	1043	I
		D. Vinothkumar	1035	II
18	1997	M. Anto Stanley Gavashar, M. Ramasubramanian, S. Iyyamperumal	1069	I
		I. Jeyasekaran	1067	II
19	1998	M. Michael Arputharaj	1111	I
		G. Aathiprakash	1088	II
20	1999	R. Ronald Sathiyaraj Thomas	1113	I
		S. Ramasamy	1108	II
21	2000	S. Joehinth Danishkumar	1156	I
		D. Shalom Praveen Thangadurai	1103	II
22	2001	P. Jothinath	1117	I
		U. Sankaralingam	1111	II
23	2002	T. Jebaraj Jegan	1134	I
		D. Jebastine Charles	1121	II
24	2003	R. Ganesan	1111	I
		R. Harry John Asir	1109	II
25	2004	S. Ganapathy Ramasubramanian	1129	I
		M. Santhosh Joel	1126	II
26	2005	S.A. Dinesh Kumar	1154	I
		A. Ponsamuel Mervin	1142	II
27	2006	I. Justin Selwyn	1074	I
		V.A. Sathish	1071	II
28	2007	E. Solomon Jeyapandian	1074	I
		M. Joshua Soulwin	1071	II
29	2008	D. Paulaiah	1109	I
		K.P.M. Alagurajan	1095	II
30	2009	S. Karthick	1125	I
		R. James Nesarathinam	1071	II

ROLL OF HONOUR - S.S.L.C.

Sl. No.	Year	Name of the Student	Marks Scored	Position
1	1975	G. Robello Samuel	500/600	I
				II
2	1976	K.J. Abraham Thomas	492/600	I
				II
3	1977	Arumugapandian	519/600	I
				II
4	1978	Christopher Jeyaraj	407/500	I
				II
5	1978	R. Vinayagamoorthy	362	I
				II
6	1979	John Devadason	424	I
				II
7	1980	A. Devasahayam	408	I
				II
8	1981	K. George Rajan	447	I
				II
9	1982	P. Amarar Venkatachalam	457	I
				II
10	1983	Alexis Samuel	449	I
				II
11	1984	A. Samuel Jebakumar	455	I
				II
12	1985	G. John Nirmal	448	I
				II
13	1986	A. Bennett Devadoss	454	I
				II
14	1987	Prasad Thangadurai	445	I
				II
15	1988	R. Stephen Jebakumar	437	I
				II
16	1989	S. Jeganathan	449	I
				II
17	1990	B. Daniel Manoranjan	461	I
		G. Augustine Prabhu & A. Meriton Stanley	448	II
18	1991	J. Jegan Babu	459	I
		G. Gauthaman	451	II
19	1992	R.T. Shriram Ganesh	458	I
		G. Ambrose Ugine Dinesh	452	II
20	1993	A. Anil Lionel & A. Pervath Prasad	468	I
		P. Patturajan	462	II
21	1994	R. Sandeep	454	I
		S. Allwin Paul	451	II
22	1995	M. Abbas	461	I
		Ramasubramanian	454	II
23	1996	D. Khanna	474	I
		M.E. Michael Arpurharaj	466	II
24	1997	R. Stanley Joseph	471	I
		G. Sudhakar	468	II
25	1998	S. Joehinth Danishkumar	487	I
		T. Isaac	484	II
26	1999	U. Sankaralingam	470	I
		P. Jothinath	463	II
27	2000	S. Rajkumar	476	I
		S. Narayanan	473	II
28	2001	R. Ganesan	480	I
		K. Jebastin Jenifer Yesudian	478	II
29	2002	M. Santhosh Joel	481	I
		J. Silas Pope Rajiv	470	II
30	2003	A. Ponsamuel Mervin	488	I
		S.A. Dineshkumar	482	II
31	2004	P. Dinesh	484	I
		J. Justin Selwyn	480	II
32	2005	P. Balan Prabhu	477	I
		P. Alex	469	II
33	2006	D. Paulaiah	471	I
		A. Abraham Gnanasingh & E. David Merwin Prabahar	460	II
34	2007	S. Oswin Eric & S. Karthick	460	I
		A. Alfy Nesakumar	452	II
35	2008	J. Lionel Christopher	491	I
		A. Simson Rajapaul	480	II
36	2009	J. Robinsonraja & V. Johnson	471	I

St John's Girls Higher Secondary School

The first ever girl's school built by Missionaries in south India is located in Nazareth. It was built more than 100 years ago and is one of the most famous schools in and around Nazareth. St. John's produces many talented students every year.

Nazareth Margoschis College at Pillaiyanmanai

Margoschis Higher secondery School and Nazareth Margoschis College at Pillaiyannmanai [NMCP] are named after Rev. Canon Arthur Margoschis (1876–1908).

The educational facilities in Nazareth have a large catchment area from the surrounding villages:

• Pragasapuram (1 km)
• Mukuperi (1.5 km)
• Kulathukudi (4 km)
• Oyangudi (2.5 km)
• Vellamadam (3 km)
• Chinnamadankudieruppu (11 km) website http://chinnamadankudieruppuvillage.page.tl/

• AGAPPAIKULAM st.Andrews Church (2 km) Every year 14 October to 19 October Church Festival. Centenary celebrated year of 2006. Church Choir Released by one Traditional Devotional Album.(Vaa engal swamy) Christmas Album 2011 (Pullanyil Piranthaar AVD) an album by Johnson.

• (Pattakarai) (4 km)
• Vellarikaiurani (1 km)

Vellamadam is surrounded by 3 lakes which are fed by the Tamirabarani and Manimutharu rivers. Agriculture is the main employment in this village.

• Pillaiyanmanai (1 km)

Christmas at Nazareth

One thing the Nazarethians always cherish is celebrating Christmas at Nazareth. Most of the natives have migrated to various parts of the country and the world. During Christmas vacation they take a break from their routine life, return to their birth place to meet friends and relatives.

People decorate the streets with lights. The coronation of the Christmas celebration is the fireworks display at the huge church grounds. The Christmas Carols in the church is also one of the important events.

Services to the needy

In 2007, Calvary Chapel Trust, headquartered in Bangalore, purchased a facility from the Catholic Church and turned it into a boy's orphanage called "Heaven's Gate." This residential facility is home to HIV+ boys with hopes to increase the number there in the future. In 2008, Boise Idaho based Genesis World Mission, Inc. brought a medical team to perform a 3 day medical outreach to the community. Over 1100 people were served with primary medical care with the help of local Indian medical providers and volunteers.

In Thirumaraiyoor near Nazareth, there is an Old Age Home, a School for the deaf and dumb and a home for the orphan and poor children.

There is also a private home for the children of life term prisoners by Mr. Stephen.

References

1. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 

External links

• Google map
• Nazareth, Map of India
• Sermon by Rev. Manohar at Pyungkang Cheil Presbyterian Church, Seoul, South Korea
• Blisslogix Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd, Nazareth

Coordinates: 8°34′N 77°59′E / 8.567°N 77.983°E / 8.567; 77.983