Karur District is one of the 38 districts (a district located centrally along the Kaveri and Amaravathi rivers) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur, which is also the district headquarters. The district has a population of 1,064,493 with a sex-ratio of 1,015 females for every 1,000 males, according to 2011 census.
History
Karur is one of the oldest towns of Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. Its history dates back over 2000 years, and was a flourishing trading center from the early Sangam days. In the ancient and medieval times, the area was ruled by Cheras, Gangas and Cholas. The Pasupatheesvarar Temple in Karur was built by the Chola kings in the 7th century. Later the Nayakars followed by Tipu Sultan also ruled Karur. The British added Karur to their possessions after destroying the Karur Fort during the war against Tipu Sultan in 1783. There is a memorial at Rayanur dedicated to the warriors who lost their lives in the fight against the British in the Anglo-Mysore Wars.
Taluk and District formation
Post British annexure to the Madras presidency, Karur became a taluk headquarters and was the first part of Coimbatore District and later Tiruchirappalli District. A new district was formed on 30 September 1996 by bifurcating Karur, Kulithalai and Manapparai Taluks of Tiruchirappalli district, which comprises the present-day Aravakkurichi, Manmangalam, Pugalur, Karur, Krishnarayapuram, Kulithalai, Musiri, Kadavur and Manapparai Taluks.
Later, within a year, Musiri taluk was separated from Kulithalai taluk. Both taluks were reunited with Tiruchirapalli District. The Karur taluk was bifurcated to form Aravakkurichi and Karur taluks whereas Kulithalai taluk was bifurcated to form Krishnarayapuram and Kulithalai taluks.
Krishnarayapuram taluk was again bifurcated to form Kadavur taluk whereas Karur taluk was also bifurcated to form Manmangalam taluk. Some of the villages from Aravakkurichi and Manmangalam Taluks were separated and united to form Pugalur taluk.
At present, Karur District has 7 Taluks.
Geography and climate
With headquarters at Karur, it is the centrally located district of Tamil Nadu. It is bounded by Namakkal district in the north, Dindigul district in the south, Tiruchirapalli district on the east and Erode & Tiruppur districts on the west. Karur is located at 10°57’° N 78°4’° E has an average elevation of 122 metres (400 feet). It is about 371 km (231 mi) south west of Chennai (Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu.
The highest temperature is obtained in early May-June is usually about 34 °C (93.2 °F), though it usually exceeds 38 °C (100.4 °F) for a few days most years. Average daily temperature in Karur during January is around 23 °C (73.4 °F), though the temperature rarely falls below 17 °C (62.6 °F). The average annual rainfall is about 775 mm (30.5 in) which gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the north-east monsoon winds, during late September to mid November.
Demographics
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 408,424 | — |
| 1911 | 443,204 | +0.82% |