The Javadi Hills are a range of hills, one of the largest in the Eastern Ghats

Eastern Ghats

The Eastern Ghats or Eastern Ghauts are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka. They are eroded and cut through by the...

, in Vellore

Vellore

Vellore It is considered one of the oldest cities in South India and lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort. The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati...

 District, in the northern part of the state of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

 in southeastern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. About 50 miles (80 km) wide and 20 miles (32 km) long, they are bisected into eastern and western sections by the Cheyyar and Agaram rivers, tributaries of the Palar. They consist of bluish gray granites, with peaks averaging 3,600–3,800 feet (1,100–1,150 m). Their steep southeastern flanks are forested with sandalwood. The hills are sparsely populated; grains, legumes, and oilseeds are the chief crops. They are noted both for their fruit bearing trees and for their sandalwood

Sandalwood

Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...

. Jamanamarathur is one of the larger villages in the hills. There are many tourist places near Javadi Hills. Among them are the Beemanmadavu waterfalls and the Indian astronomer, Vainu Bappu

Vainu Bappu

Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu was an Indian astronomer and president of the International Astronomical Union. Bappu helped establish several astronomical institutions in India——including the Vainu Bappu Observatory named after him—and also contributed to the establishment of the modern Indian...

 selected the hills as the site of the Kavalur Observatory (VBO), which began operations in 1967. The town of Vaniyambadi

Vaniyambadi

Vaniyambadi is a town and a municipality, part of the Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The major population comprises people following Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Jainism population...

is located nearby.

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