Melur is a town and a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the Madurai district

Madurai District

Madurai district is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the world famous Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple and is situated on the banks of river Vaigai. Thiruparankundram is one of the major...

 in the 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...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 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...

. Melur is called Thaikramam ('Mother of Villages'). It is the biggest taluk within the Madurai District.

Melur is a manufacturer and exporter of plough

Plough

The plough or plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...

s. Granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 production is an important industry; granite from Melur is exported around the world. Situated within a largely agricultural area, most of the people living around Melur are employed in agriculture, chiefly in the cultivation of rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

.

Demographics

According to the 2001 India census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Melur had a population of 33,743. Males constituted 51% of the population and females 49%. Melur has an average literacy rate of 81%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 76%. In Melur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Religion

The local religion involves the Lord Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

 temple and the goddess Draupathi

Draupati Amman

Draupati Amman is a deification of the character from the Hindu epic Mahabharatha, namely Draupadi, primarily amongst the Telugu and Tamil people of India, Sri Lanka and other countries. Draupati was the wife of the five Pandava brothers in the Mahābhārata epic.There are number of temples dedicated...

, who was wife of the Pandava

Pandava

In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...

s. Two important events are Biman–Keesakan fight and the Pookkuli Festival. In the first event, one person will be acting as Bima and another as Keesakan. Keesakan tries to run away from Bima, and the latter will chase him and kill him. The Pookkuli (walking on ignited coals) festival is celebrated every year by the Draupathi Amman Temple. On the Pookkuli day, devotees who have offered prayers to the goddess will perform fire walking.

The Naagammal Temple Festival is celebrated every year. Poochorithal is the main event of the festival. Santhana Koodu Festival is celebrated in the mosques every year. The Ealai Katha Amman Temple festival, Kottakudi Eruthu Kattu, and the Ayyanar Temple Puravi Eduppu Festival are also celebrated around Melur. The Kathapillai street Kaliamman festival is celebrated every year in June.

Temples and mosques

The Lord Thirumarainathar and Vethanayaki Amman Temple, Thiropathi Amman Temple, and Manickavasagar Temple are in Thiruavathavoor. The Hanuman Temple is at the Pakulam road. The Lord Sri Ram temple and mosque are located opposite each other. There are five mosques in town: in the Trichy main road named JAMIYA MASJID MOIYADEEN MOSQUE; near Chekkadi; Masjid Noor near Al Ameen High School; Koofa Masjid near Nondi Kovil Patti; and Thaqva Masjid near Baskaran Hospital Al-aqsa mosque near perumal patti MOHAMADHIYA PURAM MOSQUE.

Airport

Madurai Airport

Madurai Airport

Madurai Airport is fourth largest airport in Tamil Nadu and serves Madurai, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The airport is located about from the Madurai railway station. The airport was established in 1957. -Airport specifications:...

 is the nearest international airport. International flights to Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Sharjah, and Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

 are available by Indian Airlines, Kingfisher

Kingfisher Airlines

Kingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....

, Jet Airways

Jet Airways

Jet Airways is a major Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India's largest airline and the market leader in the domestic sector. It operates over 400 flights daily to 76 destinations worldwide. Its main hub is Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with secondary hubs at Delhi,...

, Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines Limited is the flag carrier airline of Singapore. Singapore Airlines operates a hub at Changi Airport and has a strong presence in the Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and "Kangaroo Route" markets...

, Air Arabia

Air Arabia

Air Arabia is a low-cost airline with its head office in the Sharjah Freight Center, Sharjah International Airport, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates....

, and SriLankan Airlines

SriLankan Airlines

SriLankan Airlines Limited is the flag carrier airline of Sri Lanka. It operates to destinations in Asia and Europe from its base and hub at Bandaranaike International Airport . The airline's trademark phrase is 'You're Our World', and the company's logo features a stylized peacock...

.

Domestic flights are available to Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

, New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

, Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, and other Indian cities.

Bus Stand

Melur has a bus stand, which is used by TNSTC

TNSTC

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation is the public transport bus operator of Tamil Nadu, India. It operates buses along intra and inter state bus routes, as well as city routes.There are currently 6 divisions in TNSTC:*TNSTC Coimbatore...

 and private operators. This is situated inside the town on Trichy main road NH45

National Highway 45 (India)

Grand Southern Trunk Road or National Highway 45 is one of the busiest National Highways in Southern India with a total length of . The highway starts from Kathipara junction in Guindy, a very busy confluence of five roads in southern Chennai and extends up to Theni. It connects Chennai to its...

. Melur has bus transportation to Madurai

Madurai

Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...

, Chennai, Trichy, Sivaganga

Sivaganga

Sivaganga, also known as Sivagangai, is a town and a municipality in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Sivaganga district.-Geography:...

, Dindigul

Dindigul

Dindigul is a town and municipality in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India. The name Dindigul comes from the Portmanteau of “Thindu” meaning pillow and “kal” meaning Rock and refers to the bare hill dominating the city’s both land and skyscape...

, Karaikudi

Karaikudi

Karaikudi is a town in Sivaganga District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Chettinad literally 'Chetti land' in Tamil, is a collection of 76 villages/towns. Chettinad stretched from Ramnad District and Pudukottai State of 'British' India. The Chettiars, or more properly the Nattukottai...

, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram

Ramanathapuram

Ramanathapuram , also known as Ramnad, is a city and a municipality in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district.-Tourism:...

, Thirunelveli, Virudhunagar

Virudhunagar

Virudhunagar is a municipality in Virudhunagar district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.In the beginning of 20th century AD, Virudhupatti was one among the six important places of Ramanathapuram District. Due to the rapid growth in the field of Trade and Education, it was renamed as...

, Tanjore, Rajapalayam

Rajapalayam

Rajapalayam is a town and a special grade municipality in Virudhunagar district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 85 km southwest of Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Its main attractions are the Ayyanar Falls and the neighbour town of Srivilliputtur...

, and all around the neighboring districts.

Telecommunications

Melur is connected with all GSM and CDMA mobile phone operators. The major players are Aircel

Aircel

Aircel group is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India. The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited, whose current...

, Airtel, BSNL, and Vodafone

Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...

 in the GSM the segment and Reliance, Tata Indicom

Tata Indicom

Tata Teleservices Limited is a Indian broadband and telecommunications provider based in Mumbai, India. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate...

 in the CDMA segment.

Tiles & Hardware

Sri Balaji Vilas Timber Traders, Sri Vanitha Vilas Traders, Sri Rama Vilas Agencies

Politics

Melur assembly constituency is part of Madurai (Lok Sabha constituency)

Madurai (Lok Sabha constituency)

-Assembly segments:Madurai Lok Sabha constituency is composed of the following assembly segments :#Madurai North#Madurai West#Madurai Central#Madurai East#Madurai South#Melur-Members of Parliament:- Election results : -References:...

. The major political parties in Melur are ADMK, DMK, Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

, and DMDK.And it is the biggest taluk in madurai district.

Cinema

The film actor Ramarajan

Ramarajan

Ramarajan is a Tamil film actor who is specialised in acting films on village-based subjects. He is also known as Makkal Nayagan. He was called as the Box Office Emperor in the late eighties. He is known for his yellow colour shirts and colourful costumes and He was even called as rural...

 lives in Melur. The film director and actor Cheran

Cheran

Cheran can refer to:*Cheran , the name of a Tamil dynasty in South India.*Cheran , a Tamil film director.*Cherán, a municipality the Mexican state of Michoacán.*Chéran, a river in eastern France....

, whose native village is [Palaiyurpatti,Near by melur], also lives in town. The music director D. Imman was born in Melur.Current MLA is Mr.R.Samy of AIADMK