The southernmost tip of mainland India — the only place in Asia where you can watch both sunrise and sunset over the horizon of the sea, where three oceans meet and Vivekananda meditated on a rock
Kanyakumari (pop. 20,000) occupies the southernmost tip of mainland India — the point where the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean converge, and where the subcontinent narrows to a rocky promontory jutting into tropical waters. The town is simultaneously one of India's most visited pilgrimage sites (the Kumari Amman Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kanyakumari — the virgin form of Parvati — has been here since antiquity) and a natural wonder: Kanyakumari is the only place on mainland India's coast where you can see both the sunrise and sunset over the sea horizon, and on full-moon n…
Kanyakumari appears in ancient Tamil Sangam literature (from approximately 300 BCE) as 'Kabilarpattu', a sacred confluence point. The Kumari Amman Temple is mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata; the presiding goddess is Bhagavati in her virgin (kumari) form, believed to be awaiting her marriage to Shiva — a marriage that was cancelled at the moment of ceremony, leaving the wedding preparations (the multi-colored sand on the beach) scattered across the area as blessings. Swami Vivekananda's 1892 meditation on the offshore rock — where he received the spiritual clarity that led him to go t…