Munnur Topography

Munnur is situated at a distance of 21 km., from Tindivanam town towards Marakkanam in Villupuram district. The Munnur village lies on the 12°17 latitude and 79°81 longitude and its altitude 33 mtrs above the sea level. It is bounded on the north by Kalpakkam taluk and south of Vanur taluk on the east by Bay of Bengal and on the west by Vandavasi taluk covering the area of Munnur village is about 5sq km. The general geological formation of the Villupuram district appears to be simple. The greater part of it is covered by the metamorphic rocks. The sedimentary rocks belonging to different geological periods. The Kalrayan hills in the north represents a continuous range of hills covered with some thorny forests and vegetation. Among the hills, the most beautiful part of the district lies, round about the Gingee hills.

The recent Census report^[1] says that it has 4985 total population in Munnur. The village Munnur has 9 wards and 4 divisions viz, Munnur colony, Muthampalayam, Pillaiyarkulam, and Irularcolony. At present the village functions under the head quarters of the sub-collector of Tindivanam in Villupuram district. The Perumukkal hill provided quarry for supply of rock-stones during the Chola period for the construction of the Munnur temples.

Rainfall and Temperature

Villupuram district having 5 rivers viz., Gomuki, Thenpennai, Malataru, Gadilam and Sangaraparani. They are following of southern side of the Munnur. The district receives an average of 1030 m.m., rain fall in a year while the North East monsoon.^[2] It contributes seventy five percentage of the rain fall and the remaining twenty five percentage of the rainfall is contributed by the South West monsoon. The actual total rainfall for the year 2014-2015 is A.D. 620.4 m.m., against 1030 m.m., of normal rainfall.^[3] The percentage of deviation is 37.9 m.m. It has normal climate and the minimum and maximum temperature are between 36°C and 26°C respectively in a year. The hottest months are April and May and the lowest temperatures are recorded in December and January.^[4]

Irrigation

Gomugi dam, Veedur dam and Manimutharu dam are also available here for irrigation purpose. The Villupuram rivers flowing in Villupuram region are not perennial. The Villupuram district is largely depend on ground water by lakes and tanks for irrigation including Munnur village. At present Munnur village having 2 lakes, and 19 tanks with cannals for cultivation.^[5]

Agriculture

The chief food crops Munnur village of Villupuram district are paddy, sweet corn, ragi, cumbu, red-gram, black-gram, horse-gram, water milon, and varagu. The chief cash crops are sugarcane, groundnut, cotton, cashew and coconut.^[6]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A. Sekar (Village Administrative Officer of Munnur), interview, 10.10.2013.

[2]:

Ibid.,

[3]:

Ibid.,

[4]:

Ibid.,

[5]:

Ibid.,

[6]:

Somaley, Thennarkadu Mavattam, Chennai, 1961, p. 25.