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Kodaikanal is a city in the hills of the Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Aringnar Anna Zoological Park )〕 Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long history as a retreat and popular tourist destination. Kodaikanal was established in 1845 as a refuge from the high temperatures and tropical diseases of the plains.〔Mitchell Nora, ''Indian Hill Station: Kodaikanal'', University of Chicago, Dept. of Geography, (ch 2, Rational for Tropical Hill Sations, pp13-15 ), 1972. Original from the University of California Digitized 28 Jan 2008〕 Much of the local economy is based on the hospitality industry serving tourism. As of 2011, the town had a population for 36,501. ==Etymology== (詳細はTamil language has at least four possible interpretations of the name "Kodaikanal". By pronouncing the first syllable of Kodaikanal with a long Tamil 'O', as in ''k''oe''-dei'', it means ''summer'', whilst the final two syllables: ''kanal'', in Tamil can mean ''to see'', rendering 'Kodaikanal' as a 'place to see in Summer'. Kodaikanal is a summer forest, and it is also a place that the first missionaries to settle used as a refuge to escape the overbearing and mosquito-ridden heat of the plains - a place that they would have counted on seeing in the summer! "''Kanal''", in Tamil, can also mean dense forest or closed forest. In this case, "''Kodai''" can have at least four different meanings. By pronouncing 'Kodai' with the long Tamil 'O' and short 'e', Ko-dai means "the end". So that KODAI KANAL could mean "The End of the Forest" which makes poetic as well as geographical sense, in that Kodaikanal is situated at the crown of the Palani Hills, and is effectively surrounded and protected by thick forests, which one must traverse to reach Kodai.〔 By pronouncing Kodai with the short Tamil 'O' (as in KODI), it would means "Creepers" or vines. So that Kodaikanal could also mean "The Forest of creepers", or the Forest of vines. ''"The Forest of Creepers"'' is also thought to be the English language meaning given in 1885 during the early western habitation of the place,〔(The Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia ) by Edward Balfour, Published by B. Quaritch, 1885, Item notes: vol.2 H-NYSA, P583, Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized 29 Jan 2008〕 and is still accepted.〔Mitchell Nora, ''Indian Hill Station: Kodaikanal'', University of Chicago, Dept. of Geography, (place creepers, p. 98 ), 1972. Original from the University of California Digitized 28 Jan 2008〕 They called like this with its beauty. By pronouncing Kodai with a short Tamil 'O', and a long 'E', KODAI might be interpreted to mean "Gift", rendering "Kodaikanal" as "Gift of the Forest". Keeping the short Tamil 'O' but adding a long 'A', Kodai could be understood as the Tamil word for umbrella, where Kodaikanal is a forest fashioned like a protecting umbrella. Or perhaps 'umbrella' just because of the once pristine shola, it rained so much in Kodai! 〔 Another Tamil word for creeper or vine is Valli, the honey collecting daughter of the chief of the Veddas mountain tribe. The chief and his wife prayed to the Mountain God for a girl-child and their prayers were answered when the chief found a new-born girl child during a hunting expedition. As she was found among creeper plants, they named the child Valli and she grew up as princess of the tribe in Kurinji and became the consort of lord Murugan.〔Sangam landscape#Kurinji .E2.80.93 Mountainous Region〕 The romantic traditions of Murugan in Sangam literature are thus associated with the name Kodaikanal. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kodaikanal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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