The Republic of India (Bhārat in Hindi) is the seventh largest country and second most populous country in the world. It occupies a subcontinent of Asia that projects southward into the North Indian Ocean, separating the Bay of Bengal on the east from the Arabian Sea on the west. Before 1947 it was a patchwork of regions governed as British colonies and semi-independent princely states under British supervision. In 1947 this British Raj was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan. Several French and Portuguese colonies embedded in the territory of India were absorbed in 1950 and 1961, respectively. India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. This page lists lighthouses of Tamil Nadu, the state on the east side of the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Embedded in Tamil Nadu are the Puducherry and Karaikal districts of the Union Territory of Puducherry (formerly called Pondicherry), the former French India. The Tamil Nadu coastline, facing the Bay of Bengal, is almost everywhere low and sandy with numerous offshore shoals. Chennai (Madras) is the state capital and largest port but there are many smaller ports. The disastrous tsunami of 26 December 2004 caused great destruction and loss of life on this coast but no lighthouses were destroyed. India's lighthouse heritage is British. However, only a fraction of the original British lighthouses remain in use; new towers have been built at most of the stations. India has also built many lighthouses at new locations in recent years. Nearly all of the larger Indian lighthouses are staffed and by long tradition the staff will receive visitors at a specific time, usually late in the afternoon. Several lighthouses have been developed as tourist attractions and have longer hours. Hindi and English are official languages in India, with English serving as a lingua franca for the entire nation. The Indian Constitution recognizes another 21 languages, called scheduled languages, and each of the coastal states has its own scheduled language in official use. In Tamil, the official language of Tamil Nadu, the word for a lighthouse is kalaṅkarai (கலங்கரை); tīvu is an island, nati is a river, and tuṟaimukam is a harbor. Lighthouses and aids to navigation in India are administered by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL), an agency of the Ministry of Shipping. The lighthouses on this page are maintained by the Chennai Directorate of DGLL. The Tamil word for a lighthouse is kalaṅkarai (கலங்கரை); tīvu is an island, nati is a river, and tuṟaimukam is a harbor. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume F of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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East Coast (Bay of Bengal) Lighthouses
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![]() Pulicat Light, Pulicat, February 2018 Google Maps photo by Tamil new movies&songs |
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South Coast Lighthouses
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![]() Kodikkarai Light, Kodikkarai, March 2022 ex-Google Maps photo by Mr JW |
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![]() Dhanushkodi Light, Rameshwaram, June 2022 ex-Google Maps photo by Thiru Prabhu |
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![]() Pandiyan Tivu Light, Thoothukudi, December 2022 Google Maps photo by Anitto Sylvester |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Andhra Pradesh | South: Sri Lanka | West: Kerala
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted January 20, 2006. Checked and revised July 20, 2024. Lighthouses: 48. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.