Nagamalai is a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of 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...

 situated about 10 km west of Madurai City, 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...

, 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...

, along the Madurai-Theni

Theni

Theni is a town in the Western Tamil Nadu state of South India. It is the headquarters of Theni District. It is known for the large-scale trading of Cardamom, Cotton, Grapes, chilli and Textiles. It hosts the second largest weekly market in Tamil Nadu and the fourth largest in South India...

 highway.

Hills

Madurai is surrounded by eight hillocks that once served to guard the city from invading forces. Of these hills, three small but prominent hills (Yanaimalai, Pasumalai and Nagamalai — Elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

, Cow, and Snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

 Hill respectively) have several interesting legends associated with them.

Samanar Hill, which is opposite to Nagamalai, is of historical importance. Samanars (a sect of the Jains) were said to have stayed on the hill, fearing persecution from the then rulers of Madurai. Many stone statues and other artifacts are present in Nagamalai.

Biodiversity

Nagamalai is also known for its snake biodiversity, and a government proposal is in the works for creating an ecotourism

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

 snake park in the area.

Water

The top of the hill consists of naturally formed rocks which resemble the form of a crocodile

Crocodile

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...

. Even though there is no water source at the top of the hill, it has an permanent flow of water on one side at Puluthu, which is a herbal water which can be directly drunk.

Education

The Madurai Kamaraj University

Madurai Kamaraj University

Madurai Kamaraj University also abbreviated MKU is a public university in India.-Overview:Madurai Kamaraj University, located in Madurai city established in 1966, has 18 schools comprising 72 departments. The Directorate of Distance Education of the University has a student strength of about 1.3...

is located in Nagamalai along with a number of other educational institutions such as:

• S.Vellaichamy Nadar College of Science and Arts
• Akshara Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• S.B.O.A. Higher Secondary School
• Jayaraj Nadar School
• Annapakiyam School and Sirumalar