"Vailankanni" (Meaning: Virgin of Velai, the town), also known as "Velankanni" or "Velanganni", is a hamlet on the sandy shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is located 350 kilometers south of Chennai (previously called Madras the capital of Tamil Nadu, a South Eastern state of India) and 12 kilometers south of Nagappatinam. Nagapattinam, a town on the coast of Bay of Bengal, was referred by early writers and the Portuguese as "the city of Coramandel' (Imperial Gazetteer of India, XIX, 3). Vellayar river, a minor branch of the river Cauvery, runs on the south of the village and flows into the sea
