The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an area of about 22,800 square kilometres.[1] The coast has an average elevation of 80 metres and is backed by the Eastern Ghats, a chain of low lying and flat-topped hills.
The land of the Chola dynasty was called Cholamandalam in Tamil, literally translated as "the realm of the Cholas", from which Coromandel is derived.
In historical Muslim sources from the 12th century onward, the Coromandel Coast was called Maʿbar.[2]
Applications of the name[edit]
Four ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Coromandel after the Indian coast. The Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand was named after one of these ships, and the town of Coromandel, New Zealand was named after the peninsula.
Coromandel Valley, South Australia, and its neighbouring suburb, Coromandel East, gained their names from the ship Coromandel, which arrived in Holdfast Bay from London in 1837 with 156 English settlers. After the ship reached the shore, some of its sailors deserted, intending to remain behind in South Australia, and took refuge in the hills in the Coromandel Valley region.
In Slovene, the idiom Indija Koromandija (India Coromandel) means a land of plenty,[15] a promised land, a utopia where "Houses are bleached with cheese and covered with cake".[16]
Edward Lear situates his nonsense poem The Yonghy Bonghy Bo by citing Coromandel on the first line: On the Coast of Coromandel.[17]
The Coromandel Express is a train of the Indian Railways. The daily train runs down the east coast of India between Shalimar railway station, West Bengal, and Chennai Central railway station, Tamil Nadu.