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{{Use Indian English|date=December 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
[[File:Coastal India.jpg|thumb|250px|Coastal India]]
[[File:Coastal India Satellite picture.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Satellite Picture of Coastal India.]]
[[File:Coastal India topographical.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map of Coastal India with major landmarks.]]
[[File:Indo-Roman trade.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Indo-Roman trade and relations|Roman trade with ancient Coastal India]] according to the ''[[Periplus Maris Erythraei]]'' 1st century CE.]]
[[File:A Scenic view of paddy fields from Bojjannakonda, Sankaram, India.jpg|thumb|250px|Scenic view of coastal plain fields near [[Visakhapatnam]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], India]]
'''Coastal India''' is a geo-cultural region in the [[Indian subcontinent]] that spans the entire coastline of India.(7516.6 km; Mainland: 5422.6 km, Island Territories: 2094 km)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Coastal States of India|url=http://iomenvis.nic.in/index2.aspx?slid=758&sublinkid=119&langid=1&mid=1|access-date=2021-01-13|website=iomenvis.nic.in}}</ref>

==Region==

In ancient India, coastal India spans from the [[Coastal South West India|south west Indian coastline]] along the [[Arabian sea]] from the coastline of the [[Gulf of Kutch]] in its westernmost corner and stretches across the [[Gulf of Khambhat]], and through the [[Salsette Island]] of [[Mumbai]] along the [[Konkan]] and southwards across the [[Raigad district]] region and through [[Kanara]] and further down through [[Mangalore]] and along the [[Malabar Coast|Malabar]] through [[Cape Comorin]] in the southernmost region of [[South India]] with coastline along the [[Indian Ocean]] and through the [[Coromandal Coast]] or [[Cholamandalam]].
The coastline on the South Eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent along the [[Bay of Bengal]] through the Utkala [[Kalinga (historical region)|Kalinga]] region extends until the easternmost Corner of shoreline near the [[Sunderbans]] in Coastal East India.
There are many beaches and springs here, as well as beautiful sea and oceans like the Arabian Sea.

==People==

The people along coastal India exhibit vast diversity along an underlying commonality as a result of its coastal topography and sea trade between [[Western Asia|west Asian]] [[Mediterranean region|Mediterranean]] traders along its west coastline.
The region includes [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]]s in the westernmost region, [[Kannadiga]]s, [[Tulu people|Tuluvas]], [[Konkani people|Konkanis]] and [[Maharashtrians]] along the Konkan coast or the western coastline, [[Malayali]]s in its southernmost region of [[South India]], the [[Tamil people|Tamilians]] along southern [[Cholamandalam coast]], the [[Telugu people|Telugu]]s and [[Odia people|Odia]] people along the South eastern coast through [[Utkala Brahmin|Utkala]] [[Odisha|Kalinga]] region along the Coromandal coast, and the [[Bengali people]] along the easternmost coastline along the Bay of Bengal.

===Thriving sea trade and intermingling===

A thriving trade existed between the [[Mediterranean world]] and Coastal Indian regions <ref name="Blandstrom">Bjorn Landstrom (1964) "The Quest for India", Double day English Edition, Stockholm.</ref><ref name="Miller">Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-814264-1}}.</ref><ref name="puthiakunnel">Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.</ref><ref name="periples">''Periplus Maris Erythraei'' "The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 {{ISBN|81-215-0699-9}}</ref> This led to significant intermingling between the people of Coastal India and the [[Western Asia|west asia]]n world, particularly along the South West Indian Coastline along the Arabian Sea. Several west Asian communities have also settled and become part of the diversity of coastal south west India. These include the [[Parsi]]s,<ref name="Hodivala">Hodivala, S. (1920), Studies in Parsi History, Bombay</ref> [[Mustaali|Bohras]]<ref name="Shibani">The Dawoodi Bohras: an anthropological perspective, by Shibani Roy. Published by B.R. Publishing, 1984.</ref> and [[Baghdadi Jews]]<ref name="Sargon">Sargon, J(1987) 'Baghdadi Jews of India and the Sassoons' in Jewish Daily Israel Today, Perspectiv/Opinion; Tuesday 25 August</ref> in the westernmost region, the [[Bene Israel]] along the South western region, the descendants of mediterranean traders along [[Coorg]] and [[Mangalore]], the [[Jonakan Mappila]]s <ref name="malieckal">Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2</ref> along Malabar region, and the [[cochin jews]]<ref name="Blandstrom"/><ref name="Miller"/><ref name="puthiakunnel"/><ref name="malieckal"/><ref name="koder">Koder S. "History of the Jews of Kerala". ''The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India'', Ed. G. Menachery,1973.</ref><ref name="brown">Leslie Brown, (1956) ''The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)</ref><ref name="menachery">Menachery G (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, {{ISBN|81-87132-06-X}}, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press</ref> and [[Syrian Malabar Nasrani|Syriac Nasranis]]<ref name="Blandstrom"/><ref name="Miller"/><ref name="puthiakunnel"/><ref name="malieckal"/><ref name="koder"/><ref name="brown"/><ref name="menachery"/> along the southernmost region of [[South India]]. The [[Chola Empire]] established vast Tamil influence across [[South East Asia]]n region <ref name="Nilakanta">K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, K.A (1984) [1935]. The CōĻas. Madras: University of Madras.</ref><ref name="Keay">Keay, John. India: A History. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers. {{ISBN|0-00-255717-7}}.</ref><ref name="Kulke">Hermann, Kulke; Rothermund D (2001) [2000]. A History of India. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-32920-5}}.</ref> across [[Indonesia]], [[Java]], [[Bali]] and [[Sumatra]]. This brought [[South India]]n Heritage to [[Cambodia]], [[Indonesia]] and Bali where the [[Hinduism in Indonesia|Balinese Hindu]] traditions still thrives. This also lead to intermingling between coastal India and the south east Asia particularly in the South eastern Cholamandalam coastline along the Bay of Bengal.

===Heritage===

The linguistic diversity of Coastal India includes languages of the [[Dravidian language family]] including [[Malayalam]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]] and [[Kannada]]; languages belonging to the western zone of [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo Iranian language families]] including [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Konkani]], languages belonging to the central zone of the Indo-Iranian language families including [[Urdu]] and [[Persian language|Persian]] and languages belonging to the eastern zone of Indo Iranian language family including [[Odia language|Odia]] and [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. The region also has speakers of [[Semitic language]]s like [[Arabic]], [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]. The common elements of the people of coastal India includes [[cuisine]] that consists of agrarian and coastal products and clothing that involves long flowing drapes with bare midriff for both men and women suited for humid and warm climate.<ref name="Boulanger">Boulanger, Chantal; (1997) Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping, Shakti Press International, New York. {{ISBN|0-9661496-1-0}}</ref> Throughout coastal India women wear drapes called [[Sari|saree]] in various styles.<ref name="Boulanger"/> In the western corner of the region the drapes are called as [[Dhoti]] for men.<ref name="Boulanger"/> and [[Chaniya choli]] for women,<ref name="Boulanger"/> further southwards the drapes are called as [[lungi]] or [[mundu]] for men.<ref name="Boulanger"/> and [[veshti]] for women.<ref name="Boulanger"/> Towards the southernmost tip of coastal south western India the social system of inheritance was once matrilineal.<ref name="Boulanger"/><ref name="Craddock">Craddock, Norma. 1994. Anthills, Split Mothers, and Sacrifice: Conceptions of Female Power in the Mariyamman Tradition. Dissertation, U. of California, Berkeley.</ref><ref name="Trawick">Trawick, Margaret. 1990a. Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. Berkeley: U. of California Press.</ref><ref name="Wadley">Wadley, Susan, ed. 1980. The Powers of Tamil Women. Syracuse: Syracuse U. Press.</ref><ref name="RLSmith">Smith R.T. (2002) Matrifocality, in International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (eds) Smelser & Baltes, vol 14, pp 9416.</ref> There are various festivals celebrated in the coastal states centered on deities.<ref name="Dikshitar">Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, The Lalita Cult, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi, 1942, 2d ed. 1991, 3d ed. 1999).</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Bekalfortbeach.JPG|Bekalfort beach in [[Kerala]]
File:Mumbai 03-2016 46 evening at Marine Drive.jpg|Beach in [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]]
File:An afternoon view of RK Beach in Visakhapatnam.JPG|Beach in [[Visakhapatnam]], [[Andhra Pradesh]]
File:House Boat View DSW.jpg|Kettuvellam vembanad lake, [[Kerala]]
File:Sunrise in Kanyakumari.JPG|Sunrise at Kanyakumari, [[Tamil Nadu]]
</gallery>

==See also==
{{portal | India }}

* [[Borders of India]]
* [[Climate of India]]
* [[Exclusive economic zone of India]]
* [[Fishing in India]]
* [[Outline of India]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{South India topics|state=expanded}}
{{Geography of India}}

[[Category:Regions of India]]

Coastal India - Revision history

>SdkbBot at 20:36, 27 June 2021