Padmanabhapuram is a town located near Thuckalay in the Kanyakumari district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of the 2011 census, the town had a population of 21,342.
Historically, Padmanabhapuram served as the capital of the Travancore state. In 1795, King Rama Varma, also known as Dharma Raja, moved the capital from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram. Following Indian independence in 1947, the town became part of the Travancore-Cochin state on July 1, 1949.
During the reorganization of Indian states based on language in 1956, Padmanabhapuram was ceded to Madras State because it was a Tamil majority area. The name of Madras State was subsequently changed to Tamil Nadu. This transition occurred as Malayalam-speaking areas were merged to form the state of Kerala.