Kanyākumārī is the sacred tīrtha (pilgrimage place) at the southernmost tip of Bhārata-varsha. Three great waters meet here: the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.

It is the home of the Devī in her Kumārī form, the eternal virgin devī (goddess). The name comes from kanyā (maiden). She performed tapas (austerity) here to obtain Bhagavān Śiva as her husband.

The tīrtha

The Kailāsa Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa describes Kanyākumārī as the place of the Devī’s pādukās (sacred sandals or footprints). It is also the place where the Devī lives in her form as the eternal Kumārī. The text records Sūta’s darśana (sacred sight) of the Devī here, as part of his journey to the south before he reaches Mount Meru.

The Devī at Kanyākumārī is Bhagavatī Pārvatī in her state before marriage. She is the ascetic maiden who did tapas at this southernmost point to win Bhagavān Śiva. Her marriage to Bhagavān Śiva was disrupted. In some traditions this is why she stays here as the eternal virgin, the Kumārī. She remains as the ever-protecting Devī of the sacred promontory.

Kanyākumārī in Sūta’s tīrtha-yātrā

Sūta Romaharshaṇa went on pilgrimage after teaching the Oṃkāra at Kāśī. The Kailāsa Saṃhitā (Chapter 10) gives the route of his pilgrimage:

Kāśī: darśana of Bhagavān Viśveśvara, and teaching to the ṛshis.
Kanyākumārī: darśana of the Devī at the southernmost tip.
Śrīkāḷahasti: darśana of the Vāyu-liṅga on the Svarṇamukhī.
Kumāraśikhara on Meru: darśana of Bhagavān Skanda, and the sight of Vāmadeva’s arrival.

Rāma’s visit and the promise of Jāmbavaṭī

During his tīrtha-yātrā in the south, Bhagavān Rāma came to Kanyākumārī and had darśana of the Devī at the southernmost tip of Bhārata. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa (Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7) records a promise that Bhagavān Rāma made to the Devī on this visit:

You will be born as Jāmbavaṭī in the Kṛshṇa-avatāra and obtain Bhagavān Vishṇu as your husband.

With this promise, Kanyākumārī is not only the place of the Devī’s tapas for Bhagavān Śiva. Its presiding Devī is also joined to the avatāra-līlā (the divine play of the avatāra) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Devī waited here in the eternal Kumārī form because her marriage to Bhagavān Śiva was disrupted. Bhagavān Rāma consoles her with the promise of her future union with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as one of his principal queens.

Jāmbavaṭī was a daughter of Jāmbavān, the bear-king who took part in the Laṅkā campaign of the Rāma-avatāra. She became one of the eight principal queens of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa at Dvārakā.

Sources

Śiva Purāṇa, Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapter 10
Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Sarga 7