North Chennai blogger

Vadapalani Dandāyudhapani Temple

Built about 125 years back, this much-hallowed and regularly frequented Muruga sannidhi has emerged from a thatched shed, an unostentatious one enshrining a Murugan picture only, and established for itself a name on par with ancient places of worship. Around 7,000 couples are married here each year.

According to the sthalapurana, one Muruga devotee by name Annaswami Tambiran with his limited means built a small thatched hut and kept a Murugan painting for his personal worship primarily. During his meditation and worship, he used to experience some divine power entering his body and inspiring him to utter some mysterious things -- whatever he said in his trance was found true. His utterance went by the name of arulvak and relieved people in several ways, like curing diseases and getting jobs, solemnising marriages, etc.

Once he fell ill suddenly. At the instance of a sadhu, he visited Tiruttani and prayed to Muruga offering a part of his tongue cut with a knife at Balipeeta. On his return, the disease took to flight.
He paid a visit to Palani by foot and had some strange experiences there. He continued his worship in the hut he built, and when he felt his end was nearing he requested a close friend by name Ratnaswami to continue the devotional activities to the painting he was worshipping. Strangely enough, this Ratnaswami too started giving arulvak after building a small shrine and worshipping as promised to his friend.

The money that public gave was put to building purpose. But Ratnaswami also passed away before completing it. Another like mind took the building project with the money he was getting from arulvak just like his predecessors. Unluckily, he too passed away.

Then entered into the arena some humanist philanthropists who metamorphosed that simple hut into a superb spiritual abode. Among the builders, the renowned Saiva Pravakta Kripananda Variyar's name takes first place. Thus emerged this great Muruga kshetra, and now a great temple drawing a steady streams of pilgrims throughout the year.
There are very many sannidhis in the vast courtyards, like Varasiddhi Vinayaka, Chokkanāthar, Mother Parvati, Kāli, Bhairava, Shanmuga with Valli and Devasenā, et al.
The moolavar in standing posture resembles the Palani Muruga in every respect. In the inner prakara, there are many niches housing Dakshina Murti, Chandikeswar, Mahalakshmi, et al. It has a spacious hall used for conducting marriages and religious discourses. It is one of the most-frequented Murugan shrines in the city of Chennai.
The entrance to this temple is crowned with a rajagopuram adorned with several stucco images depicting legends from the Skanda puranam. In front of the temple is the temple tank. The eastern tower rises to a height of 40.8 metres. The 108 bharata natyam dance gestures can be seen on the eastern tower as well.
Daily pujas:

5 am: Nadai
5:30 am: Palli Arai
7 am: Milk Abhishekam
10 am: Vibhuti Abhishekam
11 am: Santanam Abhishekam
12 noon: Uchi Kâla Puja
9 pm: Palli Arai Puja

Location: Andavar Koil Street, Vadapalani, Chennai
Main deity: Palani Andavar
Other deities: Arunagirinathar, Chokkanatha, Ganapathi, Kaliamman, Kasi Viswanatha, Kuthuvar, Manikkavachakar, Meenakshi Amman, Six-faced Muruga with Valli and Devanai, Vairavar, Varasiddhi Vinayaga, Virabagudevar, Virabhadra, Visalakshi
Festivals: Skanda Sashti is celebrated here in the month of Aippasi. Other festivals celebrated here include Panguni Uttiram. The Karttikai asterism in each month attracts large crowds.
Phone: (91) 44 483-6903 or 530-1230, Office hours: 4 pm - 9 pm

For more information contact:
Tiruttikai Bhaktarkal Annadana Arakkattalai
Chennai-26
Tel. Nos. (91) 44 372-0063, 481-2334, 489-3023, 372-0556, 484-0670

Madras renamed as Chennai in 1996

CHENNAI: It was on this day in 1639 that British administrator Francis Day along with his superior Andrew Cogan struck a deal with the Vijayanagar Empire to acquire a stretch of no man's land. That stretch of land went on to be become Madras, which is today known as Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.
The British first built a fortified 'factory' on this land which was named on St.George's birthday April 23, 1640 as Fort St.George, which is now the seat of power in the state, according to historian S. Muthiah's "Madras-Its past and its present".

In his book, S. Muthiah says that before British, there was no Madras. And after Madras, half the area in the world map was marked with the English flag.
However, it's not that there were no towns and villages before the British built their fort on the Coromandel Coast.
There was thriving civilization along the coast, the proof of which is the existence of temples dating back to eighth century like the Padampakkanathar temple in Thiruvottiyur, Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane, Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, Marundeeswarar Temple in Thiruvanmiyur.
Outside the walls of Fort St.George developed what is called George Town, from where the British carried out their trade.
Slowly, the East India Company began acquiring villages, and in the process the city grew.
For three years between 1746 and 1749, Fort St.George fell into the possession of the French. It was restored to the British under the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
After that, there was no looking back for the East India Company which laid the foundation of the British Empire in India.
British architect Roberth Chisholm gave Madras the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture - a mix of Hindu, European and Mughal styles. Madras High Court, Southern Railways and National Art Gallery are some of the notable buildings built in the architecture style.
Madras was rechristened Chennai in 1996.
While the city produces battle tanks to bicycles, it's considered the hub of global auto production with major vehicle producers like Ford, Hyundai, Caterpillar, Mitsubhishi, BMW, Nissan and Renault and home-grown Ashok Leyland and Enfield Motors rolling out their products.
It's also considered the cradle for modern retail - thanks to Spencer Departmental Stores to Viveks and Saravanas.
The city's business map also includes software companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and electronic companies like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola.
Chennai also boasts of a number of leather and cotton garment units. The city is said to be a Mecca of medicare and engineering education, not to forget the south Indian film industry.
It has also been home for stalwarts in various fields.
The city boasts of noted sporting personalities like chess player Vishwanathan Anand, tennis players Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, cricketers K. Srikkanth and S. Venkataraghavan.
It's also home to businessmen like Pratap Reddy, founder of Apollo Hospitals group. In the auto component field, Venu Srinivasan and Suresh Krishna chart their business from Chennai. Pepsico's global CEO Indira Nooyi was born and brought up here.

"It is a city that meets the world through the ocean. Chennai is home to the most gifted minds in music, dance, theatre, science, software, philosophy and silence," contemporary dancer-writer Anita R. Ratnam said.
"This is a city that hosts the largest cultural festival in the world every December. It is only here that individuals and artistes from other states are honoured with the local government award. There is little pretence and affectation in Chennai - just bonhomie and goodwill," Ratnam added.
As part of Madras Day celebrations, a week-long programme of events like heritage walks, tours, exhibitions and others are organised by different organisations.

How did we got the name madras ?

The name Madras is derived from Madraspatnam, the site chosen by the British East India Company for a permanent settlement in 1639.
Currently, the nomenclature of the area is in a state of controversy. The region was often called by different names as madrapupatnam, madras kuppam, madraspatnam, and madirazpatnam as adopted by locals. Another small town, Chennapatnam, lay to the south of it. This place was supposedely named so by Damarla Venkatadri Nayakudu, Nayak of Wandiwash in remembrance of his father Damarla Chennappa Nayakudu. He was the local governor for the last Raja of Chandragiri, Sri Ranga Raya VI of Vijayanagar Empire. The first Grant of Damarla Venkatadri Nayakudu makes mention of the village of Madraspatnam as incorporated into East India lands but not of Chennapatnam. This together with the written records makes it clear that the Fort which became the center of present Chennai, was built upon or nearby the village of Madraspatnam. Although, Madraspatnam is named in later records following the establishment of Fort St. George, this is likely because of the discriminatory nature of the local caste system. Under Hindu caste code, as well as English Common Law, it is unlikely that Fort St. George was built upon the village of Madraspatnam and its inhabitants incorporated into the new town. Instead, it is likely that Fort was built either close to the village or if it was built upon the village, the village was relocated. In fact, in all records of the times, a difference is made between the original village of Madraspatnam and the new town growing around the Fort known as "White Town". Therefore, because of the fort's proximity or origin to the village of Mandraspatnam, and the fort's centrality to the development of the city, the British settlers of the city later named their settlement Madras in honor of it. Further militating against the name "Chennai", Chennapatnam was the name in later years of an area explicitetly detailed as having been incorporated of native villages, European plantations, and European merchant houses outside of the combined city of Madras consisting of Fort St. George, and White and Black Town. Lastly, while the Fort St. George, White Town, and Black Town areas were fully incoporated together by the late 1700s, and was known as Madras, Chennapatnam was its own separate entity existing under the authority of Fort St. George well into the 19th century. Consequently, once the area separating Chennapatnam and Old Madras was built over uniting the two settlements, as founders, settlers, and authorities of area, the English named the new united city Madras. Thus it is improbable that the area was ever called Chennai. Instead, being the gateway of trade and the center of the economy of the region, the English settlement and their fort of 1639-40, which was the basis for the presently named city of Chennai, was likely called Madras as well by the rest of India. Thus, the renaming of the city "Chennai" by the DMK was an overtly political act at culturally erasing the English antecedents and colonial settlement which gave birth to the modern metropolis.

MGR memorial on the Marina

If the mark of a great city is the opportunities it provides to people coming into it from other regions, then Chennai does belong up there. While there is some mild jingoism about Tamil language, culture, heritage etc., I'm hard pressed to think of any state in India besides Tamilnadu that carries a refrain similar to
'வந்தோரை வாழவைக்கும் தமிழகம்'

(roughly translated as 'the Tamizh land that fosters any who comes').

And MGR is one of those who was fostered very well. Of Keralite origin, born in Sri Lanka, his first role was in a movie directed by an American who knew no Tamil (Ellis R. Dungan); but then he went on to become a leading actor, on to be the state's Chief Minister and even 21 years after his death, remains a larger-than-life, influential figure in the politics of the state.

The plaque at the MGR memorial on the Marina seems too bland - does not quite capture the phenomenon that he was and the hysteria he inspired in the population of Tamil Nadu.