SOURCE….ARTICLE BY V.SRIRAM…A WELL KNOWN HISTORIAN
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ROYAPETTAH , CHENNAI ARE SHARED IN THIS SITE… I AM SURE THAT MANY OLDTIMERS OF CHENNAI WOULD RECALL THEIR CHILDHOOD DAYS AT THIS RESIDENTIAL LOCALITY…..EVEN TODAY ROYAPETTAH HAS GOT ITS OWN CHARM WHICH WE CAN NOT NEASURE BY ANY MEANS!!!!!!!!

Natarajan

Why Royapettah? Several explanations have been given for this name but the most convincing one is that, because it belonged to the Nawabs of Arcot it became Raya (ruler’s) Pettah (district). And, after the British took over, the royal family was finally given Amir Mahal on the edge of Royapettah to live in. The residence may be tucked deep inside the compound, but the ornamental gateway is a sight to behold. If you are lucky, you will hear the ceremonial drums beaten on special occasions from the first floor gallery of the gateway.
Close to Amir Mahal is the clock tower, a Royapettah landmark. Built in the 1930s in the classic art deco style, it is still functioning. From here begins Westcott Road. On the left is the vast Woodlands Estate, once the residence of the Rajahs of Ramnad. In the 1930s, it was sold to a businessman and the new owner leased it out to a young man who ran the city’s first Udipi style restaurant on Mount Road – Krishna Vilas. K. Krishna Rao was his name and he made Woodlands a success – as a 40 roomed hotel. But the leaser soon wanted the place back and so in the 1940s, Krishna Rao moved to Mylapore and began New Woodlands, the first of the famous worldwide chain of hotels. Happily, old Woodlands still functions. Its South Indian style lunches are known to few and inside the hotel it is as though time has stood still in the 1940s. Period furniture and ambience is what it offers for a low price. At its edge stands the better known Woodlands Theatre.
Opposite these is the Wesleyan Church with its associated educational institutions, set in a vast green enclosure. The church was begun in 1819. Further down the same stretch is the empty expanse of the YMCA, which is used for exhibitions. By far the best known landmark on Westcott Road is the Royapettah Hospital. Begun as a native infirmary in 1843 in a side street and meant to cater to the requirements of those who lived in South Madras, it has expanded since 1911 when it became a hospital. Parts of it, especially its morgue, date back to an early vintage and are Gothic in appearance.
Royapettah High Road, which can be called the spine of the district, begins just after one wing of the hospital. On its left, almost unnoticed is the local post office, the second oldest in the city and having been in service since 1830 or so. The police station, a short distance away is also of a venerable age. Painted bright red, it is a classic, a perfect example of Raj-style police stations. Just behind the police station, and perhaps rather appropriately so is the ‘town of killers’ (Kolakarapettai), which happily is far removed from the truth. The name is a corruption from the days when a colony of stoneworkers (kallukkaran) lived here. At the place stands Pilot Theatre, the first in the city to get a wide screen when they came into vogue in the 1960s. The theatre still functions, going strong despite challenges. Opposite Pilot are two icons of Royapettah. The Sultan Market, an arcaded Indian style shopping area, is now empty and faces an uncertain future; but Mani’s Auction House, famed for its old furniture is thriving. Around it have come up several showrooms selling the modern variety of furniture.

Just after Mani’s is the Provident Fund Commissioner’s Office. Now a modern building, it was once a vast garden house, named at various times as Gowri Vilas and Acharya Griha. In olden times it was Nawabi property and a secret passage was said to run from it to Amir Mahal. Opposite this building is Swagath Hotel, a throwback to the 1960s. It still functions, though its competitor and another landmark of Royapettah, Ajanta Hotel with its art deco façade has vanished to make way for a modern one – Deccan Plaza. Diagonally opposite Swagath is Adarsh Vidyalaya, one of the well known schools of the city.
Religion is firmly entrenched in Royapettah. Some of the old shrines here are the Srinivasa Perumal and Gangai Amman temples. The Gaudiya Mutt, established here in 1932, is a small piece of Bengal transhipped to Chennai. Its Krishna Jayanthi celebrations are famous. Further down Gaudiya Mutt Road is the Balasubramania Bhakta Sabha, a place where bhajans were performed regularly and where Tamil scholars such as Maraimalai Adigal and Tiru Vi Ka met. Royapettah High Road is now named after Tiru Vi Ka.
Royapettah was always known for its professionals. Dr. K.N. Kesari who manufactured the Kesari Kuteeram brand of medicines, in particular Lodhra tonic, lived here. Commemorating another well known physician who did work in medical research is Dr. T. Sitapathy Clinic, run by his descendants, now with the 4th generation of doctors in the family. Another medical man was Jammi Venkataramanayya who, beginning practice in 1900, perfected Jammi’s Liver Cure, which saved countless children suffering from infantile cirrhosis. Jammi Buildings, shaped like a ship and now home to several offices, commemorates him. Ehrlich Laboratories in Balaji Nagar, a locality in Royapettah, is a well known diagnostic facility going back several years. Balaji Nagar takes its name after Balaji Rao, a prominent legal luminary of the early 20th century who lived there. Another famed lawyer was S. Doraiswamy Iyer who lived at Palm Grove, a lovely Palladian building, which later became the Kesari High School founded by Dr. K.N. Kesari. It was perhaps due to the office-goer type of residents here that the Indian Officers Association, founded in 1907, struck roots here. For years it functioned from Mohana Vilas, a stately bungalow on Royapettah High Road where members could stay for nominal rates. Now this has become a commercial complex, owned by the Association. Several famed lawyers lived on Lloyds Road which cuts Royapettah High Road. Some of their bungalows survive, though many have become high-rises.
Close to where Royapettah joins Mylapore, after R.K. Salai cuts it, is the Mylapore branch of the Young Men’s Indian Association, established by Annie Besant in 1914. It offers board and lodge to those coming to the city for education. And Royapettah has its share of schools too. Apart from those within the Wesley College campus, there are others such as Adarsh Vidyalaya and Sri Venkateswara. A unique facility for the young ones is Children’s Club, established in 1954 and still going strong. It was to provide music to those in Royapettah that the Narada Gana Sabha was formed in the 1950s, in an empty plot of land next to the Children’s Club. That it moved elsewhere later is another matter altogether.
Royapettah was home to artistes too. Lloyds Road is now Avvai Shanmugam Road, named after the great thespian Avvai T.K. Shanmugam who lived here and whose residence still stands. Close by is Thaandavarayan Street, home to several cine and stage artistes in the past, the most famous being S.V. Sahasranamam.
Behind all these great buildings is a bewildering maze of streets, all of them with street houses and some spacious bungalows. Interestingly, several still have houses of early 20th century vintage, giving the impression that Royapettah is happy to live in the past.
Sriram V…..wellknown historian of city….

SOURCE::::INF. ON NET….TRULY AMAZING….

BOEING 797……SOME INTERESTING DATA ON THIS DREAM JET…WHICH IS GOING TO HAVE AN EDGE OVER AIRBUS 380….BOEING IS SAID TO HAVE DEVELOPED THIS JET AS “ULTIMATE AIRBUS CRUSHER”!!!!!!!!!!

SOON WE MAY SEE THIS BIG BIRD ON OUR SKIES!!!!!!

Natarajan

It can comfortably fly 10,000 Miles (16,000 km) at Mach 0.88 or 654 mph (1,046 km/h)
with 1000 passengers on board !

They have kept this secret long enough….

Boeing is preparing this 1000 passenger Jet Liner that could reshape the Air Travel Industry. Its radical “Blended Wing & Fuselage” design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with NASA Langley Research Centre. The mammoth aircraft will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to 211 feet of its 747, and its been designed to fit within the newly created Air Terminals for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is 262 feet wide.

The new 797 is Boeing’s direct response to the Airbus A380, which has racked up orders for 159 already. Boeing decided to kill its 747X Stretched Super Jumbo in 2003 after little interest was shown for it by Airline Companies, but continued to develop its “Ultimate Airbus Crusher”, the 797 at its Phantom Works Research Facility in Long Beach, California.

The Airbus A380 had been in the works since 1999 and has accumulated $13 Billion in development costs, which gives Boeing a huge advantage. More so because Airbus is thus committed to the older style tubular structure for their aircraft for decades to come.

There are several big advantages in the “Blended Wing & Fuselage” design, the most important being the ‘Lift to Drag’ ratio which is expected to increase by an amazing 50%, resulting in an overall weight reduction of the aircraft by 25%, making it an estimated 33% more fuel efficient than the A380, and thus making the Airbus’s $13 Billion Dollar investment look pretty shaky.

“High Airframe Rigidity” is another key factor in the “Blended Wing & Fuselage” technology. It reduces turbulence and creates less stress on the airframe which adds to fuel efficiency, giving the 797 a tremendous 10,000 Mile range with 1,000 passengers on board cruising comfortably at Mach 0.88 or 654 MPH, which gives it another advantage over the tube-and-wing designed A380’s 570 MPH.

The exact date for introduction of the 797 is as yet unclear, but the battle lines are clearly drawn in the high-stakes war for future civilian aircraft supremacy.

What a find! And, how little of India we learn in school.!….THE STORY MAKES US TO FEEL THAT WE SHOULD VISIT THIS PLACE IMMEDIATELY ….HATS OFF TO OUR ARCHEALOGICAL TEAM WHO HAS UNEARTHED THIS HIDDEN TRESURE….
Natarajan

SOURCE:::::www.rediff.com…..AND DETAILS FROM MY MAIL CONTACT …..

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-big-discovery-a-2500-year-old-industrial-estate/20120612.htm

BIG discovery: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate!

It is a long, tiring journey to Kodumanal, a tiny village in western Tamil Nadu — a place virtually unheard of until archaeologists recently unearthed a 2,500-year-old industrial estate there.
The trip from Chennai to this inland village happens in three stages: eight-hour bus ride to Erode (district headquarters), two-hour bus ride to Kangeyam (small town in the textile district of Tirupur), final bus ride to Kodumanal.
The last leg is the most interesting. At first the rickety bus passes farmland and pretty bungalows, but then the surroundings grow barren.
There is only the occasional coconut tree. It is hard to believe that this area once held a thriving town. Modern Kodumanal has just around 1,000 people to make a living they breed cattle and work in the nearby textile town of Tirupur.

The chatty bus conductor asks, “Sir, are you from the archaeological department?” When I shake my head, he says, “So many people from the archaeological department come here these days that I assumed you were one of them.”
At the archaeological site near Kodumanal, even at 8 am the sun is merciless. Approaching the arid excavation area, one hears the sounds of digging, and of instructions being yelled to the scores of archaeology students busy on the site.
K Rajan, professor and head of the Department of History at Pondicherry University, leads the team. Rajan is in his early 50s. He stands in the heat talking to the students gathered around. Today is the last day of this dig at Kodumanal.
Kodumanal, Rajan explains, was a manufacturing and trading centre in the 4th century BCE. It is mentioned as such in the Sangam literature of classical Tamil (circa 300 BCE-300 CE). The settlement, which would have accommodated several thousand people in its heyday, appears to have been abandoned after the 3rd century CE.

Archaeologists arrived in Kodumanal in 1961, when V N Srinivasa Desikan of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) led the first dig. In 1980 a second, trial excavation was carried out by the Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department.
More digs were executed in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1990 by the Departments of Epigraphy and Archaeology of Tamil University, with the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology of Madras University, and the State Archaeology Department.
However, not much was found. Between 1985 and 1990 the archaeologists laid 49 trenches but collected only 170 inscribed potsherds (pottery fragments).

In 2012 the pattern has broken, and Rajan’s team has struck gold. Between April 21 and this week, they laid four trenches and collected as many as 130 inscribed potsherds. Yathees Kumar V P, 32, a PhD student of archaeology from Pondicherry University, has worked at Kodumanal for two months.
“I have worked in four different sites since 2005,” he says. “In those areas, finding one script itself is a big thing, here in one site we found 130.”
Kumar and another student have found two large pots, one of which bears a Tamil-Brahmi inscription in tall letters reading “Samban Sumanan” — a name. The pot is 4 ft tall, says Kumar, and was used to store water. Nearly all the newly unearthed inscriptions, in fact, are personal names; a few also refer to the trade performed by the named individual.

The words on the pots are in Prakrit, a north Indian language of the time. This tells us, says Rajan, that Kodumanal had cultural and trade contacts with the north.
Hard, slow work led up to these exciting discoveries. Rajan has been involved in excavating this site since 1984. The last excavation was in 1990. For this year’s dig, the professor managed to raise Rs 3.5 lakh from the ASI and the Central Institute of Classical Tamil.
From the trenches have emerged fascinating and beautiful artefacts. Among the more decorative items are semi-finished bangles and bracelets made from beryl, a crystalline mineral. Some of these stones are so pure that they are colourless. One find is a tiger-shaped object made of copper, about 15 cm long …
It was studded with carnelians, sapphires and diamonds. Old quartz stones and broken beads — of sapphire, beryl, agate, carnelian, amethyst, lapis lazuli, jasper, garnet, soapstone and quartz — are strewn across the village.

In one memorable case, the archaeologists found 2,220 carnelian beads in a single grave. This may be the first instance of its kind in India, Rajan says.
There are sources of sapphire, beryl and quartz near Kodumanal, but carnelian, agate and lapis lazuli came from distant sources — as far away as Gujarat, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The ancient economy, too, was global.
The finds show that workshops for cutting and shaping precious gems, for making semi-precious stone beads, and also, incidentally, for shell-cutting, were present in Kodumanal more than 2,300 years ago.
But the workers’ technical skills did not begin and end with gem-making. They also worked with iron and steel. In fact, ancient sources of iron ore have been found in and around Chennimalai hill, 15 km to the east.

There was, the archaeologists say, “constant movement of foreign traders between Chennimalai, where there are iron ore deposits, and Kodumanal where the ore was processed” and from where finished items were exported.
And in Kodumanal itself, Rajan’s team has found pieces of a crucible furnace. Such furnaces can withstand heat up to 1,300 C, well over the melting point of cast iron. This find has been confirmed, Rajan says, by Sharada Srinivasan of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, who has examined the crucible.
Kodumanal was one of the earliest wootz steel centres of the world. Wootz steel, a form of carbon steel, was a prized, highly durable speciality of ancient India, and much sought-after in the West.
In Roman literature there are references to the import of steel from the Chera country, or south India. References to wootz steel in Sangam literature indicate that Roman Egypt imported its finest steel from here. The rust-free ancient iron pillar still standing near the Qut’b Minar in Delhi is said to be made of iron from this region.

Kodumanal is not far from Tirupur, the textile hub of modern India. Ancient Kodumanal also manufactured textiles. A number of terracotta cotton spindles pierced through the centre with an iron rod have been unearthed here. Incredibly, a well-preserved piece of actual cotton has been found. It is believed to be 2,200 years old.
More proof of Kodumanal’s trade links comes in the form of Roman coins, dug up in hoards as well as single pieces. The town lay on a trade route frequented by Roman merchants, who came to buy beryl, quartz and other stones.
Goods to be exported to the West were carried by road to the Chera port of Muziris (Pattinam) on the west coast near Thrissur, and then went by ship. Goods for South-east Asia were carried east to Karur, capital of the Chera kingdom, then to Poompuhar near the mouth of the Kaveri, and then overseas.

Judging by the trade pattern, and as is suggested by finds of beryl jewellery in eastern Europe and elsewhere, Kodumanal’s exports went a long way.
Although Kodumanal is on the Noyyal, a tributary of the Kaveri, the river was not used by shipping. The Noyyal is shallow, rocky and has strong currents, so the trade route followed its banks.
Rajan’s findings suggest that only about half of the Kodumanal site, which is about 100 acres in all, was inhabited in ancient times. The other half is a huge burial ground. In the last three months, the archaeologists have opened some 180 graves.
The number of graves is not so unusual, says Rajan, as the kinds of graves. There are three types: pot, urn and chamber stone burials. The last is for people of high status, and in these graves the archaeologists have found gold and other items.

A few of the big tombs are surmounted by stone megaliths (though some 300 megalithic tombs in all, of different grades, have been found in the region). The archaeologists have also recovered three skeletons, two female and one male.
One that may be typical is of a person buried with legs crossed, a large stone under one knee and a gold ring in the hand. As Rajan explains, this tells us about the dead person’s profession. It was jewellery workers who sat in this position with a stone under a knee, to work the precious stones.
The cists, or chamber burials, come in three varieties depending on orientation, the number of connected chambers and layout. The cists are covered by individual capstones.

The number and variety of the tombs and graves tell us what the rest of the site already makes clear: at its peak this was a prosperous place, with many residents, whose pride in their work, which was organised on an industrial scale, reflected the strong worldwide demand for it.
This is the last day of the dig at Kodumanal. Work has been on for three months, since April, performed by six PhD scholars, numerous students and 40 local labourers. And yet it is as if the archaeologists have merely scratched the surface.
There is still a large historical treasure trove, of material and insight not bullion, waiting to be unearthed. According to Rajan it will take another 10 years to complete the excavation.

Not only does this excavation bring to light the rich industrial and cultural past of this region, and reveal to us an important chapter in India’s economic history, it also offers the people of Kodumanal a better future.
Roads are being laid, drinking water and electricity being provided. Youngsters from Kodumanal have started going to school and college — …. NO DOUBT HISTORY CREATES ANOTHER HISTORY!!!!!!

Natarajan
———————–

SOURCE::::ARTICLE BY V.SRIRAM ..HISTORIAN …

MOUNT ROAD CONTINUES TO BE THE HEART OF CHENNAI EVEN TODAY…..ONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THIS GRAND OLD ROAD ..
THAT IS WHY ,INFORMATION , I READ ,IS BEING SHARED WITH YOU THRO MY SITE TODAY…

Natarajan

This principal artery got its name because it connected the Fort to St. Thomas Mount. Its northern end had the official residence of the Governor, called Government House, from the 1740s till 1947. By 1803, it had a lovely Banqueting Hall attached to it. In 2009, it was decided that the new Assembly and Secretariat would be built here. Government House was demolished, but Banqueting Hall (renamed Rajaji Hall in the 1950s) has survived.
All the posh retail establishments of the city had their home here. P Orr & Sons with its heritage building is one such. Another was Spencer’s, founded in 1863. It became one of the largest departmental store chains in Asia, with over 60 branches all over the country and running over 300 restaurants in railway stations from Peshawar to Trivandrum. Spencer’s cigars were Winston Churchill’s favourite! In 1985, Spencer’s historic showroom was gutted in a fire and later demolished. In its place came Spencer’s Plaza, the city’s first mall. Another retailer of the medical variety was WE Smith’s set up in 1868. Smith’s headquarters was Kardyl Building, built in the 1870s, in a style described as “Indo-Saracenic run riot”. Subsequently it became an LIC property, but faces an uncertain future.
If Madras is today known as the Detroit of India, Mount Road saw the beginnings. The pioneer was Simpson, founded in 1840 as a coach-builder, later becoming a car dealer. Simpson later took to manufacturing and today still runs its factory on Mount Road, assembling diesel engines. Other old names associated with cars in this road are Addisons and Speed-A-Way, both like Simpson, now a part of Amalgamations. Even Ashok Leyland began on Mount Road, assembling Austin cars in workshops to the rear of Reliance Motors.
Not far from Amalgamations offices but fittingly on the opposite side are the workshops of rival TVS. Beginning as bus operators in Madurai they later graduated to automobile servicing by taking over Madras Auto Services (MAS), whose handsome art-deco office stands in the midst of other TVS offices on Mount Road. MAS was founded by A.K. Ramachandra Iyer, the owner of Midland Theatre and who first brought Coca Cola and Parker pens to India. Ramachandra Iyer had a leopard for a pet, which terrified passersby. That was in the 1930s. A few years later came Ellis R. Dungan, the American film-maker who had a passion for directing Tamil films. He lived at the Ambassador Hotel (now replaced by the Indian Overseas Bank) on Mount Road and kept a tiger cub as his pet. This too ran about on one memorable occasion before being shunted off to the zoo. Today it is hard to imagine that wild animals could once roam around Mount Road.

The Madras Mail (founded 1868) and the Swadesamitran (1882), which boasted of national poet Subramania Bharati as a sub-editor, are newspapers that once operated from Mount Road but have since closed shop. But The Hindu, (1878) operates from a wonderful art-deco edifice. A cul-de-sac off Mount Road is Club House Road, once leading to The Madras Club, founded in 1832 as a whites-only club! When the Club moved, Indian Express bought the property. The paper later shifted to Ambattur and the old Club House was demolished to make way for another swanky mall. Mount Road continues to remain home to other historic clubs – The Cosmopolitan, founded in 1873, to accommodate Indians and Europeans and the Suguna Vilasa Sabha (1891), catering to theatre lovers.
The first hotel to come up on Mount Road was D’Angellis, which began business in 1906 and later became Bosotto’s, a name better known today in confectionery. The Connemara catered to the upper-class. For the middle-class were the Udipi hotels, the first being Udipi Krishna Vilas, founded by K Krishna Rao, who later began the Woodlands chain. Krishna Vilas no longer survives, but the Udipi and Woodlands names are strong. The non-vegetarians had Buhari’s, Bilal and Coronation Durbar. The former was known for its Chicken 65, so named because it was the 65th item on the menu!
Music was an integral part of Mount Road. P Orr sold gramophone records as did AV Meyyappa Chettiar’s Saraswathi Stores. Another old name associated with music on Mount Road is Musee Musicals, beginning life as Misquith’s in 1842. Today it specialises in the sale of music instruments and conducts examinations on behalf of Trinity College of London. Its premises were once elephant stables!
Roughly midway on Mount Road stood Gemini Studios owned by movie-mogul S.S. Vasan, remembered even today for blockbusters such as Chandralekha. Gemini is long-gone but another of Vasan’s enterprises, the magazine Ananda Vikatan continues on this road. Several theatres stood here, the old and historic ones such as The Elphinstone (remembered more for its soda fountain and Jaffar’s Ice Cream), The Globe, Plaza and Wellington now mere memories with office blocks in their place. The country’s first multiplex was also here, housing the theatres Safire, Blue Diamond and Emerald, all now demolished. A few theatres such as Shanti and the Devi multiplex survive.
India’s oldest book seller – Higginbotham’s, is also on Mount Road. It has been in the book trade since 1844, though the present building dates back to only 1904. Handicrafts have their presence too on this road. Poompuhar, Government of Tamil Nadu’s outlet is located in handsome Indo-Saracenic premises here as is the Khadi Gramudyog Bhawan. More functional is the showroom of Victoria Technical Institute, which dates back to the 1870s and specialises in handicrafts too. Another Indo-Saracenic premises which is home to many handicraft shops is Agurchund Mansions, the first building in Madras to rise to 100 feet.
Religion has its space too on Mount Road. The dargah of Hazrat Moosa Shah Qadiri, the Thousand Lights Mosque and the Christ Church cater to the needs of the faithful.
LIC’s headquarters on Mount Road was the city’s first multi-storeyed building. It continues to remain a landmark of the city. Other high rises of early vintage are Tarapore Towers…

SOURCE::::ARTICLE BY DR.P.LATHA …THE HINDU …. A NICE ARTICLE WHICH DRIVES THE MESSAGE OF GOOD HEALTH WITH A HILARIOUS TOUCH!!!!…. I AM SURE THOSE WHO HAVE MISSED THIS ARTICLE IN THE HINDU WILL REALLY APPRECIATE THE REFERENCE OF THIS ARTICLE IN THIS SITE FOR THEIR BENEFIT ….

NATARAJAN

Mr. Death convenes a meeting at his office with Messrs Diabetes, Hypertension and Heart Attack.

Death: I believe you will be wondering why I convened this urgent meeting. I am quite unhappy with your performance, and I am seriously concerned about the future of my dynasty. I have been instructing you for the past several years to bring Mr. Health to my office. But you people have been turning a deaf ear to all my orders. I just need your explanation. Let me start with Hypertension.

Hypertension: Sir, I am deeply offended by your comments. As you would be aware, my acts come to light only after a long period of time. I wish to once again disclose that I have been silently affecting a larger percentage of the human population, causing considerable damage to almost all organs of the body. Basically, I affect the blood vessels and will make every effort to hamper blood supply to vital organs, including the heart, the brain and the kidneys. My persistence depends upon the person’s unawareness of my presence. But if I manage to persist, I will surely ensure that he is brought to your gallery or at least make his life worthless and confine him to bed. When I damage a person’s heart, he will develop heart failure and when I damage his kidneys he will develop kidney failure. When I damage his brain, he will suffer a stroke. I can even make a person blind and speechless.

Death: You are boasting too much, then why did you leave Mr. Health?

Hypertension: Sir, whatever I said is not just empty rhetoric. They are true facts. Mr. Health gets his blood pressure checked periodically through his family doctor. More important, he is stress-free. He has reduced his salt intake, and right from childhood he has been doing regular exercise. How can I approach him, sir? I am equally ashamed and concerned. But I am helpless.

Death: Oh God, what about you, Mr. Diabetes?

Diabetes: Sir, It is indeed disheartening to see you worried and angry. But let me assure you that we have been working too hard, especially during the last 25 years to throw life on earth out of gear. Currently, I have made India the diabetic capital of the world. I wish to humbly disclose that I can derange the whole metabolism of the human body, and can equally cause damage like hypertension and I can even damage the nerves, when no one controls me. Especially, when we both (Diabetes and Hypertension) make an alliance, no human being can escape the clutches of our cruelty.

But in the case of Mr. Health, he has very clean eating habits. He avoids junk foods. He eats plenty of fresh vegetables and goes for a morning walk regularly. Even my sister Cholesterol couldn’t have any nexus with him.

I would also wish to bring to your notice that Mr. Cigarette and Mr. Alcohol have left him scot-free. I am helpless at present.

Death: Is it? I shall summon them both immediately

Death sends an sms to Cigarette and Alcohol — ‘urgent meeting at my office. Come quick.’

Both of them appear within minutes.

Cigarette and Alcohol: Good morning, sir.

Death: This morning doesn’t seem to be good for me.

Cigarette and Alcohol: What shall we do for you, sir?

Death: Look here gentlemen, I have been praising you always. You both have been doing a wonderful work ruining the world, and spoiling mankind. But I get worried when Hypertension and Diabetes accuse you of not having made any nexus with Health.

Cigarette and Alcohol: Sir, we tried our level best to approach him. We have indeed made an indecent proposal through his friends. But he doesn’t seem to bother us. Yet we are continuously struggling. Once we succeed in approaching him, we will destroy almost every organ in his body, but our preference will be his lungs, heart and pancreas.

Death: You have not spoken anything, Mr. Heart Attack

Heart Attack: Sir, as you would be aware, without the cooperation of the other members, I am virtually helpless.

Death: Gentlemen, I am totally upset. If such things continue on earth, then my galleries will be virtually empty. I have a feeling that my dynasty is shrinking. I hereby make an earnest appeal to each one of you to continue your battle more vigorously against mankind. Expecting positive results from you soon. Goodbye.

Writer’s advice: Dear students, did you hear the conversation of these bad guys? Let us not fall a victim to their nefarious plans. Let’s strive hard to win this unholy battle against mankind. It is only during childhood that healthy lifestyles could be built up. So right from now, start practising a healthy lifestyle. Adopt clean habits and sensitise your neighbours to the importance of health.

(The writer is a Tutor in Community Medicine, Tirunelveli Medical College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. drplatha@yahoo.in)

SOURCE:::::THE HINDU….ARTICLE BY DR.JALAJA RAMASWAMY….
WHEN I READ THIS ARTICLE IN THE HINDU , I GOT REMINDED OF THE ADVICE OF DR.V. CHOCKALINGAM, EMINENT CARDILOGIST , CHENNAI . DR. CHOCKALINGAM USE TO SAY ” WHENEVER YOU EAT YOUR FOOD, THINK OF RAINBOW AND ENSURE THAT YOUR PLATE IS FULL OF GREEN VEG. AND COLORFUL FRUITS….A RAINBOWLIKE FILL…. ONCE YOU ENSURE THIS AS YOUR DAILY HABIT, I AM SURE YOU CAN AVOID TAKING CAPSULES AND TABLETS WITH MULTI COLOR COMBINATION !!!!”
IN TAMIL HE OFTEN USE TO SAY ” வண்ண மிகு கனி காய் உங்கள் உணவில் தினம் இருந்தால் , பல வண்ண மாத்திரைகள் ,
உங்களுக்கு தேவைப்படாது …..உங்கள் வாழ்வும் வானவில் போல வண்ண மயமாக இருக்கும் ….இது நிச்சயம் !!!!…”

WHY DONT WE TRY ‘RAINBOW DIET” IN OUR OWN INTEREST!!!!!!!!

Natarajan

Lots of colour on your plate not only makes your food look good but also keeps you fighting fit.

A “Rainbow Diet” is one that includes foods of different colours by adding different kinds of fruits and vegetables into your diet. Most of us know that including generous servings of fruits and vegetables in the diet is the cornerstone of good health, but we lack the motivation to do so.

Besides, the effort that goes into the processing and preparation of vegetables and the ever spiralling cost are huge deterrents towards ensuring a salad, one or two vegetables and an after meal fruit. But everyone must include more fruits and vegetables in their diet because they have special ingredients that not only prevent but also delay the onset of many diseases.

Essential nutrients

Vitamins like vitamin C, compounds called carotenoids (some of which can be converted to vitamin A in the body), vitamin K, riboflavin, and folic acid are found in many vegetables and fruits. In fact, guava and gooseberry are some of the inexpensive sources of vitamin C. Vegetables like capsicum are rich in thiamin, a member of the B complex family of vitamins.

Some vegetables like potato, sweet potato, tapioca and yam and fruits like mango, banana and sapota make a fair contribution towards energy intake. Most vegetables and fruits are high in water and fibre contents and low in calorific value.

Many of the greens — Amaranth (mulai keerai and araikeerai), manathakkali, mint and cowpea leaves — are packed with iron. Green leafy vegetables like agathi, amaranth, drumstick and fenugreek leaves also have generous amounts of calcium. Green leafy vegetables are also high in potassium and magnesium, low in fat and sodium, all of which are cardio-protective.

Phytochemicals

More recently it has been reported that vegetables and fruits contain compounds called phytochemicals, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and immune-boosting properties and promote good health and a high quality of life. There are thousands of phytochemicals packed into fruits and vegetables.

Flavonols are found in lemons, oranges, plums, peaches, apricots, apples, green leafy vegetables, yellow capsicum, onions and broccoli.

Naringenin — found in all citrus fruits, especially grape fruit — known to reduce blood cholesterol and glucose concentrations.

Anthocyanidins are found in red grapes, pomegranates, strawberries, cherries and plums and are cardio and neuro-protective.

Yellow fruits like mangoes and green leafy vegetables and carrots are rich in beta carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body and also helps fight cancer.

Red fruits like tomatoes and watermelon contain lycopene, which is important for fighting prostate cancer and heart disease.

Fisetin — found in strawberries, blueberries, apples, grapes and onions — is being studied for its anti-ageing effects

The most natural way to overcome constipation is to increase intake of green leafy and other high fibre vegetables and fruits.

Their high water and fibre content and low energy values promote satiety and decrease energy intake and could be important in weight management. Nutritionists recommend regular moderate exercise and many servings of soups and salads for those who need to shed a few pounds. Substituting fruits and vegetables for a calorie dense evening snack helps weight loss.

Benefits

Other health benefits include prevention of or delaying type 2 diabetes mellitus, protection against esophageal, stomach and perhaps colorectal, lung and mouth and pharyngeal cancers; reduced risk of cardiovascular events and stroke. A diet packed with raw fruits and salads can help prevent Amyloid plaque formation in the brain, which leads to Alzheimers disease.

Emerging evidence also shows a beneficial role in reducing risk of cataract, diverticulosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and even hypertension. In fact, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) plan recommends generous intake of fruits and vegetables.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommends that adults eat at least five kinds of vegetable and two kinds of fruit every day. Most experts do not consider potatoes as a part of these seven servings.

The key to good health is therefore to include plenty of fruits and vegetables. Ensure that your shopping bag is filled with colour. Both variety and quantity is the key. Lastly, go seasonal. This is the best way to ensure quality and an affordable price.

Begin early

Train children to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Add pureed or smooth vegetables and fruits to cereals as first foods and introduced to infants at about six months of age.

The quantity, consistency and variety can be increased as the child grows. This way, resistance to vegetables and fruits at a later age is likely to be minimal.

How much?

Start with five servings of fruits or vegetables.

Slowly increase to at least seven servings through the day.

One serving = 75 gm.

Easy to use

Make fruit juice

Add to salads, pastas and raitas

Make sandwich fillings

Puree into soups

Keep a fruit bowl handy

Fill half your plate with vegetable; then add other foods

SOURCE…..ARTICLE BY V.SRIRAM, HISTORIAN ……A LIFE STORY OF SHRI.NAMBHERUMAL CHETTY IS REALLY INTERESTING TO READ… MANY OF US ARE NOT AWARE OF THE ENTREPRENEURAL SKILL OF THIS GREAT MAN … HIS STORY IS TO BE READ AND CHERISHED BY CHENNITES OF ALL TIMES !!!!!

Natarajan

Who were the building contractors and artisans who converted into reality the plans of architects such as Benfield, de Havilland and Chisholm? We may never know. But from the 1880s, a series of Indian names emerges and foremost among these was Thatikonda Namberumal Chetty. He was numero uno in the business of civil contracts for constructing public buildings and several of his works still survive, standing testimony to his building skills.
Namberumal’s father T Ramachandra had migrated to Madras in the 1850s and begun a hardware business, in which he became greatly successful. Namberumal was born in 1855 and had a conventional education, graduating from the University of Madras and also becoming a Sanskrit scholar. But for some reason he opted not to follow in his father’s footsteps and decided to set up business as a civil contractor. His first contract was for the building of underground drains in present-day Jagannathapuram in the Chetpet area. The work began with his mother handing out the first brick, a tradition which was to continue as long as she was alive, for every one of his building contracts.
In 1887, Namberumal was to land his first big job – the construction of the Victoria Public Hall on Poonamallee High Road, to Chisholm’s design, though there is a theory that he was also the contractor for the GPO, designed by Chisholm and completed in 1884. It was with Chisholm’s successor Henry Irwin that Namberumal struck a great working relationship. The Irwin-Namberumal combination was to create some of the most wonderful buildings of the city including the High Court and Law College, the Bank of Madras (now State Bank of India), the Victoria Memorial Hall (now the National Art Gallery) and the Connemara Public Library. Later, under Irwin’s successor GST Harris, Namberumal was to build the YMCA Building on China Bazar Road. A couple of other buildings attributed to him are the Museum Theatre and a section of the General Hospital. One of his creations, the National Bank building on Rajaji Salai has since been demolished. Compared to all these stately edifices, a simpler and yet no less beautiful is the Hindu High School on Triplicane’s Big Street. In 1900, he built the Victoria Hostel for the students of the Presidency College. Given so many examples of his work, it is no wonder that it was generally believed that any red-brick structure in the city was built by him.
In an era when construction involved the usage of massive quantities of bricks and timber, Namberumal ensured that he had access to the best quality in both by promoting companies focusing on them. He had a brick kiln set up exclusively for his use near the Pacchaiyappa’s College. At a time when cement was unknown, he created his own bonding mix, made of indigenous materials. As for timber, he set up the Trichur Timber and Saw Mills which not only sourced timber from Kerala but also from Burma. Equipped with the latest machinery, this company employed 200 people in the 1900s and exported timber to Europe, America and South Africa. Namberumal’s entrepreneurial energies were also to see him acquiring a small private raiway company, which ran a feeder line to the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, from Tiruvallur Station.

Given all this business activity, Namberumal became very wealthy indeed. By the early 1900s, he had moved out of Ananda Bhawan, his ancestral home in George Town to Jarret’s Gardens in Kilpauk. From there he indulged in his passion for acquiring land and soon his property spanned some 2000 grounds, bound largely by the Cooum, Casa Major Road and Pantheon Road. Much of Chetpet fell into this property and soon there emerged a story, that Chetpet was so named because it was (T Namberumal) Chetty’s pettai (colony). Within this vast landholding were several bungalows and at last count, Namberumal owned 99 houses in Madras. He never acquired the 100th, believing that it would bring him bad luck. His residence was Crynant, built on 64 grounds in McNichols Road. He also became the first Indian in Madras to own a car – his first vehicle being a French Dideon with registration number MC03. He was also famous for his stable of some of the finest horses.
Many honours and recognitions came his way. He was given the title of Rao Sahib in 1901 and in 1923 he was conferred the Dewan Bahadur. He became a member of the Madras Legislative Council and was also the first Indian Director of the National Bank (later Grindlays and now a part of the Standard Chartered Bank).
Namberumal had two sons of whom the elder, Rangamannar, succeeded him in the contracting business. The younger Rajamannar interestingly, was to marry a Parsi woman – Rutti, a daring example of an inter-community marriage in that era. Among his sons-in-law, at least two would become well known – the first CT Alwar Chetty, was a partner with Namberumal and also a founder of V Perumal Chetty & Sons, the famed stationery firm. The other son-in-law, C Krishnaswami Chetty, was Electrical Engineer at the Madras Corporation and can claim the credit for first introducing the radio to India in 1924.
Namberumal lavished affection on yet another youngster – and that was the mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. When Ramanujan returned, famous but terminally sick from England in 1919, it was Namberumal who housed him at Crynant, ensuring that he had the best medical treatment. Ramanujan felt that the name of the house had the syllable ‘cry’ and so would bring him bad luck. He was immediately shifted to another Namberumal residence- Gometra. But it was all to no avail, for he was to die in April 1920.
Namberumal died in 1925. Today, there are numerous charities and trusts that still bear his name and owe their existence to his munificence. These, and some of his buildings continue to tell the tale of the wonder that was Namberumal.
Sriram V
The writer is a well known historian of the city

SOURCE:::::ARTICLE BY V.SRIRAM,,,HISTORIAN…

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT T.NAGAR WAS NOT IN THE MAP OF MADRAS TILL 1921!!!!!…… IT WAS FORMED OUT OF A LONG LAKE !!!!…READ FURTHER

Home to a king, politicians and film stars

Incredible though it may sound today, there was no Chennai or Madras to the west of Mount Road till 1921. Land’s end was effectively Gemini Studios, after which, all along the western side was a vast lake, known as the Long Tank of Mylapore. By 1921 however, there was a severe housing shortage in the city and it was decided that this lake be filled in and the space converted into a vast self-contained residential colony – Theyagaraya Nagar. This was the first instance of planned development in 20th century Madras. The draining of a water body would today raise concerns from environmentalists but then it was not thought to be of any importance.
The removal of a lake has led to some place names being meaningless but they have survived nevertheless. There is a Lake Area nearby, and there are the Lake View and Tank Bund Roads. All of these commemorate the vanished Long Tank. The entire area was once the village of Mambalam and when the lake on the eastern side became T Nagar, what was left became West Mambalam as it survives even now.
T Nagar, when it was planned in the 1920s, was conceived to be bounded by four roads – Mount Road, Mambalam High (now Usman) Road, Burkitt Road and Bazullah Road. This was the era when for the first time a Government by Indians was in power in the provinces. In Madras Presidency, the Justice Party was in power, with the Raja of Panagal being the Prime Minister. This grand title did not amount to much, for the real power was the British Governor. But nevertheless, T Nagar, developing as it did during the Justice Party’s tenure, was to see a number of that party’s leaders commemorated in its streets and parks. Several still survive – Panagal and C Natesa Mudaliar have parks named after them while O Thanikachalam Chetty, Sir Gopathy Narayanaswami Chetty, Dr. TM Nair and Sir Mohammed Usman among others have roads remembering them.
Officialdom was not forgotten either. Thus Molony Road is in honour of J Chartres Molony who was then President of the Madras Corporation. JW Madeley, JR Coats, Sir GT Boag, J Venkatanarayana Rao and Sir T Vijayaraghavachariar were all officers of the Corporation. In the midst of all this, we also have touching tributes to the humble labourers who made T Nagar a reality. Thus Nathamuni and Govindu Streets remember two diggers who were killed while laying the underground drains in T Nagar. Pondy Bazaar, which was the main shopping precinct, is named after W Soundarapandia Nadar, another Justice Party man. Pride of place however goes to Sir Pitty Theyagaraya Chetty, one of the founders of the Justice Party and one of the prominent councillors of the Corporation. T Nagar takes its name from him and one of its principal arteries – Sir Theyagaraya Road commemorates him too.

Along these principal roads and arteries came the houses. The main roads had several stately bungalows, largely reflective of the then prevailing art-deco style in architecture. The area slowly developed its own amenities – the Mambalam Railway Station, the bus terminus, schools by way of the Ramakrishna Mission institutions, the Holy Angels Convent and Vidyodaya. The T Nagar Social Club, founded in 1935, provided the space for social interaction. It is still going strong, operating from its handsome premises at Panagal Park corner. Another, less known but more historical is the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, set up in 1918 but moving only in 1936 to T Nagar. Mahatma Gandhi was its President from 1927 till his passing. Another historic institution is the SGS Sabha, the community association for the Goud Saraswaths or Konkani-speaking people, which turns 100 in 2012.
For some reason, T Nagar became the home of the Telugu speaking community. Even today it is rumoured, you can get through life knowing Telugu, if you happen to live in that area. And perhaps because of this connection, many film stars and directors of the 1950s lived here. Savitri, BN Reddy and Chittoor V Nagiah were just a few. The last named was also to give T Nagar its first music sabha – the Tyagabrahma Gana Sabha which functions from its landmark building – the Vani Mahal. Rather appropriately, his statue adorns Panagal Park as does a small exquisite one of the Raja of Panagal. Other film personalities who have statues in T Nagar are NS Krishnan and the composer Kannadasan. Perhaps the greatest of them all, Sivaji Ganesan was a long time resident too. He bought the house of Sir GT Boag in the 1960s and lived in it till his death. Annai Illam as the house is called, is beautifully maintained and lived in by the family. A part of Boag Road is now Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Road. Several theatres once stood here – Rajkumari (earlier Sayani) and Nagesh were two that were owned by the eponymous film stars. These have become shopping malls.
T Nagar is today known more for its shopping complexes. Among the first to set base here was Nalli, its trademark white art-deco showroom still a prominent presence. Another old name is Naidu Hall. Since then, we have had any number of famous names here. Come festival season, the crowds that throng T Nagar are legendary. This has also led to several problems, most notably congestion. But there is no denying that T Nagar possesses a vibrancy all of its own. It is therefore no surprise that some have come to think of the ‘T’ as being an abbreviation for trade.
T Nagar is perhaps unique in that it has a book on it and its author is none other than the textile baron Nalli Kuppusami Chetti, long time resident of the area. ‘Theyagaraya Nagar, Anrum Inrum’ is a succinct account of the various aspects of T Nagar and is a must-read. The veteran writer Ashokamitran has also penned several interesting accounts of life in this neighbourhood. Reading his works transports you to a T Nagar that was lush green and laid back.
Sriram V
The writer is a well known historian of the city

SOURCE::::::::::ARTICLE BY V.SRIRAM, HISTORIAN…

Natarajan

T Namberumal Chetty may have been the biggest, but he was certainly not the only name to contend with when it came to execution of public buildings in the city. Unfortunately, there is not much biographical detail available about the others though some sketchy bits do exist. By far the best documentation is in Somerset Playne’s excellent work Southern India, Its History, People, Commerce and Industrial Resources, published in 1914/15 by the Foreign and Colonial Compiling and Publishing Company, London. Some of the names given in that work are:
S Ambrose- He began life as a clerk in the PWD. Having obtained private tuition from one of the tutors at the Civil Engineering College (later the College of Engineering, Guindy), he joined in 1894, a course of artisans and sub-overseers at the same institution. He was also trained by WN Pogson, the architect of the old Spencer showroom. He then worked at the PWD in Madras and Travancore and after 10 years of service, resigned to set up his own independent practice. Ambrose appears to have obtained contracts for building in various parts of Madras Presidency. In the city, he designed and built that St Ebbas School building and the Church of the Good Shepherd, both standing till now on what was originally Sullivans Gardens, Mylapore. He also built a hostel for Indian girls at the St Thomas Convent, San Thome and made improvements and additions to the Oriental Assurance Buildings, George Town. His office was at Milan House, Royapettah.
AK Venkatarama Iyer and AK Ranganatha Iyer – The brothers set up business first in timber around 1911 or so. They supplied fittings for the renovation of Banqueting (Rajaji) Hall. They supplied ornamental furnishings for the Government Medical College and branched into cabinet making. In 1913 they got into civil construction and among the first projects entrusted to them was the University Library. They also executed the Police Lines (living quarters) in Triplicane (since demolished). In later years, AK Ranganatha Iyer ventured into making bricks and his Krishna Brick Works held almost a monopoly for supply of bricks almost all over Madras. He lived in Kumara Vijayam, a palatial bungalow off Royapettah High Road next to Vidya Mandir School. That has become a multi-storeyed building of the same name.
T Batchacharry – His career was summarised as having grown from apprentice to journeyman, journeyman to manager and from manager to master. As a boy he learnt the carpenter’s trade and in 1894 he set up business, making household furniture on order. In 1899 he began undertaking civil contracts, among the first such being the construction of bungalows in Chetpet and Nungambakkam. In 1911, Bhatchacharry obtained his biggest contract – Rs 170,000 worth of construction for the Madras Christian College, then on China Bazaar Road. Sadly, none of all this survives, the last remnants being demolished by LIC a few years ago. He also did most of the woodwork when the Madras Legislative Assembly was built in Fort St George. He was also involved in the construction of the Church Park School and St Joseph’s Church, Vepery.
G Venkatarama Iyer – A graduate by qualification, he chose to leave Government service and start off as a civil contractor. He appears to have been an understudy to T Namberumal Chetty, for he was involved in the construction of the Bank of Madras and the National Bank of India buildings (the former now the SBI Main Office and the latter demolished). He is significant on a personal note for he built the residence of the District Engineer of the South Indian Railway Company in Tanjore. It was in that house that my father was born, when my grandfather V Ramaiya held that post.
P Loganatha Mudaliar – He it was who came closest to Namberumal in terms of business volumes and stature of projects. It is likely that he marked the beginning of the end as far as Namberumal’s sway was concerned. Beginning in 1902, Mudaliar first executed St Mark’s Church in Bangalore. In Madras he began with a hostel for medical students at Royapuram. This was followed by the Madras Records Office (now the Tamil Nadu Archives), which involved reconstruction of a bungalow called Haslemere at a cost of Rs One lakh. This was in 1909. From then till 1913, Mudaliar worked on his magnum opus – the construction of Ripon Buildings at a cost of Rs 7.5 lakhs (Rs 5.00 lakhs being Mudaliar’s share). The building, one of India’s first to use reinforced concrete for its foundation, was declared open by the Viceroy of India – Lord Hardinge of Penshurst on 26th November, 1913.
T Samynada Pillay – Like Loganatha Mudaliar, he too was from Bangalore where he had done considerable work since 1879. These include the magnificent Sir K Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall (now the State Library) in Cubbon Park. The South Indian Railway Company brought him to Madras Presidency, where he executed the Tiruchirapalli Railway Station and the Madurai Railway Colony. In 1914, he took on the task of building the Egmore Railway Station to Henry Irwin’s design. After its completion, he embarked on the construction of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway’s headquarters next to Central Station. Today that is the head office of the Southern Railway. Samynada Pillay ran extensive brick kilns on Poonamallee High Road to support his construction activity. His brother Chinnasawmy Pillai assisted him right through.
It’s quite an impressive lineup. And to think that we attribute most of our heritage to British builders!
Sriram V
The writer is a well known historian

SOURCE:::::ARTICLE BY V.SRIRAM, HISTORIAN….

Natarajan

The Chenna Kesava and Chenna Malleeswara Swami temples of George Town are very historic though little known. Madras was founded on 22nd August 1639. Among the natives involved in that event were Beri Thimmannan (or Thimmappa), agent to Francis Day, and Naga Battan who was a gun powder maker for the East India Company.
Within nine years of this event, Thimmannan executed an endowment to a temple of the city in favour of one Narayanappa Ayyar. The document is dated the “28th of Chitri month in Sarvathari year of Salivahana Era, 1569″ and reads as follows:
“Whereas at Chenna Puttanem I have built the Chenna Casava Perumaul Covil, and have endowed it with Manyam, a piece of ground, and other privileges, which all I do (hereby) transfer now to you, and which you are to hold and enjoy from son to grandson, as long as the duration of (both) the sun and moon performing the divine service to their utmost extent. Should any one act prejudicially towards the charity, he would incur the guilt of having massacred a black cow on the bank of the Ganges. It is the gift to Narrainappyer by Bari Thimmanen through his consent.”
There is also a record of Naga Battan endowing the same temple two years prior to Beri Thimmannan.
Did the temple give the city its name or was it the other way round? Perhaps the former is the correct explanation for Chenna Kesava was a common name for Vishnu in temples of south India. Whatever be the correct theory, it cannot be denied that Chennai and the Chenna Kesava Perumal temple grew in size together. The temple that Thimmannan built was located where the present High Court premises stand. A visitor to the city in 1673, Dr Fryer penned his impressions of the shrine, most of which is unfortunately in completely unintelligible English. But what little can be gleaned makes it clear that he did not like temples.
By 1710, the temple was referred to as the Great Pagoda of Madras in city maps. The French invaded and occupied Madras in 1746 and left in 1749. The British on their return felt the need to reinforce security and among the first steps was to relocate Black Town, which grew up all around the Great Pagoda, further inland. The temple itself was demolished in 1757 and much of its debris went into the construction of a protective wall of the town.
However, the Company, realising that it was offending religious sentiments, gave the natives of the city, an equivalent parcel of land in new Black Town for building the same temple. This plot of around 25000 sq.ft, a rough trapezium formed by present day Gengu Ramiah Street, Devaraja Mudali Street, NSC Bose Road and Nainiappa Naicken Street is where the new temple came up and stands today.
Closely involved in the construction of the temple was Manali Muthukrishna Mudaliar, the last Chief Merchant of the East India Company and dubash to Governor Pigot. Muthukrishna Mudaliar opened a public subscription to rebuild the temple in its new location and contributed 5202 pagodas (the prevailing currency) as his mite. The Company gave 1173 pagodas and the rest came from the public making the corpus 15652 pagodas in all. It was decided that the new location would have two shrines, one for Shiva and the other for Vishnu and so, the Chenna Malleeswara Swami Temple came up along with the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple. Muthukrishna Mudaliar endowed the temple with lands and the Company gave an annual grant of 500 pagodas for maintenance. The deities were consecrated in 1766 and work continued till 1780. Together the twins came to be known as the Patnam (Town) Temples, which is how they are referred to even today in George Town area.
The temples must have still been under construction when Arunachala Kavi (1711-1779), the creator of the immortal Rama Natakam came to Madras to meet Muthukrishna Mudaliar and be rewarded by him. Carnatic Music lovers of course remember Mudaliar for his contribution to the art by bringing the family of Ramaswami Dikshitar to Madras in 1790. When the Dikshitar children, Muthuswami, Baluswami and Chinnaswami must have come to the city with their parents and sister, all wide-eyed at the bustling metropolis, they must have seen the temples in all their glory. Muthukrishna Mudaliar died in 1792 and then his son Venkatakrishna (d 1817) became the trustee of the temples. In 1831, a civil suit recognised the grandson, also a Muthukrishna, as the hereditary trustee and the Manali family continues to remain involved with the temples till date. Several of them have statues for themselves on the pillars of the temple.

An endowment made by Juttur Subramania Chetty, a patron of the 19th century ensured that a nagaswaram player was honoured each year at the Chenna Kesava Perumal temple. During the Periazhwar festival each year in the month of June, a nagaswaram artiste would be invited to come and perform for ten days. He would be expected to take up one raga each evening and perform elaborately on it, finishing off with a pallavi, a ragamalika and some lighter pieces. Writing about this event in the Madras Tercentenary Volume (1939), Prof Sambamurthy says that “all the leading Nagasvaram players of the past like Sembanarkoil Ramasami, Mannargudi Chinna Pakkiri, Sivakolundu and Madura Ponnuswami and of the present like Tiruvidamarudur Viruswami were recipients of this honour.” In his biography of TN Rajarathinam Pillai, Tumilan writes that the maestro’s second nagaswaram performance in the city happened in 1917 at the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple during the Periazhwar festival. Rajarathinam Pillai was surprised to find that some of the city’s leading lights preferred to stand outside the temple and hear his performance, Sir S Subramania Iyer being one. On enquiry, he found that they felt that the shrill Timiri Nayanam was best heard from a distance. That is when the maestro thought of switching over to the heavier and deeper Bari and later mastered it. The nagaswaram tradition continues even now at this temple. However owing the diminishing returns of the original endowment, local nagaswaram artistes are employed during the festival. Big names do not come here anymore.
The first thing that strikes any visitor to these temples is the high standard of cleanliness. Dr Fryer in 1673 wrote of the floor of the old temple “stinking most egregiously of the Oyl they waste in their Lamps and besmear their Beastly Gods with”. But even that nitpicker would not have found anything to cavil about if he were to visit today. The two shrines share a common compound wall and there is a door let into this wall through which it is possible to access one temple from the other. The entrance to Chenna Malleeswara Swami Temple is from NSC Bose Road while that to Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple is from Devaraja Mudali Street.
Architecturally there is nothing spectacular about the temples. The two share a common teppakulam (tank) in which there is always some water. Chenna Kesava Perumal used to have a spectacular utsavam each year when He would go on various mounts around the George Town area. Now congestion has forced Him to remain indoors and observe all festivities from within the compound. In the old days, the spring festival would see Him going on horseback to the Manali Charities Hostel on Govindappa Naicken Street, where enthroned in the Vasantha Mandapam, He would be entertained by music. But now all that is over and done with.
Chenna Kesava Perumal is a small deity in stature and is flanked by Sri and Bhu Devis. There is a separate sub shrine for Shengamala Thayar and also for Rama en famille. The Azhwars all have shrines on side of the temple at right angles to the main deity. Andal has a separate shrine. Chenna Malleeswara is in the form of a linga and the Goddess here is Bhramaramba as in Srisailam. There are separate shrines for Ganesha, Subrahmanya, the Navagrahas and the 63 Nayanmars. The utsava murthis are small and wonderfully embellished with fine details.
The temple is a must for all those who value the history of this city.
Sriram V
The writer is a well known historian of the city