The Perumal Maistry streets around the historic Madurai Meenaksh Amman Temple are testimony to the adage ‘Hard work never fails’. The four streets — East Perumal Maistry, West Perumal Maistry, North Perumal Maistry and South Perumal Maistry — were named after Perumal for honouring his contribution to the expansion of the city in the 1840s. Perumal, a ‘mestri’ (supervisor of construction works) helped the then Madurai collector John Blackburn to realise his plan to develop the areas around the famous temple.

Few city residents know the history behind the naming of Perumal Maistry streets. Even the residents of these streets themselves are ignorant about their history. However, K Muhamad Basha Ilampirai and M Mohammad Ismail who reside on the streets are exceptions. Ilampirai, 73, said that Blackburn wanted to demolish the fort walls around the Meenakshi Amman temple for the development of the city. He realised that it would cost a sizable fortune of the government to dismantle the thick walls of the fort. Besides, the channels adjoining the fort had crocodiles to prevent anyone to reach the fort by crossing the water.

“When the British rulers realised that it was not possible to demolish the fort and fill the huge channel with soil, they decided to seek public participation. To lure the public, the collector announced that people can demolish the fort wall and fill the channel to become owners of the land. People from several villages gathered and completed the work,” he said.

K P Bharathi, programme leader of the tourism development division of Dhan Foundation, a Madurai-based NGO, said, “The whole development took place in 1840s. Two people were crucial to the project — Perumal, the mestri, and Marret, an engineer. They helped Blackburn in the uphill task by supervising the work. To honour Perumal and Marret, the collector ordered the names of the duo be given to the streets newly created in the place of the fort wall and the channel. The four streets near the Perumal Maistry streets are called as Marret streets, he said.

C Santhalingam, a retired archaeological officer who confirmed the history behind the street names, said that there is no government record about the naming of these streets. However, references have been found in several historical records, he said.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by V. Devanathan,  TNN / May 19th, 2013