To protect thousands of migratory birds taking shelter in their village tank, Veerasamuthiram panchayat in Kadayam union in Tirunelveli has urged the government to declare it as a bio-diversity heritage site. In a grama sabha meeting held on Independence Day, the village panchayat passed a resolution appealing to authorities to declare the Vagaikulam tank a heritage site so that more conservation measures could be mooted.
According to Agasthyamalai Community-based Conservation Centre (ACCC) of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE),
which carried out a study, Vagaikulam is an important nesting area for many migratory bird species and it is the only safe roosting site in an area of over 100 square kilo meters. It attracts over 10,000 birds and half of them migrate to the area on every winter season.
So far 90 species of birds have been recorded in Vagaikulam tank, including cormorants and herons. Eight species are migrants coming from Europe and four are from Himalayas. Twenty species of birds like black headed ibis, glassy ibis, oriental darter, black crowned night heron, little cormorant, Indian shag, spoon bills nest mostly on the karuvel (accacia nilotica) trees, which were planted by the social forestry division, said M Mathivanan of ACCC.
However, 80% of these nesting trees have been cut down after they were auctioned and villagers have taken up a legal battle to protect the remaining trees, said A Nagoor Kani, president of Veerasamuthiram panchayat. “The contractor has applied for fresh felling orders hence we have decided to safeguard our tank and birds,” he said.
During the grama sabha meeting, they passed resolution to declare it as bio-diversity heritage site and prevent further felling of trees. The villagers also invited Alankulam MLA, Rajendra for the meeting and he planted a tree inside the tank. The villagers are now planning to plant more trees in the tank area. “The birds give us an identity and many research scholars and college students come here to see birds. We want our tank to be protected,” said R Poomani, a panchayat ward member of Veerasamuthiram. “After Koonthankulam, a bird sanctuary in Tiruenveli district, Vagaikulam is next big nesting site for migratory birds in the district. A bio-diversity heritage tag will help villagers to save their tank and protect these migratory birds,” Mathivanan mentioned. Having passed the resolution, the villagers have decided to apply to National Bio-diversity Authority office in Chennai for recognition.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India /Home> City> Madurai / TNN / August 24th, 2014
Two Tamil writers were on the list of Sahitya Akademi award recipients across the country — Era Natarajan of Cuddalore, who is known for his contribution to children’s literature, and R Abilash, a novelist and poet based in Chennai.
While Natarajan was among 23 chosen for the Bal Puraskar, Abilash was on the Yuva Puraskar list of 21 awardees. The awards carry `50,000 and an engraved copper plaque.
Natarajan (50) hails from Lalgudi in Tiruchy district, has 27 years experience in teaching and now serves as principal of the Krishnasamy Memorial Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Cuddalore. Besides being a double MA — in English and Psychology — he has an MS (Education Management) as well.
Natarajan came into the limelight after his book Ayeesha, which dwells on the problems faced by a schoolgirl, was released in 1996. Over one lakh copies of the book have been sold so far. It is also a textbook in seven autonomous colleges and three universities. Ayeesha was made compulsory learning for government school teachers when they underwent training under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan project. Natarajan has also authored several scientific novels for children and many of them have been translated into Telugu, Konkani, English and French.
Vignana Vikaramathithyan Kathaigal for which Natarajan has won the Bal Puraskar, too is a significant contribution to children’s literature. “During my 27 years of teaching experience, I learned a lot from children and they have now taken the form of books. I dedicate the award to all veteran writers who had dedicated their entire life to children’s literature, particularly Azha Valliappa and Paavanan,” Natarajan told Express.
Yuva Puraskar winner R Abilash hails from Padmanabhapuram in Nagercoil and now resides in Chennai. He has been awarded for his novel Kaalgal published by Uyirmmai Publications.
Abilash, a novelist, poet, essayist and translator in Tamil, is a PhD scholar and the books authored by him include Intiravu Nilavin Keezh, an anthology of translated modern Haiku poems, Cricketin Marum Nirankal, a collection of sports articles, and Bruce Lee — A Biography.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by T. Muruganananadham / August 24th, 2014
Prominent city personalities were honoured at the awards ceremony on Saturday Photo: K. Pichumani / The Hindu
Historians, chroniclers and natives of the cities of Tamil Nadu should make the history and tradition of their places known to the world, said Governor K. Rosaiah.
Historians, chroniclers and natives of the cities of Tamil Nadu should make the history and tradition of their places known to the world, said Governor K. Rosaiah.
He was addressing the audience at Doyens of Madras–2014, an award ceremony organised by the Ambassador Group on Saturday.
Eight persons — M.S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist, Prathap C. Reddy, founder of Apollo Hospitals, V. Baskaran, former Indian hockey team captain, A. Vellayan, executive chairman of Murugappa Group, B.A. Kodandaraman, chairman and managing director, Viveks, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director of IIT-Madras, Priyadarshini Govind, director of Kalakshetra, and Vijay Amritraj, tennis player — received the award.
In his speech, Mr. Rosaiah said every place in Tamil Nadu should come out with celebrations like the one just observed in Chennai.
He said Madras stands as a symbol of national integration, growth, peace and prosperity.
“Above all is its uniqueness in preservation of its rich tradition and culture,” said the Governor.
He said the places and buildings in localities like Mylapore and Triplicane may have changed, with multi-storeyed and commercial buildings cropping up, but the lifestyle around the temples and the street houses haven’t changed much. “These are really marvels of Madras,” he said.
The role played by various forums, organisations, historians, and the media, especially The Hindu, in conduct of Madras Day celebrations, are laudable and stands for emulation, said Mr. Rosaiah.
He also stressed the importance of enlightening the youth of our historical past, rich traditions and culture.
Some of the awardees too shared their memories about Madras with the gathering.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / Staff Reporter / Chennai – August 24th, 2014
Photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are a dime a dozen but those of Chenpakaraman Pillai, Thillaiaadai Valliammal, Tiruppur Kumaran and Vanchinathan are hard to come by. And that’s what inspired Surulynaathan A K A to pick up a pencil after 29 years to sketch portraits of 19 such lesser known freedom fighters to be displayed this Independence Day.
The last time Surulynaathan drew anything was a picture of his son, who died six months after birth. “We were in Salem on a vacation after Anand Mohan was born. It all started with fever and in few days I lost him,” he says. “There was no picture of Anand taken after his birth. So, the last time I sat to draw was in 1985.”
A retired bank manager, Suruly always loved drawing. “I started drawing when I was about nine years old. I drew my friends, my parents, relatives, anybody and everybody I knew,” says the 62-year-old.
When Universal Brotherhood Association and other organisations were looking for a person to sketch portraits of freedom fighters, and a friend introduced him to the organizers. The sketches will be on display at the inner circle of Race Course on August 14 and 15.
“It is easy to get pictures of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Annadurai and others. But we could not find pictures of some freedom fighters,” he explains. “So, I found that the organizers of the gallery were looking for an artist and I volunteered to help them,” he says. According to the artist, some of the freedom fighters lived in a period when there were no cameras.
He sat down to sketch 19 portraits in 18 days. “The most difficult was to draw Tirupur Kumaran. The reference picture I had did not have any clear features or lines. I took five hours to finish it, almost twice the time that I took to sketch the others,” says Suruly. The artist, who is visiting faculty at Bharathiar University, spent about three hours on each portrait.
Suruly took his time in searching for the right pictures from books, internet and library records. “I had to make sure the picture that I choose reflected the freedom fighter’s personality. I did not mind if I had to sit late in the night and complete the portraits,” says Suruly who began his work on July 25.
The artist’s work will travel to Chennai for a display on Republic Day in 2015 and then to Delhi for the 69th Independence Day. In between, the portraits will be displayed at various schools and colleges until August 2015. The organisers are planning to open a patriotic gallery in the city where the portraits will be displayed permanently.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / August 14th, 2014
It was that time of the year again when animal lovers thronged the famous horse shandy in Andhiyur in Erode district. Horses, cows and goats of different breeds and hues were on display for sale on Wednesday and buyers from across the state assessed their pedigree and their worth with a practiced eye. The Andhiyur horse shandy is generally hosted during the Gurunathan Swamy temple festival. Started by Tipu Sultan to sell old army horses to the public, the shandy is more than two centuries old.
Various breeds of horses including Kathiawari, Kathuria, Nokhra and Marwar, goat varieties such as Tellicherryi, Pakistan Kurumbai, Jamnapari, Assam hill goat and Sirohi and a wide range of cows such as Kangeyam and Ongole were available for sale at the shandy. V R S Raja, a participant from Nachipalayam in Coimbatore boasted of his ?Marwari’ horse which is a pedigree breed. “My horse is 6.5ft and is the tallest in this shandy. It is three-and-a-half-years old and costs 25 lakh,” he said. According to him, the tallest horse is 6.8ft tall.
The Tellicherry and Pakistan Kurumbai goats were popular attractions at the shandy. The Tellicherry is preferred for its meat and milk production while the Pakistan Kurumbai is known for its bravery. “A Tellicherry goat weighs 25kg at six months while a normal goat weighs only 18kg at the same age,” said S Arunkumar, an MBA graduate. Unable to find a job, he began rearing goats and now it has become a full-time business for him.
G R Siva from Trichy is passionate about the Kurumbai breed. “My goats are reared to fight. I also have three elephants and Arabian horses which are a high-maintenance breed,” he said. Other goat varieties such as Jamnapari and Sirohi also drew the crowds. “One Jamnapari goat costs 1.5 lakh in the market. It is known for its high milk yield, giving 4 litres of milk daily,” said P Velumani, who has more than 10 Jamnapari goats in his farm in Madurai district.
G V Adhimoolam, a businessman from Erode, showcased his first class Ongole cows at the fair. A pair of Ongole cows would cost 7.5 lakh, he said. “It could go up to 25 lakh depending on its height and beauty,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / August 14th, 2014
FINDING HER SPACE Akemi loves the temples of Mylapore and tamarind rice Photo: R. Ragu / The Hindu
August 22 is Madras Day. Raveena Joseph profiles Akemi Yoshii Purushotham who grew up near Hiroshima but is happy to make Chennai her home
It’s 1995 and superstar Rajinikanth, with lustrous leading lady Meena at his side, is riding a horse carriage. He is being chased, of course, by a group of no less than 20 men with carriages of their own. When they chance upon a gorge, Superstar’s super horses rise to the occasion and fly across, leaving the chasers defeated.
In a small town called Yamaguchi near Hiroshima, as this scene from the movie Muthu unfolds on screen, an otherwise stoic Japanese audience breaks into applause. A young Akemi Yoshii, sits among them, clapping along.
Today, Akemi Yoshii Purushotham, a Chennai resident, remains a fan of Rajinikanth movies. In fact, she watches Chandramukhi everyday to pick up a few Tamil words. Her mother-in-law now converses to her in Tamil, so that she can practise the words she is learning. She also watches Tamil television channels in the evenings, even though the jokes still elude her.
“Naan Tamil padikirane,” she giggles, after taking a few minutes to come up with something clever to say. Having lived here for over six years now, she feels that knowing the language helps her understand the city, its people and culture, better. It’s definitely earned her a few fans, one among them an auto driver, who insisted on shaking her hand for her negotiation skills.
“When I first arrived in Chennai, I thought there were many people here. I also thought there were many animals on the road. It was crazy and at the same time, it felt like I’d come back home,” says Akemi.
While studying Gastronomy in Australia, Akemi met some Indians who spiked her interest in visiting India. She made the shift to Chennai in 2008 when she heard about a job opening for a Japanese translator, wanting to continue her research into ancient Indian food. In a couple of months, she met Purushotham Bhasker, a software engineer in the company she worked for, who was interested in learning Japanese. A year later, she married him, even though he only managed to pick up a few odd words of the language.
Five years hence, Akemi has a routine and a rhythm to her life in Chennai. Out of bed by 7 a.m., she starts her day with yoga. She heads to the kitchen to make breakfast right after and has to choose between the usual suspects — idli, dosa, upma or toast. Then, she makes and packs lunch for her husband — rice, kozhambu, koottu. She works as a freelance translator from home and when she has to leave the house, she doesn’t set out without a pottu on her forehead. She often makes a Japanese dinner for herself and when her husband returns from work at 10 p.m., she practises her Tamil and asks to have her doubts cleared.
An expat who has completely taken on the culture of the city, she’s finds her bliss in the finer things that Chennai offers. A lover of Mylapore temples and a fan of prasadam, Akemi particularly likespuliyodarai and sakkarai pongal. She’s been lured by the sound of Carnatic music that takes over the Madhya Kailash Temple during Navratri. She’s tasted sukku kapi while sitting barefeet at Besant Nagar beach. She has woken up early in the mornings to watch women drawing kolams during Margazhi and has abandoned cutlery to indulge her hands during meal times. When her friends visit, she takes them to shop at Nalli Silks and follows it up with masala dosa at Murguan Idli or sandwiches at Amethyst.
Akemi notices the nuances of Chennai and in turn, celebrates its culture. She complains about the heat and the mosquitoes and gets rather amused by serious looking men who stack buckets on their head, hoping to sell them on the road. She has found the simple pleasures of living in Chennai.
Patrick Martinent and Chong Bee Bee / The Hindu
Patrick Martinent and Chong Bee Bee
French-born Patrick Martinent met Malaysian of Chinese origin Chong Bee Bee in Singapore. He proposed to her in Jaipur. They decided to settle down in Chennai. 17 years later, they’ve picked up a bit of the language, met many warm-hearted Chennaiites and made the city their own. Accompanied by their two teenage daughters, it’s become tradition to eat South Indian food every Sunday. Their usual haunts include Saravana Bhavan, Murugan Idli Kadai, Apoorva Sangeeta and Hot Chips. Because even though Bee Bee likes her spicy south Indian prawn curry, Patrick’s favourite is the clichéd idli-sambar.
Dominique Lopez
Dominique Lopez
“I had to move to Chennai if I wanted to live with my husband, I had no other option,” says Dominique Lopez. Born and raised in Paris, she came to Chennai to find that it had a different way of living and thinking. There was a lot of adapting to do because the city demanded that she become more accommodating and shed her European mindset. Three-and-half years later, Chennai has grown on her and she makes the most of it. The trees, the sea, the colours at the Koyambedu flower market, the life at Marina beach, women with jasmine in their hair and drives along East Coast Road. There’s an undeniable charm to a city that offers all that.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / Madras 375 / by Raveena Joseph / Chennai – August 21st, 2014
There’s a little known story about Sir C P Ramaswami Aiyar, corroborated by a piece of furniture. It stands plain and tall, so tall in fact that it keeps the writer on his feet and denies him the luxury of a chair. “So he wouldn’t nap,” explains Nanditha Krishna, Sir CP’s greatgranddaughter, “It had been predicted that the child, CP, would never pass an exam in his life, and it was to counter that forecast that his father had the table built.”
It continues to stand long after its prodigious student’s passing, preserved in a corner of a suite on the first floor of The Grove, CP’s house on Eldams Road. Arranged alongside are a day bed, a writing desk and a few of his personal effects. The house itself is a monument to his life — of professional ambition, political fervour and common domesticity. Built in 1885-86 by CP’s maternal and paternal grandfathers, it was erected on a plot of land that was part of an expansive property called The Baobab, after an eponymous tree. The land had belonged to John Bruce Norton, whose son Barrister Eardley Norton was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress.
Norton sold part of his property in 1875 to P Chentsal Rao Pantulu (first Registrar General of Madras), who in turn offloaded part of it to Conjeevaram Venkatasubbaiyar, CP’s maternal grandpa. He had the house built in the colonial style with a colonnaded front porch, but suitably adapted within to house the practical and cultural exigencies of south Indian living, like a ‘kalyanakoodam’, a hall reserved for marriages.
The house structurally is as it was, even though it has lately been put to alternate use — as the office of the C P Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation, lecture hall, research centre, library and art gallery. Although old rooms have found new purpose — the C P Art Centre was originally a cowshed; the Venirul Art Gallery once housed a boiler, saunas and massage rooms; the kalyanakoodam made for a convenient lecture hall; three big suites upstairs have been absorbed into the Indological Research Centre, and a bathroom is now part of the library.
The foundation has adopted a ‘use as is’ approach, fitting in modern amenities without compromising the original form and material. “I refused to put in a false ceiling in the kalyanakoodam just to accommodate a few split ACs, so I had about eight split ACs installed around the hall, kept the old ceiling fans and added a few new ones and replaced the CFLs with LEDs to keep the place from overheating…,” says Krishna, director of the foundation, walking us past Burma teak pillars, Belgian ceilings, and Venetian floors still in impeccable condition.
The foundation spends `2-3 lakh every year on maintenance. To save the couple of hundred photographs and prized art collection (including an 8-ft Roerich portrait of CP), it has sheathed the backs and sides of the frames in transparent plastic. It’s a historic house that has welcomed all rank and file of man and beast — from Ramsay MacDonald, to Mahatma Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, Annie Besant, Indira Gandhi and “any dog in Madras that wished to make it their house”. Political visitors apart, little else has changed.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Joeanna Rebello Fernandes , TNN / August 22nd, 2014
Tamil novelist R Natarajan (50) has won the 2014 Bala Sahitya Akademi award for his novel ‘Vingnana Vikamadityan Stories,’ a collection of short stories for children based on science. A press release issued by the Sahitya Akademi after its meeting in Guwahati said Natarajan is among 23 authors of various languages who have been chosen for the Bala Sahitya Akademi Award for their contribution to children’s literary field. The Bala Sahitya Akademi award is given to contributions to children’s literature.
Natarajan has authored several short stories based on science fiction, including Alaska Aisha in Tamil, with a million copies being sold. The “Vingnana Vikamadityan collection is based on the original Vikram-Betal stories. “In Vignanana Vikramadityan, the Betal questions the King and the queries focus on 12 diseases and their remedies,” Natarajan told TOI.
The book was released in 2011 and more than 16,000 copies have been sold so far. “The book gives interesting details about each disease, how it is caused, what is the cure for it, who discovered it and how it can be prevented. All this is explained to the Betal by King Vikaramaditya,” said Natarajan. Some of the diseases dealt in the book include polio, cancer and diabetes.
So far Natarajan has written 72 books of which 42 is based on children and subjects dear to them. “Most of my compositions are based on science and it will be lucidly written so that children understand it easily,” said Natarajan.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by B Sivakumar, TNN / August 23rd, 2014
It’s an heirloom Anglo-Indian cuisine food festival at the Vivanta by Taj-Connemara, a top chef said, proudly showing a 108-year-old notebook containing recipes of a bygone era.
“The deciphering of the handwritten recipes in the notebook was the only challenge we faced while bringing back to life the dishes mentioned in it,” Arzooman Irani, executive chef at Vivanta by Taj-Whitefield Bangalore, told IANS here.
He was here to host the “Chronicles of Whitefield” Anglo-Indian food festival at Vivanta by Taj-Connemara Chennai located on the Binny Road here at The Verandah restaurant Aug 22-31.
The Made in Austria note book contains the recipes of around 120 dishes.
“It was the family recipe book handwritten by Harry Blake, one of the original settlers of Whitefield near Bangalore. The notebook was handed over to us by his granddaughter,” Irani said as he served a ginger wine.
The non-alcoholic drink surprised one with its sweetness – and the ginger flavour that followed.
What is unique about the dishes is that they are not very spicy nor are they bland. The dishes are very tasty, flavourful, mild and light on the stomach.
The only spicy item is the fried masala prawn which Blake himself has termed spicy prawn.
“The dishes are made with locally available ingredients. While Blake made his fish curry with the fish caught in the local lake/pond, the prawns came from Madras (Chennai),” Irani said.
He said the whereabouts of Blake’s granddaughter are not known as she has shifted after her husband’s demise.
“She gave us the notebook two years back. We started our work after that and launched the menu at our hotel in Whitefield recently,” Irani remarked, adding that 35 of the 120 recepies were being served.
The ginger wine was followed by mulligatawny soup – a broth made with lentils and pepper. Blake gave a fruity twist to the soup by adding finely cut apples.
For the main course, Irani offered rice varieties – coconut, tomato, cabbage – along with vegetable stew, muttonball curry, country captain chicken curry and Blake’s signature dish – Harry’s fish curry.
The vegetable stew made with coconut was different from the Kerala variety, which is spicier than Blake’s stew.
Similarly the muttonball curry and the country captain chicken curry were very flavourful and not spicy and could be safely consumed by children as well as adults.
The tasty fish curry gave out the good flavours of mustard.
“True the dishes are not very spicy. But this is how the Anglo-Indians settled in Whitefield cooked their food and ate. We also checked with other Anglo-Indian families there who said their dishes are not spicy,” Irani said.
“For the present generation, we offer an experience. It is an experience of going back into the history and tasting the dishes made during those times,” Irani said.
A meal for two, without alcohol, would cost around Rs. 3,500 including taxes, said Irani.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> LifeStyle> Food / by IANS / August 21st, 2014
A NEW WORLD At the entrance to DM Street / The Hindu
Devaraja Mudali Street in George Town packs in a vast variety of merchandise, and some unusual history to boot
The mid-day sun is merciless, footpath non-existent and, to top it all, a mega traffic jam is hooting in the middle. That is Devaraja Mudali Street (off Evening Bazaar) on a working day. But overlook these irritants (try!) and plough through the 500-metre distance to where it meets NSC Bose Road to discover its true worth: DM Street trades in some of the most colourful merchandise in Park Town, and is home to one of the most heart-warming stories of the early British era.
Shopping here is fun. I ask Dhandapani, whose shop rather breathlesslyManufactures Indian Human Hair Exporter Specialist in Gents/Ladies Wigs Wholesale Dealers of Drama Wigs and Ladies/Gents Design Buns, Hair pieces Chauri Hair, where he gets his goods from. “Wherever mottai is done!” he returns. For 30 years, he has been peddling hair — real (washed/cleaned/combed) and synthetic — to numerous hair-seekers. “Original is expensive — 200-a-foot, has five-year guarantee, synthetic 85/ft (one-year only),” he tells a customer who needs a chauri.
Down its length, DM Street’s closely-packed shops buy and sell glass of all kinds, plywood, picture-frames, hardware, sanitary fittings, watches — “from everywhere,” according to Kotilingam (78) whose picture-framing outlet has marked 50 years in business. DM Street connects two major thoroughfares; its twin temples attract crowds. I walk past dour-faced men who won’t let me photograph their shops and weary labourers on their unloading trips to reach the all-things-pooja row of shops.
“This is VM Subramanyan Chettiar shop of 52 years,” smiles the handsome third-generation scion who sits surrounded by colours and fragrances from bales of thali-thread, cones of turmeric, kumkum, boxes of namakkatti, sandalwood, joss-sticks and sambrani. “Want to offer anything at the temples?”
I had overshot it. Mounds of dirt and demented parking now effectively block the entrance. To much relief, a long corridor of woodcraft shops keeps the interior cool. Before crossing into the praharam, I look up right and on a faded blue board, find divine history. The board, put up by the Chenna Malleeswarar/Chenna Kesava Perumal Devasthanam, names Guhasri Rasapthi as the writer: The temple precinct is in the middle of the city, at Park Town, it says, and gives proof of age. The translation: “Some 300 years ago, during the East India Company rule under Sir Pigot, an ancient temple in what was called Chenna Kesavapuram on the seashore to the south of High Court was broken up and rebuilt in 1762 by philanthropist (vallal) Muthukrishna Mudaliar (Kottai Iyya), elder grandfather of the present manager (Dharmakarthar) of the temple.” Inside, a flexi-board propped on the pillars of the main mandapam elaborates the narrative and says, “these were known as Pattanam and Flower Bazaar temples.”
I get an accurate version from historian Varadarajan: the temple is mentioned in Beri Thimannan’s 1648 records, he says. In 1673, Dr. Fryer had called it Madras Pagoda where town meetings were held. Governor Pitt’s map of 1709 confirms its presence at the High Court premises. It withstood the 1750 French invasion but was pulled down by the British in 1759 and the bricks/stones were used to build Fort St. George’s northern wall. In 1762, the East India Company offered a compensation of 565.5 pagodas to the local Hindus who had started an agitation. Governor Pigot stepped out to calm nerves, allotted 23,944 sq.ft of land (equal to the temple area) on Jengu Ramaiyya Street (DM Street now). The twin temples came up on this site. The twin-temple construction, done in the late Vijayanagar/Nayak style, started in 1766, got over in 1780 on a total expenditure of 15,652 pagodas. Records tell us that Pigot was present at the Kumbabhishekam. They quickly became popular venues for discourses, kutcheris and non-political events. And till evacuation in 1914, tulasi thirtham from the temple was carried to the High Court for witnesses to take their truth oath on. Today, devotees leave locks on the doors of Narasimha sannadhi for blessings, families get young men and women to meet in front of Sengamalavallithayar for match-making. The Siva-Vishnu temples have stood side-by-side as symbols of caste/creed/sectarian amity for centuries.
“Mr. Pigot was a good man,” agreed Executive Officer Yuvaraj, who has brought out an updated version of temple history (Rs.60). “May be the figures of violinists and angels you see on the roof of the Bramarambikai sannadhi were carved in appreciation of an Englishman who respected the sentiments of the people he ruled.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / Celebrating George Town / by Geeta Padmanabhan / Chennai – August 22nd, 2014
