This work by Prof. Bakthavathsalu is aimed at a young readership and has therefore been kept simple
After teaching history at the college level for four decades, N. Bakthavathsalu has taken to the written word to tell youngsters the stories of the land and its people.
Former Professor of History at Pachaiyappa’s College, Bakthavathsalu recently published Five Great Leaders of Tamil Nadu, a 43-page book that focusses on the lives and political achievements of C. Rajagopalachari, Periyar E.V.R., K. Kamaraj, C.N. AnnaDurai and M. Karunanidhi.
Prof. Bakthavathsalu, a resident of D Sector, Anna Nagar West Extension, said that keeping the young readership in mind the book was kept slim and its message as crisp and lucid as possible.
“I consider the four the greatest leaders of this era. It is important for students to know about the political history of the State,” said Prof. Bakthavathsalu.
He clarifies that he is not affiliated to any political party.
“Rajaji opposed Mahatma Gandhi and even stayed out of Congress for a few years. Kamaraj was responsible for an increase in the literacy rate and built many dams across the State. The book throws light on many such contributions from these leaders,” he said.
Prof. Bhathavatsalu has also authored school books published under the aegies of Tamil Nadu Textbook Society and contributed to Tamil Encyclopedia brought out by Thanjavur Tamil University.
The appendix lists out the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu from 1920 to 2018. The book is priced at ₹50.
For more details, contact Prof. Bakthavathsalu at 044-2615 0110.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by K. Lakshmi / June 29th, 2018
V. Mohan, chairman of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre and president of Madras Diabetes Research Foundation received the Dr. Harold Rifkin Award for Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes from the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
According to a press release, Jane Reusch, president of ADA presented the award to Dr. Mohan during the 78th scientific sessions of ADA at Orlando, Florida on June 25.
The award was in memory of Dr. Harold Rikfin, an internationally recognised clinician, researcher and educator in diabetes.
Dr. Mohan is the first Indian doctor to receive the award. The award is presented annually to an individual whose efforts have increased the awareness of the burden of diabetes worldwide to improve the care and lives of those with diabetes. “The award is in recognition of the pioneering studies done in India such as the Indian Council of Medical Research India Diabetes Study, work on monogenic forms of diabetes and discovery of high fibre white rice,” Dr. Mohan said.
Dr. Mohan has published over 1,150 papers in peer reviewed journals and textbooks. He has trained doctors, diabetes educators, nurses and paramedical staff in India and from abroad, the release said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – June 30th, 2018
It was only a few weeks ago (Miscellany, June 4) that I wrote of a building with a history, Dare Bungalow in the Pachaiyappa College campus, that was derelict and in need of restoration considering its history. Since then, I’ve heard of two other buildings, historic to me, that warrant attention too.
Curiously, the centenary of the oldest trade union in the country, the Madras Labour Union went unnoticed on April 27. Curious because not only does the Union still exist but also because it should have been an occasion —the birth of the trade union movement in India — that all other unions should have celebrated. But names like G Selvapathy Chetty, G Ramanujulu Naidu, BP Wadia and Thiru Vi Ka are forgotten for what they started. There has, however, long been a landmark memorial to this in the Selvapathy –Ramanujulu Buildingthat was inaugurated in 1931 as the headquarters of the MLU. Sadly, it is in a shambles today as found by an Indian heritage enthusiast from Germany, Dr K Subashini, who went looking for it in Perambur. How could such a historic building be allowed to have fallen into such a state? Sadder still are other such a buildings with historic backgrounds not on any Heritage List — or is that only for public structures?
Also unlikely listed is another building in such shape. Gandhi Kannadasan sends me a picture of the state the erstwhile home of Harry Crowe Buck, founder of the first Physical Education School in Asia, is in today. In fact, that institution itself should be celebrating its centenary in 2020.
Buck is to all intents and purposes the ‘Father of Sport’ in India. He was responsible for the introduction of basketball and volleyball, the encouragement of boxing and the beginning of the Indian Olympic Games, now the National Games.
Buck, of whom I’ve written before (March 13, 2017), and Sir Dorabjee Tata were the force behind the founding of the All India Olympic Association in 1924 and Buck trained the first-ever Indian athletic team to an Olympic Games, held that same year in Paris.
The YMCA school moved to its present site in Saidapet in 1928 and the ghost house of today was probably built about then as the Founder-Principal’s bungalow. In 1933 there came up Massey Hall, the College’s main building. Kannadasan tells me he is a regular walker in the grounds here (not all 65 acres of it!) and there was a time when the house was occupied by a member of the faculty. But why such occupancy stopped and the house Harry and ‘green-fingered’ Marie Buck so lovingly tended was allowed to fall into such disrepair he has no idea.
But here’s my challenge. Is there any heritage buff or heritage-interested organisation in the city willing to save the three houses, Dare Bungalow, Selvapathy–Ramanujulu Building and Harry Buck’s home, memorials to Indian Commerce, Labour, and Sport?
The chronicler of Madras that is Chennai tells stories of people, places, and events from the years gone by, and sometimes from today
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by S. Muthiah / June 25th, 2018
The ‘Sati Dana Suramu’ is, on the face of it, a simple parody. But viewed in its context, Shahuji Bhonsle, we find, was making a comment on society itself
The Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur, Shahuji Bhonsle’s capital. Photo: Alamy
In 1684, a 12-year-old Maratha boy was installed as ruler in Tamil Thanjavur, not long after the region’s older Nayaka dynasty came to an end. The event was emblematic of India in this bustling age, with Tamil Nadu alone attracting Afghan horsemen, Bundela Rajputs, Telugu warriors, and diverse other groups of adventurers. Our adolescent prince, Shahuji Bhonsle, however, came from a family that was of especial significance for the country. Ten years earlier, his half-uncle, the celebrated Shivaji, had crowned himself king of the Marathas, and theirs was a clan that would seek power over distant reaches of the subcontinent.
Shahuji too was a king worth his elaborate titles, but even as he tackled matters of state, he cultivated a reputation as a patron of the arts. Going out of his way to attract as many as 46 men of letters to his court, he conferred on them an endowed agraharam (settlement), named (with typical princely modesty) after himself.
Interestingly, Shahuji, who reigned till 1712, was also a poet—his Panchabhasha Vilasa Natakam reflects the plurality of influences around him, featuring Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Sanskrit, and even Hindi verses. He was obsessed with Shiva of the Thiruvarur temple, and many were the plays and songs composed with his blessings eulogizing this deity. Some credit him as the composer of the Thyagesa Kuravanji dance drama, centred on the adoration of the lord by a woman. The theme and story is more or less conventional here and fits into the larger tradition of Bhakti literature. What is perhaps more remarkable—and has been described by scholars as “a work of extreme, deliberately outrageous provocation”—is another play from his time: the Sati Dana Suramu (Take My Wife). While some suggest it might have been composed by one of his poets, the text itself names Shahuji its creator, adding casually that he composed it “to outlast the sun, moon, and stars”.
The Sati Dana Suramu is a hugely entertaining parody of social conventions. The setting is the Vishnu temple in Mannargudi, where a Brahmin (“Morobhatlu the Magnificent”) arrives with his disciple for a festival. What upsets this pilgrimage—and, by extension, the correct order of things—is the Brahmin’s infatuation with a woman he unexpectedly encounters. Not only is his pupil scandalized (“My teacher has gone crazy”), but the woman comes from the other end of society—she is an untouchable. When the student warns his guru to protect his reputation, the teacher retorts that greater men had succumbed to lust and survived. When the disciple reminds him that the female is a demon, the older man responds, “She’s no demon, she’s a woman.” Frustrated, when the pupil appeals that he focus on the “Vedas and Puranas and Sastras” which promise eternal bliss, the Brahmin sniffs that he has “no use for insipid, eternal bliss”.
Soon, the Brahmin approaches the woman, declaring, “Your charm has reduced me to ashes.” The lady is polite but reminds him of the rules of caste and tradition. “We eat beef, we drink liquor…. Don’t talk to me.” Morobhatlu does not care. “We drink cow’s milk,” he replies, “but you eat the whole cow. You must be more pure,” he exclaims. Clearly startled, the lady decides to lecture him on the impermanence of desire, the permanence of dharma and other pious philosophical principles, hoping this would make him go away. She also warns Morobhatlu that she is married, and that it would be best for everyone involved if he stopped “this incoherent prattle”.
But the man remains immovable. “We Brahmins have made up all the rules, and invented religion. There is no better dharma than satisfying a Brahmin’s need,” he giggles. Perhaps, he adds, she could look upon the act as simple charity. “Give me your loins,” he coyly suggests, “like offering (a Brahmin) land.”
In the end, the woman’s husband arrives, and, after an initial attempt to beat up his wife’s high-born stalker, he demands, “Haven’t you read the Sastras?” Irony, in fact, is writ across the entire composition, where the low-born out-Brahmin the Brahmin—and so is great comic effect. When the woman’s husband reminds Morobhatlu about the godly path, the Brahmin responds: “Final freedom is that state of no pain, no pleasure, no qualities, nothing—or so some idiot said. But when a ravishing young woman…is free from her clothes—that’s freedom for me.” At long last, then, the husband agrees to present his wife to the Brahmin, only for the latter to belatedly heed his pupil’s voice (“Have a little detachment; think of the subtle meaning of Vedic words”). In the course of events that follow, the husband is upset, the wife is bewildered, and finally Shiva arrives and liberates everybody from this hilarious, singular quandary.
The Sati Dana Suramu is, on the face of it, a simple parody. But viewed in its context, Shahuji, we find, was making a comment on society itself. As the scholar Sanjay Subrahmanyam notes, “the play was written…for public performance” at a major festival, which meant its irreverence was consumed by large numbers of pilgrims and locals. Not only does it combine on one stage Brahmins and untouchables, it also cleverly exalts Shiva (Shahuji’s preferred deity), who swoops in to save the day at a site associated with Vishnu. Questions are raised on ethics and morality, on lust and the role of women. But the larger point Shahuji wished to make—and make with much mirth and laughter—was that asking questions and turning some tables was not such a bad idea. As this Maratha prince in Tamil country asks us at the end of this Sanskrit-Telugu production: “You, who have seen this play, decide for yourselves and tell us: Who, among these four, is the best?”
Medium Rare is a column on society, politics and history. Manu S. Pillai is the author of The Ivory Throne (2015) and Rebel Sultans (2018). He tweets at @UnamPillai
source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint / Home> Leisure> Medium Rare / by Manu S. Pillai / June 16th, 2018
Students can visit the museum at Manjoor that has an array of equipment and photographs
The hydro-electric museum which was inaugurated recently at Manjoor, boasting more than 600 pieces of equipment and historical photographs, aims to highlight the history of hydro-electric power, and the Nilgiris’ key role in electrifying Tamil Nadu till the second half of the 20th Century.
The museum, believed to be the only one of its kind in India, has been set up to not only detail the history of the various hydro-electric projects across the State and country, but to also serve as a centre for documentation for students and researchers to delve into, and to learn about the early techniques used for dam construction, operation and maintenance.
S. Ragu, Superintending Engineer, Kundah Hydro-Electric Circle, told The Hindu the museum highlights the roles of the people responsible for introducing hydro-electric power to Tamil Nadu and India, like the first chairman of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, V.P. Appadurai Mudaliar, who travelled to Canada and brought back expertise.
“In fact, the Sri Appadurai Collection in the museum comprises photographs and documentation brought back by the man himself after his trip to Canada,” said Mr. Ragu.
The museum also emphasises the crucial role the power stations played in fuelling the economies of the surrounding districts, including Coimbatore. Mr. Ragu pointed out that the Singara power station helped power the textile mills and other industries in Coimbatore. “We also have pictures and documentation of the now demolished, temporary power station at Glenmorgan, which used to produce around 1 megawatt of electricity for the Nilgiris,” he added.
One of the most striking exhibits at the museum is a series of 52 photographs documenting, step-by-step, the construction of the Emerald Dam. Each row contains images of the left and right banks, as well as the centre of the dam, showcasing in great detail not only the scale of the project, but also the thousands of workers engaged in the construction.
“The Kundah dam was constructed over a three-and-a-half-year period with over 10,000 workers reportedly working each day,” said Mr. Ragu.
V.R. Thimmarayappan, who joined the Kundah hydro-electric circle as Junior Engineer in 1961 shortly after its completion, and who was on a visit to the museum, said that the museum was showcasing instruments and equipment that have been in use since the early 1930s. “As the golden era of dam constructions have come to an end, college students and people interested in learning about the history of the various dams across Tamil Nadu must pay a visit to the museum,” he said.
It has taken officials more than a year to collect the items that are currently on display, including survey equipment, prepaid electricity meters, phone booths and other technical equipment that were installed in the power plants. Most of the items were rescued from scrap heap and restored to their original condition before being put on display. Mr. Ragu said the museum was open to visit by college students or of any educational institution.
“As the interest in the museum will be from a purely technical perspective, we feel that engineering students and students pursuing higher education will stand to gain the most from the visit. They are free to do so after getting permission from us,” said Mr. Ragu.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Rohan Premkumar / Udhagamandalam – June 19th, 2018
One of the projects taken up by the Triple O Studio
Any mention of Chennai’s architectural marvels instantly brings to mind large, red public structures built in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style. But, there is more to the city’s architectural history in its residential areas.
Madras Inherited, an initiative of a group of architects and volunteers, aims to unravel these hidden architectural gems through heritage walks and document the fast disappearing residential structures in the city.
Spearheaded by Triple O Studio, an architectural firm, Madras Inherited will focus on small residential buildings across the city that have gone unnoticed unlike public heritage structures. While Chennai has some of the finest Indo-Saracenic structures, it is also a confluence of many intriguing architectural styles that the group will research and map through a series of walks.
Tahaer Zoyab, architect and co-founder of Madras Inherited, said a project to document the old houses of Mylapore came as an eye-opener to the vanishing heritage in the city. “The character of the interior lanes is fast changing and we wanted to share the stories with people before residential buildings disappear and also document the rich legacy,” he said.
The team has so far documented architectural designs of about 50 houses in Mylapore. “We have traces of Neoclassical, Gothic and Art Deco styles in structures across the city. We can still find traditional vernacular architecture in some of the Agraharam houses of Mylapore, Tiruvanmiyur and Triplicane,” he said.
Classic example
George Town, one of the older settlements in the city, presents a classic example of a confluence of different styles. Dare House in Parrys Corner, for instance, is designed in the Art Deco style in which there is an emphasis on vertical lines and the distinct design of a ‘sunburst jaali’ for ventilation, Mr. Zoyab pointed out.
Such intricate details imbibed in residential and private building architecture will be documented and shared with heritage enthusiasts in the city. Madras Inherited will focus on cultural tourism and heritage education and management through a series of interactive events like photo walks in historical areas. The initiative will be launched on June 16 with a walk through the lanes of Royapettah, where participants will get to decode the architectural history of the area. The walk that starts at 6.30 a.m. will cost adults Rs. 700 and students Rs. 450. Participants get to take home a bag of custom-made souvenirs, ranging from coasters to bookmarks.
The locality has a range of styles from Agraharam houses, traces of Gothic design and Islamic-style houses. The proceeds from these walks will be used to fund the mapping and documentation of city’s heritage structures. There are plans to expand to areas like Periamet, Vepery and George Town after September. For details on the walk, send an e-mail to mail@madrasinherited.in or contact +91-8939135048.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by K. Lakshmi / Chennai – June 15th, 2018
The Daibutsu in Tōdai-ji , the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/ iStock
The oldest recorded Indian in Japan impacts the country’s culture even today
The Indian diaspora in Japanhas historically been small, but has encompassed a colourful cast, from revolutionaries to textile traders. The oldest documented Indian resident in Japan, and arguably the most influential, was Bodhisena, a monk from Madurai whose outsized impact on Japanese culture persists even some 1,300 years after he docked on the archipelago’s shores.
Bodhisena, or Bodaisenna as his name is pronounced in Japanese, was born around 704 AD. His life and journeys exemplify the multi-directional flows of Buddhist influence and the complex ways in which these tied swathes of Asia into a civilisational embrace. Like many South Asian Buddhist monks, Bodhisena came to believe that Manjushri (the bodhisattva of wisdom) lived on the Chinese mountain of Wutai, and therefore travelled there to pay obeisance. While in China, he met the Japanese ambassador to the Tang court, who persuaded him to carry on to Japan on the invitation of the then Emperor, Shomu (701-756 AD), a devout Buddhist.
Influence of Sanskrit
Bodhisena voyaged to Japan via Cambodia and Champa (central and southern Vietnam) with a gaggle of theological glitterati that collectively shaped much of the contours of Japanese Buddhism and courtly culture.
On board was Genbo, a bureaucrat of Emperor Shomu’s court at Nara, who had spent 17 years in China collecting over 5,000 Buddhist texts. Another shipmate, Kibi no Makibi, is linked to the development of the Japanese syllabary and script of katakana, still in use today. The influence of Sanskrit on katakana is sometimes attributed to the time Makibi spent travelling with, and learning from, Bodhisena. Makibi also introduced to Japan the art of Chinese embroidery, as well as the lyre, which as the koto, became a standard feature of Japanese court music.
The Indian themes
A disciple of Bodhisena from Champa, Buttetsu, rounded off the band of monastic travellers. Buttetsu went on to teach a style of dance that featured themes taken from Indian mythology, set to a musical rhythm, common in South Asia, but unknown at the time in Japan. These dances became known as rinyugaku and were absorbed into the local artistic oeuvre.
Bodhisena’s ship docked at Osaka in 736 AD and the group made their way to the capital: Nara. It was during the Nara era (710-784 AD) that Buddhism, buttressed by learnings from Tang dynasty China, became firmly established in Japan, overcoming initial resistance from the Shinto-devoted elite. Under Emperor Shomu Buddhism was granted official recognition as a religion that was a “protector of the state.” Temples in Nara began to accumulate vast landholdings and wielded huge political influence.
The Kegon school
Bodhisena’s arrival in the capital took place within this context. Until then, Japan’s knowledge of Buddhism had been entirely mediated through either Korea or Japan. As an Indian, Bodhisena was immediately held in reverence and housed at Daian-ji temple, the preeminent education and research institute for Buddhism at the time. The Indian monk taught Sanskrit and helped establish the Kegon school of Buddhism, a variant of the Chinese Huayan school. He died in 760 AD and is buried in Ryusenji-temple on the slopes of Mt. Omine.
The Tōdai-ji temple | Photo Credit: Wiki Commons
Unlike some historical Buddhist sects, the Kegon continues to flourish today, with its headquarters at Nara’s Tōdai-ji temple, a Unesco World Heritage site. Founded in 738 AD and officially opened in 752 AD, Tōdai-ji is best known for its 500-tonne, 15-metre-high Buddha — the largest bronze statue in the world.
The gargantuan sculpture, known as the Daibutsu, was commissioned by the Emperor in hope of gaining divine favour and thereby reversing the effects of a devastating drought, compounded by an outbreak of smallpox that had ravaged the area in 737AD.
The hall that houses the Daibutsu is one of the world’s largest wooden structures. It is Nara’s most popular tourist draw and is thronged with visitors from around the world. After gawping at the Daibutsu, they usually head to a hole in one of the pillars that holds up the edifice. According to legend, the hole is the exact size of one of the Buddha statue’s nostrils and anyone who crawls through it will gain enlightenment, albeit in their next life. No one seems to know the exact dimensions of the hole/ nostril, but it is large enough for a child to tunnel through with relative ease. A number of adult Chinese tourists attempt to pass, but all get stuck at the hip.
To one side of the main temple are the living quarters of the Morimoto family, the head priests of Tōdai-ji. The lodgings comprise a series of low-roofed rooms, interconnected by covered walkways, overlooking classical Japanese gardens, dotted with pine trees and rockeries. Seated in a reception area facing a late-blooming, weeping cherry tree, Kosei Moritomo sips from a cup of green tea. The Elder Moritomo (as he is respectfully known) has retired as the 218th head of Tōdai-ji and leader of the Kegon school of Buddhism. But he remains sprightly, his eyes lively and darting when he talks of Bodhisena, as though an old friend.
He dwells on the role of the Indian monk in the consecration ceremony of the Daibutsu. For it was Bodhisena, of all the eminent Buddhist scholars in Nara at the time, who was chosen to perform the statue’s “eye opening” ceremony. In front of a huge, cosmopolitan gathering that included ambassadors from Persia, Korea, Vietnam, China and Central Asia, Bodhisena painted the pupils on the eyes of the Buddha statue, inviting the spirit in to animate the sculpture.
“I think in India you understand about the spirit coming into the statue?” the Elder Moritomo asks. “It is a very difficult concept to explain to Westerners.” The former head priest turns reflective. He says that Japan has tried to dominate the world first by military means and then with its electronic industry. Both failed. “I believe it is in Buddhism that it can most exert an global influence,” he concludes.
Then he smiles and offers this writer another cup of tea.
The writer is a globetrotter who is currently parked in Japan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Pallavi Aiyar / June 09th, 2018
T.T. Jaganathan, Chairman of TTK Group signing the book ‘Disrupt and Conquer: How TTK Prestige Became a Billion-Dollar Company’ at IIT Madras on Thursday. Co-author Sandhya Mendonca is also in the picture. | Photo Credit: R_Ragu
Times are changing dramatically where world will be owned only by people who innovate, said T.T. Jaganathan, chairman, TTK Group.
He was speaking at the launch of the book ‘Disrupt and Conquer: How TTK Prestige Became a Billion-Dollar Company’ held on the IIT-Madras campus on Thursday.
The book dwells into the success of the TTK group which at one point was failing in its business before rising like a phoenix after the liberalisation of the economy in 1991.
The book has been written by Mr. Jaganathan and Sandhya Mendonca, a journalist-turned-media entrepreneur. Mr. Jaganathan said that his aim was to become an academician and reluctantly entered into the family business. “I still miss the IIT campus and the labs,” he said.
Mr. Jaganthan is an alumnus of IIT-Madras and holds a gold medal in Mechanical Engineering. He also has a Master’s in Operations Research from Cornell University, USA.
The TTK Group, started in 1928, is the second largest manufacturer of pressure cooker in the world and according to Mr. Jaganathan, the company has business plans to become the world’s largest by 2022.
Recounting the time when smart cooker failed and the group staring at bankruptcy, he attributed the success thereafter to the family members particularly his mother Padma Narasimhan.
Ms. Sandhya, co-author of the book, said normally the story of the TTK Group needs to be taken to the people for gaining business skills. She said the information for the book has been collected through personal interviews with family members and friends, and materials taken from other sources.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – June 08th, 2018
Cleaning of Kasturiba Colony at Kandal in Udhagamandalam began on Tuesday.
The director of the Nilgiri Documentation Center presented the Nilgiri Conservation Award to the District Collector, Innocent Divya and to the former superintendent of police, Murali Rambha, on the occasion of World Environment Day here on Tuesday.
They were selected for the award for their teamwork to successfully organise the Summer Festival 2018, coinciding with the bicentenary of modern Nilgiris, in an innovative , participative and orderly manner, said Mr. Venugopal Dharmalingam, the director of the NDC.
As Mr. Rambha was unable to be present for the function, Ms. Divya accepted the award from Mr. Venugopal.
The award was instituted to recognise individuals and institutions who significantly contributed to the protection and preservation of the Nilgiris.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Staff Reporter / Udhagamandalam – June 05th, 2018
The 1343 birth anniversary of the Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar went off peacefully with the local leaders cutting across party lines and garlanding the statue in the city on Wednesday.
The celebrations commenced with two state ministers Vellamandi M Natarajan and S Valarmathi and several other leaders from the AIADMK as well as the Mutharaiyar community associations garlanding the statue on Wednesday morning.
Since the district administration organised the celebration, district collector K Rajamani, AIADMK MPs P Kumar, T Rathinavel, and MLAs participated in the celebrations and garlanded the statue of the king.
AMMK deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran’s visit with his supporters created some ruckus at the venue as his men entered into arguments with the police. The arguments erupted after the police refused to allow his van to be parked near the police outpost. His supporters left after raising slogans against the police. Dhinakaran also garlanded the statue and left after addressing the press.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Trichy News / TNN / May 24th, 2018
