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MAYILADUTHURAI

Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a major town in Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu.

Mayiladuthurai gets its name from the Mayura or Mayil (peacock) form in which the Hindu goddess Parvathi worshipped the Hindu god Shiva at this place. While previously known by its Sanskrit name Mayuram meaning peacock town , the town has been recently de-Sanskritized to

its Tamil translation Mayiladuthurai“ as a result of” a petition by the Mayuram municipality to the Government of Tamil Nadu in the wake of the Dravidian Movement

Mayiladuthurai is known for the Mayuranathaswami Temple, a prominent Shaivite shrine. It is well connected by road and rail transport. Mayiladuthurai serves as a junction in main line connecting Chennai with Trichy.

 HISTORY  Mayiladuthurai is of significant antiquity, its oldest extant temples dating to the time of the Medieval Cholas. The region, however, is known to have been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. Sherds of megalithic black and red ware have been found at Akkur, 14 km (8.7 mi) to the east of Mayiladuthurai.  In 2006, artifacts with Indus Valley signs dated between 2000 and 1500 BC were found at the nearby village of Sembiyankandiyur.There have been references to Mayiladuthurai in the works of the 7th century Saivite saint Sambandar.  The Thanjavur Nayak king Raghunatha Nayak constructed mandapams in Mayiladuthurai. During the 17th and 18th centuries AD, Mayiladuthurai was ruled by the Thanjavur Marathas who invited Brahmins from the Telugu, Kannada and Maratha countries to settle in the region and gave large extents of land to them. 1

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 In 1799, Mayiladuthurai, was ceded to the British East India Company, along with the rest of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom, by the Thanjavur Maratha ruler Serfoji II.  Mayiladuthurai prospered under British rule emerging as an important town in Tanjore district. Carnatic musicians Madurai Mani Iyer and Gopalakrishna Bharathi and Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, who wrote the first Tamil novel Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram were connected with Mayiladuthurai while Tamil writer Kalki Krishnamurthy, M.S.Udhaya Moorthy studied at the Municipal High School in Mayiladuthurai.  When the Tanjore district was trifurcated in 1991, Mayiladuthurai was transferred to the newly formed Nagapattinam district.  According to local folklore, Mayiladuthurai was associated with Hindu holy men called Siddhars . To this day, a neighbourhood of Mayiladuthurai is called Siddharkaadu.

 GEOGRAPHY“ ”

Mayliladuthurai is situated at a distance of 281 kilometres (175 mi) from Chennai and 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Tiruchirappalli. The town is Situated at a distance of 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the Bay of Bengal coast, the town is situated at an altitude of barely 10 metres (33 ft) above mean sea level. The Kaveri River runs through the town bisecting it into Uttara Mayuram and Mayuram proper. Most of the town lies to the south of the river and the Mayuranathaswami Temple lies a mile to its south. There is a bathing ghat on the Cauvery river.

 RAINFALL AND CLIMATE

The climate of Mayiladuthurai is similar to the climate prevailing in the rest of the Cauvery Delta. The average maximum temperature is 39.4 degrees Celsius while the average minimum temperature is 32.8 degrees Celsius. The average annual rainfall is 1,125 mm.

 AGRICULTURE  Agriculture is the most widely practised occupation.  The economy of Mayiladuthurai is primarily agro-based. The main products of Mayiladuthurai are rice, coconuts and plantains. Confectioneries, printing presses, vehicle manufacturing units and rice mills are the major industries in Mayiladuthurai.

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 Kuruvai has been a blessing for Cauvery belt farmers in the blocks in the past due to abundant groundwater, often recharged by the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers planking and passing through their taluks.  Kuruvai cultivation had been reaching its usual coverage of 35,000 hectares in the Cauvery belt irrespective of the release of Cauvery water the past several years. However, farmers said continuous supply of groundwater is essential for cultivation.  They cultivate medium-duration varieties such as CO 51, AST 16, ADT 43 and ADT 45, which take about 130 days

ISSUES FACING BY FARMERS

 It is difficult to find farm labourers as they are now much in demand and asking for increased wages because of the pandemic.  Private transplanter machine owners are charging extra.  Farmers are requesting a price cap on rates of private machines and more government transplanter machines.  A lot of power cuts. They request the administration to ensure at least 18 hours of power daily continuous supply of power so they can use electric motor pumps without interruption  Null availability of seed stocks in agricultural centers leads to farmers go for a private vendor which they are selling high cost of low quality seeds.

 INDUSTRY  Industrial workers form barely 27.14 percent of the town s population.  Mayiladuthurai is known for a unique variety of cloth known’ as the Kornad cloths which derives its name from the suburb of Kornad where they are manufactured.“ These cloths” are made up of a mixture of cotton and silk and dyed in bright colours.

 OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE  A Person is considered as a main worker or full time worker if he/she had for a minimum of 183 day or more.

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 Mayiladuthurai (71.33%) in work participation as per 2011 census  The four main occupational groups taken for the present study are Cultivators, Agricultural laborers, Household industrial workers and other workers.  A Person is considered as cultivator, if he/she is engaged in cultivation of land owned or taken on lease from government or from private persons of institutions for payment in money.  Mayiladuthurai (3.28%) medium share of cultivators  Mayiladuthurai (14.94%) medium share of agriculture laborers  Mayiladuthurai (0.57%) household industrial worker is high

 DEMOGRAPHY

 According to 2011 census, Mayiladuthurai had a population of 85,632 with a sex-ratio of 1,045 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.

 A total of 7,720 were under the age of six, constituting 3,883 males and 3,837 females.

 The average literacy of the town was 83.55%, compared to the national average of 72.99%.

 The town had a total of 21929 households. There were a total of 29,855 workers, comprising 321 cultivators, 707 main agricultural labourers, 734 in house hold industries, 23,004 other workers, 5,089 marginal workers, 74 marginal cultivators, 485 marginal agricultural labourers, 246 marginal workers in household industries and 4,284 other marginal workers. As of 2001, there are 26 slums in Mayiladuthurai with a total population of 32,381.

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 The density of population is higher in the core areas along the banks of river Cauvery compared to the peripheral areas

 Hinduism is the major religion followed in Mayiladuthurai and Tamil is the major language spoken.A vast majority of the populace is engaged in agriculture. About 15 percent of the total working population is engaged in trade while 25 percent is engaged in other commercial activities. As per the religious census of 2011, Mayiladuthurai had 88.69% Hindus, 6.38% Muslims, 4.19% Christians, 0.04% Sikhs, 0.03% Buddhists, 0.32% Jains and 0.35% following other religions.  ADMINISTRATION AND POLITICS

 The town of Mayiladuthurai is administered by a municipal council which was created in 1866 as per the Town Improvements Act 1865. The council initially had eleven members.This was increased to 18 in 1883 and currently stands at 36.

 As of 2008, the municipality covered an area of 11.27 km2 (4.35 sq mi) and had a total of 36 members. The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning and the Computer Wing.

 All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the supreme executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 36 members, one each from the 36 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson.

 In the national parliament, Mayiladuthurai is a part of the Mayiladuthurai (Lok Sabha constituency), which has six assembly constituencies Mayiladuthurai, sirkali (SC),

Poompuhar, Thiruvidaimarudur (SC), Kumbakonam and– Papanasam.  The constituency was constituted during the third Lok Sabha (lower house) as Mayuram until the 1980 elections, when it was renamed Mayiladuthurai. During the first elections in 1957, Mayiladuthurai was part of Chidambaram constituency and was held by the Indian National Congress party. The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is R.K. Bharathi Mohan of the AIADMK party

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 Popular Communist leader K. Ananda Nambiar represented Mayiladuthurai in the Lok Sabha from 1951 to 1957. Mani Shankar Aiyar who served as a minister in India s cabinet was

elected to the Parliament from the Mayiladuthurai Lok Sabha constituency’ in the 1991,1999 and 2004 elections. The Mayiladuthurai Lok Sabha constituency was enlarged in 1977 and the Assembly segments of the abolished Kumbakonam Lok Sabha constituency were included in it as per the deliberations of the delimitation committee.

 Recently, The Tamilnadu government issued Government Order (GO.Ms.No.183 dated 07.04.2020) formally notifying the formation of the State s 38th district with Mayiladuthurai

as its headquarters. ’  FAMOUS PERSONALITIES

 Moovalur Ramamritham Ammaiyar

Moovalur Ramamirtham was a Tamil social reformer, author, and political activist of the Dravidian Movement, who worked for the abolition of the Devadasi system in the Madras Presidency.

She was born in Thiruvarur, and was brought up at moovalur a village near mayiladhuthurai.

Portrait of moovalur ramamritham ammaiyar

Hence she was called commonly known as moovalur ramamirtham ammaiyar.

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She was the author of the 1936 novel Dasigalin Mosavalai alladhu madhi pettra minor (lit. Devadasis' web of deceit or the minor grown wise) which exposed the plight of the devadasis.

Originally a supporter of the nationalist Indian National Congress, she became a member of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy's Self-Respect Movement after Periyar left the Congress in 1925.

In 1930, she supported Muthulakshmi Reddi's failed attempt to abolish the Devadasi system in the Presidency through legislation. She took part in the Anti-Hindi agitations of 1937- 40 and in November 1938, was jailed for six weeks for participating in the agitations. The public awareness created by her novel and her continuous campaign to abolish the devadasi system, were instrumental in the passage of the Madras Devadasi (Prevention of Dedication) Act or the Devadasi Abolition Bill, which outlawed the practice in 1947.

In 1949, she parted ways with Periyar, when he married Maniammai, a woman much younger than he was. She became a supporter of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a new party started by Periyar's protege C. N. Annadurai. She remained a DMK supporter till her death in 1962. In her memory, the Government of Tamil Nadu has instituted the "Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammal Ninaivu Marriage Assistance Scheme" - a social welfare scheme to provide financial assistance to poor women.

 Kalki Krishnamurthy

Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist. He was named after "Kalki", the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu.

Krishnamurthy's father was Ramaswamy Aiyar, an accountant in Puttamangalam village in the old Tanjore district of erstwhile Madras Presidency. He began his primary education in his village school and later attended Municipal High School in Mayavaram but quit in 1921,

Historical novels

Serial Name Comments

Parthiban Kanavu (1941 About Pallava 1 1943) Dynasty –

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Sivagamiyin About Pallava 2 Sapatham (1944 1946) Dynasty

– About Chola 3 Ponniyin Selvan (1951 1954) Dynasty –

 Viswananthan Anand

Viswanathan Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster and former world chess champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, a feat he first achieved in 2006.

Anand is a five-time world chess champion.

 FAMOUS TOURISTS ATTRACTIONS

 Mayuranathaswami Temple

The Mayuranathaswami Temple complex was built during the time of the Medieval Cholas and is 719 ft (219 m) long and 520 ft (160 m) wide. The gopuram, the temple gateway tower, at the eastern entrance is 164 ft (50 m) high.

Mayuranathaswamy temple

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Within the Mayuranathaswami temple, there is a carving of a devotee of Shiva trying to cut off his own head as an offering to the God. The oldest inscriptions in the shrine date back to the reign of Kulothunga Chola I (1070 1120 CE). The temple is maintained and administered by

the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, a –South Indian monastic institution.  Fort Dansborg

Fort Dansborg, locally called Danish Fort, is a Danish fort located in the shores of Bay of Bengal in Tranquebar (Tharangambadi) in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Fort Dansborg was built in the land ceded by Thanjavur king Ragunatha Nayak in an agreement with Danish Admiral Ove Gjedde in 1620 and acted as the base for Danish settlement in the region during the early 17th century.

The fort is the second-largest Danish fort after Kronborg. The fort was sold to the British in 1845 and along with Tranquebar, the fort lost its significance as the town was not an active trading post for the British.

Fort Dansborg

After India's independence in 1947, the fort was used as an inspection bungalow by the state government till 1978 when the Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu took over the control of the fort. The fort is now used as a museum where the major artifacts of the fort and the Danish empire are displayed.

 Poompuhar Puhar (also known as Poompuhar) is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was once a flourishing ancient port city known as Kaveri

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poompattinam, which for a while served as the capital of the Early Chola kings in Tamilakam.

Museum, poompuhar Puhar has located near the endpoint of the Kaveri river, aside from the sea coast. It is

mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

The town is considered the gateway to the Navagraha temple, the nine temples associated with planetary deities. The Periya Pallivasal mosque and TELC Church are other prominent worship places in the town. Tharangambadi, Tirumullaivasal, Palaiyar and Karaikkal are the most prominent tourist attractions located around the town.

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