A couple of years ago, a friend of mine gifted me with a slim Tamil volume titled Thamizhaga Thadangal. All of 144 pages and written by maNA (I am sorry I dont know what his real name is) it is a set of articles on some lesser known spots in Tamil Nadu, all of them with a great history of their own. The book is a compilation of articles maNa has written on these places for various Tamil magazines. Given the way we teach history, it is of course quite likely that these will all remain less-known and may one day vanish. maNA writes wonderfully and the book is a must read and from then on these spots will become ‘must visits’.
I am listing the spots he has covered in the book:
1. Sambal Nattam near Madurai where the Jains were massacred following the king’s conversion to Saivism
2. Taali Aruttaan Santai – a market place with such a peculiar and inauspicious name
3. The prison where Oomai Durai was incarcerated
4. Nellai Sulochana Mudaliar Bridge (I have been here)
5. Fort St George (been there done that)
6. Sivaganga Palace
7. Saraswathi Mahal Library, Thanjavur (Seen it)
8. Dalavoy Veluthambi’s House
9. Irenaeus Iyer’s Tomb
10. The well into which Sundaralingam jumped
11. Marudanayagam Dargah
12. Collector Ashe’s Tomb
13. EVR Periyar’s Manjal Market
14. The War Memorial, Madras (seen)
15. The oil press that VOC worked on while in prison (have seen and wept)
16. Spots associated with the Marudu Pandi brothers
17. Panchalamkurichi fort
18. Clarinda Church
19. The first theatre of South India (Disputable as he claims this is the Warwick Theatre on Mount Road)
20. Vattakkudi Iranian Memorial
21. Madurai Gandhi Museum (seen when it was a holy mess. Am told it is better now)
22. Kizhvenmani Memorial
23. Raja Sandow’s Tomb
24. Sankaradoss Swamigal’s Memorial
25. Cheranmadevi Bharadwaja Ashramam
26. Papparapatti Ashramam
27. The spot in Madurai from where the 16 pillared Mandapam was uprooted and taken to America (seen and hilarious story. Speaks volumes of our greed to exploit our heritage in the wrong way)
28. Reading Room in Karungal Palayam
29.Vallalar’s House (seen)
30. Central Studio, Coimbatore
31. Memorial to Tiruppur Kumaran
32. Potti Sriramulu Memorial (seen several times and used its library as well)
33. The place where Sankaralinganar gave up his life
34. Memorial to MR Radha’s first love
35. Salem Modern Theatres
36. Devakottai Rasta Studios
37. The house of MK Thyagaraja Bhagavatar (seen)
38. Bhootapandi Jiva’s house
39. Sivaji Ganesan’s house in Sangiliyandapuram
40. Ramavaram Gardens (seen)
Some of the places and stories were complete eye-openers for me. Published 2005, Uyirmai Pathippagam, Rs 90
Dear Sriram,
As always, your posts are a complete eye opener. Scanning through this list I was dismayed to find I did not even know of the significance of most of them, leave alone having visited them.
Was wondering if you could write some articles on the significance of as many of these as possible?
27. The spot in Madurai from where the 16 pillared Mandapam was uprooted and taken to America (seen and hilarious story. Speaks volumes of our greed to exploit our heritage in the wrong way)
would you have photos of this
btw, : The mandapam was dismantled and shipped to the US and as I understand was in Boston harbour for want of clearance. (This portion is not very clear)
In the meantime this lady passed away and her family members, Susan Pepper Gibson, Mary Gibson Henry, and Henry C. Gibson , procured the material and presented the lot in memory of Adeline Pepper Gibson to the Art museum at Philadelphia.
I too was curious about this item in the list, so thanks to the information you provided, I googled up this: http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/40202.html
Only a few places I have heard of. Of which very few places I have actually gone to or visited!
what is there in the devakottai rashtha studios. it was a make shift buildiing long dismantled and scrapped. the place has been plotted..
Irenaeus Iyer — what kind of name is that?
Thank you for this interesting list. I enjoy reading your blog. Unfortunately, the very first item in your list gives the impression that the “massacre of jains” is a historical event. The event supposedly took place in 7th century Madurai. But,
1. The sources of the legend are the Periya Puranam and the Thirumurai. Both composed many centuries later. There is no reference to this supposed event in earlier sources.
2. Quoting well know scholar Indira Viswanathan-Peterson: “As Paul Dundas (1992) points out, while there is no record of an actual massacre having taken place, the legend (at some point in the tradition the number of Jains who were impaled got fixed at 8000) might well be a representation of Agamic Saivism’s triumph over Jain Asceticism with the stakes of impalement perhaps representing the Vedic yupa sacrificial post”
3. Incidentally, this legend was used by Christian missionaries to criticize Saivism as a violent faith.
For references, see http://indianhistory.tumblr.com/post/781360889/saiva-jain-conflict-in-7th-century-madurai
Each simple thing attracted me to this blog-your usage of words are simple, the lofty heritage that are less known are just 144 pages and costs just rs.90.
My curiosity and interest in “Thamizhaga Thadangal” has been kindled in trying to scout for this book this last 5 weeks.
Now I know this is a valuable gift!
Your sneek peek of the content is crisp while making it enticing to read it all.
Certainly makes me eager to get the book as a gift and read this myself too.
Thank you Sir,