Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Srivilliputhur Temple - 1860s

From the British Library stock photographs. Several web pages and blogs have uploaded these photographs and they are also easily available on flicker. Am not aware of the copyright on these photographs.

These photographs of the Srivilliputhur temple are of 1860 thereabouts, when my paternal paternal great grandfather, Shri Neela Meghala Shyamala Naidu and great grandmother, Rukmini Devi, would have been resident in the town.




This is the Madurai Nayak's Palace near Srivilliputhur, about 500 years ago. The Madurai Nayaks are Naidus who came from Andhra Pradesh and conquered these places and ruled in this region. This could be the reason for the many well-settled Telugu-speaking Naidu families in deep deep south Tamil Nadu. Remember, 1600 was the birth-year of the East India Company, and 1630s-60s was when Chatrapati Shivaji takes over the Deccan, and thereafter Rajaram comes to Tanjore (- modern day Thanjavur). To this day, there are well-settled Marathi speaking families and trustees of several small and medium sized old Vaishnava temples. The Western Ghats are behind the Palace, and the ranges are thought to be Pallilichan, and the route to the ancient Kattalagar Kovil (= Temple).





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