Tiruvallur Town - Revision history

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This article has been extracted from
THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.
2015-03-21T11:56:28Z

Created page with "=Tiruvallur Town, 1908= {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This article has been extracted from <br/> THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<b..."

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=Tiruvallur Town, 1908=
{| class="wikitable"
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|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
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[[Category:India|T]]
[[Category:Places|T]]
''Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. ''

Head-quarters of the taluk of the same name
in Chingleput District, Madras, situated in 13° 8' N. and 79° 55' E.
Population (1901), 9,092. The station on the Madras Railway of the
same name is 3 miles away. The importance of the place is due to
its being the head-quarters of the Ahobilam math, or religious house,
the head of which is the high-priest of the Vadagalai section of
Vaishnav Hindus. The town contains four temples, one dedicated
to Siva and the other three to Vishnu. The Siva temple is enclosed
in a court 940 feet by 701 feet, in the outer walls of which are five
gopurafiis or towers of the usual Dravidian pattern. It is evidently
much older than the other buildings in this court, which include the
usual many-pillared hall (unfinished) and several large porches. As
a work of architecture it possesses the faults common to many Dra-
vidian temples. Fergusson says that ' the gateways, irregularly spaced
in a great blank wall, lose half their dignity from their positions ; and
the bathos of their decreasing in size and elaboration as they approach
the sanctuary is a mistake which nothing can redeem.' The place
where the temple is situated is declared by local tradition to have been
a forest called Viksharanya. In this the five Pandavas once experienced
great want of water, and, almost despairing of finding any, they at last
came to the spot where the shrine is now situated, and here they saw
an emblem of Siva. They prayed to the god, and by his favour
a small spring welled up in front of the emblem, from which the
Pandavas quenched their thirst. The Vaishnav temple, dedicated to
Sri Viraraghavaswami, attracts large crowds on the days of the new
moon. On these occasions a plunge in the waters of the holy tank
is supposed to wipe away all sin. Thousands of pounds of molasses
are poured by the pilgrims into this tank in fulfilment of their vows.
The temple is under the management of the Ahobilam math.