Tiruvottriyur, a hub with great potential needs better infra

Centuries ago, Tiruvottriyur, north of George Town, was a large village, known for its temples. In those days, the place was also called Ottriyur. The East India Company acquired, on an annual rent of 1,500 pagodas (coins), Tiruvottriyur, along with four other villages, from Bahadur Shah I, the son of Aurangzeb, the well-known Mughal ruler, in 1708. The other four villages were Nungambakkam, Vyasarpadi, Ennore or Kattivakkam and Sathangadu. Soon,the English acquired complete control over these villages and added them to the growing city of Madras.

Tiruvottriyur is a typical, middle-class residential-cum-commercial locality. It is particularly known for its narrow streets lined with street houses — houses built next to each other, with no gap or open space between them. The main source of ventilation in such houses is the open courtyard within the house. Some of these houses are tile-roofed, while others have the Madras Terrace — a flat masonry roof with wooden beams at regular intervals. Being close to the sea, the area also has several fishing hamlets, some of them dating back to the medieval times.

The most important temple in Tiruvottriyur is the one dedicated to Lord Siva or Adipurisvarar. The temple has been in existence atleast from the days of the great saint Appar (seventh century AD. It is a very large temple. It consists of a number of sub-shrines for various deities such as Ganesha and Subramanya. The main shrine, built of black granite and dedicated to Adipurisvarar, is the oldest structure in the campus. The rear wall of this shrine is curved to resemble the back of an elephant (apsidal shrine). According to art historians, the famous Nakula-Sahadeva ratha of Mahabalipuram provided the architectural inspiration for this shrine. This shrine, in turn, served as the model for many later apsidal shrines built in Tirusulam and several other places in and around Chennai.

An interesting inscription in the Tiruvottriyur temple reveals that the shrine was renovated and rebuilt during the time of Rajendra I Chola (1012-44 AD). This renovation was done under the supervision of an architect named Ravi or Viracholatakshan. Historical records indicate that several renowned saint-singers and savants like Adi Sankara (ninth century AD), Kamban (12th century AD) and Arunagirinathar (15th century AD) have visited the temple. Many kings of the Chola dynasty (ninth to 13th century AD) have prayed in this temple.

Presently, Tiruvottriyur is a dusty and congested locality of north Chennai and is hardly known to most people living in the other parts of the city. Even the historic temple of Tiruvottriyur, unlike the temples of Mylapore and Triplicane, does not attract many visitors except the local devotees. The area’s infrastructure, in terms of roadways and water-supply, needs to be improved. Simultaneously, it must be made litter-free. The place is well-connected, by road and rail, to almost every other part of Chennai and its far-flung suburbs, In due course, Tiruvottriyur would also be linked to Chennai’s Metro Rail system and thereby would be easily accessible from the city’s airport. Thus, in the coming years, Tiruvottrityur, can emerge as a viable, alternative residential hub for the city’s growing middle-class, who cannot afford housing in the more prominent localities of south Chennai.