Act now to ease traffic congestion in Tiruvanmiyur

Tiruvanmiyur is presently a bustling residential locality on the southern fringes of Chennai. It is internationally known for its tree-studded Kalakshetra campus that includes a dance school, library, museum and a textile-printing unit. Tiruvanmiyur was, however, for centuries, a small village with large temples and traditional tile-roofed houses. It became a part of Chennai around fifty years ago and is one of the last villages to be included within the city.

Tiruvanmiyur has a long and interesting history. According to the locals, the very name Tiruvanmiyur is derived from the name of the famous saint Valmiki, the author of the epic Ramayana. He is believed to have lived here for some years, several centuries before Christ. There is a small temple dedicated to him here.

Between 300 BC and 300 AD, Tiruvanmiyur was a part of the kingdom of the Sangam Cholas. After the decline of this kingdom, the area came under the control of the Pallava dynasty (4th to 9th centuries AD). An interesting coin minted by this dynasty was unearthed from the compound of a school here in August, 1989, when the authorities were digging the ground for Independence Day celebrations. After the Pallavas, Tiruvanmiyur came under the rule of the medieval Cholas or Imperial Cholas (9th to 13th centuries AD) and later, the Vijayanagar empire (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries). Subsequently, the region passed on to the British.

The biggest and most important temple in Tiruvanmiyur is the Marundisvarar temple on the East Coast Road. This temple has two main entrances—one facing east and the other facing west. Although the temple existed during the age of the Pallavas, most of the structures in the campus belong to the time of the Cholas and the Vijayanagar empire (tenth century and later). The temple was extensively damaged when Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore, invaded the area in the eighteenth century. Unlike many other Hindu temples where the main shrine faces east, the principal shrine in the present temple faces west. This shrine is dedicated to God Siva in the form of Marundisvarar. The vimana or tower above this shrine is over 30 feet high. The shrine of Goddess Tripurasundari faces south and belongs to the period of Rajendra I Chola (1012-44 AD). To the northeast of the temple is a large tank with a pillared Niradum Mandapa (bathing pavilion). The tank has been cleaned and restored recently.

From the 1980s, Tiruvanmiyur has witnessed unprecedented growth in the form of large apartment complexes. This is partially because the neighbouring residential areas of Adyar and Besant Nagar have almost attained ‘saturation point’, with limited scope for further development or expansion. Tiruvanmiyur is also strategically located close to the airport and the commercial establishments in Guindy, Velacheri, Old Mahabalipurqam Road (OMR) and the East Coast Road (ECR). The ECR, originating from Tiruvanmiyur, is the most convenient and popular route for tourists and others travelling from Chennai to Mamallapuram and further south, to Puducherry and beyond. Tiruvanmiyur is well-connected by road and rail, to every part of the city. Indeed, the Tiruvanmiyur Bus Terminus is one of the oldest and most famous in the city. Traffic congestion is a major problem in the area. The ECR needs to be widened and the illegal encroachments in the interior roads need to be removed to ease this congestion.