Dear Friends An article titled 'the Glory of a princely State' appeared in the Friday Entertainment section of Madurai edition of the Hindu yesterday. Mr jagadisan who wrote the article belongs to Pudukkottai and retired as a professor in English from the Presidency college, Chennai. His family is also related to the SRB family by marriage. His phone in Chennai is 2377 4423 ans lives in Virugampakkam. He has sent the draft to us for our perusal. The final piece subtantially the same. i am including this below. The photos were also supplied by us. I will send a scanned edition later.
With best wishes Swaminathan
================== The Glory of a Princely State 'Pudukkottai, situated on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram railway line has made worthy contribution in the field of music, art, architecture. S. JAGADISAN sings paeans of the placethat has always been a hub of cultural activities.'
Pudukkottai, the only princely state in Tamilnadu at the time of independence, became part of the Indian Union in 1948. Its history goes back to the days of the Chola-s and the Pandya-s. Till its merger with the Indian Union, it was ruled by the Tondaimans since the seventeenth century. The origin of Tondaiman rule reads like a romantic tale. As the king of Vijayanagar was on his way to Rameswaram, one of his elephants went berserk. Avadai Tondaiman of Karambakkudi (near Pudukkottai), a stronghold of the Kallar community, brought the elephant under control. The King of Vijayanagar honoured him with a long title in Telugu Raya Rahutta Raya Vajridu Raya Mannidu Raya, and granted him enormous favours. Avadai Tondaiman’s sons Ragunatha Raya Tondaiman and Namana helped Rajah Sethupathi of Ramnad in putting down his enemies. By way of recognition of this service, a few territories, one of them being Pudukkottai, under the domain of the Rajah of Ramnad were gifted to the brothers. Raghunatha Raya became the first Tondaiman ruler of Pudukkottai in 1686.
Pudukkottai town proper is located about 50 kms southeast of Tiruchy and about 60 kms south of Thanjavur. It lies on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram Railway line and is connected by bus with Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Karaikkudi, Madurai, Ramesvaram and Aranthangi.
The contribution of Pudukkottai to the culture of India in general and Tamilnadu in particular is many-sided and covers many areas of activity - music, temple architecture and religion, within a radius of 35 kms, there are nearly twenty imposing temples of exceptional architectural beauty. There is a large number of cave temples like those at Thirugokarnam, Sittannavasal, Kudumiamalai and Thirumayam. The structural temples like those at Kodumbalur and Narttamalai are considered to be forerunners of the imperial Chola temples. The mural paintings in the Sittannavasal cave are second in importance only to the Ajanta Paintings in the art history of India.
Again in Sittannavasal, there are Tamil inscriptions extending over a very long period from the third century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. The musical inscription found in Kudumiamalai is the largest in India and very significant in the history of Indian music. Pudukkottai is of interest from the numismatic point of view.
A photo in the British Museum shows Pudukkottai and Karachi as two important places with coins from the part. One of the coins sought after by coin collectors is the Amman Kasu of miniature size with the replica of Brihadambal (the tutelary deity of the Tondaiman rulers and main deity at the temple in Thirugokarnam) embossed on one side.
There are two major traditional schools of playing on mridangam - one is Pudukkottai and the other Thanjavur, The legendary kanjira vidwans, Mamundiya Pillai and Dakshinamoorthi Pillai, have put Pudukkottai on the map of Carnatic music. Well known musical compositions include those by Veena Subbarama Bhagavathar (six in Sanskrit two in Telugu and three in Telugu) and Brihadambal Pancharatna in Tamil by Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1730-1769). The Raja of Travancore Swathi Thirunal has composed a few songs on Brihadambal.
Pudukkottai can legitimately boast of eminent personalities in different fields - Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi, Akhilan and K. Nagarajan, creative writers in Tamil and English respectively. S. Sathyamoorthy, the freedom fighter, Professor K. Swaminathan, editor of the complete works of Mahatma Gandhi, Lakshmana Sarma, founder of the naturopathy centre, AL. Valliappa, children’s writer in Tamil, Radhakrishnan, mathematician, Gopala Krishna Bhagavathar of Narasimha Jayanthi fame, Gemini Ganesan and N.R. Chandran the present advocate general. These illustrious names are bound to strike a chord in the Pudukkottaians of earlier generations scattered in India and abroad.
Thanks to the vision of the William Blackburne who was the British administrator from 1801 to 1823 and A. Sashaiah Sastri who was the Dewan from 1878 to 1904, Pudukkottai is one of the best laid out towns with long parallel streets intersecting at regular points, protected water supply, spacious buildings for the government offices, educational institutions and hospitals. When the state became part of the Indian Union, it was already well poised for modernisation and further development.
With a view to generating interest in the cultural part of Pudukkottai and preserving its heritage, Sudharsanam, a centre for arts and culture, is taking shape on the outskirts of Pudukkottai on the Tiruchi Road. Liberal financial support is being extended by Sri. V.K. Sundaram an industrialist from Kumbakonam, the spade work for its development is being done by Prof. S. Swaminathan, Retd. Professor, IIT Delhi and a son of the soil. Swaminathan is a man of parts and has wide ranging interests - science, technology, music, temple architecture, etc. He has developed the website www.pudukkottai.org.
Dear Friends An article titled 'the Glory of a princely State' appeared in the Friday Entertainment section of Madurai edition of the Hindu yesterday. Mr jagadisan who wrote the article belongs to Pudukkottai and retired as a professor in English from the Presidency college, Chennai. His family is also related to the SRB family by marriage. His phone in Chennai is 2377 4423 ans lives in Virugampakkam. He has sent the draft to us for our perusal. The final piece subtantially the same. i am including this below. The photos were also supplied by us, but I have not included in this. I will send a scanned edition later.
With best wishes Swaminathan
================== The Glory of a Princely State 'Pudukkottai, situated on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram railway line has made worthy contribution in the field of music, art, architecture. S. JAGADISAN sings paeans of the placethat has always been a hub of cultural activities.'
Pudukkottai, the only princely state in Tamilnadu at the time of independence, became part of the Indian Union in 1948. Its history goes back to the days of the Chola-s and the Pandya-s. Till its merger with the Indian Union, it was ruled by the Tondaimans since the seventeenth century. The origin of Tondaiman rule reads like a romantic tale. As the king of Vijayanagar was on his way to Rameswaram, one of his elephants went berserk. Avadai Tondaiman of Karambakkudi (near Pudukkottai), a stronghold of the Kallar community, brought the elephant under control. The King of Vijayanagar honoured him with a long title in Telugu Raya Rahutta Raya Vajridu Raya Mannidu Raya, and granted him enormous favours. Avadai Tondaiman’s sons Ragunatha Raya Tondaiman and Namana helped Rajah Sethupathi of Ramnad in putting down his enemies. By way of recognition of this service, a few territories, one of them being Pudukkottai, under the domain of the Rajah of Ramnad were gifted to the brothers. Raghunatha Raya became the first Tondaiman ruler of Pudukkottai in 1686.
Pudukkottai town proper is located about 50 kms southeast of Tiruchy and about 60 kms south of Thanjavur. It lies on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram Railway line and is connected by bus with Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Karaikkudi, Madurai, Ramesvaram and Aranthangi.
The contribution of Pudukkottai to the culture of India in general and Tamilnadu in particular is many-sided and covers many areas of activity - music, temple architecture and religion, within a radius of 35 kms, there are nearly twenty imposing temples of exceptional architectural beauty. There is a large number of cave temples like those at Thirugokarnam, Sittannavasal, Kudumiamalai and Thirumayam. The structural temples like those at Kodumbalur and Narttamalai are considered to be forerunners of the imperial Chola temples. The mural paintings in the Sittannavasal cave are second in importance only to the Ajanta Paintings in the art history of India.
Again in Sittannavasal, there are Tamil inscriptions extending over a very long period from the third century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. The musical inscription found in Kudumiamalai is the largest in India and very significant in the history of Indian music. Pudukkottai is of interest from the numismatic point of view.
A photo in the British Museum shows Pudukkottai and Karachi as two important places with coins from the part. One of the coins sought after by coin collectors is the Amman Kasu of miniature size with the replica of Brihadambal (the tutelary deity of the Tondaiman rulers and main deity at the temple in Thirugokarnam) embossed on one side.
There are two major traditional schools of playing on mridangam - one is Pudukkottai and the other Thanjavur, The legendary kanjira vidwans, Mamundiya Pillai and Dakshinamoorthi Pillai, have put Pudukkottai on the map of Carnatic music. Well known musical compositions include those by Veena Subbarama Bhagavathar (six in Sanskrit two in Telugu and three in Telugu) and Brihadambal Pancharatna in Tamil by Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1730-1769). The Raja of Travancore Swathi Thirunal has composed a few songs on Brihadambal.
Pudukkottai can legitimately boast of eminent personalities in different fields - Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi, Akhilan and K. Nagarajan, creative writers in Tamil and English respectively. S. Sathyamoorthy, the freedom fighter, Professor K. Swaminathan, editor of the complete works of Mahatma Gandhi, Lakshmana Sarma, founder of the naturopathy centre, AL. Valliappa, children’s writer in Tamil, Radhakrishnan, mathematician, Gopala Krishna Bhagavathar of Narasimha Jayanthi fame, Gemini Ganesan and N.R. Chandran the present advocate general. These illustrious names are bound to strike a chord in the Pudukkottaians of earlier generations scattered in India and abroad.
Thanks to the vision of the William Blackburne who was the British administrator from 1801 to 1823 and A. Sashaiah Sastri who was the Dewan from 1878 to 1904, Pudukkottai is one of the best laid out towns with long parallel streets intersecting at regular points, protected water supply, spacious buildings for the government offices, educational institutions and hospitals. When the state became part of the Indian Union, it was already well poised for modernisation and further development.
With a view to generating interest in the cultural part of Pudukkottai and preserving its heritage, Sudharsanam, a centre for arts and culture, is taking shape on the outskirts of Pudukkottai on the Tiruchi Road. Liberal financial support is being extended by Sri. V.K. Sundaram an industrialist from Kumbakonam, the spade work for its development is being done by Prof. S. Swaminathan, Retd. Professor, IIT Delhi and a son of the soil. Swaminathan is a man of parts and has wide ranging interests - science, technology, music, temple architecture, etc. He has developed the website www.pudukkottai.org.
Dear Friends An article titled 'the Glory of a princely State' appeared in the Friday Entertainment section of Madurai edition of the Hindu yesterday. Mr jagadisan who wrote the article belongs to Pudukkottai and retired as a professor in English from the Presidency college, Chennai. His family is also related to the SRB family by marriage. His phone in Chennai is 2377 4423 ans lives in Virugampakkam. He has sent the draft to us for our perusal. The final piece subtantially the same. i am including this below. The photos were also supplied by us, but I have not included in this. I will send a scanned edition later.
With best wishes Swaminathan
================== The Glory of a Princely State 'Pudukkottai, situated on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram railway line has made worthy contribution in the field of music, art, architecture. S. JAGADISAN sings paeans of the placethat has always been a hub of cultural activities.'
Pudukkottai, the only princely state in Tamilnadu at the time of independence, became part of the Indian Union in 1948. Its history goes back to the days of the Chola-s and the Pandya-s. Till its merger with the Indian Union, it was ruled by the Tondaimans since the seventeenth century. The origin of Tondaiman rule reads like a romantic tale. As the king of Vijayanagar was on his way to Rameswaram, one of his elephants went berserk. Avadai Tondaiman of Karambakkudi (near Pudukkottai), a stronghold of the Kallar community, brought the elephant under control. The King of Vijayanagar honoured him with a long title in Telugu Raya Rahutta Raya Vajridu Raya Mannidu Raya, and granted him enormous favours. Avadai Tondaiman’s sons Ragunatha Raya Tondaiman and Namana helped Rajah Sethupathi of Ramnad in putting down his enemies. By way of recognition of this service, a few territories, one of them being Pudukkottai, under the domain of the Rajah of Ramnad were gifted to the brothers. Raghunatha Raya became the first Tondaiman ruler of Pudukkottai in 1686.
Pudukkottai town proper is located about 50 kms southeast of Tiruchy and about 60 kms south of Thanjavur. It lies on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram Railway line and is connected by bus with Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Karaikkudi, Madurai, Ramesvaram and Aranthangi.
The contribution of Pudukkottai to the culture of India in general and Tamilnadu in particular is many-sided and covers many areas of activity - music, temple architecture and religion, within a radius of 35 kms, there are nearly twenty imposing temples of exceptional architectural beauty. There is a large number of cave temples like those at Thirugokarnam, Sittannavasal, Kudumiamalai and Thirumayam. The structural temples like those at Kodumbalur and Narttamalai are considered to be forerunners of the imperial Chola temples. The mural paintings in the Sittannavasal cave are second in importance only to the Ajanta Paintings in the art history of India.
Again in Sittannavasal, there are Tamil inscriptions extending over a very long period from the third century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. The musical inscription found in Kudumiamalai is the largest in India and very significant in the history of Indian music. Pudukkottai is of interest from the numismatic point of view.
A photo in the British Museum shows Pudukkottai and Karachi as two important places with coins from the part. One of the coins sought after by coin collectors is the Amman Kasu of miniature size with the replica of Brihadambal (the tutelary deity of the Tondaiman rulers and main deity at the temple in Thirugokarnam) embossed on one side.
There are two major traditional schools of playing on mridangam - one is Pudukkottai and the other Thanjavur, The legendary kanjira vidwans, Mamundiya Pillai and Dakshinamoorthi Pillai, have put Pudukkottai on the map of Carnatic music. Well known musical compositions include those by Veena Subbarama Bhagavathar (six in Sanskrit two in Telugu and three in Telugu) and Brihadambal Pancharatna in Tamil by Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1730-1769). The Raja of Travancore Swathi Thirunal has composed a few songs on Brihadambal.
Pudukkottai can legitimately boast of eminent personalities in different fields - Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi, Akhilan and K. Nagarajan, creative writers in Tamil and English respectively. S. Sathyamoorthy, the freedom fighter, Professor K. Swaminathan, editor of the complete works of Mahatma Gandhi, Lakshmana Sarma, founder of the naturopathy centre, AL. Valliappa, children’s writer in Tamil, Radhakrishnan, mathematician, Gopala Krishna Bhagavathar of Narasimha Jayanthi fame, Gemini Ganesan and N.R. Chandran the present advocate general. These illustrious names are bound to strike a chord in the Pudukkottaians of earlier generations scattered in India and abroad.
Thanks to the vision of the William Blackburne who was the British administrator from 1801 to 1823 and A. Sashaiah Sastri who was the Dewan from 1878 to 1904, Pudukkottai is one of the best laid out towns with long parallel streets intersecting at regular points, protected water supply, spacious buildings for the government offices, educational institutions and hospitals. When the state became part of the Indian Union, it was already well poised for modernisation and further development.
With a view to generating interest in the cultural part of Pudukkottai and preserving its heritage, Sudharsanam, a centre for arts and culture, is taking shape on the outskirts of Pudukkottai on the Tiruchi Road. Liberal financial support is being extended by Sri. V.K. Sundaram an industrialist from Kumbakonam, the spade work for its development is being done by Prof. S. Swaminathan, Retd. Professor, IIT Delhi and a son of the soil. Swaminathan is a man of parts and has wide ranging interests - science, technology, music, temple architecture, etc. He has developed the website www.pudukkottai.org.
Dear Friends An article titled 'the Glory of a princely State' appeared in the Friday Entertainment section of Madurai edition of the Hindu yesterday. Mr jagadisan who wrote the article belongs to Pudukkottai and retired as a professor in English from the Presidency college, Chennai. His family is also related to the SRB family by marriage. His phone in Chennai is 2377 4423 ans lives in Virugampakkam. He has sent the draft to us for our perusal. The final piece subtantially the same. i am including this below. The photos were also supplied by us, but I have not included in this. I will send a scanned edition later.
With best wishes Swaminathan
================== The Glory of a Princely State 'Pudukkottai, situated on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram railway line has made worthy contribution in the field of music, art, architecture. S. JAGADISAN sings paeans of the placethat has always been a hub of cultural activities.'
Pudukkottai, the only princely state in Tamilnadu at the time of independence, became part of the Indian Union in 1948. Its history goes back to the days of the Chola-s and the Pandya-s. Till its merger with the Indian Union, it was ruled by the Tondaimans since the seventeenth century. The origin of Tondaiman rule reads like a romantic tale. As the king of Vijayanagar was on his way to Rameswaram, one of his elephants went berserk. Avadai Tondaiman of Karambakkudi (near Pudukkottai), a stronghold of the Kallar community, brought the elephant under control. The King of Vijayanagar honoured him with a long title in Telugu Raya Rahutta Raya Vajridu Raya Mannidu Raya, and granted him enormous favours. Avadai Tondaiman’s sons Ragunatha Raya Tondaiman and Namana helped Rajah Sethupathi of Ramnad in putting down his enemies. By way of recognition of this service, a few territories, one of them being Pudukkottai, under the domain of the Rajah of Ramnad were gifted to the brothers. Raghunatha Raya became the first Tondaiman ruler of Pudukkottai in 1686.
Pudukkottai town proper is located about 50 kms southeast of Tiruchy and about 60 kms south of Thanjavur. It lies on the Tiruchy-Rameswaram Railway line and is connected by bus with Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Karaikkudi, Madurai, Ramesvaram and Aranthangi.
The contribution of Pudukkottai to the culture of India in general and Tamilnadu in particular is many-sided and covers many areas of activity - music, temple architecture and religion, within a radius of 35 kms, there are nearly twenty imposing temples of exceptional architectural beauty. There is a large number of cave temples like those at Thirugokarnam, Sittannavasal, Kudumiamalai and Thirumayam. The structural temples like those at Kodumbalur and Narttamalai are considered to be forerunners of the imperial Chola temples. The mural paintings in the Sittannavasal cave are second in importance only to the Ajanta Paintings in the art history of India.
Again in Sittannavasal, there are Tamil inscriptions extending over a very long period from the third century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. The musical inscription found in Kudumiamalai is the largest in India and very significant in the history of Indian music. Pudukkottai is of interest from the numismatic point of view.
A photo in the British Museum shows Pudukkottai and Karachi as two important places with coins from the part. One of the coins sought after by coin collectors is the Amman Kasu of miniature size with the replica of Brihadambal (the tutelary deity of the Tondaiman rulers and main deity at the temple in Thirugokarnam) embossed on one side.
There are two major traditional schools of playing on mridangam - one is Pudukkottai and the other Thanjavur, The legendary kanjira vidwans, Mamundiya Pillai and Dakshinamoorthi Pillai, have put Pudukkottai on the map of Carnatic music. Well known musical compositions include those by Veena Subbarama Bhagavathar (six in Sanskrit two in Telugu and three in Telugu) and Brihadambal Pancharatna in Tamil by Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1730-1769). The Raja of Travancore Swathi Thirunal has composed a few songs on Brihadambal.
Pudukkottai can legitimately boast of eminent personalities in different fields - Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi, Akhilan and K. Nagarajan, creative writers in Tamil and English respectively. S. Sathyamoorthy, the freedom fighter, Professor K. Swaminathan, editor of the complete works of Mahatma Gandhi, Lakshmana Sarma, founder of the naturopathy centre, AL. Valliappa, children’s writer in Tamil, Radhakrishnan, mathematician, Gopala Krishna Bhagavathar of Narasimha Jayanthi fame, Gemini Ganesan and N.R. Chandran the present advocate general. These illustrious names are bound to strike a chord in the Pudukkottaians of earlier generations scattered in India and abroad.
Thanks to the vision of the William Blackburne who was the British administrator from 1801 to 1823 and A. Sashaiah Sastri who was the Dewan from 1878 to 1904, Pudukkottai is one of the best laid out towns with long parallel streets intersecting at regular points, protected water supply, spacious buildings for the government offices, educational institutions and hospitals. When the state became part of the Indian Union, it was already well poised for modernisation and further development.
With a view to generating interest in the cultural part of Pudukkottai and preserving its heritage, Sudharsanam, a centre for arts and culture, is taking shape on the outskirts of Pudukkottai on the Tiruchi Road. Liberal financial support is being extended by Sri. V.K. Sundaram an industrialist from Kumbakonam, the spade work for its development is being done by Prof. S. Swaminathan, Retd. Professor, IIT Delhi and a son of the soil. Swaminathan is a man of parts and has wide ranging interests - science, technology, music, temple architecture, etc. He has developed the website www.pudukkottai.org.
There are some articles in Agathiyar about the various ToNdaimAns, PudukkOttai amman kAsu, SEshaiya SAsthrigaL - how he gave a vacating notice to a Muni which was occupying a big tree which was obstrcting the laying of a new town plan. And also how a cook took up SEshiya SAsthirgaL's challange and prepared 'rasam' in the Pudu KuLam.
Dear friends I will be in Chennai from 12th till 18th. I am leaving for Rome on the 19th. If you can arrange a meeting to discuss the Cultural Atlas of Tamilnadu please do. Also if you are interested I may give a PPT on Ajanta. You may have to find an LCD.
Yes. We can have a meeting in chennai. If you are staying at any hotel, we can have it there itself. Lavanya is having a laptop and we can use that for demo. The date, we will let you know in a day or two.