Tiruvallur Town
Tiruvallur Town, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
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.
