Tiruvallur திருவள்ளூர்
—  town  —
Tiruvallur Location of Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu and India
Coordinates	13°09′N 79°55′E / 13.15°N 79.91°E / 13.15; 79.91Coordinates: 13°09′N 79°55′E / 13.15°N 79.91°E / 13.15; 79.91
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District(s)	Tiruvallur
Population • Density	45,732 (2001[update]) • 4,254 /km2 (11,018 /sq mi)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area	10.75 square kilometres (4.15 sq mi)
Codes • Pincode • 602001 • Telephone • +91-44 • Vehicle • TN-20
Website	http://municipality.tn.gov.in/Tiruvallur/

Tiruvallur (Tamil: திருவள்ளூர்) is a temple town and Grade I municipality^[1] in Tiruvallur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the Cooum river about 42 km (26 mi) northwest of the city of Chennai (Madras), the capital city of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Tiruvallur district. This town consists of four revenue villages namely Thiruvallur, Periakuppam, Perumpakkam and Pungathur. The town is divided into 27 wards. It is well known because of the Veera Raghavar temple which is one of the 108 sacred shrines of Vaishnavites. There is a pond nearby this temple, where the tank festival is held. There is a Siva temple near this shrine which is also quite popular among the locals. There is also a 40 feet tall Viswaroopa Panchamukha Hanuman temple, where the murti is made of a single green granite stone. Poondi reservoir from where drinking water is drawn to Chennai city is at about 9 km (5.6 mi) from this town.

Etymology[link]

The word "Tiruvallur" is supposedly derived from the Tamil sentence "tiru evvull?" meaning, "Tiru" - god (a common prefix in South India for temple towns), "evvull" - where do I sleep. So, Tiruvallur means, a place/town where, the god, Veera Raghavar asked a saint for a place to sleep for a night. A Rishi named Saalihothirar came down from Badrinath now in Uttaranchal State and settled in this place in order to reach Paramapadam (The abode Of Lord Mahavisnu). He took bath in Hiruthaapanasana Theertham and started the silence fasting (mouna viratham ) for one year. Daily he collected some rice and after a year of fasting, he purified collected rice and cooked. He offered a part of cooked rice to God (Naivedhyam) duly keeping the rest for himself to eat. He waited for some Guest, probably a muni or rishi, so that he could offer him to eat and end his fasting. At that time the God Narayana with the intention to test devotion of the Rishi came there as an old muni. He looked as if he was so hungry and thirsty. On seeing him, Saalihothirar greeted him and made him to sit and offered him a part of rice he already kept for himself. But the Guest (Lord Narayana) wanted the entire quantity of food (Rice).Saalihothirar was very happy to gave all of the food to the Guest starving himself. After eating the entire food,the Lord asked where can he sleep?( Ev-uL-uRangalAm). Saalihothirar asked him to sleep in his hut itself . In Tamil ='Ev' (எவ்)=which/'uL' (உள்)=place/room/uRangalAm(உறங்கலாம்) could sleep. Tiru (திரு) is a prefix before name of any holy place. ur( ஊர்) means a place/village. Therefore திரு+எவ்+உள்+ஊர் transmute as திருவள்ளூர்.

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History[link]

In the far past, this region was under a chain of regimes commencing from the Pallavas during the 7th century ending with the Nawab of Arcot during the early part of 19th century when it came under the British rule. In 1687, the Golkonda rulers were defeated and the region came under the Moghul emperors of Delhi. The towns and villages of this region were the scene of Carnatic wars. Battles are said to have been fought in this region during the struggle for supremacy between the English and French. The town of Pulicat was the earliest Dutch possession in India founded in 1609 which was ceded to the British in 1825. With this, the region came under the British rule which ended on the 15th August, 1947 with India becoming independent.

Demographics[link]

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[2] Tiruvallur had a population of 45,517. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Tiruvallur has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 69%. In Tiruvallur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Places of worship[link]

Lord Vishnu as Veera Raghavar is the presiding deity of the Veera Raghavar temple. Vaidya Veera Raghavar, vaidya meaning a doctor of medicine, is a god known for his curing abilities. In this temple people donate symbols (thin small metal sheets with a specific human organ engraved on them) of humans organs as a request to god to cure the illness or problems with those organs. The local folklore claims that the temple is around 5000 years old.^{[citation needed]} This is one of the temples in India where Lord Vishnu can be seen in lying down position compared to other temples where the idol is in standing position.

The 40 foot tall statue of Sri Panchamukha Hanuman [1]. This statue is made of a single piece of green granite that was brought from Hassan in Karnataka. It is an architectural delight, and an important religious monument. Another Famous Hanuman Temple is situated at Kakkalur, a village which is 3 km (1.9 mi) from Tiruvallur.^[3]

Economy[link]

The town attained district headquarters status in 1997. Tiruvallur houses many Industries including few Fortune 100 companies. Tiruvallur is rich in industry, with some of the following industries in that region. Hindustan Motors has Lancer Car plant, Caterpillar Earth moving Equipment Plant from (9th Feb 2001 ), Hanil Lear, Delphi TVS, India Japan Lighting, Kingfisher's brewery division, Style SPA furniture, TI India, TCL etc. Mitsubishi entered India in 1998 as a part of its global expansion programme. It has a manufacturing facility in Tiruvallur near Chennai with technical collaboration with Hindustan Motors.^[4]

Tiruvallur is well surrounded by Industrial hubs in and around Chennai like Ambattur Industrial Estate and Sriperumbudur Industrial Estate. There is good rail connectivity to Ambattur through Suburban train, it takes 40min to travel. Also good road connectivity to Sriperumbudur through buses, it takes 45min to travel. There are many Automobile, Electrical & Electronic, Software MNC's are located around Tiruvallur.

Developments[link]

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has drafted a Second Master Plan that aims to develop Tiruvallur as the satellite township around the chennai city. As envisaged in the First Master Plan, development of tiruvallur as satellite town should be encouraged by provision of adequate infrastructure for housing and other developments in order to relieve congestion in the metropolis and provide better housing facilities at affordable cost.^[5]

The Tamil Nadu government plans to develop a satellite township at Thirumazhisai almost 18 km from Tiruvallur, a town in Thiruvallur district, at a cost of Rs 2,160 crore would come up on 311.05 acres of land owned by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, chief minister J Jayalalithaa said in the state Assembly.^[6]

The State government will decide on the expansion of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) before the end of this fiscal, R Vaithilingam, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, told the Assembly on Aug 25, 2011. In view of the fast-paced development taking place in areas beyond the present metropolitan area jurisdiction, like Sriperumbudur, Kelambakkam, Tiruvallur and Maraimalai Nagar, it had become necessary to review the Chennai Metropolitan Planning Area that was notified in 1973-74, he said.^[7]

Transport[link]

Tiruvallur is well connected by road and rail. The Chennai Airport lies just 42 km (26 mi) Southeast of the town which could be reached in about 45 mins by road. This lies on chennai-Bangalore broad gauge railway line and Chennai-Tirupati Trunk road. There are two major roads connecting Chennai and Tiruvallur. One route is through Porur and Poonamallee and the another one is through Avadi and Ambattur.

Tiruvallur lies in the Main Broad Gauge line and some of the WestNorth bound trains stop here. There are two Suburban railway line alone tiruvallur which are West line and WestNorth line. West line is from Chennai central to Arakkonam and WestNorth line is from Chennai Central to Tiruttani. These two line have many Suburban trains running from tiruvallur to chennai central, chennai Beach, Arakkonam and Tiruttani. Fast train is also available which will start at Tiruvallur and stops at Thirunindravur, Avadi, Ambattur, Villivakkam, Perambur, Basin Bridge and finally reach Chennai central Station. Besides, there are facilities for advanced computerised reservation of train tickets. Frequent trains between Tiruvallur and chennai central are available.

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) runs an extensive city bus system which plays the important role in tiruvallur transportation. This MTC bus service available from tiruvallur to most of the important places in chennai city and Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA).

MTC Services from tiruvallur:

Education[link]

Since Tiruvallur is adjacent to the city of Chennai, there are remarkable number of Educational Institutions in Tiruvallur. Many professional institutions particularly the veterinary university add honour to this district is the field of education. The literacy rate is about 68% of the total population as per 2001 census (provisional). Tiruvallur has many higher secondary schools including private and government schools, government aided school called D.R.B.C.C is very famous around the town, and copious private schools as well serve the purpose. There are a few engineering colleges, and a few medical colleges, arts and science colleges around Tiruvallur.

Colleges[link]

• Victory Institute of Catering& Hotel Management
• Bhajarang Engineering College.
• E.V.P. Engineering College.
• Indira College of Education.
• Indira College of Nursing.
• Indira Institute of Computer Application.
• Indira Institute of Engineering & Technology.
• Indira Institute of Management & Research.
• Indira Teacher Training Institute.
• Jaya College of Paramedical Science.
• Jaya College of Arts and Science.
• Madha Engineering College.
• Prathyusha Engineering College.
• Priyadarshini Dental College & Hospital.
• LCR College of Engineering and Technology.
• Sri Ram Engineering College.
• Sri Ram Arts and Science College.
• Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering and Technology.
• Sri Venkateswara Institute of Science and Technology.
• Sree Sastha Institute of Engineering and Technology.
• Dr. Sir Arcot Lakshmana Swami Mudaliar Collage of Arts & science
• John Basco Art ans Science College
• John Basco College of Engineering and Technology

Schools[link]

• St.Anne's Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
• Sri Venkareshwara Matric. Hr. Sec. School
• Shree Nikethan Matric. Hr. Sec. School.
• Sri Lakshmi Hr. Sec. School.
• Sri R.M. Jain group of schools.
• Jacob Matric. School.
• Christ King Hr. Sec. School.
• DRBCC Hr. Sec. School.
• C.S.I. Goudie Higher Sec. School
• CSC Vivekananda Vidyalaya Matriculation School
• Chellammal Vidyalaya Metriculation Higher Sec. School
• K.E.NATAESA CHETIYAR Higher.Sec. School.
• Kamaraj Marticulation School.

Politics[link]

Tiruvallur assembly constituency is part of Tiruvallur (Lok Sabha constituency).^[8]

Tiruvallur Lok Sabha Constituency Elected member - Mr.Venugopal of AIADMK
Tiruvallur Assembly Constituency Elected member - Mr.Ramana of AIADMK

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tiruvallur

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