Tiruchirappalli

Tiruchirappalli City

Tiruchirappalli is the fourth most populous city of Tamil Nadu. It is situated in the centre of the state, on the banks of the Kaveri River. The city is a City corporation, the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirapalli District.

Trichy encompasses Srirangam , the foremost Vaishnavite temple and the biggest functioning Hindu temple in the world. Trichy also emcompasses "ThiruAnaikka" (ThiruvAnaikkaval), one of the five main abodes ("Panchaboodha Sthalam") of Lord Shiva. ThiruvAnaikkaval is the House of Water.

Origins

The name of the town, "Tiruchirapalli", originated as a tribute (thiru in Tamil means respected) to a Jain monk called "Chira". There is also a belief that Tiruchirapalli was named after a three headed demon "Trishira" (the son of Ravana) who performed penance at the Siva temple here and obtained boons here.

There is yet another belief about the origins of the name Trichy. Apparently the name started out as Thiru Javvandhipuram (Place of Marigold flowers; javvandhi, the Tamil name for the flower Marigold which grew (and still does) in abundance in and around this region and the word puram refers to a place of dwelling) which over time became corrupted to Trichy.

History

Tiruchirapalli is home to many historic temples, monuments, churches and mosques. Uraiyur (also pronounced as Oraiyur) which is the Old Tiruchy has a long tradition. With over 2,500 years of known history, it was the capital of the early Cholas. The oldest man made dam Kallanai was built by Karaikala Cholan across the river Kaveri about 10 miles from Uraiyur. It was an important town in the days of the later Cholas, Nayaks as well as during the early days of the British East India Company. The conquest of Tiruchirapalli by the British East India Company marked a major step in the British conquest of India.

Transport

Trichy is well connected to various parts of Tamil Nadu, by private and public bus services. The Theppakulam (chathram) bus station, near Rock Fort temple, runs local and mofussil (city-to-city) bus services which connect people to nearby towns and villages. Bus services are frequent, once every two to five minutes.

Trichy is also well-connected to the other cities of Tamil Nadu, southern Karnataka and Kerala through private charter buses.

The central bus station runs long distance services to major cities of the State and South India such as Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Erode, Thiruvananthapuram and Tirupathi. One can get buses from Trichy to almost any part of the state, due to its geographical location in the center of Tamil Nadu.

On the road infrastructure front, with the completion of highway projects in Tamil Nadu state, Trichy will have four track highways from the city branching to destination Chennai, Madurai, Tanjore.

Education

Considered an educational town, Tiruchirapalli has schools and colleges that are hundreds of years old. College Road in Chatram has three colleges and five schools. Prominent among the educational institutions in Tiruchirapalli are Bharathidasan University, the National Institute of Technology, Trichy. The Government Law College, Tiruchirapalli was founded in 1979. Bharathidasan Institute of Management, a top-20 Indian B-school is also located in Tiruchirapalli, adjacent to NIT-T. K.A.P.V. Medical College is located close to the Central Bus Stand. Another famous college Shanmuga Arts and Science Technological Academy (Sastra)is located in Trichy.

Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, writer Sujatha (Rengarajan) studied at St Joseph's College in Trichy. R.Venkataraman (former Indian President) studied at National College in Trichy.

Industry

There are some major industrial houses in Trichy, few among them are BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) which is a prominent Navaratna company (highly profitable PSU), Ordinance Factory, Railway Workshop and Dalmia Cements. The plant of BHEL in Trichy, manufactures High Pressure Boilers.

Number of small scale industries have also sprung up in Trichy, mostly around Thuvakudi and Mathur. Leather tanneries are located on the way to Pudukottai. Viralimalai, considered an industrial suburb on Madurai road has the factories of TVS, India bus body building unit, Cethar Vessels, MM Forgings. One can also find agro-based industries around Trichy city, especially along Karur road and Chennai.

Manachanallur, famous for its numerous rice mills supplying polished rice all over Tamil Nadu and outside is located about 7 km from Main Guard gate.

There are a number of software companies in Trichy.

Tiruchirappalli District

Tiruchirappalli District has an area of 11,075 square kilometres. It is bounded to the north by Namakkal District, to the northeast by Perambalur District, to the east by Thanjavur District, to the southeast by Pudukkottai District, to the south by Sivaganga and Madurai districts, to the southwest by Dindigul District, to the west by Karur District, and to the northwest by Namakkal District.