Indian Columbus

There were twelve important devotees of Lord Vishnu during Bhakti movement period in South India. They are called as Alwars. You can find the idols of Alwars in most of the Vishnu temples in South India. Peyalwar the third Alwar, was believed to be born in the 7th century CE. As he was mad on Lord Vishnu, he probably got the name 'Pei' Alwar (Pei means ghost in Tamil language). Peyalwar was believed to be born on a red lily flower (sevvalli) in a well. The birthplace of Peyalwar, who was believed to be the incarnation of Nandakam - the divine sword of Vishnu, is located near Madhava Perumal temple in Arundale street at Mylapore localitiy in Chennai city, South India. It is unfortunate that this divine place remains unknown in spite of Mylapore locality being one of the busiest areas of Chennai city. The site is poorly maintained today and encroached by people. The site has the well where Peyalwar was born and a mandap with a small idol of Peyalwar. When you go to My...

Mylapore area can be considered as the heritage area of Chennai city in India. The most famous temple of Chennai , Kapaleeswarar temple is located in Mylapore locality. Apart from Kapaleeswarar temple, a lot of other important and ancient temples are located in Mylapore area. Madhava Perumal Temple is one such important and ancient temple of Mylapore. It is a Vishnu temple in the land which is normally associated with Shiva. Legend: As per the Brahmanda Purana, the Goddess Lakshmi was born to the sage Bhrigu in this temple's tank. Even Lord Vishnu pointed out this site as the appropriate site for performing penance to the sage Vyasa. This site was called as Madhavapuram and Mayapuri in those days. Also, the birth place of Peyalwar, one of the popular Vishnu deities and one of the twelve Alwars, is also located near this temple. Temple Layout and Structure The east facing temple has a beautiful five tiered tower. Many interesting stucco images are found on the tower....

Chennai , the most important city of South India, was founded by the British. Chennai is one of the few Indian cities where the heritage buildings and architecture that belong to British period are found in large numbers. George Town area of Chennai city houses a lot of important heritage buildings. In addition to that, the famous Mount Road aka Anna Salai has a large number of heritage buildings. Cuddon Building: Cuddon building was built by Simpson & co in 1916. This beautiful ornate brick building was built as a car showroom. This building is also called as Gove building. Bharat Insurance Building: The Kardly building which was housing Bharat Insurance once is generally called as Bharat Insurance Building. It stands as a fine example of Indo Saracenic building and British architecture. The Mail: The building which houses the newspaper office ‘The Mail’ is a heritage building of British period. P.Orr & Sons: The building which houses the P.Orr & So...

Chennai , the gateway to South India, has a lot of tourist sites. However, as the Chennai city is located in the southern part of India, has temples as most of the tourist sites. Egmore Museum, some amusement parks and beach are some of the exceptions. The botanical garden is one of such exceptional tourist attractions of Chennai city. Chennai city has a zoological park and deer park. However, it never had a botanical garden so far. It was in the year of 2010 that the Horticulture Department of Tamil Nadu Government started the first botanical garden of the city. The site where the botanical garden is located now is a landmark of the city. The site used to have a popular drive-in restaurant named Woodlands drive-in for many years. Most of the trees and plants that are found in the botanical garden are already there in the site as part of the drive-in restaurant. The botanical garden is called as 'Semmozhi Poonga'. The botanical garden which is spread around 20 acres is...

Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu state of India, has many important temples. Mylapore, the heritage locality of Chennai, has one of the two most popular temples of Chennai - Kapaleeswarar temple. Towards the north side of Kapaleeswarar temple at about 0.5 kms a small temple is dedicated to the Mother Goddess. The name of the temple is Mundakakanni temple and it is located in a small street named Mundakakanni Koil Street. The nearest landmark is Madhava Perumal Temple. Even though this temple is small, it is quite popular among the citizens of Chennai. I would say that she is one of the Goddesses of Madras city. You can find thousands of devotees visiting this temple during the Tamil month of Aadi. It is believed that this temple can cure Naga Dosham. The east facing temple has a small tower that is built in the recent times. This presiding deity of the temple is called as Mundakakanni, a form of the mother Goddess Parvati. However, there is a section of devotees who cl...

Chennai is one of the most important cities of India and it is also considered as the gateway to South India. Chennai has a lot of tourist sites in and around the city. The tourist sites in Chennai city include temples, churches, malls, British period buildings and zoological park. Chennai Government Museum is one of the unique tourist sites in Chennai city. It is located in the popular Egmore area of Chennai and hence it is also referred as Egmore Museum. Egmore locality in Chennai city is popular for more than 300 years. The second important railway station of Tamil Nadu is located in Egmore. Egmore, the erstwhile Ezhumbur village, was aquired by the East India Company in 1720 CE. After the sepoy mutiny aka First War of Indian Independence in 1857, the Egmore Museum was constructed. In 1896 the famous Connemara library was constructed within the Egmore Museum complex. Elephant Skeleton Chennai Government Museum is one of the oldest and important museums of the entire nation...

India, the heaven for travellers, has a lot of tourist sites, including many hill stations. Manali, Shimla, Kufri, Nainital, Darjeeling, Ooty, Munnar, Gulmarg and Kodaikanal are some of the most famous hill stations of India. The list is actually endless. Tamil Nadu, the southern state of India, has a lot of tourist sites. However, most of them are religious sites. Only few hill stations are located in Tamil Nadu; Ooty, Kodaikanal and Yercaud are the well known hill stations of Tamil Nadu. There is one more hill station located within Tamil Nadu state; that too this hill station is located very near to Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu state of India. Let us explore this not so popular hill station of Tamil Nadu. The name of that hill station is Yelagiri. Yelagiri is perhaps one of few hill stations in India which is very cheap. This is a perfect weekend getaway. There are not many places to visit in and around Yelagiri. If you want to spend your weekend peacefully, Yelagiri is o...