Indian Columbus

Note:  Thanks to Mr. Kombai Anwar, a Chennai-based historian. Although I have visited this site and the photographs are mine, the historical details in this post are based on the article written by Anwar in The Hindu newspaper dated 15th June 2017. Santhome, which has become a part of the current Chennai city, was under the control of the Portuguese in the 17th century CE. In 1646 CE, the Golconda forces, under the leadership of Mir Jumla, attacked Santhome. Syed Shah Badrudin was a soldier of the Golconda cavalry. He climbed up the flagstaff and brought down the Portuguese flag. He also replaced it with the flag of Golconda. It is believed that he was attacked from behind by the Portuguese soldiers. Badrudin was injured very bad. He still managed to travel back on his horse to Pallavaram and finally collapsed there. The legend says that his head was severed, and he picked up his fallen head and traveled to Pallavaram. Badrudin was buried at the site where he collapsed. It is ...

Tiruvanchery is a small village near Selaiyur on the southern outskirts of Chennai in the Tamil Nadu state of India. There are three small but important temples located in this village. This article covers the complete details of those temples. Selva Vinayakar Temple Even today, Tiruvanchery is a remote village without much development. Just imagine how it would have been around 100 years ago. At the beginning of the 20th century CE, few strangers spent a night in this village. On the following day, early morning, they took away the centuries-old icon of Lord Ganesha from the temple in this village with them. Those people were apparently from Mylapore village. Their original objective was not known. Out of fear or due to some unknown reasons, they apparently buried the idol somewhere in Mylapore. Tiruvanchery temple did not have icons for a few years. Then, a villager, in his dream, was directed to this unknown site by a divine voice. Thus, the idol was discovered and reinstalled ...