Indian Columbus

Sadras is a fortress town located approximately at a distance of around 70 kms from Chennai, the gateway to South India. Sadras is the anglicized name of Chaduranga Pattinam. Dutch Fortress Sadras has two tourist sites. The first one is a Dutch fort and the second one is an old Hindu temple. Sadras was established as part of Dutch in the 17th century CE. It soon became a center for weaving muslin cloth for export. The Dutch built the magnificent fort for the commercial purpose near the beach in Sadras. The first battle between the Dutch and the British East India company started here and it is referred as the Battle of Sadras. The fortress was raided by the British in 1818 CE and came under their control. Today, the fortress, which is under the control of Archaeological Survey of India, has only few structures and walls. Most of parts of the fortress are in the ruins. There is a section where the graveyard of Dutch men are found inside the fortress. Dutch Tombs Apart fro...

Aappoor is a small village located near Chenglepet city in South India. The distance is around 5 kms from Singaperumal Koil. This small village is famous mainly due to the hillock temple of Lord Vishnu. If you travel from Singaperumal Koil, you will reach Thiruckkachur village first at a distance of 3 kms. This village has three ancient Shiva temples and one of those temples is located on top of the hill. Another 2 kms of journey will take you to Aappoor. Here also, the temple is located on top of the hill. You can reach this hillock temple of Aappoorar a.ka Nithya Kalyana Perumal by climbing 500+ steep steps. The temple is very small. It has just one shrine where Lord Vishnu named as Nithya Kalyana Perumal is found in the standing posture. Unlike other usual temples, he is not found along with his consorts in this temple. A small idol of Garuda is found facing the main shrine. There are no other idols or shrines in this small temple. The highlight of the temple is that the L...

Thirukkachur is a small village located at a distance of around 3 kms from Singaperumal Koil near Chenglepet city in South India. This small village is one of the 275 "paadal petra sthalam" sites (one of the 275 important Shiva temples). There are three important and ancient Shiva temples located in this village. Temple #1: Oushadheeswarar Temple This small village called Thirukkachur has a small hillock. It is referred as Oushadhagiri. At the foot hill, there is an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of the temple, is called as Oushadheeswarar or Marundeeswarar. The south facing temple has no tower (rajagopuram). The deity is in the form of Shiv Linga and the main shrine is facing the west direction. Nandi, the flag staff and bali peeth are situated in front of the main shrine. The goddess of the temple is named as Andakara Nivarani or Irul Neekki Amman and she is found in a separate south facing shrine. The temple has one big...