Tamil Heritage Trust
presents
The Heritage of Adayar River
by
R.Venkatesh
at 5.30 PM on Saturday, 5th November, 2016
Arkay Convention Center,
146/3 R.H.Road, OMS Lakshana (Above Shah Electronics), Mylapore, Chennai
About the Topic:
For
a river that is only 42 km long and dry for most of its course, the
Adyar has a lot of history. However, till she roars and overflows her
banks with impunity this mighty river is never ever noticed. As one dig
further there are details about Battles, temples, castles, churches,
apostles, azhavars, studios, superstars and novels.
Post
2015 floods, a group of volunteers thought that mapping her culture
and history would be an interesting task. Testifying to the history were
inscriptions in nearly a dozen languages including Armenian which are
found along its banks.
The
Pallavaram axe discovered on Adyar’s banks is estimated to be 1.5
million years old and used by the Paleolithic population. The reported
sites of Thomas the doubter, one of the 12 apostles of Christ, are all
along the river. Thiruneermalai one of the 108 divyadesams also has a
legend of a flood in a nearby river holding up Thirumangai Aazhar. The
Pallavas were active along the river and fought the battle of
Manimangalam near the river.
The
Portuguese, French, English, and the Nawab of Arcot have all left their
marks just like the Armenians. Forts were built in Santhome and the
famous battle of Adyar fought on the quibble island near its mouth.
Madras
was a culture by itself. It was where people could simply throw out
their past and cast their new identities. The Adyar stood a mute witness
to many such transformations. The banks were filled with fiercely
ambitious people and their lives are the history of this town we call
Chennai.
About the Speaker:
Venketesh
hails from the zamindari family of Devakottai whose thirupanis at
Rameshwaram and Kalayar koil over the last two centuries are well
appreciated. Venketesh is a bilingual writer. He has three tamil novels
to his credit. Two of them 'Kaviri Maindan' (காவிரி மைந்தன்) and 'Kanji
Tharagai' (காஞ்சித் தாரகை) are sequels to Amarar Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan
and Sivagamiyin Sabatham respectively. His highly acclaimed titled
"Gods, Kings & Slaves: The Siege of Madurai" featuring Malik Kafur's
invasion of Madurai, was one of the top selling historical fiction.
Venketesh
is one of the founder of 'Ponniyin Selvan Varalatru Peravai', a large
body of Kalki enthusiasts. He started the cultural mapping project of
the Cooum and with a band of volunteers and all buildings and events of
historical value on the sides of the 72 km long Cooum river were mapped
over several heritage walks and trips. Battles, exiles, personal
achievements, scientific advances, cultural developments were all
covered.
RSVP
S. Swaminathan - sswami99@gmail.com; 2467 1501
Badri Seshadri - Kizhakku-p-padippakam - badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566
A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre - gandhicentre@gmail.com;
S. Kannan - musickannan@gmail.com; 98414-47974
R. Gopu - writergopu@yahoo.com, 98417-24641
T. Sivasubramanian - siva.durasoft@gmail.com, 98842-94494
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