Ayilyam Thirunal
Ayilyam Thirunal Rama Varma was the ruler of the princely state of Travancore in India from 1860 to 1880. His reign was successful with Travancore gaining the appellation of "model state of India". Ayilyam Thirunal was the nephew of Uthram Thirunal and Swathi Thirunal and grandson of the celebrated Gowri Lakshmi Bayi. Ayilyam Thirunal was born on 14 March 1832 to H. H. Rani Rukmini Bayi, the only sister of Maharajahs Swathi Thirunal and Uthram Thirunal. In the Travancore Royal Family inheritance and primogeniture was determined by the Marumakkathayam system i.e. through the female line. With the accession of Uthram Thirunal in 1846 and his elder brother's exclusion from the line of succession due to imbecility, Ayilyam Thirunal became the Elaya Rajah or heir apparent of Travancore State. Of the seven children born to Rukmini Bayi, only four, including a daughter, Rani Lakshmi Bayi and the eldest and third son were declared unfit to rule owing to mental incapacity. Ayilyam Thirunal's youngest brother Visakham Thirunal was therefore to be his successor.
Ayilyam Thirunal's early education was provided and T. Madhava Rao was appointed tutor to the Elaya Rajah and his brother in 1848. Madhava Rao rose in service and was appointed by Uthram Thirunal in 1857 as Dewan of Travancore and remained in that capacity during the initial decade of Ayilyam Thirunal's reign, owing to personal disaffection, he was retired in 1872. In 1854 Ayilyam Thirunal was married to his uncle's daughter, Panapillai Madhavi Pillai Lakshmi Pillai Kochamma of the Thiruvattar Ammaveedu, his consort however died a few years later. In 1860 Maharajah Uthram Thirunal died and Ayilyam Thirunal ascended the musnud as Maharajah; the accession of Ayilyam Thirunal ushered in a new era in Travancore. Assisted by his Dewan T. Madhava Rao, the Maharajah implemented many reforms and changes in Travancore, which were all agreeably beneficial for the state. At the time of his accession, the Travancore Government was struggling with its many debts and mismanaged financial department. Many monopolies and cessations were abolished by the government.
In 1863 the Dewan declared that Travancore no longer had any public debt. Salaries of public servants were raised by more than 50% and its efficiency was bettered. A great deal of development in Education, public works, medicine and public health, agriculture etc. was made. Year after year Travancore was commended by the Madras Government. Important proclamations such as the Jenmi-Kudiyan Proclamation of 1867 were made. In 1866 the Maharajah was admitted into the Order of the Star of India while his Dewan was admitted into the Order of the Indian Empire. In the same year the British Government granted the title of Maharajah to Ayilyam Thirunal, in formal communications so far addressed only as Rajah. By 1872 Travancore was in a prosperous state with a surplus revenue of 4 million rupees. However, by now the relations between the Maharajah and his Dewan, now styled Rajah Sir T. Madhava Rao had turned sour and the latter was retired on a lavish pension of Rs. 1000 per mensem. Seshayya Sastri was now appointed Dewan, a position he held until 1877.
The new Dewan concentrated on the development of roads and infrastructure in the state. In 1874 the Maharajah's College in Trivandrum started a Law class and other developments in the education department were made. In 1875, the first systematic census of Travancore was taken by the government. In 1877 Seshayya Sastri was retired on a pension of Rs. 500 per mensem. In accepting this liberal pension, the outgoing Dewan said: Seshayya Sastri was admitted into the Order of the Star of India, he was succeeded by a native of Travancore. During his premiership which lasted until 1880 irrigation was expanded in Travancore and other institutions were established, surveys of land and agriculture etc. were taken and several other legislative and judicial reforms were passed. With the death of Ayilyam Thirunal in 1880, Nanoo Pillay was retired by his successor, Visakham Thirunal. Prior to this Ayilyam Thirunal had been admitted into the Order of the Indian Empire. After the death of Thiruvattar Ammachi, his first consort, the Maharajah married again in 1862 Kalyanikutty Amma of Mathruppillil, a prestigious family of Nadavarambu, Thrissur in the neighbouring state of Cochin.
She was born in 1839 as the only daughter of Nadavarambathu Kunju Krishna Menon, a former Dewan of Cochin and his wife Mathruppillil Lakshmi Amma. She was first married to Punnakkal Easwara Pillai Vicharippukar. Kalyanikutty Amma was a woman of renowned beauty and the first commission given to Raja Ravi Varma by Ayilyam Thirunal was for her portrait. In 1865 after their marriage, she was adopted by the Maharajah into the Nagercoil Ammaveedu after which her full title became Nagercoil Ammachi Panapillai Amma Srimathi Lakshmi Pillai Kalyanikutty Pillai Ammachi. Nagercoil Ammachi was a scholar of Sanskrit and a poet in her own right, having authored Rasa Krida, Satya Panchakam, Pativrataya Panchakam, Ambarishacharitram and other works, she died in 1909. The Maharajah had no children of his own from either marriage; however along with his consort he adopted two nieces and nephew of hers, one niece Panapillai Ananthalakshmi Pillai Kochamma, who married in 1879 the Maharajah's nephew Moolam Thirunal, the other niece married to a Thirumulpadu and a son Nagercoil Achyuthan Thampi.
The Maharajah was a poet having authored the Meenaketanacharitram and Bhasha Sakuntalam. The first decade of the Maharajah's reign was happy and peaceful but several problems arose after the dismissal of Dewan Madhava Rao; the Maharajah's relationship with Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran, the consort of his niece, the Rani
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is a broadly based political party in India. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. Congress led India to independence from Great Britain, powerfully influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire. Congress is a secular party whose social democratic platform is considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics. Congress' social policy is based upon the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya—the lifting up of all sections of society—which involves the improvement of the lives of economically underprivileged and marginalised people; the party endorses social democracy—seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice and secularism—asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings. Its constitution states democractic socialism to be its ideal.
After India's independence in 1947, Congress formed the central government of India, many regional state governments. Congress became India's dominant political party. There have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru, the most recent Manmohan Singh. Although it did not fare well in the last general elections in India in 2014, it remains one of two major, political parties in India, along with the right-wing, Hindu nationalist, Bharatiya Janata Party. In the 2014 general election, Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha. From 2004 to 2014, United Progressive Alliance, a coalition of Congress with several regional parties, formed the Indian government led by Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister as the head of the coalition government; the leader of the party during the period, Sonia Gandhi has served the longest term as the president of the party. As of December 2018, the party is in power in six legislative assemblies: Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry.
The Indian National Congress conducted its first session in Bombay from 28–31 December 1885 at the initiative of retired Civil Service officer Allan Octavian Hume. In 1883, Hume had outlined his idea for a body representing Indian interests in an open letter to graduates of the University of Calcutta, its aim was to obtain a greater share in government for educated Indians, to create a platform for civic and political dialogue between them and the British Raj. Hume took the initiative, in March 1885 a notice convening the first meeting of the Indian National Union to be held in Poona the following December was issued. Due to a cholera outbreak there, it was moved to Bombay. Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of Congress. Notable representatives included Scottish ICS officer William Wedderburn, Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta of the Bombay Presidency Association, Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi of the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, social reformer and newspaper editor Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Justice K. T. Telang, N. G. Chandavarkar, Dinshaw Wacha, Behramji Malabari and activist Gooty Kesava Pillai, P. Rangaiah Naidu of the Madras Mahajana Sabha.
This small elite group, unrepresentative of the Indian masses at the time, functioned more as a stage for elite Indian ambitions than a political party for the first decade of its existence. At the beginning of the 20th century, Congress' demands became more radical in the face of constant opposition from the British government, the party decided to advocate in favour of the independence movement because it would allow a new political system in which Congress could be a major party. By 1905, a division opened between the moderates led by Gokhale, who downplayed public agitation, the new extremists who advocated agitation, regarded the pursuit of social reform as a distraction from nationalism. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who tried to mobilise Hindu Indians by appealing to an explicitly Hindu political identity displayed in the annual public Ganapati festivals he inaugurated in western India, was prominent among the extremists. Congress included a number of prominent political figures. Dadabhai Naoroji, a member of the sister Indian National Association, was elected president of the party in 1886 and was the first Indian Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
Congress included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Jinnah was a member of the moderate group in the Congress, favouring Hindu–Muslim unity in achieving self-government, he became the leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. Congress was transformed into a mass movement by Surendranath Banerjee during the partition of Bengal in 1905, the resultant Swadeshi movement. Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915. With the help of the moderate group led by Ghokhale, Gandhi became president of Congress. After the First World War, the party became associated with Gandhi, who remained its unofficial spiritual leader and icon, he formed an alliance wit
Public health
Public health has been defined as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the health of a population and the threats it faces is the basis for public health; the public can be as large as a village or an entire city. The concept of health takes into account physical and social well-being; as such, according to the World Health Organization, it is not the absence of disease or infirmity. Public health is an interdisciplinary field. For example, epidemiology and management of health services are all relevant. Other important subfields include environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health, occupational safety, gender issues in health, sexual and reproductive health. Public health aims to improve the quality of life through prevention and treatment of disease, including mental health.
This is done through the surveillance of cases and health indicators, through the promotion of healthy behaviors. Common public health initiatives include promotion of handwashing and breastfeeding, delivery of vaccinations, suicide prevention, distribution of condoms to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Modern public health practice requires multidisciplinary teams of public health workers and professionals. Teams might include epidemiologists, medical assistants, public health nurses, medical microbiologists, sociologists, data managers, physicians. Depending on the need, environmental health officers or public health inspectors and veterinarians, gender experts, or sexual and reproductive health specialists might be called on. Access to health care and public health initiatives are difficult challenges in developing countries. Public health infrastructures are still forming in those countries; the focus of a public health intervention is to prevent and manage diseases and other health conditions through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors and environments.
Many diseases are preventable through nonmedical methods. For example, research has shown that the simple act of handwashing with soap can prevent the spread of many contagious diseases. In other cases, treating a disease or controlling a pathogen can be vital to preventing its spread to others, either during an outbreak of infectious disease or through contamination of food or water supplies. Public health communications programs, vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of common preventive public health measures. Measures such as these have contributed to the health of populations and increases in life expectancy. Public health plays an important role in disease prevention efforts in both the developing world and in developed countries through local health systems and non-governmental organizations; the World Health Organization is the international agency that coordinates and acts on global public health issues. Most countries have their own governmental public health agency called the ministry of health, with responsibility for domestic health issues.
In the United States and local health departments are on the front line of public health initiatives. In addition to their national duties, the United States Public Health Service, led by the Surgeon General of the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, headquartered in Atlanta, are involved with international health activities. In Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada is the national agency responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, infectious and chronic disease control and prevention; the Public health system in India is managed by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of the government of India with state-owned health care facilities. Most governments recognize the importance of public health programs in reducing the incidence of disease and the effects of aging and other physical and mental health conditions. However, public health receives less government funding compared with medicine. Public health programs providing vaccinations have made strides in promoting health, including the eradication of smallpox, a disease that plagued humanity for thousands of years.
The World Health Organization identifies core functions of public health programs including: providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed. In particular, public health surveillance programs can: serve as an early warning system for impending public health emergencies. Diagnose and monitor health problems and health hazards of the communityPublic health surveillance has led to the identification and prioritization of many public health issues facing the world today, including HIV/AIDS, waterborne diseases, zoonotic diseases, antibiotic resistance leading to the reemergence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Antibiotic resistance kno
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the whole of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, parts of Odisha, Kerala and the union territory of Lakshadweep; the city of Madras was the winter capital of the Presidency and Ootacamund or Ooty, the summer capital. The island of Ceylon was a part of Madras Presidency from 1793 to 1798 when it was created a Crown colony. Madras Presidency was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore on the northwest, Kingdom of Kochi on the southwest, the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the north; some parts of the presidency were flanked by Bombay Presidency. In 1639, the English East India Company purchased the village of Madraspatnam and one year it established the Agency of Fort St George, precursor of the Madras Presidency, although there had been Company factories at Machilipatnam and Armagon since the early 1600s.
The agency was upgraded to a Presidency in 1652 before once more reverting to its previous status in 1655. In 1684, it was re-elevated to a Presidency and Elihu Yale was appointed as president. In 1785, under the provisions of Pitt's India Act, Madras became one of three provinces established by the East India Company. Thereafter, the head of the area was styled "Governor" rather than "President" and became subordinate to the Governor-General in Calcutta, a title that would persist until 1947. Judicial and executive powers rested with the Governor, assisted by a Council whose constitution was modified by reforms enacted in 1861, 1909, 1919 and 1935. Regular elections were conducted in Madras up to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. By 1908, the province comprised twenty-two districts, each under a District Collector, it was further sub-divided into taluks and firqas with villages making up the smallest unit of administration. Following the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms of 1919, Madras was the first province of British India to implement a system of dyarchy, thereafter its Governor ruled alongside a prime minister.
In the early decades of the 20th century, many significant contributors to the Indian independence movement came from Madras. With the advent of Indian independence on 15 August 1947, the Presidency became the Madras Province. Madras was admitted as Madras State, a state of the Indian Union at the inauguration of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950, was reorganised in 1953 & 1956; the discovery of dolmens from this portion of the subcontinent shows inhabitation as early as the Stone Age. The first prominent rulers of the northern part of the future Presidency were the Tamil Pandya dynasty. Following the decline of the Pandyas and the Cholas, the country was conquered by a little known race of people called the Kalabhras; the country recovered under the subsequent Pallava dynasty and its civilisation attained a peak when the Telugu kings started acquiring vast places in Tamil Nadu. Following the conquest of Madurai by Malik Kafur in 1311, there was a brief lull when both culture and civilisation began to deteriorate.
The Tamil and Telugu territories recovered under the Vijayanagar Empire, founded in 1336. Following the empire's demise, the country was split amongst numerous sultans and European trading companies. Between 1685 and 1947, a number of kings ruled the areas. On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a group of English merchants a charter to establish a joint-stock company which became known as the East India Company. Subsequently, during the reign of King James I, Sir William Hawkins and Sir Thomas Roe were sent to negotiate with the Mughal Emperor Jahangir to permit the establishment of trading factories in India on behalf of the Company; the first of these were built at Surat on the west coast and at Masulipatam on the country's eastern seaboard. Masulipatam is thus the oldest English trading post on India's east coast, dating back to 1611. In 1625, another factory was established at Armagon, a few miles to the south, whereupon both the factories came under the supervision of an agency based at Machilipatam.
The English authorities decided to relocate these factories further south, due to a shortage of cotton cloth, the main trade item of the east coast at the time. The problem was compounded; the East India Company's administrator Francis Day was sent south, after negotiations with the Raja of Chandragiri he obtained a land grant to set up a factory in the village of Madraspatnam, where the new Fort St George was built. An agency was created to govern the new settlement, the factor Andrew Cogan of Masulipatnam was appointed as its first Agent. All the agencies along India's east coast were subordinated to the East India Company presidency of Bantam in Java. By 1641, Fort St George became the Company's headquarters on the Coromandel Coast. Andrew Cogan was succeeded by Thomas Ivie and Thomas Greenhill. At the end of Greenhill's term in 1652, Fort St George was elevated to a Presidency, independent of Bantam and under the leadership of the first president, Aaron Baker. However, in 1655 the status of the fort was downgraded to an Agency and made subject to the factory at Surat, until 1684.
In 1658, control of all the factories in Bengal was given to Madras, when the English occupied the nearby village of Triplicane. In 1684, Fort St George was again elevated in rank to become the Madras Presidency, with William Gyfford as its first president. During this period
Sayajirao Gaekwad III
Sayajirao Gaekwad III was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939, is notably remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the royal Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas. Sayajirao was born in a Maratha family at Kavlana in Malegaon Tahsil Dist. Nashik as Shrimant Gopalrao Gaekwad, second son of Meherban Shrimant Kashirao Bhikajirao Dada Sahib Gaekwad and Shrimant Akhand Soubhagyavati Ummabai Sahib, his branch of the Gaekwad dynasty was a cadet branch descended from a morganatic marriage of the first Raja of Baroda and so was not expected to succeed to the throne. Following the death of Sir Khanderao Gaekwad, the popular Maharaja of Baroda, in 1870, it was expected that his brother, would succeed him. However, Malharrao had proven himself to be of the vilest character and had been imprisoned earlier for conspiring to assassinate Khanderao; as Khanderao's widow, Maharani Jamnabai was pregnant with a posthumous child, the succession was delayed until the gender of the child could be proven.
The child proved to be a daughter, so upon her birth on 5 July 1871, Malharrao ascended the throne. Malharrao spent money liberally, nearly emptying the Baroda coffers and soon reports reached the Resident of Malharrao's gross tyranny and cruelty. Malharrao further attempted to cover up his deeds by poisoning the Resident with a compound of arsenic. By order of the Secretary of State for India, Lord Salisbury, Malharrao was deposed on 10 April 1875 and exiled to Madras, where he died in obscurity in 1882. With the throne of Baroda now vacant, Maharani Jamnabai called on the heads of the extended branches of the dynasty to come to Baroda and present themselves and their sons in order to decide upon a successor. Kashirao and his three sons, Anandrao and Sampatrao walked to Baroda from Kavlana -a distance of some 600 kilometers- to present themselves to Jamnabai, it is reported that when each son was asked the purported reason for presenting themselves at Baroda, Gopalrao unhesitatingly stated: "I have come here to rule".
He was selected by the British Government as successor and was accordingly adopted by Maharani Jamnabai, on 27 May 1875. He was given a new name, Sayajirao, he ascended the gadi at Baroda, 16 June 1875 but being a minor reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and was invested with full ruling powers on 28 December 1881. During his minority he was extensively tutored in administrative skills by Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao who groomed his young protégé into being a person with foresight and with a will to provide welfare to his people. In this period Madhava Rao restored the state to its normal conditions following the chaos in which it had been left by Malharrao. Not a little credit for what the Maharaja achieved during his life in every sphere of human activity must be given to F. A. H. Elliot. On assuming the reins of government, some of his first tasks included education of his subjects, uplifting of the downtrodden, judicial and social reforms, he played a key role in the development of Baroda's textile industry, his educational and social reforms included among others, a ban on child marriage, legislation of divorce, removal of untouchability, spread of education, development of Sanskrit, ideological studies and religious education as well as the encouragement of the fine arts.
His economic development initiatives included the establishment of a railroad and the founding in 1908 of the Bank of Baroda, which still exists and is one of India's leading banks, with numerous operations abroad in support of the Gujarati diaspora. Aware of the fact that he was a Maratha ruler of Gujarat, he identified himself with the people and shaped their cosmopolitan attitude and progressive, reformist zeal, his rich library became the nucleus of today's Central Library of Baroda with a network of libraries in all the towns and villages in his state. He was the first Indian ruler to introduce, in 1906, compulsory and free primary education in his state, placing his territory far in advance of contemporary British India. To commemorate his vision and administrative skills, Baroda Management Association has instituted Sayaji Ratna Award in 2013, named after him. Though a prince of a native state, he guarded his rights and status at the cost of annoyance to the British Indian Government.
Sayajirao was in conflict with the British on matters of principle and governance, having continuous and longstanding verbal and written disputes with the British Residents as well as with the Viceroy and officials in the Government of India. He was granted the title of Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia on 29 December 1876, he attended the Delhi Durbars of 1877, 1903 and 1911. At the grand and historic 1911 Delhi Durbar, attended by George V— the first time that a reigning British monarch had travelled to India, each Indian ruler or "native prince" was expected to perform proper obeisance to the King-Emperor by bowing three times before him backing away without turning; as the third-most prestigious Indian ruler, Sayajirao was third in line to approach the King-Emperor. While some accounts state that he refu
Chennai
Chennai is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is the biggest cultural and educational centre of south India. According to the 2011 Indian census, it is the sixth most populous city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India; the city together with the adjoining regions constitute the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the 36th-largest urban area by population in the world. Chennai is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists, it was ranked the 43rd most visited city in the world for the year 2015. The Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of health tourists visiting India, 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists; as such, it is termed "India's health capital". As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. Chennai had the third-largest expatriate population in India at 35,000 in 2009, 82,790 in 2011 and estimated at over 100,000 by 2016.
Tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015. Chennai is ranked as a beta-level city in the Global Cities Index, was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. In 2015 Chennai was named the "hottest" city by the BBC, citing the mixture of both modern and traditional values. National Geographic mentioned Chennai as the only South Asian city to feature in its 2015 "Top 10 food cities" list. Chennai was named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet. In October 2017, Chennai was added to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network list for its rich musical tradition; the Chennai Metropolitan Area is one of the largest municipal economies of India. Chennai is nicknamed "The Detroit of India", with more than one-third of India's automobile industry being based in the city. Home to the Tamil film industry, Chennai is known as a major film production centre. Chennai has been selected as one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under Smart Cities Mission.
The name Chennai is of Telugu origin. It was derived from the name of a Telugu ruler Damarla Chennappa Nayakudu, father of Damarla Venkatapathy Nayak, a Nayak ruler who served as a general under Venkata III of the Vijayanagar Empire from whom the British acquired the town in 1639; the first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a sale deed, dated 8 August 1639, to Francis Day of the East India Company before the Chennakesava Perumal Temple was built in 1646 while some scholars argue for the contrary. The name Madras is of native origin, has been shown to be in use before the British presence in India. A Vijayanagar-era inscription dated to the year 1367 that mentions the port of Mādarasanpattanam, along with other small ports on the east coast was discovered in 2015 and it was theorised that the aforementioned port is the fishing port of Royapuram. According to some sources, Madras was derived from Madraspattinam, a fishing-village north of Fort St George. However, it is uncertain.
The British military mapmakers believed Madras was Mundir-raj or Mundiraj,which was the name of a telugu community of rulers of nayakasThere are suggestions that it may have originated from a Portuguese phrase Mãe de Deus or Madre de Dios, which means "mother of God", due to Portuguese influence on the port city referring to a Church of St. Mary. In 1996, the Government of Tamil Nadu changed the name from Madras to Chennai. At that time many Indian cities underwent a change of name. However, the name Madras continues in occasional use for the city, as well as for places named after the city such as University of Madras, IIT Madras, Madras Institute of Technology, Madras Medical College, Madras Veterinary College, Madras Christian College. Stone age implements have been found near Pallavaram in Chennai. According to the Archaeological Survey of India, Pallavaram was a megalithic cultural establishment, pre-historic communities resided in the settlement; the region around Chennai has served as an important administrative and economic centre for many centuries.
During the 1st century CE, a poet and weaver named. From the 1st–12th century the region of present Tamil Nadu and parts of South India was ruled by the Cholas; the Pallavas of Kanchi built the areas of Mahabalipuram and Pallavaram during the reign of Mahendravarman I. They defeated several kingdoms including the Cheras and Pandyas who ruled over the area before their arrival. Sculpted caves and paintings have been identified from that period. Ancient coins dating to around 500 BC have been unearthed from the city and its surrounding areas. A portion of these findings belonged to the Vijayanagara Empire, which ruled the region during the medieval period; the Portuguese first arrived in 1522 and built a port called São Tomé after the Christian apostle, St. Thomas, believed to have preached in the area between 52 and 70 CE. In 1612, the Dutch established themselves near Pulicat, north of Chennai. On 20 August 1639 Francis Day of the East India Company along with the Nayak of Kalahasti Damarla Chennappa Nayakudu, travelled to the Chandragiri palace for an audience with the Vijayanager Emperor Peda Venkata Raya.
Day was seeking to obtain a grant for land on the Coromandel coast on which the Company could build a factory and warehouse for their trading activities and was successful i
A. Seshayya Sastri
Sir Amaravati Seshayya Sastri, or Sashiah Sastri, was an Indian administrator who served as the Diwan of Travancore from May 1872 to 4 May 1877 and as the Diwan of Pudukkottai from 1878 to 1894. He is credited with having modernized the city of Pudukkottai. Seshayya Sastri was born in the village of Amaravati in Tanjore district, Madras Presidency in 1828 in a poor Hindu family. At the age of nine, Seshayya Sastri moved to Madras city with his uncle Gopala Aiyer. Seshayya Sastri had his schooling and higher education in Madras and graduated in 1848 in first class. In 1848, Seshayya Sastri was employed as a clerk in the Revenue Office and rose to become Tahsildar, Naib Sheristadar and Head Sheristadar. In 1872, Seshayya Sastri was appointed Diwan of Travancore and served from 1872 to 1877, when palace intrigues forced him to quit. Seshayya Sastri served as Diwan of Pudukkottai from 1878 to 1886 and Diwan-Regent from 1886 to 1894, he created the Pudukulam Lake. Seshayya Sastri retired from service in 1894.
He died on 29 October 1903 at the age of 75. Seshayya Sastri was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in 1902. Seshayya Sastri was born on 22 March 1828 in the village of Amaravati in Tanjore district He was the youngest of six children and his father was a Vaidika priest. Sastri's parents were poor and he had a troubled upbringing. At a early age, he moved with his uncle Gopala Aiyer, to Madras. In Madras, he learnt Tamil from a private tuition master and had his first English lessons at a school run by a Portuguese named Francis Rodriques. In 1837, Seshayya Sastri joined Anderson's school; as a child, Seshayya Sastri mastered verses from the Bible and became a favorite with the Rev. Mr. Anderson. In 1840, as a result of violent protests and accusations of proselytization against Anderson, an Education Board was set up by the Madras Government and a preparatory and a high school established by the board. Seshayya Sastri joined the preparatory school in 1841; the school was upgraded to a high school and Seshayya Sastri studied in the school till 1848 when financial difficulties forced him to quit.
The headmaster of the school was the legendary E. B. Powell. Sastri's classmates at the school were T. Madhava Rao. In 1848, he joined Pachaiyappa's school and studied with the aid of a regular stipend from the Government. Meanwhile, Sastri's uncle Gopala Aiyer died in 1847; the same year Seshayya Sastri married Sundari, a native of Konerirajapuram and became a householder. Seshayya Sastri rigorously practised drama along with his close friend Ramiengar, he graduated on 29 May 1848 in first class. In September 1848, Sastri was employed as a clerk in the Revenue Office. Seshayya Sastri's performance as a clerk won him a place in the Roving Commission. Seshayya was transferred to the Currents Department and was appointed Tahsildar of Masulipatnam in May 1851. Sastri was promoted as Naib Sheristadar in 1853 and Head Sheristadar on 5 November 1855. Seshayya served in the Imam Commission from November 1858 to 1865, when he was appointed Deputy Collector of Tanjore. Sastri took charge in April 1866 and served for a year till he was appointed Vice President of the Tanjore municipality.
In 1869, Seshayya was appointed Head Sheristadar of the Board of Revenue. In May 1872, he succeeded his classmate Madhava Rao as the Dewan of Travancore. During the tenure of Seshayya Sastri as Dewan, the Varkala Tunnel connecting two lakes in Varkala, forty kilometres from Tiruvananthapuram city was opened for traffic; the first systematic census of Travancore state was taken on 18 May 1875. Seshayya Sastri became Dewan at a time. Sastri's predecessor Madhava Rao was dismissed. Sastri, was dominant and uncompromising as Madhava Rao and had frequent clashes with the king. Notwithstanding this strained relationship, Kerala Varma, the ruler of Cochin, wrote a letter to Seshayya Sastri warning him about the designs of Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal but the letter fell into the hands of the Raja of Travancore. In August 1877, Seshayya Sastri resigned as Diwan of Travancore and retired to Trichinopoly where he was appointed Vice-President and Secretary of the Mansion House Famine Relief Committee. In January 1878, Seshayya was nominated to the Madras Legislative Council and served till August 1878 when he took charge as the Diwan of Pudukkottai.
In 1878, when Ramachandra Tondaiman was the ruler of Pudukkottai, Seshayya Sastri was appointed Dewan. He brought forth a number of reforms, he rebuilt it incorporating modern principles of town planning. The Pudukkottai administrative office building was constructed during the tenure of Seshayya Sastri; the famous Pudukkulam Lake in Pudukkottai was a creation of Seshayya Sastri. Under Seshayya Sastri's advice, Ramachandra Tondaiman renovated many temples in the state. At the suggestion of his Tanjore-born wife, Ramachandra Tondaiman adopted the name "Brihadambaldas" with consent of Dewan Seshayya Sastri. In 1886, Ramachandra Tondaiman died and Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman a minor, succeeded to the throne of Pudukkottai. Seshayya Sastri, the Dewan, ruled Pudukkottai as Regent till Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman came of age, his tenure as dewan came to an end in 1894 and he returned to private life. In 1902, Seshayya Sastri was knighted for his services to the Crown. Seshayya Sastri died on 29 October 1903.
Seshayya Sastri was made a fellow of the University of Madras in 1868 and on 1 January 1878, made a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in the New Year Honour's List. In 1901, Seshayya Sastri was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of
