Madurai Essay

Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and is one of the oldest interminably inhabited cities in the world with a recorded history from tertiary century BC. 3Megasthenes visited Madurai during 3rd century BC, with the urban center referred as Methora in his accounts. 9 The date is contested by some scholars as they believe Methora refers to the north Indian metropolis of Mathura as it was a large and established city in the Mauryan Empire. 15 The city is also mentioned in Kautilyas (370283 BC)16 Arthashastra.Madurai finds mention in the whole kit and caboodle of Roman historians Pliny the Younger (61 ca. 12 CE), Ptolemy (ca. 90 ca. CE 168), those of the Greek geographerStrabo(64/63 BCE ca. 24 CE). and also in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea After the Sangam age, most of take day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the eclipse of the Kalabhras dynasty, who were ousted by the Pandyas somewhat 590 CE. The Pandyas were outsted from Madurai by the Chola dynasty during the early 9th century. The city remained under control of the Cholas until the early 13th century, when the aid Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital.After the death of Kulasekara Pandian (12681308 CE), Madurai came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. , The Madurai Sultanate, then seceded from Delhi functioned as an independent kingdom till its gradual annexation by the Vijayanagar Empire in 1378 CE. Madurai became independent from Vijayanagar in 1559 CE under the Nayaks. Nayak rule ended in 1736 CE and Madurai was repeatedly captured several multiplication byChanda Sahib (1740 1754 CE), ArcotNawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 1764 CE) in the middle of 18th century. In 1801, Madurai came under the plow control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency.The British government do donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindu festivals during the early part of their rule. The city was devolv ed as a political and industrial complex through the 19th and twentieth centuries to become a district headquarters of a larger Madurai district. With the effect of urbanisation, the temple no longer retained the unitary form, but continue to remain the centre for Hindus. In 1837, under the order of the then storage battery John Blackburn, the fortifications around the temple were demolished to accommodate the growing community of the city.The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct the new streets Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets. The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866 CE. The British government face up initial hiccups in land ceiling and tax collection in Madurai and Dindigul districts under the direct administration of the officers of the government. The district at large was resurveyed mingled with 1880 and 1885 CE and settled between 1885 and 1893 CE. The survey showed an under assessment of around 8 per cent in the old survey.Five munic ipalities were constituted in these two districts and six taluk boards were derived for local administration. Police stations were established with Madurai city as the headquarters of the District Superintendent. It was in Madurai, in 1921, that Gandhi, pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India, adopted loin cloth for the first clock as his mode of dress after seeing agricultural labourers corrosion it. 29 The independence movement in Madurai was led by leaders much(prenominal) as N. M. R. Subbaraman and Mohammad Ismail Sahib.