Perungalathur - History

The big tank at Perungalathur

I was very fortunate to study in MCC ( Madras Christian College ). Those days, we had an optional subject during our Under-graduate days where we learned to copy and read early Tamil inscriptions.

It was probably from there that my interest in knowing the History of Perungalathur and the surrounding areas grew.

So here is piece of History from my Professor's website:

From an inscription at Perungalathur, it was found, that the village existed in the Chola period and it was called Perunkulathur, the village of the big tank. Alternatively, it may also stand for a large village with a tank.

The village belonged to Nedungunra Nadu named after the village of Nedungunram situated south of the campus.

Even though Tambararn is close to Perungalathur. it belongs to a different Nadu called Churathur Nadu, named after Thiruchuram, the modern Trisulam village near Pallavaram.

Tambaram is sometimes wrongly derived from the word taamiram or copper but we know now that the second part of the word was once puram meaning a village (MCC Magazine, 1973).

We came across a Tamil inscription written in 1280 A.D. at Pammal village where Tambaram is also referred to as Gunaseelanallur.

We have copied another inscription from Tirukachur, near Singaperumal Kovil, an inscription of the thirteenth century which refers to Tambararn as Taampuram.

The same word can also be read as Dharmapuram or Taarna Puram, since in the early Tamil all the three forms would be written in the same way.

The Churathur Nadu extended from Tambaram in the south to Adambakkam and Alathur (Alandur) in the north and included Pammal, Pallavaram and Tirunirmalai.

We came across a Tamil inscription, (MCC No. 1972/04, MCC Magazine, 1973) at Vandalur which refers to the place as Vendalur (or Veyndalur).

The inscription mentions the name of the Vijayanagar viceroy Maharnandaleswaran Saaluva Narasimha, who usurped the throne in the fifteenth century and to Naagama Naik, a famous general of the Vijayanagar kings.