Virudhunagar – History
According
to a local legend, a warrior who won a number of banners
(called virudhu in Tamil) from his conquest of kingdoms, came to the town and challenged
the residents. A resident accepted the challenge, killed the warrior, and then
proceeded to seize the flags held by him. From then on, the town was known
as Virudhukkalvetti.
Virudhunagar
was a part of Madurai region (the region comprising all of Southern Tamilnadu
beyond Trichy in modern times) during the 16th century CE. The region became
independent from Vijayanagar Empire in 1559 under the Nayaks. Nayak rule ended in 1736 and the region was
repeatedly captured several times by Chanda
Sahib (1740 –
1754), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 1764) in the middle of 18th
century. In 1801, the region came under the direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras
Presidency.
By the
late 19th century, all the castes, especially the Maravars (also called Thevars), were against the
Nadars. Nadars were also the majority in religious conversions from Hinduism to Christianity under the influence of the
European missionaries. Some of the Nadars who remained in Hinduism sought entry
into the temples governed by Maravars, which was denied as Nadars were
considered inferior in caste. The mutual confrontation between the two
groups reached its peak in the region in 1899, leading to the Sivakasi riots. During the riots, 866 Nadar houses were burnt; seven
Nadars and 14 Maravars were killed out of the 21 known deaths. The Maravar
retaliated by attacking the Nadars scattered around the region killing three
Nadars. Eventually the riots came to an end after the intervention of the
military in mid-July 1899.
The
town's name was changed to Virudhupatti in 1875 and on 6 April 1923, the town
council renamed it Virudhunagar. It was an important trading centre during
the British rule and the merchandise from Virudhunagar was exported
overseas through the ports of Kulesakharapatnam, Thoothukudi, Vaippar and Devipattinam.
The town is the birthplace of K.
Kamaraj, a freedom fighter, Chief Minister of Tamilnadu from 1954 to 1963 and a recipient of the Bharat
Ratna, India's highest civilian
award.
