Maduranthakam


Madurantakam is a town and a municipality in Chengalpattu district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town is known for the artificial and second largest lake in Tamil Nadu, the Maduranthakam lake. It is said to have been built by the Chola King Uttama Chola, also called as Maduranthaka, during his reign. It is also home to the Eri-Katha Ramar Temple. As of 2011, the town had a population of 30,796.

History

Madurantakam is one of the holy places visited by Ramanuja though it has not been sung by the Alvars. The place is also unique in that Ramanuja's statue is found dressed in white on all days while in almost all temples the saint is dressed in ochre.
In two of his poems, Manavala Mamunigal asks everyone who wants to cast away his past sins to worship the Lord at this place. There are separate shrines for Lakshmi Narasimhar, Periya Nambi and Ramanuja, Andal, Sudarsana and Vedanta Desika. The holy tank is opposite the temple with a separate shrine for Anjaneya on its banks.

Geography

The main town of Madurantakam is situated from its district headquarters Chengalpattu about 25 kilometres and state capital Chennai about 82 kilometres. It serves as the headquarters for Madurantakam taluk.
The reservoir near Madurantakam irrigates more than 1000 small villages in and around the town. Kiliyar is a small river that originates from the Madurantakam reservoir which will be flooded when the reservoir is full. The Kiliyar river joins Palar before entering the Bay of Bengal.
Madurantakam almost lies in Coromandel coast and gets rains in north-east monsoon season. In the south-west monsoon season, little showers may occur during evenings.
Small hills found in Madurantakam taluk such as Vaiyavoor hill, Malaipalayam hill, Chitravadi hill, Perumberkandigai hill etc.
The soil is black in nature. Also, red soil is found near coastal areas.

Transportation

Madurantakam is served by town bus service, which provides connectivity within the town and the nearby villages. All buses are operating from the Bus stand which is located in the heart of the town. The State Express Transport Corporation operates buses connecting the town to other places like Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Uthiramerur, Thirukazhukundram and the places like Cuddalore, Cheyyur, Chunampet on the ECR routes.
Madurantakam railway station belongs to the Chennai railway division and is officially coded as MMK. All passenger and local trains in Chennai–Villupuram route have a halt here and only a few express trains halt.

Economy

The major occupation of the inhabitants of the town and surrounding regions is agriculture. There are number of Rice mills available.

Education

A number of educational institutions are available inside the town and surrounding.

Arts and Science

Temples

The Kodandaramaswamy temple has two sets of utsavar idols of the presiding deity and His consort, and Lakshmana. While one deity is named Rama, the other is known as Karunakaran.
There is also a separate shrine for Goddess Sita, known as Janakavalli Thayar, which is claimed to be very rare. This shrine was built by an English Collector, Colonel Lionel Blaze who assured the people that he would build a shrine for Devi if the newly built surplus water weirs withstood the fury of monsoon rains. The huge tank with immense storage capacity would breach every year after the monsoon rains and wash away the rough stone-built outlet of the tank. While camping at Madurantakam during a monsoon night, the tank was full and almost overflowing. The Collector visited the tank bund and is said to have seen Rama and Lakshmana keeping guard at the tank. The construction of the shrine for the Goddess began the very next morning and the Lord is known as Eri Katha Ramar as he saved the tank bund from collapsing.

Bird Sanctuary

About north-west of Madurantakam lies the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary and Karikili Bird Sanctuary, home to many rare and endangered species of migratory birds.

Demographics

According to 2011 census, Madurantakam had a population of 30,796 with a sex-ratio of 1,019 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 3,184 were under the age of six, constituting 1,615 males and 1,569 females. The average literacy of the town was 75.4%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of : 7699 households. There were a total of 12,135 workers, comprising 158 cultivators, 1,040 main agricultural labourers, 283 in house hold industries, 8,066 other workers, 2,588 marginal workers, 21 marginal cultivators, 1,031 marginal agricultural labourers, 106 marginal workers in household industries and 1,430 other marginal workers. As per the religious census of 2011, Madurantakam had 89.2% Hindus, 6.69% Muslims, 2.87% Christians, 0.02% Sikhs, 0.07% Buddhists, 0.79% Jains, 0.36% following other religions and 0.0% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.






Politics

Madurantakam is a state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu, India newly formed after constituency delimitation. It is included in the Kancheepuram parliamentary constituency.

Other Attractions

Weekly Market - There is a famous weekly market every Monday near Govt Hospital and it is very useful for the local people and near by villagers to buy vegetables, groceries, fruits and fish at low cost.

Recreational centres

Alangar Theatre with Balcony,
RK Theatre,
SR Theatre,
C3 Cinemas Laurel Mall.
Parks near Abdul kalam nagar and Thiru-Venkateswarar temple.