Madurai Essay

Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the knowledge domain with a recorded history from 3rd century BC. 3Megasthenes visited Madurai during 3rd century BC, with the city referred as Methora in his accounts. 9 The view is contested by some scholars as they believe Methora refers to the north Indian city of Mathura as it was a large and established city in the Mauryan Empire. 15 The city is also commendationed in Kautilyas (370283 BC)16 Arthashastra.Madurai finds mention in the works 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, some of present day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhras dynasty, who were ousted by the Pandyas around 590 CE. The Pandyas were outsted from Madurai by the Chola dynasty during the early 9t h century. The city remained under control of the Cholas until the early 13th century, when the instant 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 times 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 direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency.The British government made donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindoo festivals during the early part of their rule. The city was devolved as a political and industr ial complex through the 19th and 20th centuries to become a district home base of a larger Madurai district. With the effect of urbanisation, the temple no longer retained the unitary form, but continued to remain the centre for Hindus. In 1837, under the read of the then collector John Blackburn, the fortifications around the temple were demolished to accommodate the growing population of the city.The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct the impudent streets Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets. The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866 CE. The British government faced 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 between 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 municipalities were constituted in these two distri cts and six taluk boards were derived for local administration. Police stations were established with Madurai city as the military 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 time as his mode of clothing after seeing agricultural labourers wearing it. 29 The independence movement in Madurai was led by leaders such as N. M. R. Subbaraman and Mohammad Ismail Sahib.