Information about Chennai



General Information

The City of Chennai is formerly known as the Madras. It is the largest city in the southern India and located along the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. It has the capital state of Tamil Nadu. Within India, Chennai is the fourth largest city. Its official name was changed to Chennai in 1996 however; the former name of Madras is still vastly used by many people.



Chennai is a leading industrial and commercial center in India. It has various cultural heritages and more vivid contrasts that are surprisingly pleasant. It offers traditional vegetarian fair and fast foods. It had nine-yard sarees to the latest in fashion trends. It has the ancient temple architecture as well as modern-high rise buildings with Victorian and Indo-Saracenic styles. It offers classical music to dance and disco genres. The most striking part of the city is the modern metropolis where parks, beaches, and even sanctuaries can be found. Chennai offers a rich historic past and a wealth of natural ambience equipped with modern facilities.

The City of Chennai in India has gracious atmosphere because of its tourist facilities, historical landmarks, parks, long sandy beaches, and clear skyline. All of these make it very convenient for the tourists as well as locals to make an entry base or point in starting their tour of the South India and Tamil Nadu.

The history of religion had certainly make its mark on the city of Chennai. The city was believed to have been the place of St. Thomas in the out skirt. Numerous churches in the city are believed to be connected to the times and life of the apostle. Several ancient temples within the city are also found including the two magnificent temples, the Mylapore, and the Triplicane temples.

History

Chennai or Madras was founded in 1639 as part of the agreement between the local ruler of Vandavasj who is Damerla Venkatapathy Nayak and the British East India Company that was represented by Andrew Cogan and Francis Day with an aid from a local translator named Beri Thimappa. The agreement deals about the granting of land to the British East India Company by the ruler to be able to build settlements.

The document date of the land grant was August 22, 1639, which had been assigned as the official foundation day of the Chennai City. The celebration was called as the Madras Day. After the land granting, Madras or Chennai become one of the first outposts of the British East India Company.

In 1996, Madras had changed its name to Chennai. This was implemented by the Tamil Nadu Government since the name Chennai was the traditional name of the city while Madras was a foreign name derived from the colonial times. The name of Madras was derived from Madraspatnam, which was the name provided by the British negotiators who settled to the city way back time.

Culture

As a capital of Tamil Nadu, the city of Chennai serves as a home to various Tamil cultural art forms that include cinema, music, sculpture, literature, and dance. The seasons of Carnatic and Bharatnatyam Music draws aficionados and visitors from different parts of the world.

Tamil is the preferred form of language communication in Chennai since it is very popular among the locals. There are also fair number of locals that can speak Hindi, Malayalam, and Telugu. Nevertheless, English is still widely spoken in the city so tourists will not have problems on communication as they tour around.

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