CHENNAI - Short profile and history

Chennai, once a sleepy coastal city, is the capital city and an important District of the State of Tamilnadu.  It is a metropolitan city and has rich culture.  It is a cosmopolitan city and plays an  important role  in  the  historical, cultural and  intellectual  development  of  India.  Chennai practices the highest form of  Dravidian civilisation which is not found anywhere else. Chennai holds variety of South Indian architecture, music, dance, drama, sculpture and other forms of arts and crafts. Chennai is situated on the north-east end of Tamil Nadu on the coast of Bay of Bengal and stretches nearly 25 kms. along the coast from Tiruvanmiyur in  the south to Tiruvottiyur in the north.  It is bounded on the east by the Bay of  Bengal and  on  the remaining three sides by Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur Districts. Earlier it was known as Chennapattinam, Madrasapatnam.

Some historians say that formation of Chennai was an historical accident due to a necessity. Setting up the East India Company in the 7th Century with its Headquarters at Fort St. George, Chennai paved way for the rise of British power in South India.  Chennai, the then Madras, was an important trading centre for the British. Chennai has developed into a modern metropolitan city without shedding its traditional customs, religious outlook and other traditions within 3 1/2 century. Chennai is also a very religious place due to preservation of the old famous Saivaite and Vaishnavite shrines  signifying  the  antiquity of the  place.  

Large number of institutions located in Chennai are well known in  India and abroad, like the Kalakshetra, Theosophical Society, Madras Museum, Connemara Library, College of Arts & Crafts, Central Leather Research Institute, The Cancer Institute, IIT, Anna University, many professional colleges like Engineering, Law, Medical, Teaching, Veterinary.  Chennai is one of the leading cities in India and one of the most important industrical city of the sub-continent. It has the 4th largest port and the first to have developed a container terminal of international Standards.  The port provides trade links with Malaysia, Singapore, Japan,Burma, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China.

Chennai city tops in employment, revenue, productive capital. It has an eminent position in film production and has a number of studios catering to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and other language movies. The city has two rivers, the Cooum and the Adyar. Cooum runs through the heart of the city and enters the Marina sea in-between the Madras Universitybuildings and the Fort. St. George. The Adyar river flows  through the southern part of the city and enters the sea near Adyar.

Chennai has its share of traditional fairs and festivals of all religions and are held in the different parts of the city throughout the year. Modern  fairs like exhibitions and national festivals like Independence day and Republic day are also celebrated  in the city with much fervor. Chennai is usually a peaceful and safe city and people of all faith live together happily.