Vaniyambadi history: the temples, the name and the Palar town

In short. Vaniyambadi (வாணியம்பாடி) is a town on the Palar river in Tirupathur district, Tamil Nadu. Its temple tradition says the name means the place where Vani, the goddess Saraswati, regained her voice and sang before Shiva. Its oldest dated history is carved on the walls of the Athitheeswarar temple: Chola-era inscriptions from the 10th to the 13th century, which call the town Vaniyanpadi.

History, century by century · The temples · What the name means · Festivals and temple rituals · வாணியம்பாடி வரலாறு, தமிழில் · Guide: pincode, trains, distances · Startups in Vaniyambadi

Vaniyambadi at a glance

Name in Tamil	வாணியம்பாடி
Names in the inscriptions	Vaniyanpadi, Vaniganpadi; also Narasimha-chaturvedimangalam and Madhurantaka-chaturvedimangalam
River	The Palar
Oldest dated record in the town	An inscription in the Athitheeswarar temple, 10th century CE
Oldest finds nearby	The Udayendiram copper plates: Pallava and Ganga-Bana grants, 8th to 10th century
Main old temples	Athitheeswarar (Shiva), Old Vaniyambadi; Azhagu Perumal (Vishnu), Periyapettai
District	Tirupathur, since 28 November 2019
Municipality	Ordered 21 August 1885, first council April 1886
Population	95,061 (Census of India, 2011)

The name: Vani and padi

The Athitheeswarar temple keeps the story of the name. Brahma cursed Saraswati, Vani, to be dumb; at this place, by Shiva's grace, she spoke again, and today's retellings say she sang (padi) in his praise. The temple keeps a shrine to Saraswati in its outer corridor. The story was already the local tradition in 1883, when the Salem District Manual wrote it down from the temple's purana.

The stone records of the same temple spell the town Vaniyanpadi and Vaniganpadi. In Tamil, padi means a town, a village or a camp. Read the legend, the inscriptions and the dictionary side by side on what the name means.

The temples

Athitheeswarar temple (அதிதீஸ்வரர் கோயில்), Old Vaniyambadi. The Shiva temple of the Saraswati story, with the goddess Periyanayaki, a vilva tree and the Shiva Theertham tank. Its walls hold six inscriptions copied by the Archaeological Survey of India, in which the god is called Virundindevar: a 10th-century record, two of Kulottunga I, a gift of lamps and cows in 1221 CE, a Tai festival endowed in 1233 CE under Rajaraja III, and a Hoysala grant of 1297 CE that made the temple's lands tax-free.

Azhagu Perumal temple, Periyapettai. Sundararaja Perumal, the beautiful Lord, with Sridevi and Bhudevi and the goddess Sundaravalli. The state's temple department dates it to the Chola period from an inscription naming Madhurantaka Chola.

Udayendiram, 2 km away. In 1850 a buried chamber here gave up bronze images of Vishnu and sets of copper plates, among them a Pallava grant of Nandivarman Pallavamalla and a Ganga-Bana grant from the reign of Parantaka Chola. Its Saundararaja Perumal temple held one set of plates in 1895.

The full list, with Vinayagar, Murugan and Amman temples of the town, is on the temples page.

A short timeline

When	What
8th–10th century	Pallava and Ganga-Bana grants on the Udayendiram copper plates, next to the town
10th century	The oldest inscription in the Athitheeswarar temple names the village Vaniyanpadi
about 1118	Two inscriptions of Kulottunga I in the temple
1221	A local chief gives ten cows and a bull for the temple lamps
1233	Rajaraja III's reign: a festival in the month of Tai is endowed
1297	A Hoysala grant makes the temple lands tax-free
14th–17th century	Vijayanagara and then the Nayaks rule the region
1767	Haidar Ali takes Vaniyambadi; the English drive him off
1792	The region passes to the East India Company
1883	The Salem Manual records the town, its temples and its festivals
1885–86	Vaniyambadi becomes a municipality
November 1903	The Palar floods the town (17 November in the 1908 Gazetteer, 12 November by the municipality); a new town is begun east of the railway
2019	Tirupathur district is formed

The full version, with sources for every line, is the history page.

Festivals

The Athitheeswarar temple keeps Chithirai Brahmotsavam, Maha Shivaratri and Margazhi Thiruvadhirai. Its 1233 inscription endows a festival in Tai, so the temple year has run for close to 800 years. In 1883 the town's Ponniamman festival fell in August. More on festivals and temple rituals.

The town today

Vaniyambadi is the headquarters of a taluk in Tirupathur district, with 95,061 people at the 2011 census. Leather has been its trade since the 19th century; the 1883 Manual already counted fifteen large tanneries and trade with Bombay, Poona and Madras. Tamil and Urdu are spoken in the town. For the pincode, trains, distances and places nearby, see the Vaniyambadi guide.

From Vaniyambadi, the people writing this

2BFT is a startup from Vaniyambadi (who we are), working from the floor above our family shop, Maruthi Jewellers. We make films in code and teach the method in the 2BFT Lab. Our own town is one of them: Vaniyambadi, a silkscreen film.

We post the town's history and stories on Instagram at @2bft.vaniyambadi.

Other work from the town: we designed and built the website of Local To Loud, a digital media and campaign agency in Vaniyambadi that serves Tirupattur, Ambur and Vellore.

If you know the town's history and see something to correct or add, write to 2boysfromtown@gmail.com with the source. We will add it with credit.