Vaniyambadi history: from the Pallava copper plates to Tirupathur district

In short. Vaniyambadi's recorded history begins with Pallava and Ganga-Bana copper plates found next to the town and Chola inscriptions from the 10th century in its Athitheeswarar temple. A Hoysala grant followed in 1297. Haidar Ali fought here in 1767, the Palar flooded the town in 1903, and since 2019 it has been in Tirupathur district.

Vaniyambadi, the main page · The temples · What the name means · Festivals and temple rituals · வாணியம்பாடி வரலாறு, தமிழில்

Before the Cholas: the Udayendiram copper plates

Udayendiram is a village about 2 km north-north-east of Vaniyambadi. In 1850 a buried chamber there was opened. It held bronze images of Vishnu and five or seven sets of copper plates, as the Salem Manual records in its appendix.

Two of those plates were later read by E. Hultzsch. One is a grant of the Pallava king Nandivarman Pallavamalla, in his 21st regnal year (SII 2.74). Hultzsch suspected this copy was made later. The other is a grant of the Ganga-Bana king Prithivipati II Hastimalla, in the 15th year of Parantaka I, the Chola king (SII 2.76). In 1895 one set of the plates was kept at the Saundararaja Perumal temple in Udayendiram.

These plates are the oldest written records found at the town's edge. They are grants of land, not a history of Vaniyambadi itself.

The Chola town: Vaniyanpadi and its inscriptions

The walls of the Athitheeswarar temple in Old Vaniyambadi carry six inscriptions, numbered 181 to 186 by the Archaeological Survey of India (Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1963–64). In them the god of the temple is called Virundindevar.

• No. 181, 10th century. Dated in the 8th year of Parthivendradhipativarman, the king who took the head of Vira-Pandya. It names the village Vaniyanpadi alias Narasimha-chaturvedimangalam. Whether this king is Aditya II is not confirmed.
• Nos. 183 and 184, about 1118. Two records from the 48th year of Kulottunga I, again naming Vaniyanpadi.
• No. 185, 1221. A Nulambarayan of Arumbakkam gave ten cows and a bull for the temple lamps and built a shrine up to its finial. S. R. Balasubrahmanyam reads the donor as one of the Adigaiman chiefs, who served the Cholas (Later Chola Temples).
• No. 182, 1233. From the 18th year of Rajaraja III. It calls the town Vaniganpadi alias Madhurantaka-chaturvedimangalam and endows a festival in the month of Tai.

A chaturvedimangalam was a village granted to Brahmin settlers. So in Chola times Vaniyambadi was a Brahmin village with a temple, and local Adigaiman and Sambuvaraya chiefs made gifts to it.

Hoysala, Vijayanagara and the Nayaks

The last inscription in the temple, No. 186, is a Hoysala grant of 1297 that made the temple's lands tax-free.

For the centuries after that, the sources speak of the region, not the town. The Imperial Gazetteer (pp. 43 to 44) gives this sequence for Salem District as a whole. The Pallavas held the north of the district. The Cholas annexed it in the 9th century, and the Hoysalas followed. Vijayanagara ruled from the 14th century and the Madurai Nayaks from the early 17th. Mysore took part of the district from 1652 and all of it by about 1688 to 1690.

The Salem Manual (p. 317) notes a Vijayanagara copper grant of Achyuta Raya, dated 1533, found near Tirupattur. In January 2026 a Vijayanagara-era hero stone was reported at Periya Kolli Vattam, near Vaniyambadi (Deccan Chronicle).

Haidar Ali and the 1767 war

Haidar Ali took over the region in 1761, according to the Imperial Gazetteer. In 1767, in the First Anglo-Mysore War, Vaniyambadi was fought over.

L. B. Bowring's Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (1893, pp. 50 to 51 and 56) tells it this way. After the rains, Haidar "recaptured Tirupatur and Vaniambadi" and laid siege to Ambur. The English then attacked him at Vaniyambadi, and he left it. Bowring also notes that a British officer had surrendered at Vaniyambadi.

The Company and the Salem Manual (1792 to 1883)

In 1792 the region was ceded to the East India Company and became part of Salem District.

In 1883 the Manual of the Salem District (p. 316) described Vaniyambadi as a cluster of pettais, or market quarters, with 20,468 people. Of these, 3,123 lived in Vaniyambadi proper. The town had about fifteen large tanneries and traded with Bombay, Poona and Madras.

Floods, the new town and the municipality (1874 to 1903)

The Palar flooded the town in 1874. The Imperial Gazetteer gives that one year; the Salem Manual gives 1874 and 1875.

Vaniyambadi became a municipality in these years. The government order, G.O. Ms. No. 421, is dated 21 August 1885, and the first council was constituted in April 1886 (Vaniyambadi Municipality). The Imperial Gazetteer gives 1886.

In 1901 the town had 12,005 people, and 7,594 of them were Labbais who traded in skins and hides. The town stood mainly on two islands in the Palar (Imperial Gazetteer, pp. 64 to 65).

Then came the great flood of November 1903. The river rose at night, and 150 to 200 people died. Afterwards a new town was begun east of the railway. The 1908 Gazetteer dates the flood to 17 November, while the municipality's website gives 12 November.

Later, the municipality became Grade II in 1996 and first grade after that; its own pages give two dates for the upgrade, 1 April 1997 and 1998.

Which district Vaniyambadi was in

Vaniyambadi has always been in the Tiruppattur taluk. It has belonged to four districts.

When	District	Source
1883 and 1908	Salem District	Salem Manual; Imperial Gazetteer
From about 1910	North Arcot	Viji and Anuradha, IJRAR 2019
From 30 September 1989	Vellore (North Arcot split)	North Arcot, Wikipedia
From 28 November 2019	Tirupathur district	Tirupathur district

The town today

Vaniyambadi is a municipality and the headquarters of a taluk and a revenue division in Tirupathur district. It had 95,061 people at the 2011 census, up from 85,752 in 2001 (City Population). Leather has been its main trade since the 19th century. Tamil, Urdu and Telugu are spoken in the town.

Timeline

Year	What happened	Source
8th century	Pallava grant of Nandivarman Pallavamalla, later found at Udayendiram	SII 2.74
10th century	Ganga-Bana grant of Prithivipati II in the reign of Parantaka I, found at Udayendiram	SII 2.76
10th century	Inscription No. 181 names Vaniyanpadi alias Narasimha-chaturvedimangalam	ARE 1963–64
about 1118	Two inscriptions of Kulottunga I in the Athitheeswarar temple	ARE 1963–64
1221	A Nulambarayan of Arumbakkam gives cows and a bull for temple lamps	ARE 1963–64
1233	Under Rajaraja III, a festival in the month of Tai is endowed	ARE 1963–64
1297	A Hoysala grant makes the temple lands tax-free	ARE 1963–64
14th century	Vijayanagara rule begins in the region	Imperial Gazetteer
1533	Copper grant of Achyuta Raya near Tirupattur	Salem Manual
early 17th century	The Madurai Nayaks hold the region	Imperial Gazetteer
1652 to about 1690	Mysore takes over the district	Imperial Gazetteer
1761	Haidar Ali takes over the region	Imperial Gazetteer
1767	Haidar Ali retakes Vaniyambadi; the English attack him there and he leaves	Bowring 1893
1792	The region is ceded to the East India Company	Imperial Gazetteer
1850	A buried chamber at Udayendiram yields bronzes and copper plates	Salem Manual
1874	The Palar floods the town (1874 and 1875 in the Salem Manual)	Imperial Gazetteer
1883	20,468 people in the pettais; about fifteen large tanneries	Salem Manual
1885	G.O. Ms. No. 421 of 21 August creates the municipality	Vaniyambadi Municipality
1886	The first municipal council is constituted in April	Vaniyambadi Municipality
1901	12,005 people, 7,594 of them Labbai traders in skins and hides	Imperial Gazetteer
1903	The great flood in November; a new town begun east of the railway	Imperial Gazetteer
about 1910	The town moves from Salem District to North Arcot	IJRAR 2019
1989	North Arcot is split; Vaniyambadi is in today's Vellore district	North Arcot, Wikipedia
1996	The municipality becomes Grade II	Vaniyambadi Municipality
2011	Census: 95,061 people	City Population
2019	Tirupathur district is declared on 28 November	Tirupathur district

Sources

• E. Hultzsch, South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II (1895), the Udayendiram plates: no. 74 and no. 76
• Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1963–64, nos. 181 to 186
• S. R. Balasubrahmanyam, Later Chola Temples (1979), on the 1221 record
• F. J. Le Fanu, Manual of the Salem District, Vol. II (1883), pp. 316 to 321 and the appendix
• Imperial Gazetteer of India, Madras, Vol. II (1908), pp. 43 to 44 and 64 to 65
• L. B. Bowring, Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (1893), pp. 50 to 51 and 56
• Viji and Anuradha, IJRAR, 2019, on the move to North Arcot
• North Arcot district, Wikipedia, on the 1989 split
• Vaniyambadi Municipality, about the town
• Tirupathur district, about the district
• City Population, census figures for 2001 and 2011
• Deccan Chronicle, 20 January 2026, the Periya Kolli Vattam hero stone

If you can correct or add to this page with a source, write to 2boysfromtown@gmail.com. We will add it with credit.