Mayiladuthurai
Mayiladuthurai is a Special Grade Municipality and the district headquarters of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located from the state capital, Chennai.
Mayiladuthurai was ruled by Medieval Cholas and subsequently ruled by various dynasties, including the Vijayanagar Empire, Thanjavur Nayaks, Thanjavur Marathas, and the British Empire. Mayiladuthurai was a part of the erstwhile Tanjore district until India's independence in 1947, Thanjavur district until 1991, and subsequently a part of the newly formed Nagapattinam district until 2020. Mayiladuthurai was carved out of Nagapattinam district and inaugurated as the 38th district of Tamil Nadu on 28 December 2020.
Mayiladuthurai is administered by a town panchayat established in 1866. As of 2008, the panchayat covered an area of. Mayiladuthurai is within the Mayiladuthurai constituency of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and elects its member once every five years. It is part of the Mayiladuthurai constituency of the national assembly and elects its Member of Parliament also once every five years. Mayiladuthurai is well connected by road and rail transport. It serves as an important junction of the main line connecting Chennai with Trichy. Roadways and railways are the major mode of transportation to the town. The nearest airport, Pondicherry Airport, is located away.
The town is known for agriculture and weaving. As Mayiladuthurai district is situated on the east coast, fishing plays a vital role in generating its revenue. In 2023, the district was declared a protected agricultural zone.
Etymology
Mayiladuthurai is derived from the ancient lore in which the goddess Parvathi manifested herself as a peacock to attract the attention of Lord Shiva through a miraculous dance.Mayuranathaswami Temple dedicated to the Amman is one of the most important Hindu temples in the town. There is a statue depicting goddess Amman in a peahen form worshipping lingam, an iconic symbol of Shiva.
History
Mayiladuthurai is of significant antiquity, its oldest extant temples dating to the time of the Medieval Cholas. The region, however, is known to have been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. Potsherds of megalithic black color and red color ware have been found at Akkur, to the east of Mayiladuthurai. In 2006, artifacts with Indus Valley signs dated between 2000 and 1500 BC were found at the nearby village of Sembiyankandiyur. There have been references to Mayiladuthurai in the works of the 7th century Saivite saint Sambandar. The Thanjavur Nayak king Raghunatha Nayak constructed mandapams in Mayiladuthurai. During the 17th and 18th centuries AD, Mayiladuthurai was ruled by the Thanjavur Marathas.In 1799, Mayiladuthurai was ceded to the British East India Company, along with the rest of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom, by the Thanjavur Maratha ruler Serfoji II. Mayiladuthurai prospered under British rule, emerging as an important town in the Tanjore district. When the Tanjore district was trifurcated in 1991, Mayiladuthurai was transferred to the newly formed Nagapattinam district. Mayiladuthurai District, with the town as its headquarters, was inaugurated as the 38th district of Tamil Nadu on 28 December 2020. The district was carved out of the existing Nagapattinam district and inaugurated by former chief minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K. Palaniswami. The declaration was made earlier on 24 March 2020.
Carnatic musicians Madurai Mani Iyer, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, and Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, who wrote the first Tamil novel Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram, were connected with Mayiladuthurai, while the Tamil writer Kalki Krishnamurthy and M.S.Udhaya Moorthy studied at the Municipal High School in Mayiladuthurai. According to local folklore, Mayiladuthurai was associated with Hindu holy men called "Siddhars". To this day, a neighbourhood of Mayiladuthurai is called Siddharkaadu.
Geography and climate
Mayliladuthurai is located from Chennai and from Tiruchirappalli. The town is located at. Situated at a distance of from the Bay of Bengal coast, the town is situated at an altitude of barely above mean sea level. The Kaveri River runs through the town, bisecting it into Uttara Mayuram and Mayuram proper. Most of the town lies to the south of the river, and the Mayuranathaswami Temple lies a mile to its south. The famous Parimala Ranganatha Perumal temple is situated at Tiruindalur, which lies north of the Kaveri River; there is a bathing ghat on the river.The climate of Mayiladuthurai is generally Tropical which features fairly hot temperatures over the year except during monsoon seasons.The average maximum temperature is 39.4 degrees Celsius while the average minimum temperature is 32.8 degrees Celsius. The average annual rainfall is.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Mayiladuthurai had a population of 85,632 with a sex-ratio of 1,045 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 7,720 were under the age of six, constituting 3,883 males and 3,837 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 5.87% and.57% of the population respectively. The average literacy rate of the town was 83.55%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of 21,929 households. There were a total of 29,855 workers, comprising 321 cultivators, 707 main agricultural labourers, 734 in household industries, 23,004 other workers, 5,089 marginal workers, 74 marginal cultivators, 485 marginal agricultural labourers, 246 marginal workers in household industries, and 4,284 other marginal workers. As of 2001, there were 26 slums in Mayiladuthurai, with a total population of 32,381.The density of population is higher in the core areas, along the banks of river Cauvery, compared to the peripheral areas.
As of 1996, a total of the land was used for residential, for commercial, for industrial, for educational, for public and semi-public purposes; and was devoted to agriculture. As of 2008, there were a total of 26 notified slums, with 16,434, comprising 13% of the total population, residing there. The municipal data pointed to an increase in population in slum areas.
Hinduism is the major religion followed in Mayiladuthurai, and Tamil is the major language spoken. A vast majority of the populace is engaged in agriculture. About 15 percent of the total working population is engaged in trade while 25 percent is engaged in other commercial activities. As per the religious census of 2011, Mayiladuthurai had 88.69% Hindus, 6.38% Muslims, 4.19% Christians, 0.04% Sikhs, 0.03% Buddhists, 0.32% Jains, and 0.35% following other religions.
Administration and politics
Mayiladuthurai is the headquarters of the newly formed Mayiladuthurai district. The town of Mayiladuthurai is administered by a municipal council which was created in 1866 as per the Town Improvements Act 1865. The council initially had eleven members. This was increased to 18 in 1883.As of 2025, the municipality covers an area of and its council, in which legislative powers are vested, has a total of 36 members, one from each of the town's 36 wards. The council is headed by an elected chairperson assisted by a deputy chairperson. The functions of the municipality are divided into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning, and the Computer Wing. All these departments are under the control of a municipal commissioner who is the supreme executive head.
There is a total of four revenue villages with Mayiladuthurai - Thiruvilandur, Dharmapuram, Nanchilnadu and Kornad. The municipality has allocated a budget of 2,183,350,000 for the year 2010–11. In 2023, Mayiladuthurai's selection grade municipality status was upgraded to special grade municipality.
Mayiladuthurai is represented in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by the Mayiladuthurai state assembly constituency seat. The current Member of Legislative Assembly is S. Rajakumar of the Indian National Congress party alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Mayiladuthurai is a part of the Mayiladuthurai. The current Member of Parliament is Sudha Ramakrishnan of the Indian National Congress party alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
Utility services
Potable water is provided by the municipality. Mayiladuthurai's main source of water is the Kollidam River. A total of 7.50 million liters per day are pumped out every day from five water tanks located in various parts of the town. About 104 metric tonnes of solid waste is generated every day, while 85 metric tonnes are collected from the town every day by door-to-door collection. Subsequent source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the municipality.There is limited underground drainage in the town and the major sewer system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks, open drains, and public conveniences. The municipality maintains a total of of surfaced storm water drains and kutcha drains in Mayiladuthurai.
The Mayiladuthurai Municipality, under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme, has launched an ₹83 crore project to improve the city's underground drainage system. The initiative involves replacing 6 km of the existing backbone sewer, setting up a 36 km sewage collection network with over 6,000 household connections, and constructing two sewage treatment plants with capacities of 9.05 MLD and 0.44 MLD. The project is scheduled to go live by early 2026.
There are five government hospitals that include a maternity ward, and a veterinary hospital and twenty-five private hospitals and clinics that take care of the health-care needs of the citizens. Periyar Government District Head Quarters Hospital, at Mayiladuthurai, provides a wide range of medical services, including emergency care, accident emergency care, surgery, maternity services, and outpatient consultations; it serves as a primary healthcare provider for numerous villages and towns around Mayiladuthurai. A new addition is being constructed to address the hospital's space constraints, with the project being started in March 2023, and being completed by March 2025. This new addition is expected to enhance the hospital's capacity, in adding specialized medical services.