Tiruchirappalli

Tiruchirappalli, situated on the banks of the river Cauvery is the fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu and it is situated in the centre of the state. It was a citadel of the early Cholas which later fell to the Pallavas. Trichy is a fine blend of tradition and modernity built around the Rock Fort. Apart from the Fort, there are several Churches, Colleges and Missions dating back to the 1760s. The town and its fort, now in Trichy were built by the Nayaks of Madurai. This city has given great Tamil scholars whose contributions to the Tamil literature have been very significant.Tiruchirappalli is the fourth most populous city of Tamil Nadu. The city is a City corporation, the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirapalli District.

Origins

The name of the town, "Tiruchirapalli", originated as a tribute (thiru in Tamil means respected) to a Jain monk called "Chira". There is also a belief that Tiruchirapalli was named after a three headed demon "Trishira" (the son of Ravana) who performed penance at the Siva temple here and obtained boons here. There is yet another belief about the origins of the name Trichy. Apparently the name started out as Thiru Javvandhipuram (Place of Marigold flowers; javvandhi, the Tamil name for the flower Marigold which grew (and still does) in abundance in and around this region and the word puram refers to a place of dwelling) which over time became corrupted to Trichy.

Transport

Trichy is well connected to various parts of Tamil Nadu, by private and public bus services. The Theppakulam (chathram) bus station, near Rock Fort temple, runs local and mofussil (city-to-city) bus services which connect people to nearby towns and villages. Bus services are frequent, once every two to five minutes.

Trichy is also well-connected to the other cities of Tamil Nadu, southern Karnataka and Kerala through private charter buses.

The central bus station runs long distance services to major cities of the State and South India such as Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Erode, Thiruvananthapuram and Tirupathi. One can get buses from Trichy to almost any part of the state, due to its geographical location in the center of Tamil Nadu.

On the road infrastructure front, with the completion of highway projects in Tamil Nadu state, Trichy will have four track highways from the city branching to destination Chennai, Madurai, Tanjore.

Education

Considered an educational town, Tiruchirapalli has schools and colleges that are hundreds of years old. College Road in Chatram has three colleges and five schools. Prominent among the educational institutions in Tiruchirapalli are Bharathidasan University, the National Institute of Technology, Trichy. The Government Law College, Tiruchirapalli was founded in 1979. Bharathidasan Institute of Management, a top-20 Indian B-school is also located in Tiruchirapalli, adjacent to NIT-T. K.A.P.V. Medical College is located close to the Central Bus Stand. Another famous college Shanmuga Arts and Science Technological Academy (Sastra)is located in Trichy.

Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, writer Sujatha (Rengarajan) studied at St Joseph's College in Trichy. R.Venkataraman (former Indian President) studied at National College in Trichy.

Industry

There are some major industrial houses in Trichy, few among them are BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) which is a prominent Navaratna company (highly profitable PSU), Ordinance Factory, Railway Workshop and Dalmia Cements. The plant of BHEL in Trichy, manufactures High Pressure Boilers. Number of small scale industries have also sprung up in Trichy, mostly around Thuvakudi and Mathur. Leather tanneries are located on the way to Pudukottai. Viralimalai, considered an industrial suburb on Madurai road has the factories of TVS, India bus body building unit, Cethar Vessels, MM Forgings. One can also find agro-based industries around Trichy city, especially along Karur road and Chennai.

Manachanallur, famous for its numerous rice mills supplying polished rice all over Tamil Nadu and outside is located about 7 km from Main Guard gate.

Karur (74 km) : Karur is a place where handloom industry is one of the main occupations of the people. The bed linen and floor spreads are very famous all over India.

Karaikudi (103 km) : Karaikudi and the neighbouring towns hold excellent examples of Chettinadu architecture. The people of Chettinadu were traders and financiers who valued high living and maintained old traditions. They built sprawling houses which today stand testimony to their taste and love for beautiful things.

Kumbakonam (92 km) : Kumbakonam is well known for its brassware.

Pugalur (87 km) : Pugalur is the paper-town, housing the Tamilnadu Newsprint and Papers Limited, a major paper - manufacturing company of south India.

There are a number of software companies in Trichy.

Courtesy - nit.edu, wikipedia, tripadvisor, trichy.com, google maps