The man who tooks india to moon--Mylswamy Annadurai

Mylswamy Annadurai (born 2 July, 1958, in Kothawady near Pollachi in Coimbatore district, Tamilnadu, India) is a scientist with the Indian Space Research Organization and currently serves as the Project Director of Chandrayaan I. He has a Bachelors in Engineering degree from Government College Of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India and Masters Degree in Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu in India. He joined ISRO...

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First Indian Oratorio Thiruvasagam

George Uglow Pope popularly known as Rev. G.U. Pope or G.U. Pope is a Christian missionary who spent many years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English. His popular translations include Tirukkural and Tiruvachagam.Thiruvasagam. Written by Mannikkavasagar, one whose words are like gems wrote the eighth ThirumuRai consisting of ThiruvAchakam, ThiruvempAvai and ThirukkOvaiyAr. He was born in ThiruvAthavUr in the late 8th or early...

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First lady CEO of india-Indra Nooyi

The world's second largest soft drink maker’s new chairperson would take over on October 1, 2006. CHICAGO: Chennai-born Indra Nooyi was on Monday assigned the task of the Chief Executive Officer of Pepsico.The 50-year-old Indra Nooyi will succeed Steve Reinemund, who would retire on May , 2007 to spend more time with his family.The appointment would take effect from October 1, 2006.Reinemund will be the executive chairman and also serve as a director...

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Mettur Dam

The Mettur Dam is a large dam in India built in 1934.[1] It was constructed in a gorge, where the River Kaveri enters the plains. The dam is one of the oldest in India. It provides irrigation facilities to Salem, Tiruchirappali and Thanjavur district for 271,000 acres (1,100 km²) of farm land.The total length of the dam is 1700 meters. The dam creates Stanley Reservoir. The Mettur Hydro Electrical power project is also quite large. The dam, the park,...

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Trichy rockfort

Tiruchirappalli, situated on the banks of the river Cauvery is the fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu. 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...

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A R Rahman & BlaZe working on Thirukkural.

In spite of his busy schedule, music director A. R. Rahman has managed to find time to carry out a project, which is very close to his heart. After kindling the spirits of youngsters with his album ‘Vandematharam’ with which he retuned our national anthem ‘Janagana Mana’, Rahman is now working on an album based on Thirukkural.It may be recalled that Ilayaraja had rendered an album on Thiruvasagam with loads of spirituality in it. Rahman in the company...

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Marudha Nayagam Pillai alias Muhammad Yusuf Khan

Maruthanayagam (Marudhanayagam) Pillai, or Muhammad Yusuf Khan, was born in Pannaiyur, Ramanad District, Tamilnadu, India in 1725. From humble beginnings, he became a warrior in the Arcot troops, later Commandant for the British East India Company troops. The British and the Arcot Nawab used him to suppress Polygars (Palayakkarar) in the South Tamilnadu. The polygar system had evolved with the extension of Vijayanagar rule to Tamil Nadu by the Nayaks....

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Mahabalipuram beach

The Mahabalipuram beach is a marvelous destination to visit. It is probably one of the finest un-touched beaches in India. Situated on the coastline of Tamil Nadu, it is nearby the shores of the breathtakingly beautiful Bay of Bengal. Truly a mesmerizing beach ! The port town of Mahabalipuram along with its beaches is absolutely awesome. At the beach you can have a lot of fun which may include sun bathing, relaxing and unwinding. Reach Mahabalipuram...

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Darasuram

Darasuram is a small town near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It is known for the Airavatesvara Temple built by Rajaraja Chola II between 1146-63. The temple is constructed as if the whole temple is a chariot encased in a lotus floating on a lake. The vimana is 85 feet high. This along with the Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur and the Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple is part of the Great Living Chola Temple inscribed into the UNESCO...

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Kanchipuram

Kanchipuram (or Conjeeveram), one of the most ancient towns of southern India, traces its history to the 2nd century BCE as an early Chola capital. From the 3rd to the 9th century CE it was the Pallava capital, and from the 10th to the 13th century it served as the late Chola capital. An important Vijayanagar town from the 15th to the 17th century, it was conquered by Muslim and Maratha armies in the 17th century and by the British in the 18th century,...

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Rock Fort Temple at trichy

Trichy's most famous landmark is an 83m high rock which is the only outcrop in the otherwise flat land of the city. The most amazing fact about the rock is that it is one of the oldest in the world-approximately 3,800 years, which makes it as old as the rocks of Greenland and older than the Himalayas. Atop of the rock is the Ucchi Pillayar Koil,a temple dedicated to Lord Vinayaka, from where one can enjoy a panoramic view of Trichy. A flight of steps...

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Ancient Tamilagam

The land of the Ancient Tamilagam was divided into five geographical divisions, namely Kurinchi, Mullai, Marudam, Neydal and Palai, based on occupations that had close relations with the geographical divisions of the land. The Kurinchi was the hilly and mountainous region where hunting was the main occupation. Murugan was the distinctive deity of the Kurinchi region. The Mullai was the forest tract. Tirumal was the distinctive deity of this...

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Sittannavasal

Sittannavasal is one the oldest habitation of man in the district and is rich in megalithic sites.The cave temple and other sites are under the control of Archaeological Survey of India. Admission by tickets, open all days. Frequent bus service is available from Pudukkottai..This ancient abode of Jains dating back to the 2nd Century B.C. is about 16 Kms. from Pudukkottai . The Roc? cut cave temple here has beautiful fresco Paintings in natural colours...

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Online tamil FM radios

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The Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram

This temple, spread over an area of 15 acres , has lofty gopurams, massive walls and a collossal Nandi. Rameswaram also boasts of a 4000 feet long pillared corridor with over 4000 pillars, supposedly the longest in the world. The carved granite pillars are mounted on a raised platform. What is unique about this corridor is that the rock is not indigenous to the island and it was brought in from elsewhere in Tamilnadu across the sea. The eastern...

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List of Tamils conferred Arjuna Award

AthleticsR. Gyanasekaran, (1979-1980). Ball BadmintonJ. Srinivasan, (1972). D. Rajaraman, (1984). BasketballT. Vijayaraghawan, (1977-1978). Boxing G. Manoharan, Boxer, (1981). V. Devarajan, Boxer, (1995). CarromA. Maria Irudayam, (1996). ChessVishwanathan Anand, (1985). S. Vijayalakshmi, (2000). Krishnan Sasikiran, (2002). CricketS. Venkataraghavan (1971). HockeyKrishnamurthy P, (1971). Vasudevan Baskaran, (1979-1980). Dhanraj Pillay, (1995). Mohammed Riaz, (1998). KabaddiSubbiah Rajarathinam, (1994). PowerliftingE.S. Bhaskaran, (1994). SwimmingV. Kutraleeshwaran, (1996). Table TennisU. Sundararaj, (1966). G. Jagannath, (1970). V....

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tallest bridge in asia

The Mathur Hanging Trough is the tallest as well as the longest trough bridge in Asia, having a height of 115 feet and a length of one kilometre. Constructed in 1966, this bridge has become a place of tourist importance and hundreds of tourists visit this place. This is situated in Mathur, hamlet of Aruvikkarai revenue village in Thiruvattar Panchayat Union. The bridge has been constructed at Mathur across the river Parazhiyar at a cost of Rs. 12.90/-...

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Tirparappu Water Falls

Tirparappu Water Falls The water fall at Tirparappu is about 13 km. from Pechiparai dam. The river bed is rocky and about 300 feet in length. The water falls from a height of nearly 50 feet and the water flows for about seven months in a year. On the left bank of the river in between the water falls and the weir, there is a temple dedicated to Lord Siva enclosed by strong fortification. The District Administration has recently constructed a swimming...

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Udayagiri Fort

Udayagiri Fort is a worth visiting site in Kanyakumari owing to its magnificent structure and quite surrounding atmosphere.The fort was rebuilt in the reign of Marthandavarma, the Venad King, during 1741-44. In the early days, the fort was of strategic importance. Prisoners captured in the campaign against Tippu were confined in this fort for sometime.Recently, the district administration has established Biodiversity Park here in collaboration with...

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Ancient Tamil Marriage Ceremony

In History of Tamils from the Earliest Times to 600 A.D."The ancient ceremony of marriage which obtained among the Tamils before it was altered by the Aryans is described in two odes of the anthology called the Agam. (aka n^AnURu) Thus it is said: “There was a huge heap of rice cooked with pulse (even after many guests had been fed). On the floor of a pandal built on long rows of wooden columns was spread freshly brought sand. House lamps were lighted....

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Folk Dances Of Tamil Nadu

Tamilnadu had developed the art of entertainment to its pristine heights at early age. The three modes of entertainment to its pristine heights at a very early age. The three modes of entertainment classified as Iyal (Literature), Isai (Music) and Nadagam (Drama) had their roots in the rural folk theatre like Therukoothu. Many forms of group and individual dances with the classical forms for popularity and sheer entertainment value. Majority of these...

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Ooty Train

Ooty train is popularly known as 'toy train', moving across the beautiful hills, and plains, making the journey a memorable experience. Ooty's train runs at a maximum speed of 33 km. per hour, crossing 16 long and short tunnels and 250 bridges. The Queen of hill stations, Ooty is connected by rail through a narrow guage line from Mettupalayam, which is the nearest broad gauge railway station. The nearest broad gauge railway junction is Coimbatore....

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Pigeons on the roof

Early morning, Paramadayanpatti-Mangulam, 6:44 AM. Slowly the village get awakened. Mothers first task is doing the dishes as Tamil families have dinner rather late at around 20:30 evening ... too dark then. Her daughter helps to get more water from the lake. All seems so peaceful here but later on we heard the sad news hanging as a doom over the village: next door son of 30 years old was murdered a few days before ... his brother told me later the...

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V.N. Jagannathan has so far distributed over 30 lakh flags

V.N.Jagannathan, fondly called ’Kodi Thatha,’ being honoured by District Collector Neeraj Mittal in the city on Saturday. – COIMBATORE: Not a single Independence Day or Republic Day is celebrated in Coimbatore without Kodi Thatha’s flags. This year too, he did not break the tradition. On the eve of Republic Day, his paper-flags reached offices promptly. V.N. Jagannathan, fondly called ‘Kodi Thatha,’ has been continuing this patriotic gesture for...

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vivekananda rock-kanniyakumari

Vivekananda Rock Memorial is a sacred monument and popular tourist attraction in Kanyakumari, India. The memorial stands on one of two rocks located about 500 meters off mainland India's southernmost tip. It was built in 1970 by the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee in honour of the visit of the great spiritual teacher Swami Vivekananda to Shripada Parai during the month of December 1892 for deep meditation and enlightenment. He swam to this rock...

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Sri Jambukeshwara Temple

Built in the 10th century CE, this temple, dedicated to Shiva and Parvati, is known for its fine gopurams. Gopurams are the entrance gateways to temples in South India. They grew in size from the mid-12th century CE until the colossal ones came to dominate the temple complex, surpassing the main sanctum for architectural elaboration. Often a series of gopurams are to be found at a shrine, each providing entry through a new enclosure The gopuram is...

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Kailasanathar Temple

Kanchipuram is a pilgrimage city. A former Pallava capital (7th - 9th century), Kanchipuram is filled with temples dating from the 8th - 17th centuries. These temples are the perfect study of the evolutionary changes that the South Indian architecture underwent while different reigns made their impressions on them. Among the oldest temples in the temple city of Kanchipuram is Kailasanath Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva. King Rajasimha, of the Pallava...

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Kanyakumari Beach

At the southern most land tip of India, where the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal meet, lies Kannyakumari, an important pilgrim centre. Kannyakumari is famous for its beach and the spectacular sunrises and sunsets, especially on full moon days. Kanyakumari is also famous for its vast green stretches of paddy fields, rich forests, coconut groves and mineral sands. The Kanyakumari beach is a beautiful sight with multi-coloured sand....

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"YOU STAND WHILE I SIT"

A long time ago, there was a country called Thuvarapathi. It was ruled by a very ancient dynasty called the Thuvapathi VELir. The country occupied a very strategic place in between the major kingdoms of the Pandyas and the Cholzas. This country was crisscrossed by a network of forts, jungle-barriers, and fortified mountains and hills. In addition it also contained cantonments and ninty-six settlements...

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THE DREAM OF MARUDHU 'S...

Sivaganga was an off-shoot of the Ramanathapuram Samasthanam at first. It was divided into 5 parts. 3 parts were made into the Ramanathapuram proper and the northern 2 parts were composed into the minor Samasthanam of Sivaganga. This was given away as dowry to Sasivarna Thevar, when he married the daughter of Sethupathy of Ramnad. The last Raja of Sivaganga was Muthu Vaduga Natha Thurai Thevar.Vellai Marudhu alias Periya Marudhu Servai...

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THE WAR OF THE NOSES

South India was a very prosperous region. In the 14th century, there was an Empire of the Hindus, called VijayaNagar. The visiting Portuguese have mentioned that it was the richest country in the world. This empire was divided into several provinces. These in turn were ruled by governors and vice-roys. But in due course, the empire fell apart and the Sultanates of Bijapur an Golkonda captured most of the territories....

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