Tharangambadi

Tharangambadi (or Tranquebar) is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was a Danish colony in India from 1620-1845. It is spelled Trankebar or Tranquebar in Danish, which came from the native Tamil, Tarangambadi, meaning "place of the singing waves".

It is located in Nagapattinam district, about 100 km south of Pondicherry, near the mouth of a distributary of Kaveri river.
History; It was founded by the Danish East India Company in 1620 when the main fort in Trankebar city, known as Fort Dansborg, was built by a Danish captain named Ove Gjedde as the residence of the governor and other officials for about 150 years. It is now a museum hosting a collection of artefacts from the time of Danish presence in the region. A Danish factory (commercial settlement) was opened here as early as 1620.

Tranquebar was controlled by the British in 1801 due to the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, and restored to Denmark following the Kiel Peace in 1814. It was sold, along with the other Danish settlements in India, Serampore and the Nicobars, to Great Britain in 1845.

In Danish times Tranquebar was a busy port, but it lost its importance when the railway was opened to Nagapattinam.

The first Protestant missionaries to set foot in India were two Lutherans from Germany, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau, who began work in 1705 in the Danish settlement of Tranquebar. They translated the Bible into the local Tamil language, and afterwards into Hindustani. They made little progress at first, but gradually the mission spread to Madras, Cuddalore and Tanjore. Today bishop of Tranquebar is the official title of a bishop in the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) in South India which was founded in 1919 as a result of the German Lutheran Leipzig Mission and Church of Sweden Mission. The seat of the Bishop, the Cathedral and its Church House ("Tranquebar House") is in Tiruchirappalli.

Moravian Brethren missionaries from Herrnhut, Saxony established the Brethren's Garden at Porayar near Tranquebar as a missionary center for a number of years. The Italian Catholic, Father Constanzo Beschi, who worked from 1711 to 1740, found himself in conflict with the Lutheran pioneers at Tranquebar, against whom he wrote several polemical works.

The churches as well as the fort and the city gates are being restored for tourism.

Demographics
As of 2001[update] India census[2], Tharangambadi had a population of 20,841. Males constitute 48% of the population and females 52%. Tharangambadi has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 69%. In Tharangambadi, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

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Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan

He was born to Sri Ramaswamy Sastri and Smt. Meenakshi at Kunnakudi, a temple town of Lord Murugan in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

His father was an erudite scholar in Sanskrit and Tamil besides being a great composer and exponent of Carnatic Music and Kathakalakshepam. Vaidyanathan started learning South Indian Classical Music from his father at a very young age.

Vibhuti or sacred Ash and a big Vermilion dot smeared prominently on his forehead were his trademark symbols
The Violin was his forte. Known for the dexterity and subtlety in handling the violin, he catered not only to the music scholar but also to the layman. His play reflected his own different moods and the demands of his audience with whom he established and enjoyed a good rapport. He dwelled with ease and competence in the high as well as the low octaves.

At the young age of 12, he accompanied great stalwarts like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Maharajapuram Santhanam in concerts. He also performed with legendary Nadaswaram vidwans like T.N.Rajarathinam Pillai and Thiruvenkadu Subramania Pillai .

He stopped accompanying vocal artistes in 1976 to concentrate more on solo concerts. He was famous for his fingering techniques on the violin. His interest in new attempts and innovations led him to work with veteran thavil vidwan Valayapatti Subramanian. They performed over 3,000 shows together which were also very successful.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan had deep faith in the therapeutic merits of music.

He also made a significant contribution to Tamil devotional music. A. P. Nagarajan giving him his first break in the movie Vaa Raja Vaa. He had several hits such as Agathiyar and Raja Raja Chozhan, for which he scored music.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan made a special appearance in the 2005 Tamil blockbuster movie Anniyan directed by Shankar, on the Tyagaraja Aradhana festival sequence for the song Iyengaaru Veetu which is a recreation of the real festival. He had guest appearances in many other films too.

He tried his hand at film production with a feature film in Tamil Thodi Ragam, with T. N. Seshagopalan in the lead, which failed enthuse the audience.
He was awarded the prestigious "Padma Shri" title by the Indian government, Kalaimamani award, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1993, and the Karnataka Isaignani award. He has also won Best Music Director awards for his background scores for filmsVaidyanathan, had a long association with the All India Radio. An able administrator, Mr. Vaidyanathan served as Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nadaga Mandram. As the Secretary of Thyagabramha Sabha, Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district he also conducted the Tyagaraja Aradhana for several years. He also served as president of the Raga Research Centre.Vaidyanathan passed away at 8.45pm on September 8, 2008 at a hospital in Chennai.

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