Friday, December 25, 2015

Ennayiram, Villupuram

Ennayiram, Villupuram
Ennayiram is a village in Vikravandi taluk in Villupuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The major occupation of the people living at this place is agriculture.

Etymology
Ennayiram means eight thousand in Tamil. An inscription dated 1025 CE, belongs to the Rajaraja Chola mentions the name "Ennayiram". Hence the name "Ennayiram" is 1000 years old. It also refers to the caste name of Jain merchants. It has close connection with Ashtasahasram, a sub sect of Tamil Iyer community.

General Information
·        Name of the Place = Ennayiram
·        Taluk = Vikravandi
·        District = Villupuram
·        State = Tamil Nadu
·        Country = India
·        Coordinates = 12°7'28"N 79°29'31"E
·        Area = 1 km2
·        Population = 1000 (2011)
Location
Ennayiram is located 20 km north of Villupuram, 16 km southeast of Gingee.
Village
Ennayiram village has more than 1000 year’s old heritage. This village was a city during the Rajaraja Chola I period. It was dominated by Jains before the arrival of Ramanuja. It is also believed that Saint Ramanuja had converted eight thousand Jains to Vaishnavites here.

It was called Rajaraja Sathuurvedimangalam in those times. The main importance of this village comes from Azhagiya Narasimha Perumal temple, a Vedic college and Ennayira malai which contains evidence for the past existence of Jain monks. Tamil poet Kalamegam was born in this village.

Azhagiya Narasimha Perumal Temple
This temple was built by Rajaraja Chola and Narasimha Perumal was considered as the family deity of Rajaraja Chola. For brief details, please refer the link below;
Existence of ancient Vedic College
The Vedic College functioned with 10 teachers and 340 students 800 years ago. The college provided free boarding to students and each student received one seer (unit) of rice per day which was sufficient for their daily meals. The teachers got a daily allowance of one kalam which was equivalent to the cost of food for 16 persons per day. They were also given half kalanju gold as bonus per year.
Ennayira Malai (Ancient Jain cave, beds & inscriptions)
Another attractive feature of this village is the presence of Ennayira malai or Ennayiram hill with Jain cave and beds, which is now called as Koodalur hill. For brief details, please refer the link below;
Connectivity
Town buses from Villupuram town bus stand (bus no: 20, 21) to Pidaripattu go through Ennayiram. Otherwise, one can alight at Nemur Koot road bus stop (all mofussil buses going from Villupuram to Gingee has a stop in this place) and can take shared auto from this place to Ennayiram.