Tiruchirappalli History, India

The cornerstone of Tiruchirappalli was laid by Gods and Daemons and theories attached to them are the ones which have given this city the name Tiruchirappalli. Sometimes this city is also called by the name of Tiruchirapalli and many times in short it is called as Trichy or Tiruchi. The English version of Tiruchirappalli was Trichinopoly which was used when British used to rule India.

Tiruchirappalli is full of multiple temples, historical churches, monuments, and mosques thus reflecting the cultural diversity. Tiruchirappalli was also the homeland of Nagaraja Cholan. Oraiyur (also known as Uraiyar) is the other name for the old city of Tiruchirappalli. It is said that the old city of Tiruchirappalli is around 2500 years old and hence it possesses the culture and history of India for last 2500 years. This is actually an achievement which rarely do any other city of India has.

The old city of Tiruchirappalli was also the capital for the kingdom of Chola Kings of olden days. Architecture and planning in those early years was also done to its extreme and a proof of this is Kallanai (which is the oldest dam build by humans). It was built on the river Kaveri (which was also known by the name of Cauvery in those days). This dam was built around 10 miles from the old city of Tiruchirappalli and Karikala Cholan were responsible for building this dam.

Tiruchirappalli has always been an important city for all the kingdoms that have ruled it. Cholas used to rule the city of Tiruchirappalli and later on Nayak kings over took the control of Tiruchirappalli. It was the British Army which finally took control of Tiruchirappalli. This city lost its capital status many times during the rule of Nayak kings as they kept interchanging their capital again and again from Madurai to Tiruchirappalli.

Rock Fort is a 83 meters high rock on which a fort was built. It is unique as most of the city is flat land but this section of Tiruchirappalli has such a high fort. Many times due to this rock Tiruchirappalli has been called by the tag of Rock City. The Nayak Kings many times used the temple on top of this rock as their military base.

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