Salem

Indian culture and heritage is something that is a pride to each and every citizen of India. Both North and South India have equal weight in posing their history and culture. There have been so many famous kings and their kingdoms that have ruled South India. They have built so many temples and historically important monuments. These monuments speak for itself the prosperity and the richness of the respective kingdoms.

Since it’s the focus is about the history of South India with a special focus on Salem, we have to remember that there have been many districts that were once together and have been divided and named differently in the present. When it is about the kings of south India there are three very famous kings whose name will always be mentioned, the Chera, the Cholas and the Pandiyas. 

The Chera ruled most part of Tamilnadu till 18th century. Salem, an important district in Tamilnadu, South India also was under the rule of the Chera.

These kings, of ancient Tamilnadu, were called as the Kurunila Mannargal. In the ancient inscriptions Salem was referred to by many names like cheralam (the Chera rule), sailam and shalya.

The city was surrounded by hills on all the sides, Nagarmalai to its north, Godumalai to its east, kanajanamalai to its west and Jeragamalai to its south. The kings who ruled Salem built many temples and great forts. The Salem district proudly calls itself the birthplace of poem and writing as it is the birth place of the very well known and renowned poetess Avvaiyar.

She was a very famous poetess and her songs are still fresh and very devotional. She was a staunch devotee of lord Shiva and lord Muruga and has written many songs on different deities. This is a very big credit to the history of Salem.

After the Chera the district came into the rule of Hyder Ali. Hyder Ali, who is a very famous king during the ancient India, took over the parts of Salem and the hills around after the Mysore Madurai war.

Later during the British rule Salem was headed by many governors and colonels till it came under the rule of Lord Clive. Since the district is situated in the middle of many other districts like Coimbatore and also an easy access to Bangalore and other cities this place was considered to be very important.

Lord Clive transformed Salem into a military regiment this was situated at a place in the district still known as Sankagiri Durg till the 19th century. This was opposed by so many freedom seekers.

Salem also has the credit of being the birthplace of a very famous freedom fighter Dheeran Chinnamalai to its history. He fought against the Britishers during Lord Clive’s rule. He was against making Salem a garrison for military forces and so joined the freedom fighting movement. He was said to have been tortured and hanged in the same military fort in Sankagiri Durg.

Tamilnadu region was known infamously as the Kongunadu. This also included the Salem district and there were supposed to be twenty eight kings who ruled the kongu region since its advent. After the British rule there were many churches that were built and apart from any south Indian districts Salem eagerly welcomed and practiced Christianity.

When you talk about the history of Salem, Tamil Nadu… you can’t forget about its churches. Even now there are many famous churches in Salem and still with the same welcome and respect to Christianity.

Lots of manuscripts have been found that speaks about the ruling pattern and the number of kings who had ruled the Salem district. Later after the early 19th century Salem came under Town Corporation and became a Municipal Corporation from 1994.

After this till date Salem holds rue and good its history and has been developing and growing since. With many schools and educational institutions to its credit, Salem has become one of the most important districts of Tamilnadu.