Nagarathar Value Education - Know My Native Program delivered by Resident Ambassador to represent their native and present an overview.

1. Presentation on “Karaikudi” by Varun Ponelango
My native place is Karaikudi &
My kovil is Illaiyathangkudi.
Chettinad literally means land in Tamil. It consists of 76 villages, among which
Karaikudi is the major town. The present population is about 2 lakhs
Karaikudi earlier belonged to Ramnad district, but now it comes within the Sivaganga
district. In 1928 it was changed from panchayat to municipality.
The terrain of Karaikudi is flat. The soil is hard red lateritic type and so not suitable for
cultivation.
Tamilnadu govt has promoted this land as a place of tourism. There are many temples in
and around Karaikudi like the Kundrakudi murugan kovil and Pillayar patti kovil.
There are many well known educational institutions like:-
1. Alagappa University
2. Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology (ACCET)
3. Alagappa Polytechnic
CECRI (Central Electrochemical Research Institute) is also located here.
Karaikudi is also well known for Huge Chettinad houses like “Ayiram janal veedu” and
for their cuisine, which is well known all over the world as “Chettinad cuisine”.
Tamilnadu Government has taken up some of the houses and turned them into heritage
houses.
Many famous personalities hail from Karaikudi.
Muthiah popularly known as Kavingar Kannadhasan
SP.Muthuraman
Panju Arunachalam
They contributed for the growth of south Indian cinema. Karaikudi was the birth place of
AVM studios, one of the famous and biggest movie studios in Tamilnadu.
On this occasion I am proud to say that Sp.Muthuraman is my periya iyya.

2. Historic Events:
Many important personalities have visited Karaikudi.
Subramanya Bharathi visited in 1906 and has sung a poem in praise of the good work
done by chettiar youths of Karaikudi.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then prime minister of India opened CECRI in 1948.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, then vice president of India laid foundation stone for ACCET in
1953.
Mahatma Gandhi visited Karaikudi and delivered speeches in 1927.
Before going to end I would like to share with you an information. My great grand father
Rama Subbiah then MLC was one of the founders of Dravidian party. Many Dravidian
leaders like Arignar Anna, Periyar, Kalaignar Karunanidhi , MGR and the famous Tamil
poet Bharathidhasan and many others during their visit to Karaikudi has stayed in our
house.