≈ its borders pass close by: coasts and rivers are drawn coarsely.
Kanchipuram, also known as Kanjeevaram or Kancheepuram, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Chennai metropolitan area. Known as the City of Thousand Temples, Kanchipuram is known for its temple architectures, 1000-pillared halls, huge temple towers, and silk saris. Kanchipuram serves as an important domestic and international tourist destination. The city covers an area of 36.14 km2 (13.95 sq mi) and an estimated population of 232,816 in 2011. It is the administrative capital of Kanchipuram district. Kanchipuram is well-connected by road and rail.
The most significant within 25 km, a few from each century, in time order
Kanchipuram (IAST: kāñcipuram; [kaːɲdʑipuɾam]), also known as Kanjeevaram or Kancheepuram, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Chennai metropolitan area. Known as the City of Thousand Temples, Kanchipuram is known for its temple architectures, 1000-pillared halls, huge temple towers, and silk saris. Kanchipuram serves as an important domestic and international tourist destination. The city covers an area of 36.14 km2 (13.95 sq mi) and an estimated population of 232,816 in 2011. It is the administrative capital of Kanchipuram district. Kanchipuram is well-connected by road and rail.
Kanchipuram is a Tamil name formed by combining two words, "kanchi" and "puram," together meaning "the city of kanchi flowers" (due to the abundance of kanchi flowers in those regions). The city is located on the banks of the Vegavathy River and Palar Rivers. Kanchipuram has been ruled by the Pallavas, the Medieval Cholas, the Later Cholas, the Later Pandyas, the Vijayanagara Empire, the Carnatic kingdom, and the British, who called the city "Conjeeveram". The city's historical monuments include the Kailasanathar Temple and the Vaikunta Perumal Temple. Historically, Kanchipuram was a centre of education and was known as the ghatikasthanam, or "place of learning". The city was also a religious centre of advanced education for Jainism and Buddhism between the 1st and 5th centuries.
In Vaishnava theology, Kanchipuram is one of the seven tirtha (pilgrimage) sites for spiritual liberation. The city houses the Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Ekambareswarar Temple, Kamakshi Amman Temple, Kumarakottam Temple, and the Chitragupta temple, which are some of the major Hindu temples in the state. Of the 108 temples of the Hindu god Vishnu extolled in the work Naalayira Divya Prabandham, 15 are located in Kanchipuram.
The city is significant to the traditions of Sri Vaishnavism, Shaktism, and Shaivism. Silk-sari weaving is a major traditional occupation in and around Kanchipuram, while agriculture is an important livelihood in the surrounding district.
Kanchipuram is administered by the Kanchipuram City Municipal Corporation. Its municipality was originally constituted in 1866 and was upgraded to a municipal corporation in October 2021. It is the headquarters of the Kanchi matha, a Hindu monastic institution believed by its followers to have been founded by the Hindu saint and commentator Adi Shankara, and was the capital city of the Pallava Kingdom between the 4th and 9th centuries.
Kanchipuram was chosen as one of the heritage cities for the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of the Government of India.
Etymology
Kanchipuram was known in early Tamil and Sanskrit literature as Kanchi or Kachipedu. In the Sanskrit the word is split into two: ka and anchi. Ka means Brahma and anchi means worship, showing that Kanchi stands for the place where Varadharaja Perumal was worshipped by Brahma. Brahma has sculpted Athi Varadhar and worshipped here. In Sanskrit the term Kanci means girdle and explanation is given that the city is like a girdle to the earth. The earliest Sanskrit inscriptions from the Gupta period (early 4th century-CE to late 5th century-CE) denote the city as Kanchipuram, where King Visnugopa was defeated by Samudragupta. Patanjali (between 2nd century BCE and 5th century CE) refers to the city in his Mahabhasya as Kanchipuraka. The city was referred to by various names like Kanchi, Kanchipedu and Kanchipuram. The Pallava inscriptions from (250–355) and the inscriptions of the Chalukya dynasty refer the city as Kanchipura. Jaina Kanchi refers to the area around Tiruparutti Kundram. During the British rule, the city was known as Conjeevaram and later as Kanchipuram. Both Kanchipuram and Kancheepuram are used as English spellings. The municipal corporation and district administration use Kancheepuram in their official English names.
It finds its mention in Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi as Kanchi-prastha and in several Puranas. It is also one of the seven cities that provides liberation.
History
The earliest references to Kanchipuram are found in the books of the Sanskrit grammarian Patanjali, who lived between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The city was part of the Dravida kingdom of the Mahabharata and was described as "the best among cities" (Sanskrit: Nagareshu Kanchi) by the 4th-century Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa. The city finds mention in the classical Tamil language Sangam literature dated 300 BCE like Manimegalai and Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai. While it is widely accepted that Kanchipuram had served as an Early Chola capital, the claim has been contested by Indian historian P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar who wrote that the Tamil culture of the Sangam period did not spread through the Kanchipuram district and cites the Sanskritic origins of its name in support of his claim.
Kanchipuram grew in importance when the Pallavas, wary of constant invasions from the north, moved their capital south to the city in the 6th century. The Pallavas fortified the city with ramparts, wide moats, well-laid-out roads, and artistic temples. During the reign of the Pallava King Mahendravarman I, the Chalukya King Pulakesin II (610–642) invaded the Pallava kingdom as far as the Kaveri River. The Pallavas successfully defended Kanchipuram and foiled repeated attempts to capture the city. A second invasion ended disastrously for Pulakesin II, who was forced to retreat to his capital Vatapi which was besieged and Pulakesin II was killed by Narasimhavarman I (630–668), son of Mahendravarman I (600–630), at the Battle of Vatapi. Under the Pallavas, Kanchipuram flourished as a centre of Hindu and Buddhist learning. King Narasimhavarman II built the city's important Hindu temples, the Vaikuntha Perumal Temple, Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple, the Varadharaja Perumal Temple and the Iravatanesvara Temple. Xuanzang, a Chinese traveller who visited Kanchipuram in 640, recorded that the city was 6 miles (9.7 km) in circumference and that its people were renowned for their bravery, piety, love of justice and veneration for learning.
The Medieval Chola king Aditya I conquered the Pallava kingdom, including Kanchipuram, after defeating the Pallava ruler Aparajitavarman (880–897) in about 890. Under the Cholas, the city was the headquarters of the northern viceroyalty. The province was renamed Jayamkonda Cholamandalam during the reign of King Raja Raja Chola I (985–1014), who constructed the Karchapeswarar Temple and renovated the Kamakshi Amman Temple. His son, Rajendra Chola I (1012–44) constructed the Yathothkari Perumal Temple. According to the Siddhantasaravali of Trilocana Sivacharya, Rajendra Chola I brought a band of Saivas with him on his return from the Chola expedition to North India and settled them in Kanchipuram. In about 1218, the Pandya king Maravarman Sundara Pandyan (1216–1238) invaded the Chola country, making deep inroads into the kingdom which was saved by the intervention of the Hoysala king Vira Narasimha II (1220–1235), who fought on the side of the Chola king Kulothunga Chola III. Inscriptions indicate the presence of a powerful Hoysala garrison in Kanchipuram, which remained in the city until about 1230. Shortly afterwards, Kanchipuram was conquered by the Cholas, from whom Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I took the city in 1258. The city remained with the Pandyas until 1311 when the Sambuvarayars declared independence, taking advantage of the anarchy caused by Malik Kafur's invasion. After short spells of occupation by Ravivarman Kulasekhara of Venad (Quilon, Kerala) in 1313–1314 and the Kakatiya ruler Prataparudra II, Kanchipuram was conquered by the Vijayanagara general Kumara Kampana, who defeated the Madurai Sultanate in 1361.
The Vijayanagara Empire ruled Kanchipuram from 1361 to 1645. The earliest inscriptions attesting to Vijayanagara rule are those of Kumara Kampanna from 1364 and 1367, which were found in the precincts of the Kailasanathar Temple and Varadharaja Perumal Temple respectively. His inscriptions record the re-institution of Hindu rituals in the Kailasanathar Temple that had been abandoned during the Muslim invasions. Inscriptions of the Vijayanagara kings Harihara II, Deva Raya II, Krishna Deva Raya, Achyuta Deva Raya, Sriranga I, and Venkata II are found within the city. Harihara II endowed grants in favour of the Varadharaja Perumal Temple. In the 15th century, Kanchipuram was invaded by the Velama Nayaks in 1437, the Gajapati kingdom in 1463–1465 and 1474–75 and the Bahmani Sultanate in about 1480. A 1467 inscription of Virupaksha Raya II mentions a cantonment in the vicinity of Kanchipuram. In 1486, Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya, the governor of the Kanchipuram region, overthrew the Sangama Dynasty of Vijayanagara and founded the Saluva Dynasty. Like most of his predecessors, Narasimha donated generously to the Varadharaja Perumal Temple. Kanchipuram was visited twice by the Vijayanagara king Krishna Deva Raya, considered to be the greatest of the Vijayanagara rulers, and 16 inscriptions of his time are found in the Varadharaja Perumal Temple. The inscriptions in four languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Sanskrit – record the genealogy of the Tuluva kings and their contributions, along with those of their nobles, towards the upkeep of the shrine. His successor, Achyuta Deva Raya, reportedly had himself weighed against pearls in Kanchipuram and distributed the pearls amongst the poor. Throughout the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the Aravidu Dynasty tried to maintain a semblance of authority in the southern parts after losing their northern territories in the Battle of Talikota. Venkata II (1586–1614) tried to revive the Vijayanagara Empire, but the kingdom relapsed into confusion after his death and rapidly fell apart after the Vijayanagara king Sriranga III's defeat by the Golconda and Bijapur sultanates in 1646.
After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Kanchipuram endured over two decades of political turmoil. The Golconda Sultanate gained control of the city in 1672, but lost it to Bijapur three years later. In 1676, Shivaji arrived in Kanchipuram at the invitation of the Golconda Sultanate in order to drive out the Bijapur forces. His campaign was successful and Kanchipuram was held by the Golconda Sultanate until its conquest by the Mughal Empire led by Aurangazeb in October 1687. In the course of their southern campaign, the Mughals defeated the Marathas under Sambhaji, the elder son of Shivaji, in a battle near Kanchipuram in 1688 which caused considerable damage to the city but cemented Mughal rule. Soon after, the priests at the Varadharaja Perumal, Ekambareshwarar and Kamakshi Amman temples, mindful of Aurangazeb's reputation for iconoclasm, transported the idols to southern Tamil Nadu and did not restore them until after Aurangzeb's death in 1707. Under the Mughals, Kanchipuram was part of the viceroyalty of the Carnatic which, in the early 1700s, began to function independently, retaining only a nominal acknowledgement of Mughal rule. The Marathas ruled Kanchipuram due to Islamic invasion during the Carnatic period in 1724 and 1740, and the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1742.
Kanchipuram was a battlefront for the British East India Company in the Carnatic Wars against the French East India Company and in the Anglo-Mysore Wars with the Sultanate of Mysore.The popular 1780 Battle of Pollilur of the Second Anglo-Mysore War, known for the use of rockets by Hyder Ali of Mysore, was fought in the village of Pullalur near Kanchipuram. In 1763, the British East India Company assumed indirect control from the Nawab of the Carnatic over the erstwhile Chingleput District, comprising the present-day Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts, in order to defray the expenses of the Carnatic wars. The Company brought the territory under their direct control during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, and the Collectorate of Chingleput was created in 1794. The district was split into two in 1997 and Kanchipuram made the capital of the newly created Kanchipuram district.
Geography
Kanchipuram is located at 12°50′19″N 79°42′06″E / 12.8387°N 79.7016°E, 72 km (45 mi) south-west of Chennai on the banks of the Vegavathi River, a tributary of the Palar River. The city covers an area of 11.6 km2 (4.5 sq mi) and has an elevation of 83.2 m (273 ft) above sea level.The land around Kanchipuram is flat and slopes towards the south and east. The soil in the region is mostly clay, with some loam, clay, and sand, which are suitable for use in construction. It has been postulated that the granite required for the Varadaraja Perumal Temple might have been obtained from the Sivaram Hills located 10 miles east of Kanchipuram. The area is classified as a Seismic Zone II region, and earthquakes of up to magnitude 6 on the Richter Scale may be expected. Kanchipuram is subdivided into two divisions –
Big Kanchi, also called Shiva Kanchi, occupies the western portion of the city and is the larger of the two divisions;
Little Kanchi, also called Vishnu Kanchi, is located on the eastern fringes of the city.
Most of the Shiva temples were in Big Kanchipuram while most of the Vishnu temples were in Little Kanchipuram.
Groundwater is the major source of water supplies used for irrigation – the block of Kanchipuram has 24 canals, 2809 tanks, 1878 tube wells and 3206 ordinary wells. The area is rich in medicinal plants, and historic inscriptions mention the medicinal value. Dimeria acutipes and Cynodon barberi are plants found only in Kanchipuram and Chennai.
Climate
Kanchipuram has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw), which is generally healthy. Temperatures reach an average maximum of 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) between April and July, and an average minimum of 16 °C (60.8 °F) between December and February. Relative humidities of between 58% and 84% prevail throughout the year. The humidity reaches its peak during the morning and is lowest in the evening. The relative humidity is higher between November and January and is lowest throughout June.