Vellur is a village in the Orathanadu taluk

Orathanadu taluk

Orathanadu taluk is a taluk of Thanjavur district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The headquarters of the taluk is the town of Orathanadu.- Population :...

 of Thanjavur district

Thanjavur District

Thanjavur District is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Geography:...

, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Vellur, also known as Vellore Nadu, is a pleasant verdant agricultural village.

Etymology

The name Vellur is derived from the Tamil words: Vel meaning "spear", Oor – "village"; thus reading "village of spear". Actually the shape of Vellur's vicinity including such boroughs as Periyakumilai, Mela theru, Keelatheru, Alathan kudikadu, Kothaiyakadu, and Edatheru resembles that of a spear.

The name is also said to have originated from Vel (spear – வேல்) which is the main weapon of the Hindu deity Murugan or "Velayudayaan" (one who bears the spear). The word then literally means "The place of Murugan". In this village most people belong to saivasamayam and are also called Kaliyamurthi, Sankar, Saravanan, Balamurugan, Shanmugam, Thandavamurthi etc.

History

Formerly Orathanadu Taluk was subdivided into 18 Nadus (group of villages), and the 18 Nadus had each a Nattamai. If there occurred any quarrel that the village was unable to regulate by itself, the issue was passed onto and the judgement given by the Nattamai. Among the Nadus were Papanadu, Uranthainadu, Vellur Nadu, Konur Nadu, Kakkarai Nadu, Thennamar Nadu etc. The former Nattamai of Vellor Nadu was Thandavamurthy Athiyaman. After a period the village was administrated by the village head man Ponnusamy Mudaliar and all village issues were controlled by the village panchayathars: late T. Muthusamy Athiyaman, late T. Ramaswamy Athiyaman, late T. Chinnaswamy Athiyaman.

Transport

It takes about 55 minutes by bus from Thanjavur and 35 minutes from Pattukkottai to reach the borough; one route goes from it to Vadachery covering the distance of 15 kilometers through Thirumangalakkottai. The village is located about 352 kilometers away from the state capital Chennai and 80 kilometers from Tiruchirapalli.

Demographics

Ethnically all the people of the borough are Tamilians. As of the 2001 census, Vellur had a total population of 2587 with 1297 males and 1290 females. The sex ratio was 995. The literacy rate was 71.48. Most peoples belong to the Kallar Community: Athiyaman, Kandiyar, Vijayathevar and Nattar,poyuntar. The Yadava people also lives at Edatheru.

Places of interest

There was a famous Siva temple in Vellore by the name of Avudayar koil which now is demolished. Since then the main deity in this village has been Avudayar Sri Muthumariyamman. Among other sights are Manora, an eight-storied miniature fortress near the silent bay of Bengal; Pattukkottai Nadiyamman temple, Orathanadu Kasi Viswanathar temple, and Urantharayan kudikadu Periya koil.

Vellur village has several temples including Sivan, Vinayaga, Sri Muthu Mariyamman, and Ayyanar. Every year in the Tamil month of Chithrai the people of the village are celebrating the Car festival with full co-ordination.

People from Vellur

Thiru T. Veeraswamy

T. Veeraswamy

T. Veeraswamy is an Indian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as an Indian National Congress candidate from Orathanad constituency in 1980 election, and as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate in 1984...

M.A., also called Vellurar is an Indian politician and former minister of Tamil Nadu and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate in 1980 and 1984 election.