Chennai

Chennai, know as Madras, the fourth largest metropolitan area of India and the capital of Tamil Nadu, is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal.

The city was established by the British in the 17th century and they developed it into a major urban centre and a naval base. By passing the time in the 20th century it become the capital of the Madras presidency - an important administrative centre.

Chennai is well know as the 'Gateway of South India' and perfectly connected to other major parts of India and has been endowed with the rich heritage of art and culture that one can explore lies in the beauty of glorious history, rich traditions and culture, various colors, real beautiful village life - showing the real touch of ancient India and played a important role in the wealth of art, architecture and literatures.

The literature of the Tamils is very ancient and important describing the ancient rituals, traditions and moral values.

Fast Facts
Area: 174 sq. km.
Population: 4.2 million
Location: South East India
Literacy Rate: 80.14%
Climate: Tropical Climate

How to Reach
By Air: Well connected by the Air with his own international airport also with the domestic flights in the Chennai, connected to all the major cities of Jaipur.
By Road: Perfectly connected by the road with prime destinations of India, all the major highways covered the city and running a well balanced metropolitan bus service and inter state bus services.
By Rail: Well connected by the Railhead as the Chennai Central and Egmore for the Chennai and the other major parts of India.

The name Chennai is an eponym, etymologically derived from Chennapattinam or Chennapattanam, the name of the town that grew up around Fort St. George that was built by the British in 1640. There are various thinking about the origin of the name of Chennai. The city is very popular for its Hindu temples and the classical dances; the culture of the Chennai reflects its diverse population. Chennai is very famous for offering the excellent shopping where one can find contemporary and traditional arts and crafts, clothing and jewelry.

The prime tourist attraction in the Chennai is its golden sprawling beaches especially as the Marina beach - the second largest beach in the world and stretches near about 13 km. The Marina beach looks like a virtual fair ground in the morning or late in the evening due to the various stalls spread over the beach.

Tourist can explore various attractions there that lies in the Chennai like as the Fort St. George - the most important symbol of British empire and the first real state of British in India at the early days, built by grey granite to the exterior like the Mughal forts with full of luxury and marvelous architecture, National Art Gallery - built in 1906 and designed by the Henry Irwin, holding the ancient heritage and culture in the lap of paintings including Tanjore Paintings on glass, Rajput and Mughal miniature paintings etc., Kapaleeshwar Temple - built in the 13th century exploring the fabulous architectural skills of the Dravidians, devoted to Lord Shiva showing the Hindu mythology etc. There are also other popular tourist attractions such as Parthsarthy Temple, Santhome Cathedral, Guindy National Park and Snake Park, St Thomas Mount, Kalakshetra, Birla Planetarium etc.

Madurai
Madurai, south India’s great temple town, the seventh largest city and synonymous with the Meenakshi Temple, is located on the banks of the River Vaigai in the  Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is well known with the name as Madura or the 'Temple City' or the 'Athens of the East' due to the five hundred temples established there. The area covered by the city is near about 109 sq. km and the population is 13,00,998 with the languages spoken Tamil, Sourashtra and English. In the ancient days it was the capital of the Pandya kings of South India as an important commercial centre of India. Madurai has its glorious, lavish rich culture and heritage more than 2500 years old and the city has been an important commercial center since as early as 550 A.D.

Madurai has his own pride of becoming one of the antique cities of India. The main and the prime attraction of the Madurai is the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple - a marvelous and glorious example of amazing architecture, built by the Pandya king Kulasekara and later reconstructed by the ruler Thirumalai Nayak. One can explore the the great heritage and culture of the Madurai and the respect of the peoples towards their tradtions and customes with the popularities Ballads, folk dances and dramas. Another attractions that can be explored in the Madurai are Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal – a national monument built in the Indo-Sarsenic style, Thiruparankundaram - a great temple of religious harmony respected by all the devotees of all the religions and a Islamic dargah is also located near the temple which is equally popular among the peoples of the Madurai, Tirumalai Naik Palace - an indo-Saracenic building built in 1523 and have a prime attraction among the visitors exploring the glorious architecture work of Nayaks. Madurai is a beautiful and a fabulous tourist attraction to be explored.