Early and medieval history Tiruchirappalli is one of the oldest inhabited cities in
Tamil Nadu; its earliest settlements date back to the Sangam period.
Uraiyur, the capital of the Early Cholas for 600 years from the 3rd century BC onwards, is a neighbourhood in the present-day Tiruchirappalli. The city is referred to as Orthoura by the historian
Ptolemy in his 2nd-century work
Geography. The world's oldest surviving dam, the
Kallanai (Lower Anaicut) about from Uraiyur, was built across the Kaveri River by
Karikala Chola in the 2nd century AD. The medieval history of Tiruchirappalli begins with the reign of the Pallava king
Mahendravarman I, who ruled over South India in the 6th century AD and constructed the rock-cut cave-temples within the
Rockfort. Following the downfall of the Pallavas in the 8th century, the city was conquered by the
Medieval Cholas, who ruled until the 13th century. After the decline of the Cholas, Tiruchirappalli was conquered by the
Pandyas, who ruled from 1216 until their defeat in 1311 by
Malik Kafur, the commander of
Allauddin Khilji. The victorious armies of the
Delhi Sultanate are believed to have plundered and ravaged the region. The statue of the Hindu god
Ranganatha in the temple of
Srirangam vanished at about this time and was not recovered and reinstated for more than fifty years. Tiruchirappalli was ruled by the Delhi and
Madurai sultanates from 1311 to 1378, but by the middle of the 14th century the Madurai Sultanate had begun to fall apart. Gradually, the Vijayanagar Empire established supremacy over the northern parts of the kingdom, and Tiruchirappalli was taken by the Vijayanagar prince
Kumara Kampanna Udaiyar in 1371. The Vijayanagar Empire ruled the region from 1378 until the 1530s, and played a prominent role in reviving Hinduism by reconstructing temples and monuments destroyed by the previous Muslim rulers. Following the collapse of the Vijayanagar Empire in the early part of the 16th century, the
Madurai Nayak kingdom began to assert its independence. The city flourished during the reign of
Vishwanatha Nayak (–1564), who is said to have protected the area by constructing the
Teppakulam and building walls around the Srirangam temple. His successor
Kumara Krishnappa Nayaka made Tiruchirappalli his capital, and it served as the capital of the Madurai Nayak kingdom from 1616 to 1634 and from 1665 to 1736. In 1736 the last Madurai Nayak ruler,
Meenakshi, committed suicide, and Tiruchirappalli was conquered by
Chanda Sahib. He ruled the kingdom from 1736 to 1741, when he was captured and imprisoned by the
Marathas in the
siege of Trichinopoly (1741) led by general
Raghuji Bhonsle under the orders of
Chhattrapati Shahu. Chanda Sahib remained prisoner for about eight years before making his escape from the Maratha Empire. Tiruchirappalli was administered by the Maratha general
Murari Rao from 1741 to 1743, when it was regain by the
Nizam of Hyderabad after the six months long
siege of Trichinopoly (1743). Nizam appointed Khwaja Abdullah as the Governor and returned to
Golkonda. When the
Nawab of the Carnatic Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah was dethroned by Chanda Sahib after the
Battle of Ambur (1749), the former fled to Tiruchirappalli, where he set up his base. The subsequent
siege of Trichinopoly (1751-1752) by Chanda Sahib took place during the
Second Carnatic War between the
British East India Company and Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah on one side and Chanda Sahib and the French East India Company on the other. The British were victorious and Wallajah was restored to the throne. During his reign he proposed renaming the city Natharnagar after the Sufi saint
Nathar Vali, who is thought to have lived there in the 12th century AD. Tiruchirappalli was invaded by
Nanjaraja Wodeyar in 1753 and
Hyder Ali of the
Mysore kingdom in 1780, both attacks repulsed by the troops of the British East India Company. A third invasion attempt, by
Tipu Sultan—son of Hyder Ali—in 1793, was also unsuccessful; he was pursued by British forces led by
William Medows, who thwarted the attack.
British rule The Carnatic kingdom was
annexed by the British in July 1801 as a consequence of the discovery of collusion between Tipu Sultan—an enemy of the British—and
Umdat Ul-Umra, son of Wallajah and the
Nawab at the time, during the
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Trichinopoly was incorporated into the
Madras Presidency the same year, and the district of
Trichinopoly was formed, with the city of Trichinopoly (or Tiruchirappalli) as its capital. During the
Company Raj and later the
British Raj, Tiruchirappalli emerged as one of the most important cities in India. According to the
1871 Indian census—the first in British India—Tiruchirappalli had a population of 76,530, making it the second largest city in the presidency after the capital of Madras (now Chennai). It was known throughout the
British Empire for its unique variety of
cheroot, known as the
Trichinopoly cigar. Tiruchirappalli was the first headquarters for the newly formed
South Indian Railway Company in 1874 until its relocation to
Madras in the early 20th century. File:The Market Place of Trichinopoly showing officers of the Madras Light Infantry, 1800.jpg|
The Market Place of Trichinopoly showing officers of the Madras Light Infantry (Philip Le Couteur, 1800) File:Town and Fort of Trichinopoly p.302.jpg|alt=The town and fort of Trichinopoly photographed in 1840| illustration of the town and fort of Trichinopoly File:The tank and Rockfort Trichinopoly.jpg|alt=The Teppakulam and Rockfort photographed in 1860| photograph of Rockfort and Teppakulam
Contemporary and modern history Tiruchirappalli played an active role during the
pre-independence era; there were a number of strikes and non-violent protests during the
Quit India Movement, notably the
South Indian Railway Strike that took place in 1928. The city was the base for the
Vedaranyam salt march initiated by
C. Rajagopalachari in parallel with the
Dandi March in 1930. Tiruchirappalli was an epicentre of the
anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu when a team of Tamil language supporters gathered and organised a rally from the city to Madras in
1938. Later in 1965, Tiruchirappalli was made the base of the "Madras state Anti-Hindi Conference" convened by C. Rajagopalachari. The population of Tiruchirappalli continued to grow rapidly, achieving a growth rate of 36.9% during the period 1941–51. After independence in 1947, Tiruchirappalli fell behind other cities such as
Salem and
Coimbatore in terms of growth. Tiruchirappalli remained a part of
Madras State, which was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969. The city underwent extensive economic development in the 1960s with the commissioning of
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. In the early 1980s,
M. G. Ramachandran, then
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu drafted a plan to move the state's administrative headquarters to Tiruchirappalli. A
satellite town was developed near
Navalpattu on the outskirts of the city, There have been occasional outbreaks of
violence against Sri Lankans. Owing to a series of terrorist attacks in Indian cities since 2000, security has been increased at sites such as
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple. ==Geography and climate==