Vellore

Vellore ( ), also spelled Velur, is a city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Vellore district. Located on the banks of the Palar River, it is surrounded by the Javadi Hills, an extension of the Eastern Ghats. The city covers an area of , and is further sub-divided into 60 wards across four zones. It is administered by the Vellore Municipal Corporation, headed by a mayor, who is elected by the councilors of the respective wards. As of the 2011 census, the city had a population of 315,128. It is a part of the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, which elects its Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha, and the Vellore state assembly constituency that elects its member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

The early history of Vellore dates back to the Chola period in the 9th century CE. It was part of various empires during the Middle Ages. The Vellore Fort and the Jalakandeswarar Temple, were built during the reign of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century CE. In the 18th century, Vellore was involved in the Carnatic Wars between the British and the French, and the Anglo-Mysore Wars between the British and the Mysore Kingdom. During the first half of the 19th century, it came under British rule. The Vellore Mutiny took place in 1806, and was the first large scale mutiny of the Indian sepoys against the British. The city was part of the Madras Presidency under the British Raj until 1947, after which it became part of the Indian state of Madras, which was later renamed as Tamil Nadu.

As of 2020, Vellore had a GDP of $4 billion. The economy is dependent on agriculture, and leather, tobacco, and other manufacturing industries. The town is known as the leather hub of India, with hundreds of tanneries located around the city. Leather exports from the region accounted for more than 37% of India's leather exports and leather-related products in the early 2010s. The city has a robust healthcare and educational infrastructure and is home to the Christian Medical College & Hospital, and the Vellore Institute of Technology.

Vellore is one of the cities chosen as a part of the Smart Cities Mission, an urban renewal programme by the Government of India. As per the Global Cities Index by Oxford Economics in 2024, the city was ranked as the 24th best city in India.

Etymology According to a legend, many babul trees (known locally as velan trees) surrounded this region, which led to the name 'Vellore'.

Another myth states that the Hindu god Murugan, with the Tamil epithet "Velan" (Spear-lord) came to Vellore during his anger, giving the town its name.

Vellore is also known as the Second Madras because of its importance and location relative to Chennai (Madras).

History The recorded history of Vellore dates back to the ninth century, as seen from a Chola inscription in the Annamalaiyar Temple in Tiruvannamalai.

Vellore is strategically located and well-connected by rail and bus routes to major towns in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Many dynasties and rulers dominated Vellore throughout its history, including the Pallava dynasty, Medieval Cholas, Later Cholas, the Rashtrakuta dynasty, the Sambuvaraya chieftains, Vijayanagar, the Nawabs of the Carnatic, and the administration of the British. In the 18th century, Vellore was involved in the Carnatic Wars between Britain and France. It was situated close to several decisive battles, including those at Ambur (1749), Arcot (1751), and Vandavasi (1760). During the first half of the 19th century, the town came under British rule.Urban Infrastructure Report 2008, p. 12

Vellore Fort is important to Vellore's history. Due to a lack of historical records, it is not known exactly when the fort was constructed, but estimates based on stone inscriptions suggests that the fort was most likely built during the rule of Chinna Bommi Nayak between 1526 and 1595. The fort is a good example of Tamil Nadu military architecture, while the Jalakandeswarar Temple within the fort represents Vijayanagara architecture.

Christian Medical College & Hospital, founded in 1900 by the American medical missionary Dr. Ida S. Scudder, is another Vellore landmark. The hospital has grown into a medical institution of international repute.

The central prison in Vellore, established in 1830, had imprisoned notable Indian independence activists like C. Rajagopalachari and Ramaswamy Venkataraman. Other landmarks include the Shashankinians mausoleums, located close to the section of National Highway 48 between Vellore and Arcot, where the family members of Tipu Sultan were buried; and the Muthu Mandapam, a memorial on the banks of Palar River built by the Tamil Nadu Government to honor Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka, who ruled from 1798 to 1815 and was imprisoned in Vellore Fort for 17 years until his death.

Vellore Fort

The fort of Vellore was built around 1566 CE by the chieftains of Sadashiv Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire. In the mid-17th century the fort was owned by various parties. The Aravidus, the last dynasty that ruled Vijayanagara lost Vellore to the Bijapur Sultan before being captured by the Marathas after a siege that lasted four and a half months in 1676. The fort came under the charge of Dost Ali, the Nawab of Carnatic, before passing on to the British in 1760. Vellore Fort withstood Hyder Ali's siege from 1780 to 1782, and would later become the base for Lord Cornwallis' march on Bangalore to defeat Tipu Sultan.

When Tipu Sultan was killed at Sringapatam during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798-79 CE), his kingdom was handed back to the Hindu Wodeyar kings of Mysore and the British exiled Tipu's surviving sons, daughters, their families, and their entire entourage to Vellore Fort. They stayed in the palaces in the fort and participated in the mutiny of 1806.

Vellore mutiny

In 1805, the new Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army of the British East India Company, General Sir John Cradock, began an ambitious reform of the army's disciplinary system. New, standardized regulations were approved for the Madras Army, which dictated how sepoys should wear their uniforms and appear on duty. Under these regulations, Hindus were prohibited from wearing religious marks on their foreheads while on duty, and Muslims were required to shave their beards and trim their moustaches. One change that was especially problematic was a new headdress associated with Indian converts to Christianity, which included a leather cockade. This caused an uproar, as leather was a cultural taboo for the upper caste sepoys of the Madras Army. As a result, many sepoys believed that their British officers were conspiring to convert them to Christianity.

In May 1806, a few soldiers protested against these changes and were sent to Fort St. George in Chennai, where they were publicly lashed and discharged from the army. With the levels of resentment towards the British already high, the sons of the deceased Tipu Sultan exacerbated the conflict by assisting the mutineers who revolted on 10 July. Under the pretense of attending the wedding of one of Tipu Sultan's daughters, mutineers gathered in Vellore Fort where the wedding was held and revolted. Raising the flag of the Kingdom of Mysore, they declared Tipu Sultan's son Fateh Hyder king. The mutineers inflicted about 200 casualties before their revolt was put down by reinforcements under the command of Sir Hugh Robert Rollo Gillespie; many of the mutineers were captured and summarily executed or court-martialed.

As a result of the uprising, the dress codes were retracted, and Cradock was dismissed. Although the mutiny took place before larger revolts in the 1850s, it was indicative of the simmering dissent in the Indian soldiery. The Vellore mutiny is considered to be the first large-scale Indian mutiny against the British, and a prelude to the much larger Sepoy Mutiny in 1857.

In the 1930s, a series of communal riots occurred between Hindus and Muslims.

Economic, social and cultural changes in the 20th century

The economic condition of the district in the earlier stages was not sound with the absence of major industries. Industries like Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in Ranipet and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Explosives Limited, and the locality of Katpadi were established as the result of government policy. There has been notable growth of small scale industries and tanneries in the district, which has generated employment opportunities and benefitted farmers. Uzhavar Santhai is a useful market window for farmers. Women-driven self help groups have played an important role in building the rural economy and teaching rural women to be self-reliant. Vellore has also seen a period of upward social growth with improvement in literacy and the local economy. Literacy improved in part due to the Arivoli Movement.

Geography and climate

Vellore is at , 220m above sea level. The city has a tropical savanna climate. It is in the Vellore district of the South Indian state, Tamil Nadu, west of the state capital Chennai and south of its twin city Chittoor, across the Andhra Pradesh border. Vellore lies in the Eastern Ghats region and Palar river basin. The topography is almost flat with slope from west to east.

Vellore has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw). The temperature ranges from to . Like the rest of the state, April to June are the hottest months and December to January are the mildest. Vellore receives of rainfall every year. The southwestern monsoon from June to September brings of rainfall, with September being the rainiest month. The northeastern monsoon which lasts from October to December brings of rainfall. The humidity ranges from 40%–63% during summer and 67%–86% during winter.

Demographics

According to 2011 census, Vellore had a population of 504,079 of which 247,002 are males and 257,077 are females. The sex-ratio of Vellore is 1,009 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 926. A total of 48,547 were under the age of six, constituting 24,692 males and 23,855 females. The literacy rate of Vellore is 87.09%, which is higher than national urban average of 85%. Literacy rate for males and females stood at 92.03% and 82.23% respectively. Total literates in Vellore were 379,849 of which males were 199,247 and remaining 180,602 were females. The city had a total of 112,486 households, with 70,257 workers, including 297 cultivators, 395 main agricultural labourers, 4,387 in household industries, 59,281 other workers, 5,897 marginal workers, 59 marginal cultivators, 74 marginal agricultural labourers, 667 marginal workers in household industries, and 5,097 other marginal workers.

According to the religious census of 2011, Vellore's population was 80.09% Hindu, 14.28% Muslim, 4.79% Christian, 0.02% Sikh, 0.03% Buddhist, 0.51% Jain, with 0.26% following other religions, and 0.02% following no religion or not indicating any religious preference.

As of 2001, 69.88% of the city's land area was developed. Out of the developed area, 55.76% was used for residential purposes, 8.34% for commerce, 1.58% for industry, 3.3% for education, 16.46% for public and semi-public use, and 10.12% for transport and communication.Urban Infrastructure Report 2008, p. 29 Although population density varies between different areas, the average density of the city of Vellore is 241 persons per hectare.Urban Infrastructure Report 2008, p. 17

Administration and politics Municipal corporation officials MayorCommissionerP. Janaki RaveendranDeputy MayorElected membersMember of Legislative AssemblyP.KarthikeyanMember of ParliamentKathir Anand