History
The neighbourhood gets its name from the Adyar River which flows through its northern limits. Adyar and the neighbouring Guindy had been used as hunting grounds by British officials of Fort St. George from the 1680s onwards though Adyar is first mentioned as a suburb of Madras only in a map from the year 1740 when the British purchased the village and integrated it with the Madras Presidency.
Adyar started to grow rapidly at the turn of the 20th century following the founding of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society by Madam Blavatsky here in 1883. Following the establishment of the Theosophical Society headquarters, the Kalakshetra, a cultural organisation to promote traditional arts and culture was established by Rukmini Devi Arundale at Adyar in 1936. The 1931 census records Adyar as a zamindari village in Chingleput district. Adyar was included within the Chennai Corporation limits in 1948. A typical scene of charming Adyar, 1905. "Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries."
Read more about this topic: Adyar (Chennai)
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