CHENNAI: The thuds of crates and sacks; vegetables and fruits plopping on the ground; loud cries and banters of merchants, and hundreds of visitors jostling for space to buy essential goods with little to no concern for social distancing. On April 25 at 2.15 am — a day before the four-day complete lockdown came into force — N Shanmugam*, a merchant who has made the 65-acre Koyambedu wholesale market his home over the last decade, like several other traders, wasn’t prepared to handle the wave of visitors. “Usually, vendors from Thiruvallur and Gummidipoondi arrive first to purchase goods. But when the complete lockdown was announced, an unusual number of people started pouring in at around 2 am-2.30 am. There was panic purchasing of essential goods. So many vehicles, visitors...it was chaos,” recalls the vendor, who is among the 10,000-odd workers operating from the 3,000-odd licensed shops at the market.
A month later, the dreaded virus found its residence in the market, which soon emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot — affecting as many as 1,000-odd people across the state. “The sight of the milling crowd of visitors was quite alarming. Very few wore masks to protect themselves. Soon after, all hell broke loose. Several vendors from other districts were tested positive. We were blamed for spreading coronavirus across Tamil Nadu and the market was shut by early May,” says Govindan P*, another vendor.
Where’s the buzz?
Now, every time someone decides to cross the stretch housing the almost desolated market, they are being served with slices of advice by their kin to wear a mask, to be careful or to take a detour to reach their destination. “I have lived in Koyambedu for over 15 years now. From people thronging the centuries-old Kurungaleeswarar and Vaikunthavasa temple, the energy at the Koyambedu market, the rush at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) to people boarding the train at the Metro station — I haven’t seen this area devoid of its usual bustle. Now it pains me to see Koyambedu reduced to a ‘pandemic-prone area’,” rues 58-year-old Vilasini Manikkam, a resident of Kalliamman Koil Street.
Since the establishment of the market in 1996 and the CMBT in 2002, Koyambedu has carved a name for itself and become the quintessential activity hub in the city. But, very less is known about the locality’s history and how it came to be.
With the image of the neighbourhood now tainted due its infamous involvement in the spread of the virus, we travel hundreds of years into the past to look beyond the grey-stone facade of the market — often considered the face of Koyambedu — and delve deep into the region’s antiquity.
Myths and legends
The neighbourhood is originally said to have been a forest called Veeksharanyam, where sage Valmiki had his ashram. “Koyambedu was a Chola settlement as seen from the numerous inscriptions found at this place. There are two temples here for Vishnu and Siva respectively. The Vishnu shrine, dedicated to Vaikunthavasa Perumal is traditionally associated with incidents found in the Ramayana,” shares temple historian Chithra Madhavan.
According to inscriptions and legends, it was here, at the ashram, where the philosopher took care of a pregnant Sita and is also said to have been the location where Rama’s twin sons Lava and Kusha were born, and raised under the tutelage of the sage.Though both temples — Vaikunthavasa Perumal temple and the Kurungaleeswarar Temple (a temple housing a lingam made by Lava and Kusha for the atonement of their sin for fighting Rama) have been receiving a steady footfall. The history of the structures, now tucked amid narrow bylanes and residential buildings, are seldom explored.
Padmapriya Baskaran, historian-author of The Gods of the Holy Koovam, and one of the key members of the Cooum Cultural Mapping team, details that the Kurungaleeswarar temple houses 14 inscriptions (recorded by ASI) that date back to the time of Kulothunga Chola III. These 12th century inscriptions give one an insight into the different levels of administrative subdivisions that existed in the Jayamkonda Chola Mandalam. “Koyambedu was a village that was part of the Mangadunaadu — an area that came under the jurisdiction of the Jayamkonda Chola Mandalam. The inscriptions also talk about how Koyambedu had a village assembly and local body governing the activities of the village,” she shares.
The neighbourhood has also been known by several other names including Kosaimanadu. “Arunagirinathar, a 15th-century saint-poet in his Thirupugazh is said to have sung in praise of Lord Muruga in the Kurungaleeswarar temple. He calls him ‘Kosainagar Vaazh Muruga’ (The Muruga residing in Kosainagar). Just like any place, the names kept changing over time,” explains the historian, who has done extensive research about the culture and socio-economic history and heritage of places along the banks of the Cooum river, including Koyambedu.
But, the oldest temple in Koyambedu predates the Kurangaleeswarar temple, she claims. The Semaththamman shrine in the locality, she says, has been the frontier deity of seven villages for over hundreds of years. “These villages were the present-day Koyambedu, Naduvankarai, Thirumangalam, Padi, Arumbakkam, Nerkundram and Chinmaya Nagar. During the Aadi festival, when the deity was taken around as part of a processional ritual around the villages, it is said to have taken the deity a week to return to the temple,” she shares.
Almost forgotten
For many years, Koyambedu remained a forest before people migrated to build settlements near the banks of the Cooum. For a long time, the ‘Twin temples’ in Koyambedu too remained in a dilapidated condition. The almost forgotten area was resurrected only during the 90s after the Koyambedu market was established. “Soon, CMBT too came into existence and Koyambedu shot to become one of the most happening places in the city,” she says.
Water and sanitation
Since its inception, the Koyambedu market has been a ticking bomb of sorts. Vendors began subletting the shops and turned the passageways into stalls too. Congestion became the norm. “One of the other things we have to look into closely in the COVID-19 situation is if the virus can be passed on through human waste and other wastewater, This is something the water and sanitation NGOs are closely analysing at the moment. If wastewater is a carrier of COVID-19, then the lack of sanitation facilities and well-maintained toilets at the market could have been a cause for it turning into a hotspot too,” says Padmapriya, who is also the chief executive at Sanitation First India, an NGO.
The mention of Koyambedu conjures up several images — of buses plying from the Moffusil, trains zipping the tracks of the Metro station, perpetual traffic in the Roundtana, film banners dotting Rohini Theatre, hawkers selling goods at the market to now, the coronavirus pandemic. But historians and faithful residents say there’s more to the area than what meets the eye. “Every place has a unique history and I urge everyone to look beyond the landmarks of their area. Who knows, maybe there’s something hidden in your backyard too,” says Padmapriya. *Names changed
What’s in a name
The Veeksharanyam forest spread up to Siruvapuri (approx Thiruvallur district). “The name Koyambedu stems from the episode where Rama as part of the Ashwamedha Yagna’s protocol sent a sacrificial horse around the country. When the horse entered the ashram of sage Valmiki, Lava and Kusha arrested it by building a fence of arrows around it. This is why the place is called Ko (horse), ambu (arrow), pedu (fence),” explains Padmapriya Baskaran.