Utakamand

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Nilgiris district map

Utakamand (ऊटकमण्ड), abbreviated as Udhagai or Ooty, is a town and the capital of the Nilgiris district in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills.

Variants

Origin

Location

It is located 86 km north of Coimbatore and 128 km south of Mysore and is the capital of the Nilgiris district. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. The town is connected by the Nilgiri ghat roads and Nilgiri Mountain Railway. Its natural environment attracts tourists and it is a popular summer destination.[1]

Origin

The origin of the name is obscure. The first known written mention of the place is given as Wotokymund in a letter of March 1821 to the Madras Gazette from an unknown correspondent.[2] In early times it was called Ottakal Mandu. "Mund" is the Anglicised form of the Toda word for a village, Mandu.[3] The first part of the name is probably a corruption of the local name for the central region of the Nilgiri Plateau.[4]

The stem of the name (Ootaca) comes from the local language in which Otha-Cal literally means "single stone". This is perhaps a reference to a sacred stone revered by the local Toda people. The name probably changed under British rules from Udagamandalam to Ootacamund, and later was shortened to Ooty[5]

Ooty is in the Nilgiri hills, meaning the "blue mountains", so named due to the Kurunji flower which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes a bluish tinge.[6][7]

History

Udagamandalam was originally a tribal land occupied by the Toda and Badagas along with other hill tribes who coexisted through specialisation and trade. The major tribes of Nilgiris area are the Toda, Kota, Irula and Kurumba.The Baduga langague is a dilect of Kannada.

The Toda in the Nilgiris are first referenced in a record belonging to Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana and his general Punisa, dated 1117 CE.[8] The Toda people were known for raising water buffalo. The Badaga people known for farming activities.[9]

Nilgiris was ruled by various dynasties like Satavahanas, Gangas, Kadambas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, the Vijayanagara empire and the Rajas of Ummattur (on behalf of Wodeyars of Mysuru).[10][11]

Tipu Sultan captured Nilgiris in the eighteenth century and extended the border by constructing a hideout cave-like structure. The Nilgiris came into possession of British East India Company as part of the ceded lands, held by Tipu Sultan, by the treaty of Srirangapatnam in 1799.

In 1818, J. C. Whish and N. W. Kindersley, assistants to John Sullivan, then Collector of Coimbatore, visited Ooty and submitted a report to him. Sullivan camped at Dimbhatti, north of Kotagiri in January 1819 and was enthralled by the beauty of the place. He wrote to Thomas Munro, " ... it resembles Switzerland, more than any country of Europe... the hills beautifully wooded and fine strong spring with running water in every valley."[12] The Toda ceded that part of the town to Sullivan and in May 1819, he began to build his bungalow at Dimbhatti. He also started work on a road from Sirumugai to Dimbhatti that year. The road was completed in May 1823, and extended up to Coonoor by 1830-32.[13]

Ooty served as the summer capital of the Madras Presidency; it was visited by British officials during the colonial days as a popular summer resort.[14] Soldiers were sent to nearby Wellington to recuperate. Wellington is the home of the Madras Regiment of the Indian Army.[15] After Independence, it developed into a popular hill resort.

ऊटकमण्ड

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[16] ने लेख किया है ...ऊटकमण्ड (AS, p.104) एक रमणीक पर्वतीय नगर है। ऊटकमण्ड का प्राचीन रूप उदकमंडल कहा जाता है। ऊटकमण्ड को ऊटी भी कहते हैं। ऊटी का पुराना नाम ऊटकमण्ड और उदगमंडलम भी था।

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Ooty in Tamilnadu". Tamilnadu.com.
  2. ↑ "History". ooty.net.
  3. ↑ Mathew Chacko, Pariyaram (2005). Tribal Communities and Social Change. SAGE Publications India, 2005. pp. 180, 188. ISBN 978-0761-933-30-4.
  4. ↑ Price, Sir Frederick (1908). Ootacamund, A History. Madras Government Press. pp. 14–15.
  5. ↑ ."Ooty History". ooty.ind.in
  6. ↑ "History". ooty.net.
  7. ↑ Francis, Walter (1908). Madras District Gazetteers: The Nilgiris. 1. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 90–94, 102–105. ISBN 978-81-2060-546-6.
  8. ↑ Francis, Walter (1908). Madras District Gazetteers: The Nilgiris. 1. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 90–94, 102–105. ISBN 978-81-2060-546-6.
  9. ↑ "Ooty History". evoire.com.
  10. ↑ Francis, Walter (1908). Madras District Gazetteers: The Nilgiris. 1. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 90–94, 102–105. ISBN 978-81-2060-546-6.
  11. ↑ Senapati, Nilamani; Sahu, N. K. (1955). Gazetteers of India: Nilgiris District. Government Press. pp. 3, 199–201, 866
  12. ↑ "One Man's Ooty", The Hindu, India, 16 January 2005[
  13. ↑ "History". ooty.net.
  14. ↑ The Illustrated Weekly of India. Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press. 1975.
  15. ↑ History of Ootacamund by Sir Frederick Price, Madras Government Press, 1908.
  16. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.104
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