Vada Veli, Vada Palli, Vada Vazhi and Vadavalli - the little known history of Vadavalli in Coimbatore!

Coimbatore: It would be surprising for the people of today’s posh residential area Vadavalli to know that their little town on the way to Maruthamalai was once a sprawling pasture land and later flourished as a headquarters, from where certain local rulers administered all its surrounding areas including today’s Coimbatore, which was a thick forest then!

With Vadakarai Perur Nadu, one of the divisions of the ancient Kongu region spreading a vast area from the Kuridi hills to Anamalais, the territory was ruled by a leader Kothukara Kaliappan from the Paala Vellalar community with Vadavalli as its headquarters in the late 9th century A.D.

The town witnessed the settlement of the agricultural Paala Vellalar community, when they migrated from the Chola country over 10 centuries ago.

However, the pollution- free Vadavalli, where most people of the present day prefer to settle down for leading a healthy life, unfolds an interesting coincidence from its history. Vadavalli, which is believed to be located on a 60 acre Boothimedu(Ash mound), was once a place for burning cattle dung, on whose ashes the people walked and made their cattle too walk. They did so, for their belief that no ailments would affect them or their cattle. Interestingly, the continuity of this custom can still be seen at temples as Kundam Iranguthal (Fire walking)

With the history of place names as Palayam meaning the staying area of army soldiers, Paakkam, a coastal town, Sathurvedi Mangalam, a village gifted to Brahmin priests, Puththur, a town founded after clearing forests and so on, the place name Vada’valli’ could be the corruption of ‘Vada Palli’. As the suffix ‘Palli’ denotes a colony of cowherds, the place could have got its name as a ‘A northern colony of cowherds’

Another interesting research on the word ‘Vadavalli’ is that it could be a corruption of ‘Vada Veli’ which means an empty piece of land on the north. However, the more interesting explanation is that Vadavalli could have originated from ‘Vada Vazhi’ after the road which runs ‘northwards’ connecting the two shrines of Coimbatore - Perur Patteeswarar Temple and Maruthamalai.

As the Perur Patteswarar temple was constructed during various periods, when Kongunadu was under the rule of different dynasties, it is said that Azhagathiri Naicker, the brother-in-law and commander of King Thirumalai Naicker of Madurai, stayed in a palace at ‘Vada Vazhi’ and supervised the construction of the Kanaga Sabai (Golden Hall) in Perur Patteeswarar Temple.

It is also said that Azhagathiri Naicker had the rocks extracted from Maruthamalai and transported them on large buffalo- drawn carts through ‘Vada Vazhi’ for making exquisitely carved out pillars, which one can see even today at the Kanaka Sabai in the Perur temple.

Source: Kongil Aarainaadum Paala Vellalarum – V.M Venkatasamy and N.K. Ramasamy.