Gudiyetram, colloquially Gudiyattam (; also called as Gudiyatham) is a municipality in Vellore district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It lies between Bangalore and Chennai and the district of Vellore is 33 km away from the town. In 2011, the town had a population of 235,672. The municipality derives its name from 'Gudiye-tram' in Tamil which means habituation of people. The ancient occupation of the people of Guidyatham was handloom weaving.
Sri Lakshmaiyah Chetty murasu article from a news paper in Gudiyatham, Vellore district was a pioneer in developing the town who established a cloth store in 1850 which mainly sold handloom products such as sarees and lungis. He also encouraged people to weave handloom products and he was the first to export handloom items to northern India and was the first to import Kasi .
Chittoor district | 38.9 km |
Kolar district | 97 km |
Kanchipuram district | 91.7 km |
Tiruvannamalai district | 91.8 km |
The average literacy of the town was 77.46%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had 55,103 households. There were 1,05,133 workers, comprising 9,700 cultivators, 25,373 main agricultural labourers, 6,501 in household industries, 40,891 other workers, 22,668 marginal workers, 877 marginal cultivators, 8,949 marginal agricultural labourers, 1,122 marginal workers in household industries and 11,369 other marginal workers.
As per the religious census of 2011, Gudiyatham had 81.58% Hindus, 16.96% Muslims, 0.98% Christians, 0.01% Sikhs, 0.01% Buddhists, 0.28% Jainism, 0.16% following other religions and 0.02% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.
Gudiyatham has small-scale manufacturing of , , and .The industry is the second-largest in Tamil Nadu after Sivakasi. Gudiyatham is nicknamed "The Little Sivakasi" because of its match-box factories. are exported to Pakistan and other parts of India. The handloom and powerloom lungies manufactured here are sold in India, Africa and Arab countries. The Middle East is supplied with handloom lungis by exporting firms in Gudiyatham. The major occupation of the nearby villages is agriculture. Sugar cane, paddy and other vegetables are cultivated here and transported to the nearby markets called Ulavar Santhai in Tamil in Gudiyattam.
Cattle and milk production are also important and most villagers are active in both agriculture and cattle-farming. For over a century, a cow and ox market has been held near Nellorepet every Tuesday.
The town has more than ten cinemas. Six of the theatres are near the Kamarajar bridge. Other theatres, Murugan and Raguram, are also in town. Gudiyatham is famous for producing gold jewellery. There are more than 50 jewellery shops in the town. Being on the Katpadi-Jolarpettai railway line, it is well connected to Chennai and Bengaluru. A cow and ox market has been held near Nellorepet every Tuesday for over a century.
The Ambur/Vaniyambadi biryani is accompanied with 'dhalcha,' a sour brinjal curry and pachadi or raita, which is made of sliced onions mixed with plain curd, tomato, chilies and salt. It has a distinctive aroma and is considered light on the stomach. The usage of spice is moderate and curd is used as a gravy base. It also has a higher ratio of meat to rice.
Palkova is a dairy sweet which is enriched with pure, thick milk without any added water. The only added sweetener is sugar. It is an eggless milk recipe. The palkova is also known as Milk Peda.
The paintings of Pallava period are visible in the hills near Melmalaiyampattu village. The paintings of Jain statues were seen on the top of the naturally found cave structures. These artifacts were destroyed over a period of time and only their remains are there now. Dr. Nagasamy gives a detailed view of those monumental paintings in his “Oviya Paavai”. Yet the remains of the paintings of the 7th and 8th centuries alone can now be seen. The restored edifice of the Jain construction would be viewed right under the cave paintings. A few Paleolithic monuments are found nearby along with black and red pots and tiles in the nearby ash mound. The paintings portray scenes of a Jallikattu clash, a warrior fighting a leopard and a man riding a bullock cart. Archaeologists confirmed that the paintings were more than 5000 years old.
Karupuleeswarar Temple complex, also known as Balasarthuleeswarar (Baby-Tiger Eswarar) temple in Nellorepet is more than 1000 years old and is historically connected with Gudiyatham town. It is famous for its chariot festival Thaer Thiruvizha. This temple was the abode of the sage Goundanya Rishi and the river passing through the town, "Goundanya Maha Nadi", is named after him. The temple has a lion tank (Simha Kulam).
Errukampattu Sri Ranganathaswamy templeTimes of India article on Gudiyatham dated 20 May 2018 was built in the late 9th or early 10th century and is attributed to the god Vishnu consecrated Ranganatha Temple. The temple, which is surrounded by a wall with an imposing portal, differs from most Chola temples in the region by its almost geometric, but restored, gate and tower decor; it consists of a mandapa (a flat, covered porch) and a vimana (a stepped tower structure) with a transverse bearing. While the outer walls - apart from their pilasters - and niche structure are almost unadorned, there are numerous blind windows on the cornice fronts (kudus).
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