Pumpset manufacturers celebrate Coimbatore Vizha

Business & Economy, Records, All, World Opinion
Over 1,000 pumps were used to form the words ‘Coimbatore Pump City’ by pumpset manufacturers in the city on Thursday as part of Coimbatore Vizha. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT_E_MAIL
Over 1,000 pumps were used to form the words ‘Coimbatore Pump City’ by pumpset manufacturers in the city on Thursday as part of Coimbatore Vizha. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT_E_MAIL

About 100 people worked for nearly eight hours to form the words “Coimbatore Pump City” with pumps on Thursday at VOC Grounds here.

According to Kanishka Arumugam, director of Ekki Pumps and Deccan Pumps, about 10 pump manufacturers, including leading brands and smaller players, supplied pumps for the formation. These include agriculture, domestic, and industrial pumps.

“Coimbatore is making pumps for more than 50 years now and the next generation needs to focus on innovation. The objective of the programme is to showcase that Coimbatore is a leading manufacturer and supplier of pumpsets. In the recent years, the range of pumpsets made here is also widening,” he said.

“The brand made in Coimbatore for pumps should become popular,” he added.

S. Prasanna Krishna, Young Indians (Yi) chair, Coimbatore, said the city had over 200 pumpset manufacturers and only Rajkot and Ahmedabad were the other major pumpset making hubs in the country. The global market size for pumps was estimated to be 45 billion $ and India’s market size was ₹ 10,000 crore. The manufacturers here catered to over 40 % of the country’s demand.

“A couple of leading multi-national brands also have presence in Coimbatore. We should aspire more for the next decade and become a pioneer city to manufacture advanced pumping systems,” Mr. Arumugam added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Special Correspondent / Coimbatore – January 12th, 2018

The legend of Vellayi

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, World Opinion
TALE OF A TOWER: The Eastern Gopuram which stands testimony to the poignant tale of Vellayi, in the Srirangam Temple. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan
TALE OF A TOWER: The Eastern Gopuram which stands testimony to the poignant tale of Vellayi, in the Srirangam Temple. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Eastern gopuram, symbol of sacrifice

On the eastern entrance of the Srirangam temple, there stands a white tower, popularly known as the Vellayi Gopuram. Residents of Srirangam call this east tower as the Vellai Gopuram. It is generally believed that the tower is so called since it has been painted white by the temple authorities. But the tower has actually been named after a Devadasi called Vellayi who had sacrificed her life to protect the idol of Namperumal from the Sultanate forces who had invaded the temple.

Srirangam was attacked by the Sultanate forces in the year 1323 during the Tamil month of Vaikasi. Nearly, 12,000 residents of Srirangam island had laid down their lives fighting to protect the temple. The forces attacked the temple and Lord Ranganatha’s jewels and the temple gold were taken away.

The forces also wanted to seize the idol of Namperumal, which they believed was made of pure ‘Abaranji’ gold. They searched for the idol but the Vaishnavite Acharya, Pillailokacharya had taken the idol away and fled to Madurai. (The idol of Namperumal that left Srirangam in 1323 returned back only in 1371).

Unable to locate the idol, the Sultanate forces killed the temple authorities and later launched a massive hunt for Pillailokacharya and Namperumal.

Fearing that the forces would capture the Acharya and the idol, Vellayi, performed a dance before the commander of the forces thus gaining time for Pillailokacharya to escape with the idol.

Her dance lasted for hours together and finally she took the commander to the eastern gopuram and pushed him down. After killing him, Vellayi jumped to her death from the tower chanting the name of Ranganathar.

Hailing Vellayi’s sacrifice, the chief of Vijayanagara forces, Kempanna, who drove away the Sultanate forces, named the tower after her. The gopuram continues to be painted white in her memory.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by T.A. Narasimhan / January 04th, 2012 & updated July 25th, 2016