Religion

Jambudweep proclamation of the Maruthu brothers

The Maruthu brothers issued a proclamation calling on all people of the peninsula, whatever their religion, to fight the British.

Vellore Mutiny

Indian sepoys of the Madras Army rose against the East India Company at Vellore Fort over new dress regulations.

Church Missionary Society begins work in Madras

After the Charter Act of 1813 allowed missionaries into India, the Church Missionary Society placed its first missionaries at Madras in 1814.

St. George's Church built in Madras

St. George's Church on the Choultry Plain was opened in 1815 and later became the cathedral of the Diocese of Madras.

Rhenius begins CMS mission in Tirunelveli

Church Mission Society missionary C. T. E. Rhenius arrived in Tirunelveli and built a large Protestant mission based at Palayamkottai.

Birth of Ramalinga Swamigal (Vallalar)

Ramalinga Swamigal, the Tamil saint-poet known as Vallalar, was born at Marudur near Chidambaram.

Bishop Reginald Heber dies at Tiruchirappalli

Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta and hymn-writer, died suddenly at Trichinopoly during a tour of South India.

St. Stephen's Church founded at Ooty

St. Stephen's Church at Ootacamund, whose foundation stone Governor Stephen Lushington laid, opened for worship in 1831.

Ayya Vaikundar begins his mission

Ayya Vaikundar began the teachings that gave rise to Ayyavazhi, a movement that challenged caste rules in southern Travancore.

Anglican Diocese of Madras created

Daniel Corrie was consecrated the first Bishop of Madras, and St. George's Church became the cathedral of the new diocese.

Ayya Vaikundar imprisoned by the Travancore king

Ayya Vaikundar, founder of Ayyavazhi, was arrested on the orders of the Travancore king and held at Singarathoppe jail.

The Crescent, first Indian-owned newspaper in Madras

The Crescent, launched by Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty, was the Madras Presidency's first newspaper under Indian ownership.

Arumuka Navalar receives his title at Thiruvaduthurai

Travelling to Madras to acquire a printing press, Jaffna scholar Arumuka Pillai received the title Navalar from the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam.

Ayya Vaikundar's mission ends

Ayyavazhi tradition records that Ayya Vaikundar's earthly mission ended on 2 June 1851.

Vallalar starts the Samarasa Vedha Sanmarga Sangam

Vallalar, or Ramalinga Swamigal, formed a fellowship of devotees against caste distinctions, which was later renamed the Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sathya Sangam.

Vallalar opens the Sathya Dharma Salai at Vadalur

At Vadalur, Ramalinga Swamigal opened a free kitchen for the needy of every caste and lit a stove that was never to be put out.

Vallalar opens the Sathya Gnana Sabhai at Vadalur

At Vadalur, Ramalinga Swamigal (Vallalar) opened the Sathya Gnana Sabhai, which taught compassion for every living being regardless of caste.

Disappearance of Vallalar

Ramalinga Swamigal shut himself in a room and told followers not to open it; when officials broke in that May, nobody was inside.

Robert Caldwell consecrated Bishop of Tirunelveli

Missionary and Dravidian scholar Robert Caldwell, based at Idaiyangudi, was consecrated as a bishop for the Tirunelveli mission.

Theosophical Society moves headquarters to Adyar

Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott moved the headquarters of the Theosophical Society to Adyar in Madras.

Salem riots of 1882

Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Salem over a procession route past a new mosque; the trials that followed made C. Vijayaraghavachariar famous.

Iyothee Thass declares Dalits are not Hindus

Anti-caste activist Iyothee Thass declared that the depressed classes were not Hindus, a stand he later carried into the Dravida Mahajana Sabha and the 1891 census.

Brahmavadin journal launched in Madras

Brahmavadin, a journal of Vedanta, was launched by Alasinga Perumal and fellow Madras followers of Swami Vivekananda.

Ramana Maharshi arrives at Tiruvannamalai

Aged sixteen, Venkataraman, afterwards known as Ramana Maharshi, left Madurai for Arunachala hill at Tiruvannamalai and remained there until his death.

San Thome Cathedral rebuilt and consecrated

The church over the traditional tomb of St Thomas at Santhome, Madras, was rebuilt in neo-Gothic style and consecrated on 1 April 1896.

Prabuddha Bharata journal founded in Madras

Started in Madras in July 1896 on Swami Vivekananda's encouragement, Prabuddha Bharata was an English-language journal of the Ramakrishna movement.

Swami Vivekananda visits Madras

Returning from the West, Swami Vivekananda stayed at the Ice House on the Madras beach from 6 to 14 February 1897.

Iyothee Thass founds the Sakya Buddhist Society

After embracing Buddhism in Ceylon, Iyothee Thass founded the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras, launching a Tamil Buddhist revival among Dalits.

Chandrasekharendra Saraswati becomes head of the Kanchi Matha

On 13 February 1907 Swaminathan was installed as the 68th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, taking the name Chandrasekharendra Saraswati.

Iyothee Thass launches Oru Paisa Tamizhan

Iyothee Thass launched the Tamil weekly Oru Paisa Tamizhan, an anti-caste journal that later became The Tamilan.

Sri Aurobindo settles in Pondicherry

Facing continued British repression, Bengali nationalist Aurobindo Ghose moved to French Pondicherry in April 1910.

Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act

A law passed under the Justice Party government placed Hindu temple endowments under the oversight of a statutory board.

Death of Annie Besant at Adyar

Annie Besant, Theosophical Society president and Home Rule leader, died at Adyar in Madras.

Tambaram World Missionary Conference

Madras Christian College at Tambaram hosted the International Missionary Council's world conference, a landmark in the ecumenical movement.

Death of Ramana Maharshi at Tiruvannamalai

The sage Ramana Maharshi died at Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, where he had lived for over five decades.

Velankanni shrine raised to a minor basilica

Pope John XXIII raised the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni to a minor basilica.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial opened at Kanyakumari

A memorial to Swami Vivekananda was completed on a rock off the coast of Kanyakumari after a nationwide fundraising campaign.

Sankara Nethralaya eye hospital founded in Madras

Led by S. S. Badrinath, a group in Madras founded Sankara Nethralaya, a charitable eye hospital run on a not-for-profit basis.

Hindu Munnani founded in Tamil Nadu

The Hindu Munnani, a Hindutva organisation set up with RSS backing, was founded in Tamil Nadu by Ramagopalan.

Meenakshipuram mass conversion

Several hundred Dalits in Meenakshipuram village in Tirunelveli district converted from Hinduism to Islam, citing caste discrimination.

Mandaikadu Hindu-Christian clashes

Tensions between Hindus and Christians in Kanyakumari district escalated during the Mandaikadu temple festival, leading to police firing and deaths.

Mahamaham stampede at Kumbakonam

A stampede at the Mahamaham tank in Kumbakonam during the 12-yearly festival killed 48 pilgrims.

Bombing of RSS office in Chennai

A bomb destroyed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh office in Chetpet, Chennai, killing several people.

Mani Ratnam's Bombay released amid controversy

Bombay, Mani Ratnam's film about an inter-religious couple during the 1992-93 Bombay riots, drew controversy, and bombs were thrown at his Madras home.

Coimbatore communal riots

The killing of a traffic constable in Coimbatore was followed by communal riots in which 18 Muslims and 2 Hindus were killed.

Coimbatore serial bombings

Twelve bombs exploded across Coimbatore, killing 58 people, ahead of a campaign meeting by BJP leader L. K. Advani.

Erwadi mental home fire

Chained to their beds, 28 inmates died when fire swept through a faith-based mental asylum at Erwadi.

Tamil Nadu anti-conversion law

The AIADMK government introduced a law against forcible religious conversion, which was withdrawn after the 2004 Lok Sabha election and formally repealed in 2006.

Arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya

Jayendra Saraswathi of the Kanchi math was arrested in the Sankararaman murder case; he and the other accused were acquitted in 2013.

Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project inaugurated

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched work on a shipping canal between India and Sri Lanka, a project later stalled by the Ram Setu dispute.

Ram Setu affidavit controversy

A government affidavit telling the Supreme Court there was no historical proof that Adam's Bridge was built by Rama intensified opposition to the Sethusamudram canal.

Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks on Sanatana Dharma

Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's call to eradicate Sanatana Dharma drew national controversy and court cases.