Tiruvottiyur in the north and Mylapore in the south are two ancient settlements by the sea that have witnessed the city grow and expand. Even today, they retain a quaint charm and have managed to safeguard temples, churches, mosques and samadhis of saints around which the villages of yore thrived. Two walks that explored the saints who patronised these places of worship were held recently.
Author and temple chronicler Padmapriya Baskaran and a group of enthusiasts from the Great Cholas Heritage Research Group went on a walk around Mylapore last week, visiting several places worship dedicated to saints of each religion with interesting tales surrounding them.
“The Dargah of Hazrath Syed Badruddin Shaheed in Pallavaram has a connect to Mylapore and Santhome. The saint was a soldier, who had volunteered to be part of the Golconda forces as a horseman in the battle to vanquish the Portuguese at Santhome in 1646. He managed to replace the Portuguese flag with that of the Golconda flag. But a Portuguese soldier is said to have severely injured him when he was climbing down. One legend says his head was almost severed by the enemy. But he managed to get on his horse and reach Pallavaram, where he finally collapsed. A dargah was built at the place where he was buried. Today the dargah is quite popular among the devout,” Ms. Baskaran explained.
