Tiruchirapalli Tourism, Tamil Nadu India

Tiruchirappalli is one of the oldest inhabited cities in Tamil Nadu, its earliest settlements dating back to the second millennium BC. Uraiyur, which served as the capital of the Early Cholas from the third century BC to the third century AD is identified by some with a suburb of present-day Tiruchirappalli. The city is mentioned as "Orthoura" by the historian, Ptolemy. The world's oldest surviving dam, the Kallanai, was built by Karikala Chola across the Kaveri River, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) from Uraiyur.Map of Tiruchirappalli town in 1955

The medieval history of Tiruchirappalli begins with the reign of the Pallava king Mahendravarman I who ruled over South India in the 6th century AD. Mahendravarman constructed the cave-temples within the Rockfort. Following the demise of the Pallavas in the eighth century AD, Tiruchirappalli was conquered by the Medieval Cholas who ruled till the 13th century AD

When the Chola Empire began to decline, Tiruchirappalli was conquered by the Pandyas who ruled from 1216 until their defeat by Malik Kafur in 1311. The victorious armies of the Delhi Sultanate are believed to have plundered and ravaged the kingdom. The idol of the Hindu god Ranganatha in the temple of Srirangam disappeared at about this time and was not recovered and reinstated until more than fifty years later. Tiruchirappalli was ruled by the Delhi and Madurai sultanates from 1311 to 1378 when it was annexed by the Vijayanagar Empire. Tiruchirappalli remained a part of the Vijayanagar Empire and its successor, the Madurai Nayak kingdom till 1736. It served as the capital of the Madurai Nayak kingdom from 1616 to 1634 and from 1665 to 1736. In 1736, the last Madurai Nayak ruler Meenakshi committed suicide and Tiruchirappalli was conquered by Chanda Sahib. Chanda Sahib ruled the kingdom from 1736 to 1741 when he was captured and imprisoned by the Marathas. Tiruchirappalli was administered by the Maratha general Murari Rao from 1741 to 1743, when it was annexed to the Carnatic kingdom. When the Nawab of the Carnatic, Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah was dethroned by Chanda Sahib in 1751, he fled to Tiruchirappalli and set up his base there.The subsequent siege of Tiruchirappalli by Chanda Sahib led to the Second Carnatic War between the British East India Company and Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah on one side and Chanda Sahib and the French East India Company on the other. The British were successful in the war and Wallajah was restored to the throne. Tiruchirappalli was invaded by Nanjaraja and Hyder Ali of Mysore kingdom in 1753 and 1780, respectively, but both of these attacks were repulsed by the troops of the British East India Company. A third attempt, by Tipu Sultan, son of Hyder Ali in 1793, ended in a stalemate.