Thopputhurai

Location

Thopputhurai is near the East Coast road of Vedaranyam-Nagapattinam, with a radius of approximately 23 km. A majority of people living in Thopputhurai are Muslims and Hindu. 90% of houses have telephone connections in Thopputhurai. India telecommunications is planning to provide Internet services.

Religion in Thopputhurai

Muslims, Hindus and other religious people live together in relative harmony; this place can be cited as an example of unity among people of different religious backgrounds. In Hindus all caste people live together with unity. The village is home to many temples and mosques. One of the Grand Mosques is a century old. Support Groups for Hindus and Muslims such as the Hindu Welfare Association (Indhu Narpani Mandram) and the Muslim Jamaath Mandram serves the community.

Origin

The name implies that the village has many plantations and harbors. From this village a salt lake mixes with others after running a distance of 4 km. In the early days of the village people used to trade using catamarans to board their goods in to steamers which trade with Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and other South East Asian countries. The people started calling them 'Marakalayar' and now they are called as 'Maraikayar'. They started trading by way of a barter system. The people take the goods in night by horseback and traded them in the markets in the daytime. These people are called 'Tatharkal', as the days passed they are now called as 'Iravuthur'. This name doesn't relate to a religion they are called so because of their trade. They are no longer called by that name now. Only few are now doing business, some have become agriculturists and the majority of the people are working in foreign countries.

Education and schools

People living in Singapore started a sangam for the welfare of people in Thopputhurai and for the unity among people in 1948. The association was named as "THOPPUTHURAI MUSLIM ASSOCIATION" and renamed and gazetted as "THOPPUTHURAI MUSLIM ASSOCIATION (SINGAPORE) on 15 July 2004. The Tamil Sangams are legendary assemblies of Tamil scholars and poets that according to traditional Tamil accounts existed in the remote past.This association was formed to cater the needs of migrants and as well as needy and poor people of Thopputhurai and villages nearby. From early dates to date with this small subscription & donation from members, the association started its contribution to the community of Singapore and Thopputhurai like providing monetary aid, marriage fund, medical aid, funneral services (Jennazah / mayyath) education funds and building funds for mosques, madrashas, schools and homes for the needies. They are one of the Pioneer generation Indian Muslim Association in Singapore and affiliated with Federation of Indian Muslims Singapore (FIM) from 2004.

People residing in U.A.E. formed an Islamic sangam "THOPPUTHURAI MUSLIM ASSOCIATION (DUBAI)" in 1977 with Dubai as headquarters. The sangam has marked the importance of providing education to women. A community library is already constructed by the sangam. This sangam offers money as an aid to poor during their marriage. Thopputhurai Government High School Scores 100% success in SSLC Exam. It has English Medium also. The School achieves the success every year.

Schools in the village

Mythical history

Lord Rama on the way to Sri Lanka to recover Sita is believed to have worshipped at the Lord Varadaraja Perumal. It is believed that the old name of Thopputhurai was "Sethu Madhavapuram".