| Aarani | |
| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| District(s) | Tiruvanamalai |
| Population | 60,888 (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 151 metres (495 ft) |
Aarani (Tamil : ஆரணி which is written as Arani or Arni) is a town and a municipality in Tiruvanamalai district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The name comes from the word araneeyam which means a place surrounded by a forest.
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Aarani is located at [1] on the banks of the Kamandala Naaga river. It has an average elevation of 151 metres (495 ft).
It is located about 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Vellore and 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Thiruvannamalai.
The city is well connected through various well formed roads, the state highways SH-4 (Arcot - Arni - Gingee - Villupuram Road), SH-132 (Kannamangalam - Arni Road) are the major roads connecting arni.
A bypass road works has been completed outside Arni.
Aarani had a population of 60,888.[2] The population is evenly split between males and females. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age. Aarani has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%.
In olden days Arni was called Aranyam. Aar means Athi tree; such trees once covered the region. In the north of Arni, there was a river, the Kamandala Naga river. These trees and river looked like an ornament; hence the name Arni.
The river Kamandala Naga Nathi flows in one side and the Tatchur river flows in other side as ornament (In Tamil literature ornament means "Ani") so Aaru(River) is making Ani(Ornament) hence the name Arani.
In Sanskrit Aranyam means 'Forest'. Hence, Derived from Aranyam.
Arni was ruled by the Cholas after they defeated the Pallavas. Some of the important Chola kings who ruled out Arni are Kulothunga Cholan I, Vikrama Cholan, and Kulothunga Cholan II.
During the rule of the Vijayanagara Kingdom in Arni, the Dasara function was celebrated grandly.
Poosi Malai Kuppam is 12 kilometres (7 mi) away from Arni. Thirumalai Saheb built a sophisticated bungalow for his lover, an Anglo-Indian lady, there. During the Nawab period, there was a struggle between the British, French and Nawab Hyder Ali. The victorious British captured Arni. There is also a palace near the town, now used by the Agriculture Department.
The town was used by Arcot nawabs for their military training campus. The famous 18th century Marathi poet, author of the very beautiful poem "Nal-Damayanti Swayamvarakhyana" ( the story of swayamvara of Nal & Damayanti) Raghunath Pandit is believed to have lived here.
The tomb situated in the heart of city for Sir. Ensign Robert Kelly who was a surveying Arni area, a Colonel by then, died in September 1790.[1]
The Congress movement in Arni was started by M. V. Subramania Sasthriar, S.A. Allala sundaram Mudaliyar, Y. N. Govindaraju Chettiar, and others. In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi went to Arni twice, to attend a meeting for Harijan development. These people welcomed Gandhiji, and took part in the Simon Commission movement.
Aarani is well known for its rice paddies; there are around 278 modern rice mills in the town.
The town also has a large community of silk weavers, called MUDALIYARS and Patnūlkarar, who specialize in making silk sarees. Hand looms are most frequently used for the weaving, although recently some have turned to mechanized methods such as Power looms. Arni is the number one in revenue earning in Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu. Though the town is not well known outside Tamil Nadu, a bulk of India's silk apparels is produced by the people of Arni.
Recently Arni has been converted into a MP constituency. Arni assembly constituency is part of the Vellore (Lok Sabha constituency).[3]
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