U.K. Nagarathar Sangam Home Page


Produced and Maintained by Ganesan Letchumanan

Welcome to the United Kingdom Nagarathar Sangam Home Page!

This is the main page, which includes information regarding the history of the Sangam, previous and forthcoming meetings (since this website has been running). Once you have read the main page, here are some links to the rest of the website, including a small gallery of images of gods, a registration form, my guestbook, a detailed map of Tamil Nadu, details about Nagarathars in India, and some useful links to other websites. Due to popular demand, there is a new Chettinad recipes page! Please feel free to fill in a form and to sign my guestbook. I would welcome any comments and information that I could use on the website. Thank you for vitising my website!

Introduction

Hi! My name is Ganesan Letchumanan and I am 18 years old. I live in Warrington, which is in the north-west of England, and am currently studying a masters degree in Engineering, Economics and Management at the University of Oxford. I have been chosen as the U.K. co-ordinator for the Nagarathar Sangam and have set up this website as a reference page for all Nagarathars in the U.K. However, all Nagarathars are welcome! This website has been running since January 1998.

History of the Sangam

Here is a brief history of how, when, where and why the Nagarathar Sangam was set up in the U.K. I would like to thank Dr. Nachiappan Murugappan for this information.

  1. The London Nagarathar Sangam was established on 3rd of August, 1974 in London.

  2. The objectives of the Sangam are:

    a. To provide facilities for the social gathering of the community members.

    b. To provide facilities for the observance of religious and national festivities and celebrations.

  3. The first meeting was held in India Club which is in 143, Strand on 3rd of August,1974. Mr.Alagappan and Mr Sethu were elected as President and Secretary unanimously.

  4. It was decided that the Sangam should meet on three occasions to celebrate Pillayar Nombu, Tamil New Year and Sangams Annual meeting. Recently, we have decided to meet twice only to celebrate Pillayar Nombu and Tamil New Year each year.

  5. It was decided in 1984 that out of the interest from the Sangams fund, a donation would be made for one marriage in our community in India, every year. This has been followed until 1996. From 1997, it was decided to increase this to two marriages a year, as a seperate donation was established to fund it.

  6. The get togethers were held in London in the early years of the Sangam and subsequently it has moved to various places such as Birmingham, Cannock, Bolton, Halifax, Bury and Northampton, as to fulfill the wishes of the members.

President

President is now one post combining the duties of both secretary and president, as there is no longer the post secretary. Mr. T. Karuppiah is the current president for 2000/2001, and the following members have volunteered to take this post for the next three years:

2001: Dr. R. Rajendran
2002: Dr. Vairavan
2003: Dr. Palaniappan

Here is a brief summary of recent meetings and information regarding future meetings.

Registration Forms

At the Pilliyar Nombu meeting in 1998, forms were handed out to all families to fill in their details. Anyone who has not received or completed this form and returned it to myself or to the president, can you kindly fill one out by clicking on this link: Fill in Registration Form. If you fill one out on this website, it will automatically be sent to me via email, and save you having to send a form by post. These forms are very important as it gives us an idea of exactly how many Nagarathars there are in the U.K., and it will allow us to compile a directory for the U.K. with the details of all the families.

Pictures, Guestbook, Information and Links

Some Details about Nagarathar (Nattukottai Chettiar) in India have been compiled regarding the number of Nagarathar families originating from various villages and kovils in Tamil Nadu.

I have created a small gallery of Images of Gods of particular interest to south Indians and Nagarathars conatining pictures I have collected over some time. I have also created a page conataining a detailed Map of Tamil Nadu.

There are a growing number of Useful Links regarding similar Nagarathar organisations, Tamil websites of interest as well as websites about India in general.

Footnote

Also, thanks to all those who encouraged me to produce and maintain this website and especially those who have contributed to the site! Please continue to send me any feedback you have and any items I can place on this website so that this site can continue to be updated and improved.

Since 4th January 1998, this page has been visited Counter times.

Last updated September 2000.

© 1998

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