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| Vilakkuthoon (lamp). Madurai city commons.wikimedia.org |
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| Vilakkuthoon (lamp). Madurai city hehindu.com |
Above image: Villakkuthoon (lamp)- In honor and gratitude of an English Collector John Blackburne this lamp post was erected at the intersection of South-East Masi streets, Madurai city. Being a dedicated District Collector of Madurai with a vision and foresight, he was instrumental in developing Madurai into a big city. The grateful residents of this city in 1840 had the lamp post erected as an expression of their reverence to the collector with an epithet at the bottom. it is missing now. It explained how the residents collected money to erect Vilakkuthoon in memory of Blackburne in the 1840s, Since 2008 it had been in a state of neglect and in course of tile the inscription on the post disappeared It shows negligence on the part of certain officials in charge of city maintenance. In the Madurai District Gazetteer the inscription is mentioned, “ with the same intent a Blackburne’s lamp was erected near the site of the old east gate of the fort. An inscription on this says that it was put up by a grateful people .”
In 2019 Rs. 35 lakh was allocated for renovation of historical Vilakkuthoon and Patthu Thoon, (Ten Pillars), a set of structures that lie 200 meters away from Vilakkuthoon. The lamp post and the surrounding areas underwent renovation work as part of renovation project undertaken by the govt to carry out major repair and conservation work on selected heritage site in and around Madurai. According to the MMC engineer Rs. 5.7 crore was to be allotted as a separate project to illuminate heritage sites in Madurai.
As part of the Central government’s Smart Cities mission why Vilakkuthoon, was chosen for illumination is the town during the colonial era was one of the oldest lampposts that illuminated the temple town in the pre-electricity days. Under the Smart Cities Mission plans are afoot to lay a Heritage Walkway Mission connecting 12 historic sites including Vilakkuthoon through a charted route. Such heritage walk way propjets are quite famous in places like Delhi, Lucknow, Thiruvanathapuram (fort heritage Zone), Kochi Madras, Mysore, etc. Murizris heritage walk covering Kodungallore, Ernakulam (Kerala) etc will benefit the people. Further such programs across India will promote tourism and also preserve our ancient heritage sites.
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| Sketch by INTACH Velakkuthoon, madurai hehindu.com |
Unfortunately now this place is so much developed this 160 year old lamp post stands silently oblivious to the madding crowd, urban noise, heavy vehicular traffic, etc. But the INTACH has come up with a booklet briefly covering various heritage sites in Madurai. including Vellakkutoon.
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