Guindy is a neighborhood of

Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. The Kathipara junction where

Anna Salai Anna Salai (), named for C. N. Annadurai, formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towa ...

Mount-Poonamallee Road St. Thomas Mount-Poonamallee Road, popularly known as the Mount-Poonamallee Road (SH-55), is an arterial road in the city of Chennai, India. It runs for 11 kilometres from Kathipara Junction to the National Highway 4 (India, old numbering), NH ...

, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Road, and

GST Road Grand Southern Trunk Road or National Highway 45 is an arterial road in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is also known as Chennai–Perambalur-Trichy-Dindigul-Theni Highway. The road starts from Kathipara Junction in St. Thomas Mount, St Thomas ...

meet here. It is one of the important nodal points of road traffic in the metropolitan area. It is also a commercial hub. Here is headquarters of

Ashok Leyland Ashok Leyland Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer, with its headquarters in Chennai. It is now owned by the Hinduja Group. It was founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors, which became Ashok Leyland in the year 1955 after collab ...

This junction serves as the entry point to the city limits from the suburbs. It is surrounded by

Saidapet Saidapet, also known as Saidai, is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India, situated in the northern banks of the Adyar River and serves as an entry point to Central Chennai. It is surrounded by West Mambalam in the North, C.I.T Nagar in the North-Ea ...

in the North,

Kotturpuram Kotturpuram, also known as Kottur, is a neighbourhood in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India and is situated in the Southern banks of the Adyar River. It is surrounded by Nandanam in the North and North-West, Adyar, Chennai, Adyar in the South- ...

and Adyar towards the East,

Velachery Velachery is a neighborhood of Chennai. It is located in the southern part of the Chennai city sharing borders with Guindy in the north, Taramani in the east, Perungudi in the south-east, Pallikaranai wetland, Pallikaranai in the south, Madipa ...

in the South,

Adambakkam Adambakkam is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. It is primarily a residential locality situated in South Chennai. Adambakkam area comes under Velachery taluk and Alandur taluk, Chennai District of Chennai Corporation. Adambakkam is surrounded b ...

and

Alandur Alandur is a zone of Chennai corporation, and an urban node in Chennai district in Guindy division in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Guindy in the north and east, Adambakkam in the south, Pazhavanthangal in the south-w ...

in the South-West,

Parangimalai Parangimalai (known in English as St. Thomas Mount) is a small hillock in the Chennai district of Tamil Nadu, India, near the neighbourhood of Guindy and very close to Chennai International Airport. By extension, it is also the name of the neig ...

in the West and Ekkatutthangal in the North-West. Guindy is home to many important landmarks in the city, the most famous amongst them being the

Guindy National Park Guindy National Park is a Protected areas of Tamil Nadu, protected area, located in Chennai, India. Spread across , it is one of the smallest National parks of India, National Parks in India and one of the few national parks situated inside a me ...

. It also serves as a main hub for several small and medium scale industries ( Guindy Thiru Vi Ka Estate). Transportation to/from the neighborhood is catered by

Guindy railway station Guindy railway station is one of the railway stations of the Chennai Beach–Chengalpattu section of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network. It serves the neighbourhood of Guindy, a suburb of Chennai. It is located at about 14 km from Chenna ...

and

Guindy metro station Guindy is an elevated metro station on the North-South Corridor of the Blue Line of Chennai Metro in Chennai, India, which opened on 21 September 2016. This station will serve the neighbourhoods of Guindy and Velachery. The station The 105-me ...

Etymology

The precise origin of the word is unclear. According to regional Hindu tradition, the sage Bhringi is said to have performed penance on the

hill, before which he had to circumambulate the regions surrounding the hillock, considered as an abode of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

. The place where he completed the

circumambulation Circumambulation (from Latin ''circum'' around and ''ambulātus ''to walk) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in ...

and left his

kindi (vessel) Kindi is a type of a pitcher usually found in old houses in Kerala and other parts of India. The word Kindi is derived from the word ''kuṇḍikā, kuṇḍa, kuṇḍī, kuṇḍaka'' meaning "water pot" or "water sprinkler". Early examples o ...

before starting the journey to the hilltop is said to have been named as ''kiṇḍi'', and later the region's name was anglicized as ''Guindy'' during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Transportation

Guindy is well connected by road and train services. Many buses ply through Guindy and connect it to the rest of Chennai. It is also well connected by the trains with

Chennai Suburban Railway The Chennai Suburban Railway is a commuter rail system in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, operated by the Southern Railways branch of Indian Railways. It is India's second largest suburban rail network in terms of route length and the ...

and

Chennai Metro The Chennai Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Chennai, India. Operated by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) – a joint venture between the Government of India and the State Government of Tamil Nadu, the network consists o ...

. Guindy is also located 10 km away from the airport.

Government House and Guindy under the British Raj

The governor lived in Government House, Fort St. George, a palatial residence with numerous servants, and had an official Daimler car at his disposal. There was a head butler called Muniswami, who ruled with a rod of iron. For the governor's ceremonial use, there was a glittering coach with prancing horses, accompanied by a bodyguard of Indian troopers with red uniforms, glittering steel accoutrements and pennoned lances.Southern India painted by Lady Lawley described by F.E.Penny. A & C Black, prem London. 1914 There was also Guindy, a spacious and elegant country home on the outskirts of Madras, surrounded by an extensive park. Nearby were a golf course, hockey pitches, riding stables and the Guindy Horse Racing Track."Sir Arthur Lawley, Eloquent Knight Errant, David J, Hogg". Chapter 5 Ruler of the Raj. Lady Lawley Cottage (Western Australian Red Cross) 2008, iBooks From May to October each year during the hot season, the Madras Government and its officials, the governor and his family went to Government House in the hill station of Ooty or Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills.The Times Obituary for Lord Wenlock, 15 June 1932

Location in context

Important landmarks

* Guindy Race Course *

Raj Bhavan, Chennai Raj Bhavan (Tamil Nadu), literally the "Governor's Residence," is the official residence of the governor of Tamil Nadu. It is located in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu. History The earliest official residence of the Governors of Mad ...

College of Engineering, Guindy The College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) is a public engineering college situated in Chennai, India. It is Asia's oldest technical institution, founded in 1794. It is also the oldest technical institution to be established outside Europe. Histo ...

Anna University Chennai Anna University is a public state university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The main campus is in Guindy. It was originally established on 4 September 1978 and is named after C. N. Annadurai, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. History ...

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a Public university, public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institutes of ...

* Snake Park *

Cancer Research Institute The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is a US non-profit organization funding cancer research and based in New York City. They were founded in 1953 to develop immunologically-based treatments for cancer, and despite their name are a funding body fo ...

* Guindy Thiru Vi Ka Estate *

Guindy Links The Guindy Links is one of the three 18-hole golf courses in Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Na ...

References

{{Chennai Topics Neighbourhoods in Chennai