Vellore
— — a granite fort the river forgot to take.
Not only on a wall.
“A river-plain city in northern Tamil Nadu, ringed by low rocky hills and built around a 16th-century granite fort. The Palar runs broad and seasonal beside it. Inside the fort, the Jalakandeswarar temple still holds dawn worship; beyond the walls, the Christian Medical College draws patients from across South Asia, and the Sripuram golden temple south of the city glows after dusk.
Vellore, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Vellore sits on the banks of the Palar River in northern Tamil Nadu, about 140 kilometres west of Chennai and 215 kilometres east of Bengaluru. Population is around 500,000 in the city and over 1.6 million in the wider district. The city grew around Vellore Fort, built by Chinna Bommi Nayak in the mid-1560s under the Vijayanagara Empire, and later held in turn by the Bijapur Sultans, the Marathas, and the British East India Company. Internationally Vellore is best known for the Christian Medical College, founded in 1900 by Dr. Ida Scudder.
Vellore Fort is one of the best-preserved granite forts of South India, built in the mid-1560s with a double wall and a wide moat once stocked with crocodiles. Inside, the Jalakandeswarar Temple, a Shiva shrine of the same period, preserves carved monolithic mandapams that the Archaeological Survey of India lists as nationally protected. The fort also holds the tomb of Tipu Sultan's sons, an Anglican garrison church, and the parade ground where the Vellore Mutiny of 10 July 1806 broke out, the first major uprising of sepoys against the East India Company.
The fort is open daily from dawn to dusk; entry to the grounds is free, and the Archaeological Survey museum inside charges a small fee, recently around ₹25 for Indian visitors and ₹250 for foreign visitors. The Jalakandeswarar Temple admits worshippers and visitors except during midday closure, typically noon to four. The Sripuram Golden Temple, eight kilometres south at Thirumalaikodi, opens early morning through evening, with a long covered pathway leading to the inner shrine. Modest dress and bare feet are required at both temples; cameras and phones are not permitted inside the temple precincts.