Little Mount

The Little Mount or Chinnamalai ( Tamil : சின்னமலை Ciṉṉamalai [ ˈtʃinːəˌmalɛi ], "little mountain") is a small hill in the Indian city of Chennai . It houses a Christian shrine that is dedicated to the Apostle Thomas . The Little Mount also gives the surrounding district its name.

Geography and transport links

Little Mount is located on the south bank of the Adyar River in southern Chennai, around 12 kilometers southwest of the city center on the border of the districts of Saidapet and Guindy . The actual hill is completely built over and hardly stands out from the surroundings. The district is affected by the Anna Salai (Mount Road), the main street of Chennais. The 2,016 put into operation Metro Station Little Mount is on the Blue Line of the Chennai Metro served.

Religious meaning

The local Christian tradition links the Little Mount with the apostle Thomas , who is said to have come to India after the death of Jesus. According to tradition, Thomas is said to have lived at a height on Little Mount before he was martyred on the nearby St. Thomas Mount and was buried on the site of St. Thomas Basilica in Mylapore .

A Roman Catholic sanctuary is located on Little Mount , consisting of a chapel built by the Portuguese in 1551 and a modern round church from the 20th century. Below the Portuguese chapel is the rock cave where St. Thomas is said to have stayed. Outside the cave you can see the alleged footprints of Thomas in the rock, as well as a spring whose water is said to have healing properties, and a cross allegedly carved into the rock by St. Thomas, on which a blood miracle is said to have taken place in the 16th and 17th centuries .

Web links

• NT Blog: Little Mount (blog post by Mark Goodacre )

Coordinates: 13 ° 1 ′ 0 ″  N , 80 ° 13 ′ 38 ″  E