Adyar Adayar
neighbourhood
A view of Adyar and Adyar Creek
Locality map of Adyar
Adyar
Coordinates:13°00′23″N80°15′27″E / 13.0063°N 80.2574°E /13.0063; 80.2574
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Chennai
Metro	Chennai
Government
• Body	CMDA
Languages
• Official	Tamil, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	600020
Vehicle registration	TN-07
Parliamentary constituency	Chennai South
Assembly constituency	Mylapore
Planning agency	CMDA

Adyar is a large neighbourhood in southChennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is among the most upscale neighborhoods of the city.

It is located on the southern banks of theAdyar River. It is surrounded by theTharamani to the West,Thiruvanmiyur to the South,Besant Nagar to the East,Kotturpuram to the North-West andRaja Annamalai puram to the North across the Adyar River. Property values in Adyar are four times that of similar sized properties in the northern part of Chennai.^[1] The Gandhi Nagar region of Adyar is one of the poshest localities in Chennai.

The neighbourhood gets its name from theAdyar River, which flows through its northern limits. The termAdyar is the anglicized form of the Tamil wordaḍai-ārŭ (lit.clogged-river),^[2] which is colloquially just pronounced asaḍayār.

Adyar and the neighbouringGuindy had been used as hunting grounds by British officials ofFort St. George from the 1680s onwards though Adyar is first mentioned as asuburb of Madras only in a map from the year 1740 when the British purchased the village and integrated it with theMadras Presidency.^[3]

Adyar started to grow rapidly at the turn of the 20th century following the founding of the headquarters of theTheosophical Society byMrs. Helena Blavatsky here in 1883. Following the establishment of the Theosophical Society headquarters, theKalakshetra, a cultural organisation to promote traditional arts and culture was established byRukmini Devi Arundale at Adyar in 1936. The 1931 census records Adyar as azamindari village inKancheepuram district. Adyar was included within theChennai Corporation limits in 1948.

As of 2018, Adyar zone had a green cover of 30.1 percent, as against the city's 14.9 percent average. This was the highest green cover recorded in the city.^[4] The Adyar River dividesRaja Annamalaipuram and Adyar in the North and the Buckingham Canal dividesKotturpuram andTharamani in the northwest and west, respectively.

TheMass Rapid Transit System (Chennai) runs through Adyar and has three stations within the neighbourhood – Kasturbai Nagar, Indira Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur. Adyar has a bus depot operating both intra-city and inter-city buses.

• The Sardar Patel Road also called the Durgabai Deshmukh Road in its eastern end runs in an East–West fashion and connectsGuindy andRaja Annamalaipuram respectively.
• The Lattice Bridge Road (LB Road) that runs in a North–South fashion, starting from Adyar signal at Sardar Patel road up toEast Coast Road junction (Thiruvanmiyur Signal) atThiruvanmiyur is an important arterial road of Adyar.

• TheTheosophical Society, is headquartered in Adyar. The campus, located on the south bank of the Adyar river provides a calm environment for quiet contemplation on comparative religion.
• The Adyar estuary has been home to over a hundred species of birds^[5] but has been affected by urbanization.^[6] TheAdyar Eco Park was set up by the Government of Tamil Nadu in January 2011 to restore this fragile eco-system to its natural state.^[7]

• Elliot's beach in nearby Besant Nagar is the nearest point to the sea, and a popular recreation spot.

Adyar is also home toAdyar Cancer Institute andCentral Leather Research Institute, the world's largest leather research institute. Fortis Malar, one of the best speciality hospitals in Chennai, is also located in Adyar.IIT Madras,Anna University, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kumar Rani Meena Muthiah Arts and Science College, Asian College of Journalism and the Technical Teachers Training Institute are all located in adjacent neighbourhoods. TheEnvironmentalist Foundation of India is headquartered in the Besant Nagar neighborhood of Adyar. The lake/pond restoration efforts across the country are managed from this set up.^[8]

Schools in the neighbourhood include the oldest and a very big campus school in Adyar St. Patrick's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, which was started in 1875, St. Michael's Academy,Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bala Vidya Mandir, The Hindu Senior Secondary School, Bharath Senior Secondary School, Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School,Sishya, St Johns English School & Junior College, Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, and Indus Early Learning Centre, Vidya Ratna PTS Matric Higher Secondary School, The Chennai School (International Baccalaureate).

École Franco-Indienne Sishya is co-located with Sishya.

Sub-localities of Adyar includeGandhi Nagar, Kasturibai Nagar, Nehru Nagar,Indira Nagar, Venkatarathnam Nagar, Padmanabha Nagar, Bhaktavatsalam Nagar,Parameshwari Nagar, Jeevaratnam Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Karpagam Gardens, and Arunachalapuram.

Media related toAdyar, Chennai at Wikimedia Commons

• Neighbourhoods in Chennai
• Coastal neighbourhoods of Chennai

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