Dutch Occupation of the Thiruchendur Temple
| Dutch Occupation of the Thiruchendur Temple | |||||||
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 Thiruchendur Murugan Temple |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Dutch East India Company
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 Portuguese East India Company
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The Murugan temple at Thiruchendur was occupied by the Dutch East India company between the years 1646 to 1648, during the course of their war with the Portuguese. The local people tried during these 2 years to try and free their temple, with several futile attempts. The Dutch finally vacated the temple on orders from the Naik ruler. However, while vacating the temple, they hacked away and removed the idol of the main deity of the temple, and took it back to Galle, Dutch Ceylon. The idols was returned after many negotiations with the Madurai Nayakar.
The Thiruchendur Murugan Temple (properly known as Thiruchendur Arulmigu Senthilnathar Temple) located in the Tuticorin District, India, is considered to be one of the 6 abodes of the Tamil God Murugan the son of Shiva. No record exists on the data of actual construction of the temple, but there are records of improvements to the temple by Pandya and Chera Kingdoms. However, early Cankam poetry refer to the Murugan seashore shrine at Tirrucciralaivay, which is thought to refer to the Thiruchendur Temple. The earliest existing inscription at the temple is sated 875 AD, and talks about a Pantiyan called Varekuna Maran (p. 121).
With Vasco da Gama discovering the sea route from Europe to India, through the Cape of Good Hope, trade ties between India and Europe was established. The Portuguese were followed by other Europeans such as the Dutch, Danes, French and the English. Between the mid 16th to 18th century, trade between India and Europe increased steadily.
The Dutch established the Vereenigde ost-lndische Companies (VOC) or the Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602 in order to carry out trade with India. having established their control over Java, Sumatra, and the Spice Islands, India was necessary for maintaining their hold over the East Indies. Dutch factories were established at Agra, Ahmedabad, Balasore (1658), Baranagore, Bimlipatam (1641), Bombay, Broach, Burhanpur, Chinsura (1653) (Fort Gustavus), Cochin (1663), Karikal (1645), Kasimbazar and Patna. Throughout the 17th century, the Dutch established a monopoly over the spice trade.
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