Nagore · Tamil Nadu · Est. 1920
Let us do what we can, for those who have not.
இயன்றதை செய்வோம் இல்லாதவர்க்கே
Who We Are
The Sangam was not resolved upon in Nagore. It was resolved upon in Rangoon, at a meeting of Nagore merchants trading in Burma, who asked what such a body should be called and settled on Ghouthiyya, after Ghouthul Azam Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. The name was carried home, the muhalla was convened, and on 23 March 1920 the Sangam was registered — said to be the first sangam registered in Tamil Nadu.
Those same traders bought the ground for Rs 1,700 and shipped ten tons of teak from Rangoon by sea. By 1922 a hall stood on South Street, an ustad taught in the madrasa, and a school had opened on the thinnai to the fifth standard. In November that year, 330 men and women of twelve streets signed the Ezhu Lebbai Jamia Masjid — a mosque already two centuries old — into the Sangam’s care.
The school became government-aided in 1946, a high school in 1978, and a higher secondary school in 1998; it teaches children of every community of Nagore, taught by teachers of every community. As the souvenir puts it, the Sangam is a banyan of many aerial roots — a school, a madrasa, a mosque, a sabha of singers, a sporting ground, and the students it has sent out for a hundred years.
“இயன்றதை செய்வோம் இல்லாதவர்க்கே”
“Let us do what we can, for those who have not.”
நூற்றாண்டு நற்பணி · Heritage
Milestones as the Sangam records them in its own centenary souvenir. Swipe to walk the century.
1920
Nagore merchants trading in Burma settle on the name Ghouthiyya and send home the money. Registered on 23 March — the souvenir records it as the first sangam registered in Tamil Nadu. The ground and building cost Rs 1,700, when a gold sovereign cost Rs 1.85.
1921
The Ali Brothers come to Nagore with their mother Bi Ammaa in April, and the Sangam — its own hall still going up — joins in receiving them. The next year it carries her in procession from the railway station, and resolves its support for the Khilafat Committee.
1922
Ten tons of teak arrive from Rangoon by sea. A general body of 127 members elects its first committee; a madrasa and a thinnai school open at 22 South Street. On 22 November, 330 men and women of twelve streets sign the Ezhu Lebbai Jamia Masjid — already three centuries old — into the Sangam's care.
1929
On 25 August the general body resolves that the education of girls must begin alongside the madrasa — a resolution taken in a coastal town in the year 1929.
1946
Government recognition by order of 4 June, and aid as a minority institution under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution — a provision championed by Quaid-e-Millat M. Muhammad Ismail. The school of five standards becomes one of eight.
1978
The founders had written the wish into the 1948 silver jubilee souvenir. It is granted thirty years later, and opened by Justice M. M. Ismail, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
1980
Sworn in as acting Governor of Tamil Nadu on 27 October, Justice M. M. Ismail is brought to Nagore in procession and received at the Sangam — the souvenir calls it the most important reception in its history.
1998
The higher secondary stream is added, on a self-finance basis rather than government aid — which it remains. The Sangam's teaching has run unbroken from the first standard to the school-leaving year ever since.
2022
Former students form an alumni association and give the school its computers and smart classrooms, two new classrooms, and cash awards for the toppers of classes ten, eleven and twelve.
சாதனை · Achievement
Almost everything the Sangam holds was given — the ground, the timber, the classrooms, the walls. The souvenir records each gift by name and by sum.
Committee
The office bearers of the Sangam as constituted in 2022 — thirty-one in all, from the president to the twenty members of the executive committee.
Institutions
“கௌதிய்யா சங்கம் என்பது விழுதுகள் படர்ந்த ஓர் ஆலமரம்” — the Sangam is a banyan whose aerial roots have spread. Eight wings answer to the same general body — the body of 127 members that first elected an executive committee in 1922.
கௌதிய்யா மேல்நிலைப் பள்ளி
Begun in 1922 as a thinnai school to the fifth standard, raised to a government-aided high school in 1978 and to higher secondary in 1998.
கௌதிய்யா தொடக்கப்பள்ளி
Grown from the 1922 thinnai class, whose first headmaster was T. K. Subramania Iyer, with N. S. Rathinasabapathi Pillai as his assistant.
கௌதிய்யா அரபி மதரஸா
Opened in 1922 at 22 South Street with a single ustad; Quran, Hadith and Arabic grammar are taught here still.
ஏழு லெப்பை ஜாமிஆ மஸ்ஜித்
A mosque some three centuries old, placed under the Sangam in 1922 by 330 signatories of its twelve streets and held since by three mutawallis.
கௌதிய்யா பைத்து சபா
The devotional baith and daff troupe that led the town's processions and gave Tamil Nadu its first such sabha — and Nagore E. M. Hanifa his first stage.
கௌதியா ஸ்போர்ட்டிங் கிளப்
The Ghouthia Sporting Club ground with its arch, and the badminton academy, keep the young of the muhalla in games.
கௌதிய்யா பள்ளி முன்னாள் மாணவர்கள் சங்கம்
Formed in 2022 by former students: smart classrooms, new classrooms, repairs and prizes for the school's toppers.
Numbered as in the margin of the covenant, 1920
Events
Dates follow both the Hijri and Gregorian calendars; announcements are read at Friday jumu'ah.
First Sunday, monthly
The general body to which every office bearer answers, and by whose vote the executive committee is elected.
12 Rabi’ al-Awwal
The procession the Sangam's Baithu Sabha once led through every street of the muhalla, with baith and daff, from the Ghouthiyya Mahal to the dargah.
Annually, at the dargah
The fourteen-day festival of Nagore, drawing pilgrims from across the world to the shrine beside which the Sangam stands.
School calendar
The Ghouthiyya schools' annual day and sports festival, with the monthly attendance prizes given to students of the third to the tenth standard.
Gallery
Photographs from the archive and from the work of our volunteers.
Membership
Membership is open to Muslim households of Nagore and to well-wishers who wish to support the work.
Sadaqah & Zakat
Zakat is held in a separate ledger and released only to eligible recipients. Sadaqah funds the madrasa, the upkeep of the mosque and the classrooms of the school.
Audited accounts · 1920 – 2026
Contact
The hall stands on Therkku Theru — the ground the Rangoon traders bought for Rs 1,700 and roofed with ten tons of teak shipped home from Burma.
Office Address
Ghouthia Sangam, South Street (Therkku Theru), Nagore, Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu 611 002
Where it began
22 South Street, Nagore — the madrasa and thinnai school of 1922
On record
Registered 23 March 1920 · School recognised L.Dis.No 333/1946
“நற்கல்வி · ஒழுக்கம் · மனிதநேயம் · சாதனை”
