Adyar is a large neighbourhood in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located on the southern banks of the Adyar River. It is surrounded by the Tharamani in the West, Thiruvanmiyur to the South, Besant Nagar in the East, Kotturpuram in the North-West and Raja Annamalai puram in the North past the Adyar River. Adyar is one of the costliest areas in Chennai with property values four times the value of similar sized properties in the northern part of Chennai. The Gandhi Nagar region of Adyar is one of the poshest localities in Chennai. History Etymology The neighbourhood gets its name from the Adyar River, which flows through its northern limits. The term Adyar is the anglicized form of the Tamil word aḍai-ārŭ ( clogged-river), which is colloquially just pronounced as aḍayār. British India Adyar and the neighbouring Guindy had been used as hunting grounds by British officials of Fort St. George from the 1680s onwards though Adyar is first mentioned as a suburb of Madras only in a map from the year 1740 when the British purchased the village and integrated it with the Madras Presidency. Adyar started to grow rapidly at the turn of the 20th century following the founding of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society by Mrs. Helena Blavatsky here in 1883. Following the establishment of the Theosophical Society headquarters, the Kalakshetra, a cultural organisation to promote traditional arts and culture was established by Rukmini Devi Arundale at Adyar in 1936. The 1931 census records Adyar as a zamindari village in Kancheepuram district. Adyar was included within the Chennai Corporation limits in 1948. Geography 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. The Adyar River divides Raja Annamalaipuram and Adyar in the North and the Buckingham Canal divides Kotturpuram and Tharamani in the North-West and West respectively. Transport The Mass 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. Roads The Sardar Patel Road also called the Durgabai Deshmukh Road in its eastern end runs in an East–West fashion and connects Guindy and Raja Annamalaipuram respectively. The Lattice Bridge Road (LB Road) that runs in a North–South fashion, starting from Adyar