CHINGLEPUT, town and district, British India, in the Madras presidency. The town, situated 36 m. by rail from Madras, and a junction for a branch line to Arkonam, had a population in 1921 of 11,763. With Chandragiri in North Arcot, Chingleput was once the capital of the Vijayanagar kings, after their overthrow by the Mohammedans at Talikota in 1565. In 1639 a chief, subject to these kings, granted to the East India Company the land on which Fort St. George now stands. The fort built by the Vijayanagar kings in the 16th century, which was of strategic importance, was taken by the French in 1751, and retaken in 1752 by Clive, after which it proved invaluable to the British. It withstood Hyder Ali and afforded a refuge to the natives ; and in I 780, after the defeat of Colonel W. Baillie, the army of Sir Hector Munro took refuge here. It is now par tially ruined. The town is noted for its manufacture of pottery, and carries on a trade in rice. It is the centre of a Scotch Free Church mission, and has a reformatory school.