| Arappalayam | |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | India Tamil Nadu |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Arappalayam, Madurai, Tamil Nadu |
| Coordinates: | 9.9346°N 78.1039°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  India |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Tamil Nadu |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Madurai |
| Government Type: | Municipal Corporation |
| Governing Body: | Madurai City Municipal Corporation |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Elevation M: | 162.06 |
| Demographics Type1: | Language |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Official |
| Demographics1 Info1: | Tamil |
| Timezone1: | IST |
| Utc Offset1: | +5:30 |
| Postal Code Type: | PIN |
| Postal Code: | 625016 |
| Area Code Type: | Telephone code |
| Area Code: | +91452xxxxxxx |
| Registration Plate: | TN 58 |
Arappalayam or Arapalayam (in Tamil aːɾappaːɭaɪjam/) is a neighbourhood in Madurai city of Tamil Nadu State, India. It is on the south bank of the River Vaigai. The PIN code for Arasaradi-Arappalayam is 625016.
Arappalaym was one of the 72 palayams created under Madurai Nayak's rule. In Tamil, Aaru means river and Palayam means area. As it is situated on the river bank it got the name Arappalayam (aka Aatruppalayam).
Arappalyam has a very long history. Arappalyam is mentioned in one of the 64 Thiruvilayaadalgal of lord Siva. Arappalyam is called . and also it has Ramarpathan which was called Ramanpettai.
During Madurai Nayak rule (1530 to 1730), it was a palayam having its own local administrative body. In 1857, British government built the Madurai Junction to connect Madurai and Trichy via Dindigul. Opening Madura coats made it an industrial township .
Arappalyam Main Road, Manjal medu, Komas palayam, West Ponnagaram (a total of 10 streets), Ponnagaram Broadway, Cross Road, Puttu Thoppu, Kari Medu, Bus Stand, Mothilal Streets, Total head of: AZHARADI Streets, AA Road, DD Road, JJ Road, Gnanaolivupuram, Meiyappan Street, Harvey Nagar, Visuwasapuri Street (a total of 5 Streets) Sahayamatha Street all comes under Arappalayam.
In the myth, the Pandiya King ordered every household in Madurai to offer one person for putting sand on the banks of the river Vaigai to control floods. An old lady, who sold puttu (a kind of rice pudding) to make a living, had nobody to send for the flood control work. Lord Shiva disguised as a youth approached the old lady with a deal to do the work for the lady and in return she has to give him puttu every day and hence the name meaning - place where Shiva carried sand for puttu. The agreement was, she need not give him the puttu which is in good shape, but only the leftovers. The old lady agreed. But Lord Shiva, with his magical powers, made each of the puttu she cooked as shapeless unsellable leftover and ate everything. And worse, he didn't do any work in the river Vaigai either but he chose to sleep under a tree. The King, who was supervising the work, found the lazy man and beat him at the back with a stick. Everyone including the king felt the pain in their back. Then the king came to know that the lazy man is none other than lord Shiva and apologised. Even now, to mark this event, on September 4 of every year, a function is held in the riverbank of Arappalayam and puttu is cooked in every household.
St. Joseph's Church, AA Road
There are Mosques in DD Road, Karimedu.
Arapplayam bus station is a major junction for the TNSTC, SETC buses going towards Coimbatore, Salem, Dharmapuri, Tirupur, Dharapuram, Gobichettipalayam, Theni, Kambam, Karur and Dindigul. It is well connected with the railway station, Mattuthavani bus stand, Anna bus stand and Periayar bus stand. Buses are operated to Thirumangalam, Theppakulam, Anna Nagar and Madurai Kamaraj University from Arappalyam bus stand.
Many theatres are there in Aarappalaym:
Arapalayam is located at a distance of:
Arappalyam is a part of the Madurai West Assembly constituency and Madurai Lok Sabha constituency.