 With the railway line dividing the locality into East Mambalam and West Mambalam, and with East Mambalam having renamed as "Thyagaraya Nagar," the western part continues to be known as "West Mambalam" today.Prior to its inclusion in the then city of Madras, Mambalam was a village in the Saidapet taluk of Chingleput district.The oldest surviving reference to Mambalam is believed to be in a 1726 stone plaque commemorating the construction of the Marmalong Bridge (now known as Maraimalai Adigal Bridge) across the Adyar river by the merchant Coja Petrus Uscan.