Introduction
Our city officially declared itself Chennai in 1996 but, to some it netmar Madras. Chennai is a city, Madras is an emotion is a Facebook post that is liked and disliked in equal measure. But then this is an era where you have to take a stand on everything and condemn anyone who dares to bold a different view. The debate on the city's name has followed likewb those who cling to Madras are branded elitist and Raj apologists. They, in turn, consider the Chennai lobby to be renegade and fuelled by political considerations, with scant respect for history. There are large chunks of truth on both sides of the debate. The battle on the name of the city is taken up with fresh vigour each August when Madras Week is celebrated. The event came about innocently when three men-S. Muthiah, the city's indefatigable Anglophile chronicler, to whom it was always Madras, Vincent D'Souza, the editor of Mylapore Times, a tabloid dedicated to the eponymous suburb; and Sashi Nair, a journalist got together and decided that it was high time that the city's birth was celebrated. Muthiah, of course, had the details of Madras' birth at his fingertips and said that since the city was founded in August, it would be best that the celebrations took place that particular month. But was the city founded in August? That has remained a subject of doubt ever since historians began documenting the city's past. The British were the first to evince interest and perhaps the best researcher among them was Colonel Henry Davison Love of the Royal Engineers. He served as the principal of the College of Engineering (now located in the southern suburb of Guindy and a part of the Anna Technological and Research University) between 1880 and 1907. After retirement he went back to England and there penned an exhaustive history of our city, in four volumes. Published in 1913, the work titled Vestiges of Old Madras spans the period 1639 to 1800 and remains the best documentation of Madras/Chennai's past. A great reference volume, its index is its crowning feature and with its help you can mine some real gems of Madras-scandal, intrigue, or just some plain facts. Love and other historians of the time have it that Madras was founded in 1639, by Francis Day, chief of the settlement at Armagaon (present- Henry Davison Love, Vestiges of Old Madras 1640-1800, London: John Murray, 1913. day Durgarayapatnam in Andhra Pradesh). He had been asked to scout for a suitable site on which a factory (chiefly a warehouse) could be built, and which would serve as a base for purchasing and exporting textiles for which the region was famous. Day negotiated with the nayak (chieftain) who ruled the part of the coast that lay between the salt lake of Pulicat, around which the Dutch had a thriving settlement doing business in cloth, and the town of San Thome, now a part of Madras but then a Portuguese stronghold. The ruler, whose name is variously given as Damarla Venkatadri/Venkatappa/Venkatapati/Vincatadra/Vintutedra/Vinkatedro/Venkatapate was happy enough to grant the British permission. He confirmed this by way of a deed or firman and that carried within it the seeds of all the confusion that followed. Whereas Mr Francis Day, Captain of the English at Armagaon, upon great hopes by reason of our promises often made unto him, hath repaired to our port of Medrasapatam..." begins this document. From this it appears that Madraspatnam or Madras was already in existence when Francis Day came to these parts. If so, what is he really credited with founding? Second, was August 1639 really the month that Madras was founded, if founded it was at all? The document referred to above is dated 22 July, on which date, as East India Company (EIC) correspondence shows, Day was nowhere near Madras. He arrived only on 27 July. It was therefore inferred by Love that July was an erroneous entry and the correct date was probably 22 August. It is on these tenuous grounds that the birth date of Madras was decided. Up until 1947, none of this was disputed. All government publications carried this information as a matter of routine for many years afterwards as well. In 1939, a Madras Tercentenary Celebration Committee was formed under the presidentship of Sir Samuel Ebenezer Runganadhan, the then vice chancellor of the University of Madras. A commemoration volume, brought out by a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Rao Sahib C. S. Srinivasachari, was released on 4 August. The chairman also published an independent work, History of the City of Madras, for the same occasion.
About The Book
Chennai that was Madras is India's southern metropolis and is considered by many to be synonymous with South India, It has the reputation of being conservative, rigid, and unexciting. Chennai too plays along, preferring to hide its history and heritage and downplaying its manifold achievements. To set the record straight, Madras has a strong claim to being the first proper city of modern India and boasts many debuts in that regard the first regiment of the Indian Army was founded here, the city saw the formation of the first urban corporation in the country, it is home to India's oldest bookshop, railway station, and lots more. It is also the city where social reformers fought for representation and equality for the most depressed classes much before such movements gained ground elsewhere in India. In short, Chennai is a city of flair, colour, creativity, and numerous distinctions. V. Sriram takes us through various aspects of the city's history from the time when it was just a set of scattered villages, through the years of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British, to the (disputed) date of founding of the modern city, the debates surrounding its two names. the institutions, systems, and structures that were built by its rulers (from the Cholas to the Vijayanagar kings to the nawabs of Arcot and the British), the Dravidian politics that came out of the Self-Respect Movement, arguments and riots over the imposition of Hindi, and a lot else besides. In addition to its history, he delves into the city's delectable food, culture, music, dance, and cinema. Rounding off this portrait, he looks at the city as a powerhouse of education, medicare, heavy engineering, automobiles, leather goods, and software. He shows us what makes Chennai a thriving city, one that effortlessly combines the old and the new, and pulses with life, energy, and opportunities-all attributes of a grand city.
About The Author
An entrepreneur by profession, V. SRIRAM'S passion is the history and heritage of Chennai, which he has been documenting since 1999. Having worked closely with the late S. Muthiah, the city's celebrated chronicler, Sriram is now the editor of the popular fortnightly Madras Musings, which espouses the cause of the city's heritage-built, cultural, and natural. Sriram is also the pioneer of heritage walks in the city. which he started in 1999.
Hindu (933)
Agriculture (119)
Ancient (1083)
Archaeology (754)
Architecture (563)
Art & Culture (911)
Biography (702)
Buddhist (544)
Cookery (167)
Emperor & Queen (564)
Islam (242)
Jainism (307)
Literary (896)
Mahatma Gandhi (373)
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