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Today, on the ashes of the East India trading empire, much greater global empires are flourishing on its ‘barren strip of sand’. Hugh and Colleen Gantzer discover how 17th century Madras laid the foundations of forward looking 21st century Chennai
The Birth of Chennai
If the British believe that they founded Chennai, they are right and they are also wrong. Back in the 17th century Andrew Cogan and Francis Day of the East India Company, got a grant of land from the local chieftains and founded a trading post, known as a ‘factory’ in those days. Day claimed that he chose this sandy strip because it gave the John Company access to ‘excellent long Cloath’. But rumour has it that he was influenced by his girlfriend who lived in the Portuguese colony of San Thome, some distance away.
San Thome was the name that the Portuguese gave to the ancient religious and cultural centre known as Mylapore. It had been renamed by the Portuguese because of its associations with Christ’s apostle, Thomas Didymus. The saint had lived, preached and died here. Before him, however, Mylapore had been a great port, second only to the great old port of Mahabalipuram where monuments dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries still stand.
Late in the last century, Madras was renamed ‘Chennai’, one of the many pre-colonial names of this historic city. In a way, it reflects its citizens’ urge to proclaim that their megapolis began long before Francis Day obtained his barren strip of sand.
History and tradition are more important to Chennai than they are to most other cities in India. But though these are still the bedrocks of Chennai society, their city’s burgeoning business climate, attuned to a globalised economy, has imparted new perspectives to the outlook of many of its people. Hotels, shopping plazas, cutting-edge industries and places to dine and entertain in elegant comfort have sprung up. In the 21st century Chennai, grace and glamour are perfectly matched.
Things to see...
History glows gently in old Fort St George, where the British first established their trading factory. Here is the historic St Mary’s Church associated with Robert Clive, Elihu Yale of the American university, Hobart after whom Tasmania’s capital has been named, and many others who built the late Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets. The Fort Museum is an excellent introduction to the colonial past of Chennai.
Another fascinating complex, dating back to the British era, is the Madras Museum built in the eclectic Indo-Saracenic style. It houses the Connemara Public Library, the Victoria Memorial National Art Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and the Natural History Museum. Do visit the Amarvati gallery in the museum: its exhibits are priceless.
Then there are the churches associated with the life and death of St Thomas. He came here in the 1st century AD and, behind the altar of the shrine of Our Lady of Health at Little Mount, a flight of steps leads down to the cave in which the saint lived and prayed. Outside the church, there is a spring said to have been made by the Apostle. He was killed in a cave in St Thomas’ Mount and, in this church, there is a curious portrait of Mary, the Mother of Christ, said to have been painted by St Luke, the Physician and Evangelist. The great Basilica Church of San Thomas has grown around the crypt in which the body of the saint was laid to rest.
Chennai’s premier place of worship, however, is the Temple of Kapaleeswarar, often spelt Kapaleshwar. This is a living temple rich with sculptures, customs, rituals and traditions, some of which reputedly date back to many centuries before the Christian era. According to Chennai’s historian S Muthiah, writing in his ‘Madras Discovered’, ‘the temple authorities themselves feel the present temple was built about 300 years ago’. It is more that likely, however, that the present shrine occupies the place hallowed by many of its predecessors for more than 20 centuries.
For wildlife enthusiasts, there are the Arignar Anna Zoological Park which also has a lion safari park; the Guindy National Park within the city; the Snake Park where they often demonstrate how snake venom is extracted; and, 44 kms out of Chennai, its famed Crocodile Bank which has been responsible for bringing many of these ancient and eco-sustaining creatures back from the verge of extinction.
Beyond the Crocodile Bank is the 7th century port of Mahabalipuram, now called Mamallapuram. Impressive rock-cut sculptures, shrines and an old lighthouse to guide mariners to and from Southeast Asia, stand virtually on the beach.
No one is quite sure why this thriving port was abandoned so suddenly, but we believe that great cyclones, boiling out of the Bay of Bengal, drove its
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