Chennai: A biography - V. Sriram – Review

It’s always interesting to learn about the city in which we grew up and hence there is no surprise in picking up a book that traces Chennai’s history especially when the same is authored by historian V. Sriram.

Let’s first focus on tracing the roots of how Chennai got it’s name. Apparently, Chennai short form of Chennaipattinam points to Damarla Chennappa Naicker who ruled over Kalahasti and adjoining areas in the late 16^th century (a sketch of him is given below). Ayyappa Naicker who was the son of Chennappa Naicker gave permission to Francis Day for an English settlement back in August 1639, the rest as they say is history.

But why did the British start calling it as Madras isn’t very clear. One legend points to a chief of fishermen community named Madarasa who was instrumental in parting areas of his community for George Fort and another points to a rich Portuguese women named Madeira who lived near San thome. However, there is no clear evidence for both these stories.

The funny part is Tamil Nadu government’s decision to change the name from Madras to Chennai in 1996 with the intent of shedding it’s colonial hangover. Chennappa Naicker was a Telugu speaking ruler under the Vijayanagar kingdom and has no tamil roots, without a doubt, our government could have exhibited a better sense of history.

There is a pre-colonial era that dates 2000 years back, it is widely believed that Thiruvalluvar was living around Mylapore area and another legend states that St. Thomas who was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ lived in the hilly area of Chennai which is the reason we have St. Thomas mount. We have artifacts dating 2nd century CE in Mylapore and we can safely assume it to be the oldest region of human settlement in Chennai. Kapaleeshwarar Temple located in Mylapore was built in 7th century CE, Marundheeswarar temple in Thiruvanmiyur was built in 11th century CE, Parthasarathy Temple in triplicane was built during 8^th century CE and the list goes on. Clearly, there are evidences to point the existence of a long pre-colonial era.   

Coming to the colonial era, we primarily had George town, Black town, Muthialpet along with Peddanaikpet that formed the core areas of Madras and the city did not come under the rule of British until the mid of 18^th century. With Dutch settlement in Pulicat lake, Portuguese in San Thome and French in Pondicherry, the British did have a tough initial phase to settle in. In fact the French attacked and controlled Madras for a brief period of 3 years (1746 – 48),  it was exchanged for the British conquest of Louisbourg in North America as part of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Interestingly, there were a small group of translators who became wealthy, they were called Dubashi meaning a person who can converse in two languages, tamil and English in this case. Pachaiyappa Mudaliar was a Dubashi who was also a well-known merchant and philanthropist, the Pachaiyappa college in Chetpet is named after him.

Because there were considerable number of merchants, we had money lenders (primarily Marwadi) who moved from North India to tap into the opportunity and they were called Sowcar. Their settlement was so vast that we now an entire area called Sowcarpet. The roots are certainly interesting, isn’t it?

A rather painful realization was the loss of waterways lost due to drainage and misnomer called development activities. Buckingham canal was so long that a boat trip can be made from Adyar to Mahabhalipuram and even beyond. A century back boat races in Adyar were so exciting that it drew large audiences from different corners of the state. In fact, there were boat races even in long tank of Mylapore (spreading across for 70 acres) which has now become residential areas of T.Nagar and West Mambalam. I don’t even have to mention the state of Cooum river which has now become synonymous with drainage system.

Sriram’s narrative covers pre-colonial, colonial and post-independence era as well. When someone tries to cover such a vast period in a single book there is always challenge of how to balance the narrative across different period of time. I believe he has scored well on that front.

For a pure Chennaiite, it’s a thought provoking read.