Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Madras: travelling back in time
|
The roots of the city go back to 1637, when British calico traders scouted for a new location.
|
The official handbook
IT WAS `Madras Day' this Sunday, a time to look back. Some books help us to rewind to the city's past, especially S. Muthiah's `Madras Discovered', a favourite. This is about another curious book that speaks of Madras' birth and importantly its progress as a modern city.
`Madras - the official handbook of the Corporation of Madras', published by the Corporation of Madras in 1950 was in a particularly good condition when the civic agency's public relations officer found it: Not dog-eared and no torn pages.
Some trivia culled out of the book. The birth of Madras: the roots of the city go back to 1637 when British calico (heavy cotton) traders, unhappy with their earlier settlement in Masulipatnam, scouted for a new location.
The founder
A team led by Francis Day, which the book proclaims the `founder of Madras', signed a grant with the rulers of the region to hand the Britishers the village of Madraspatnam for two years. The grant signed in August 1639 empowered the English to build a fort and a castle.
Importantly for the English traders, the late Francis Day had noted that the calicos woven by the traders of Madraspatnam were cheaper than the ones that Britishers were procuring. Chindatripet was originally a weaver's village.
There is some ambiguity on who exactly signed the grant with the English, though the book states that it could have been Ayyappa Nayak, appointed by Raja of Chandragiri, descendant of Rayas of Vijayanagar and ruler of the Coromandel Coast. Nayak's brother, Darmala Venkatapathy Nayak, controlled the coastal country from Pulicat to the Portuguese settlement of San Thome.
The Fort
The construction of the Fort began on March 1, 1640. A portion of the structure was supposedly completed by St. George's Day (April 23), hence the name. The entire fort took 14 years to complete. Indian traders were attracted to the settlement and were encouraged to build houses under the assurance of import tax exemption.
Growth of the city: In 1652, Fort St. George was created as a Presidency and its Agent came to be known as President. There were three chief officials, the Adhikari, who dispensed justice, the Kannakkupillai, who assisted the Adhikari, and the Pedda Naick, the chief watchman who kept the order in the streets. The first attempt at conservancy works was during the tenure of Governor Streysham Master (1678 - 1681). A scavenger was appointed to collect house tax and remove garbage.
First acquisition
The city expanded during the 1680s and 1690s when suburban villages, including Egmore, Purasawalkam and Thondiarpet were acquired. Triplicane was among the earliest acquisitions. In 1672, Triplicane was handed over to the Britishers for an annual rent of fifty pagodas.
Changes in the modern city: According to the book, much of Madras' modernisation happened during the Governorship of Lord Macartney (1781-1785), when Broadway was built. A plan was established then to form a regular police force and for constructing cross drains in every street.
A Parliamentary Act, 1792, gave the British Company the power to levy municipal taxes in the city. Registration of deaths in the city was introduced on January 1, 1855.
The Madras Act IX of 1867 divided the city into eight wards, each represented by four Commissioners. An Executive Officer presided over the Council of Commissioners. The Municipal Law of the City was revised in 1884 to regulate drains.
New divisions
A supplementary Act of 1892 created the posts of Revenue Officer, Health Officer and the Engineer for the City. Act IV of 1919 divided the City into 30 divisions, raised the number of Commissioners and re-designated them as councillors. The Madras City Municipal Amendment Act of 1933 changed the designation of the President to that of the Mayor.
Street in the city were lit with oil lamps till 1910, when electric lights were first introduced. By 1924-25, all oil lamps were phased out. Mercury discharge lamps were introduced near Teynampet in 1939.
The 1950 handbook gives an interesting insight into how the corporation tackled water scarcity. In its chapter on water distribution, under the sub-header `Further proposal for augmenting sources of supply,' it states: "The failure of North-east monsoon in two consecutive years in 1947 and 1948 has revealed that even with the Poondi Reservoir, it will not be safe to assume that the City will have an assured supply without cause for anxiety. It has, therefore, become necessary to find sources of supply independent of the North-east Monsoon."
By Karthik Subramanian
Photo: K.V. Srinivasan
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
|
