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The Nawab in Madras
I’m delighted to hear that Chepauk Palace is to be restored. But will it be restored to match this assessment made in 1804 by Lord Valentia? He wrote, “The room the Nawab uses as a durbar is extremely handsome, of large dimensions and div
ided by pillars. It was never finished, (but) as His Highness…is becoming very rich, he may probably finish it, in which case it will be the handsomest durbar I have seen in India.”
The durbar hall — the Dewankhana — was a part of Humayun Mahal, the northern block of the Palace. The southern block, a two-storeyed one, was called the Khalsa Mahal. Work on them began in 1768, probably by the civil engineer and contractor Paul Benfield, whom the Nawab had once described as having “a good skill in beginning and finishing the works of buildings.”
Nawab Mohammed Ali of the Carnatic, who lived in Arcot, was visiting Madras in 1757 with his family when the French threat to the town grew. During Lally’s siege in 1758-59, he was given refuge in the Fort and this prompted him, after the siege had been lifted, to request that he be granted a permanent residence in the Fort. But the Company dilly-dallied and in 1764 the Nawab was still writing, “I have been desirous this long time of building a large handsome House within the Fort of Madras…” In fact, during one of his visits to the Fort, Governor Pigot, “took me with him, and showed me the spot of ground pitched on for that purpose, when I, in His…Presence, laid the first Brick for the foundations thereof…” In 1766, he wrote to Pigot’s successor, Governor Palk, “When a foundation was laid, you were so good as to lay the first brick by your hand, and appoint Engineer Call upon that work…(but as) the said engineer will shortly return to Europe…I desire you…to appoint Mr. Benfield.” In the event, Fort St. George, on London’s advice, had second thoughts.
The Nawab then moved into a couple of houses in Chepauk. In January 1768 he wrote to Palk, “by the Blessing of God I have lived in your Town…in a very small House situated on the Sea Shore…Near the House situated on the Sea Shore as above, on the north and east Faces, there is a little spot of Sandy Ground entirely vacant…This spot I flatter myself you will be so good as to confer on me…” Palk obliged…and so it was that Nawab Mohammed Ali got the acreage for Chepauk Palace. In 1770, the Nawab acquired additional ground contiguous to where the palace was coming up and enclosed it with a wall. The 117-acre property extended 1130 yards southward from the Cooum bar and 500 yards along its bank. What came up at the southern end was a magnificent palace, alas, now hidden by a host of new buildings. In 1855, it was bought by the Government in an auction where it was the sole bidder… and its decline began.
S. MUTHIAH
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