Academicians question date picked to celebrate Madras Day

From the US Consulate posting videos of its staff discovering the quintessential Chennai, to music groups such as Put Chutney saluting the spirit of the city to the college girl, eager to learn about the neighbourhood’s transformation joining a walking tour of a locality, the event has turned into a Madras Day season spread over many days. It’s come a long way from 2004, when five events marked the first Madras Day celebrations, held after journalists Vincent D’Souza and Sashi Nair suggested to historian S Muthiah that the city’s founding day be celebrated. 

Going by the records, they honed in on August 22, 1639 as the founding day. According to the Madras Day website, “It was on that day, in that year, that a sliver of land, where Fort. St. George stands today, was transacted by the East India Company. The deal was struck by Francis Day, his ‘dubash’ Beri Thimmappa, and their superior, Andrew Cogan, with the local Nayak rulers. It is believed that this deal was made on August 22, 1639.” 

The first recorded celebration of Madras took place in 1939, when the British government officially sponsored the tercentenary celebration. Commemorative essays by leading historians and experts were published and exhibition of coins and other artefacts were held. The 350th anniversary was held in 1989, but there was nothing in between. 

So, the idea, born in 2004, to dedicate a single day to celebrate the city as Madras Day struck a chordwith the city that has learnt to let its hair down as it were and celebrate everything that makes Chennaiunique in its own way. Over the years, Madras Day celebrations have spilled over many days and expanded to include interesting talks on heritage. 

Some of the fascinating talks this year include Anwar’s talk on the Golconda influence, Sadanand Menon’s lecture on dancer Chandralekha, her Chennai connect and how her dance reflected the 1960s and 70s Chennai and Vijaykumar’s riveting speech on idol thefts. With growth comes controversy, scrutiny and a debate on historical facts, and that has happened to Madras Day this year. 

R Rangaraj, President, Chennai 2000 Plus Trust, has disputed the widely held theory that August 22, 1639 was the day when Francis Day signed the purchase deed. He says Madras Day should be celebrated on September 30, since the state government issued a Gazette notification on September 30, 1996, officially naming Madras as Chennai. According to him there is plenty of evidence that the purchase date of August 22, 1639, is not accurate. 

The Chandragiri Museum has, in its possession, the document of purchase by Francis Day for the East India Company on July 22, a month before the date given by the Madras Day supporters. This document has been quoted by many representatives of the British Raj themselves,” he says. Quoting extensively from Fanny Emily Penny’s book on Fort St George, he says, “Francis Day had concluded his negotiations satisfactorily on the March 1, 1639. 

And “by his transaction his employers obtained their first territorial rights in India.” Rangaraj says Penny had written the book with the approval of Governor Havelock, “who has watched with a kindly and sympathetic interest the progress of this record”. After going through various documents and records of Fort St. George.  

Penny writes, on perusal of the records at the Fort and various correspondence and documents, that the “Rajah of Chandragiri received the cash paid down as rent for the ground. The price of the grant was a yearly rent of about six hundred pounds. The agreement was drawn up on a plate of gold, and it was dated March 1st, 1639 (old style). It was carefully preserved by the Company in Fort St. George until 1746. 

Francis Day’s task was only half finished when he obtained possession of the land, he had to set about raising a warehouse for the Company’s goods and a house for the offices,” says Rangaraj, quoting from Penny’s work. According to him, August does not figure in the scheme of things. This is not the first time controversy over Madras Day celebrations or when exactly Francis Day visit took place has surfaced. Before Rangaraj, others have raised this issue. 

The state government has maintained its distance from officially endorsing Madras Day events. Sources say it is because it does not want to be seen celebrating a colonial heritage. Some academicians and historians have also had issues with the date July 22, 1639. Day and Cogan are said to have arrived in Madras only on July 27, 1939. 

The evidence comes from writings of Henry Davison Love, whose detailed, three-volume history of Madras from 1640–1800 is a prime reference material for Madras’ early history, which states that “The Naik’s grant, erroneously styled a farman, which was probably drafted by Day, was delivered to Andrew Cogan at Masulipatam on September 3, 1639... Three copies are extant ... all of which are endorsed by Cogan. Only the last bears a date, 22 July 1639, where July is probably a slip for August, since Day did not reach Madras until 27 July”. 

Rangaraj however, says the argument that Francis Day visited the Madraspatnam area only on July 27 and therefore the date of the agreement must have been an error, and that the correct date should be August 22, does not hold water. The July 27 visit seems to be a post-purchase visit and not a pre-purchase enquiry, as Penny’s book confirms the date of purchase on March 1, and that the purchase was made after Day’s visit to the area before March 1. 

Penny describes Day’s assessment of the sites, ahead of the purchase, in her book, revealing that St Thome area was offered to him but he preferred the site north of it (Madraspatnam). ‘Aided by the friendly Portuguese, he effected the renting of a piece of land along the shore, a mile broad and six miles in length”. Thus, it is established that the purchase had been already made by Day on March 1, and that an elaborate document was subsequently prepared and signed on July 22. It was after the purchase that Day made another visit on July 27 to follow-up on arrangements for the factory and the Fort, says Rangaraj.

According to R Rangaraj, from the Chennai 2000 Plus Trust, nearly 300 years before the East India Company (British) came to Chennai/Madraspatnam/Madras, Madraspatnam that is Madras already existed as a port town. This is proved beyond any doubt by inscriptions found by two epigraphists of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), S Rajavelu and Y Subbarayulu, who have released a book. They have found inscriptions at Penneswaramadam in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. The inscriptions reveal the date of July 21, 1367, of Kampana II, the king from the Vijayanagar empire, refers to trade through the port town of Madraspatnam, how taxes should be collected from the traders indulging in exports and imports, what should be the rate of taxes, and how they should be deposited with the treasury of the king.   

We have been saying this repeatedly that the inscriptions are available right from 5th century onwards, at least 1,000 years before the British came. There are also Palaeolithic remains. If there is a date that can be referred, it should be September 30, 1996, when the Tamil Nadu government issued a Gazette notification, officially naming the city as Chennai. The name change was justified as people in Tamil Nadu call the city Chennai or Patnam. The older generation outside TN called the city Madras as that was the name of the railway station and the airport. In the last 20 years or so, people in other cities states call the city Chennai.      Chennai is an ancient city, over 2000 years old. That is why, we have suggested an universally applicable date of September 30, which has been provided by the Government in a Gazette. 

S Muthiah, a historian and the prominent face behind Madras Day celebrations, said people can celebrate any day of the year as Madras Day. It could be in September or January 1. The signing of the deed happened over 300 years ago and none of us were around. Madras Day is about rejoicing in our immediate past, current and modern city,” he said. Senior journalist Sushila Ravindranath said, “Madras Day is about celebrating the spirit of the city, it is not an official Madras Day event. It is purely voluntary and there is no official support. 

We are not NGOs and no one is collecting funds. People have simply taken this forward by jumping in and volunteering.”  “We Tamilians are known to shy away from celebrating ourselves, but now everyone is discovering the past and reconnecting with their neighbourhoods. It’s about celebrating our lives, our past. I do not want to react to someone’s comment but If someone wants to take part, they are welcome, if someone has a problem, they need not celebrate it at this time,” she sums up.