Annals of history etched on every wall

CHENNAI: Axe that changed history

Why would Pallavaram be one of the oldest inhabited areas in Madras and even India? Robert Bruce Foote was a British geologist, who conducted surveys of prehistoric locations in India for the Geological Survey of India (GSI). For his contributions to Indian archaeology, he is called the father of Indian pre-history. Foote joined the GSI and was posted in Madras city. Just five years later, he discovered the first conclusive Paleolithic stone tool (a hand axe) in India. He reportedly found the axe when he was taking a walk on the Pallavaram parade ground and stumbled on it. Inspired by his find, he spread the dragnet all across the region and discovered hundreds of Paleolithic and Neolithic sites including the 2-mile long belum caves. Foote conclusively proved that Madras had been inhabited continuously for over 2 million years. Foote’s collection of antiquities are displayed in the Madras Government Museum from 1906.

Tiruneermalai

Toyatri, meaning a mountain surrounded by water, just 5 km from Pallavaram, is an ancient temple complex. The temple has Chola and Pandya inscriptions. This also has the first record of an Adyar river flood. When one of the 12 azhwars – Tirumangai – came for a darshan of the lord, heavy rains had made the then unnamed Adyar stream flood and the hill was literally an island. Azhwar waited for months as he felt the lord was testing his piety and patience. There are two temples, one atop the hill and another in the foothills. There are idols of Lord Vishnu in all forms – standing seated, walking and reclining. Co-incidentally, there is a legend of Valmiki visiting the temple after composing the epic. The Adyar river which circles the hill is mentioned in some quarters as the Valmiki river.

The Cantonment

A cantonment was a military garrison developed all over the country by the British. Soldiers and their families would live in the garrison during peace time. It was also used for stocking military assets. The Cantonment Board of Pallavaram was established in 1774, and is the second oldest Cantonments in the country. The 3,000-acre land includes the airport, OTA, and even the St Thomas Mount. The Station Commander, who is a military officer, is the President of the Cantonment Board. Recently, the government felt cantonments being ‘archaic colonial legacies’, running a mini city was not the army’s duty and that its time and resources were being frittered away. Laws have been enacted to amalgamate these cantonment boards with the nearest local bodies. Cantonments, with their strict land-use laws, have turned out to be verdant urban forests.

Oldest building in Madras

It’s a cave excavated by Mahendravarman I out of solid rock halfway up a hill. Inscriptions giving the different titles of the king are perhaps the oldest surviving stone edicts (in a mixture of Pallava Grantha and Tamil) in the State. Pallavaram itself is possibly named after the dynasty. The cave is now being used as a place of worship, Asthana-e-Moula Ali dargah. It was once called the Panchapandava temple with 6 pillars in the front verandah holding the hill above and 5 compartments in the caves. Mahendravarman, called the Vichitra Chitha or the ‘inquisitive king’ introduced the cave temple concept in this part of the country. It was a dangerous mission those days to burrow under a hill 12 feet deep and 9 feet tall.

Charnokite

In a corner of St John’s Church grounds in Kolkatta, there’s a small gated cemetery. The centre-piece of this area is a hollow thick-walled octagonal cenotaph, which is the grave of Job Charnock, regarded as the founder of the city of Calcutta. Almost 200 years later, in 1893, TH Holland, the then Chief of the GSI, reported that the hypersthene granites found in Madras were used for Charnock’s tombstone and that it was extracted from the neighbourhood of St Thomas Mount. In 1893, Holland read a paper at the Asiatic Society of Bengal titled ‘The Petrology of Job Charnock’s Tombstone’ and suggested that the rock which was of a new type be named as the ‘Charnockite rock’ in honour of the man. The 24 black Charnockite pillars of the assembly building in the fort are those reclaimed by the British in 1762 of the original 32 taken away by the French to Puducherry.

The English Electric Company

The EE was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the World War I armistice. While the parent company engaged even in aircraft and nuclear engineering, the Pallavaram unit, started in 1959, initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers. Almost one member from every cantonment family got a job here adding to the financial upliftment. Many were women in the assembly lines and thus contributed to gender equality. The company was socially caring and was a prime mover in community development as well. It ensured the people of the area had social, cultural and sports outlets. The annual sports event it conducted was nicknamed locally as the mini Olympics. Fancy dress shows, bonfires and children fetes were popular. Charity sales in the Pallavaram santhai too were fuelled by the EE employees. There was an EE Nagar, marriage hall and a playing ground in pallavaram. Much later, the company was taken over by the GEC.

The Anglo Indians

The Anglo Indian community started in India in 1498, when the Portuguese arrived in India and married Indian women. The establishment of the cantonment in Pallavaram attracted many Anglo Indian settlers. In the army, they became a buffer between the British and Indians, serving in supervisory positions in the military. In the later days, before large-scale emigration to Australia, the Pallavaram and Perambur groups were the two dominant groups of Anglo Indians. The Pallavaram Anglos were more interactive with other communities and not insular like their brothers elsewhere (the military-railway employment being the reason perhaps). The establishment of the English Electric Factory had many boys and girls qualify in other fields as well. Veteran Lines is a legendary Anglo-Indian residential area in Pallavaram created behind the airport runway for World World II veterans. This was once a thriving community that prayed in the iconic St Stephen’s English Church, celebrated Christmas with dances and feasts, conducted sporting events on the parade ground, and even had a Pallavaram Recreation Club. However, today all that remains are 70 houses that are dilapidated and old residents that were forgotten.

Planes of Pallavaram

If there is a locality in Madras and even India whose history is intertwined with flying, it’s Pallavaram. Surprising, because it’s surrounded by hills on two sides, which might be obstructions to the pilots’ vision. A plane was manufactured in Madras just seven years after the Wright brothers. Giacomo D’Angelis, a Corsican baker, had tested the flying contraption he had made in the space between Adyar river and St Thomas Mount, possibly carting it there from Mount Road on a bullock cart. Twenty years later, the Madras Flying Club (MFC) was founded with mostly Europeans as members. Some Indians (particularly Nagarathar businessmen) joined the club adjoining Pallavaram. The club was just a concrete strip for planes to land and a small tin shed for the members to relax. During World War II, after the fall of Singapore, existing aerodromes were taken over by the RAF and an aerial war was conducted from here and its name was changed to RAF St Thomas Mt. After the war with freedom dawning, this naturally became the Madras airport, one of the oldest in the country. The airstrip was lengthened to the next village and thus it became the Meenambakkam aerodrome.

St Thomas Mount church

One of the most recognised landmarks of Madras was the church in St Thomas Mount built in 1580 and renovated in 1707. A Portuguese church with Armenian additions is on the Mount often called Firangi Malai (hill of foreigners). It’s one of the few places in Madras, which is associated with the legend of St Thomas, one of the apostles of Christ. A shrine dedicated to ‘Our Lady of Expectation’ (Mother Mary) was built in 1523 atop the Mount. The idol of Mother Mary clearly appears to be pregnant. The altar of this shrine was built on the spot where St Thomas’ death is traditionally believed to have occurred. The church has a painting of Mother Mary claimed to have been done by St Luke and a Bleeding Cross. A flight of 160 steps leads up to the summit of the Mount and these were built by the Armenian tycoon Petros Uscan. Mount Road and the Saidapet bridge were developed to enable pilgrim traffic to the Mount.

The Friday Market

Also known as the Sandhai, it has been a feature since the 1800s, and is still famous in the locality. It’s perhaps the largest roadside weekly market with over 3,000 vendors setting up shop. Today, almost everything is available but it was initially a livestock market in the nawabi times. Locations have been changed with increase in size of the trading activity. It’s held in the Cantonment limits with the support of the army initially. The timings are from 4 pm to 11 pm but traders start activities much earlier. Household items including food and furniture electronic items are all available as are school supplies and toys. There is a separate section for pets. The surprising addition in recent times is a set of numismatic stalls where old coins are sold.

Lambton

In post-colonial periods, statues of the British were being pulled down throughout the erstwhile empire. But surprisingly Madras installed a statue of William Lambton, a British soldier, on its tallest hill after freedom in 2003. Looking at the position of stars, one-eyed Lambton (his other one burnt when he saw an eclipse with a telescope) once corrected Lord Wellington’s tactical error in the Mysore battle and saved the day for the British. The entire Indian map, the naming of Everest Mount after Lambtons protégé George Everest, and even the arc of curvature of the globe (wasn’t a globe but more like an orange) was discovered during The Great Trigonometric Survey that lasted for 60 years. And it all started on St Thomas Mt in Pallavaram. The first measurement began from St Thomas Mount and the 7-mile baseline extended from there to a hill at Perumbakkam near Tambaram.