MADRAS DAY
Madras Day marks the day the agents of British East
India Company bought a
small piece of land to build Fort St George.
Madras Day is a day of celebrations organised in the city of Madras (Chennai), the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is celebrated on 22 August every year,
and is named after the city. It commemorates the founding of the modern city by
establishing Fort St George on
a small piece of land acquired from the last King of Chandragiri in
1639 by the British East India Company.
The celebrations include several events organised including citizens and
students and lasts for a week.
Background
See also: History of Madras
The modern history of
the city dates back to 1639 when Francis Day of the British
East India Company bought
a small strip of land on the Coromandel Coast from
the Vijayanagara King,Peda Venkata Raya in Chandragiri. The region was ruled by Damerla
Venkatapathy, the Nayak of Vandavasi.[1] He
granted the British permission to build a factory and warehouse for their
trading enterprises. A year later, the British built Fort St George, which became the nucleus of the
growing colonial city.[1]
Birth of Madras Day
The idea to celebrate
the birth of the city every year was born when journalists Shashi
Nair and Vincent D'Souza met
the city's historian and Editor of Madras
Musings, S. Muthiah at
his residence for coffee.[2] It
was based on the success of another event called Mylapore
Festival which D'Souza
had been organising every year in January. It was decided by the trio to start
celebrating Madras Day from 2004.[2] According
to them, "primary motive of celebrating `Madras Day' was to focus on
the city, its past and its present."[3] The
idea initially started off with about five events in 2004, but with 2008, has
over 60 different events associated with the day including heritage
walks, photo
walks, lectures, poetry and caption and quiz contests, food festivals and
a Bullet
tour lasting for a
week.[2]
Significance of 22 August
It was on 22 August
1639 that a sliver of land, where now stands Fort St George, was handed over by the local Nayak rulers
to the East India Company’s Francis Day, his
dubash Beri Thimmappa, and their superior, Andrew Cogan. From this small three square miles
given to the East India Company grew the city of Madras where more than four
and a half million people live now.[2] As
years passed by out of the fort grew settlements and the villages around
it were brought together with the old and new towns linked up and hence birth
of a city.[4][5]
Controversies regarding the date
There had been a
controversy regarding the exact day when Madras was handed over to the British
East India Company's Francis Day and Andrew Cogan between the dates 22 August
and 22 July. The controversy arose since the agreement documents dates the
records to 22 July 1639 rather than 22 August of that year. It is often stated
that since Francis Day and Andrew Cogan did not arrive to the Madras coast
until 27 July 1639. The evidence comes from writings of Henry Davison Love,
whose monumental three-volume history of Madras from 1640-1800 is the Bible of
all searchers after Madras’s 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".[6]
The Celebration
Originally, this
celebration used to last for a day but now it extends for a week.[4] Madras
Day focuses on the city, its history, its past and its present and the core
team motivates communities, groups, companies and campuses in the city to host
events that celebrate the city.[4] The
celebration consists of events such as heritage
walks (including a
"tree walk"),[7] public talks,exhibitions, poetry reading sessions, public performances, food festivals and
special programs on local radio.[4] It
also includes contests such as, T-shirt designing, documentary film contest,
multimedia presentation for schools and quiz in both Tamil and English.[4] T-shirts
to mark the event are also released.[8] The
talks delivered to mark the week long celebrations usually involve lectures
explaining the heritage and history of the city.[9] There
are also events for the retired citizens where they can post their life years
ago on the "Stories about Madras section" on Madras day's website and
their views on how Madras grew into the Chennai of today.[10]
Indian postal department released a postal cover to commemorate
Madras day on 22 August 2007.[11]
Special radio broadcast
The special radio
broadcast for Madras Day in the past included `Putham Puthu Kalai', a programme
highlighting the important landmarks of Chennai, with writer Ashokamitran, Historian S. Muthiah, Vincent D'Souza and writer Randor Guy as
participants. It also included `Madras Nalla Madras', a compilation of film
songs on Chennai by Delhi Ganesh and
comedian Loose Mohanproviding a native touch with his Madras dialect.[12]
Exhibitions
When it started in
2004 only an handful of photographs were displayed in Rajaji Hall where the
Madras Day celebrations was organised. Later in 2005 it had picked momentum
where three men exhibited their collection of coins, books, maps and
photographs at Clive Hall in Fort St. George. In 2006 a dozen participants,
including the Archaeological Society of India and Southern Railway, have
displayed their collection. The buildings that dotted Chennai's skyline in the
last 300 years narrate the story of its builders. Fort St. George currently
houses at least 50 to 60 heritage buildings by one estimate. Only photographs
of buildings under the ASI are on display. The exhibition illustrated how
business shaped Chennai's economic growth. The exhibition also traced the
200-year history of State Bank of India,
besides offering a display of coins and currency notes issued over the
centuries. As the city expanded, mass transport evolved. Rare, out-of-print
books and maps, paintings of buildings that have since been razed down were
also on display.[13]
T-shirt
The t-shirt marking
the celebrations are white with a traditional kolam printed on a mud-coloured
background and bear the inscription, "Namma ."[14]
Madras Quiz
The Madras Day
celebrations and all the bash culminates each year with the Madras Quiz,
separately in Tamil and English. This is facilitated by the Mylapore
Times.
Many quiz enthusiasts
come for the same. The quiz is quite competitive in terms of content.
The 2009 edition of
the Madras Quiz in English was conducted by the Indian
Quizzing League.
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