| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 29 Aug, 2005 | Total Views : 251 |
In the early 17th century, the Cooum and Adyar rivers flowed towards the Coromandel Coast and into the Bay of Bengal with only a few fishermen to witness their progress. Today the area between the two estuaries is the center of India's fourth-largest city and the capital of Tamil Nadu, Madras. Despite its size and importance Madras is a city that never hurries. Compared with India's other major cities, Madras is a quite backwater, conservative in its ways, with considerable importance placed on old-fashioned values and traditions. More women wear the traditional sari here than anywhere else in India; Brahmin men in finely woven white dhotis, their foreheads smeared with sandalpaste and sacred ash, go happily about their business, and every woman, regardless of status, has flowers in her hair. On the day in late August when the Brahmins change the sacred thread that denotes their caste, you can see hundreds of men on scooters going to the temples in crisply laundered and elaborately tied dhotis and wearing crash helmets!
For all this, Madras is a clean and efficient city. It has an excellent public transport system; its auto-rickshaw scooters are all new and well maintained and its airport is modern and well planned. There are some unexpected contrasts: the garish Tamil film posters decorating sections of Mount Road; the massive cutouts of politicians; and the hysteria of political meetings are just a few. Although Madras presents fewer of the hassles and tensions common in other Indian cities, the main shopping centers are always throbbing with life. Try the T Nagar area, where you will not find a single quiet or uncrowded spot; yet the general mood is relaxed. The people of Madras smile easily, have time for each other and are helpful to visitors. Most speak excellent English.
The growth of Madras began when the British made it a bastion of the East India Company in 1639 and built Fort St George a year later. Part of this fort, which now houses the Tamil Nadu State Legislature and Secretariat, is an excellent museum. Robert Clive, later known as Clive of India, started his career here as a writer - a lowly clerk - with the East India Company.
Next to the fort is St Mary's, consecrated in 1680, India's oldest Anglican church. Two famous men were married in it: Robert Clive and Elihu Yale, an Englishman born in Boston who became the governor of Madras and later founded Yale University. The Ice House on Marina Beach near the aquarium is an unusual relic of the British era. Ice, brought all the way from America in ships, was stored here to cool the thirsts of Company men.
Amongst Indian Roman Catholics there is a popular belief that one of the Twelve Apostles, St Thomas, arrived in Malabar (Kerala) in AD 52. He converted some Brahmins and founded India's oldest Christian community, the Syrian Christians, before moving on to preach the gospel on the eastern coast of South India. Here he was received less warmly and was eventually martyred on a small hill near the present airport, now called St Thomas Mount, where a small church called Our Lady of Expectations stands in his memory. Although no positive proof exists, many claim that he was buried in another church he founded, the imposing San Thome Cathedral Basilica. The church that originally stood on this site was much smaller.
Although Madras is only 350 years old, the region has been sacred to the Hindus for many centuries. The Parthasarathy Temple at Triplicane, dedicated to Krishna, was built in the eighth century by one of the Pallava kings, with later additions by the rajas of Vijayanagar in the 16th century. Another great temple, Kapaleeswara, which is dedicated to Shiva, is located in the suburb of Mylapore where its majestic gate towers, covered with hordes of painted stucco figures of gods, goddesses and semi-divine beings, are a local landmark. Several legends surround this temple; one concerns a Tamil saint who brought a dead girl back to life there. These are wonderful places to watch temple life: newly married couples offering prayers, old women lost in devotion, priests hurrying to the gods they serve, garlands being woven, musicians playing, women gliding by in silken groups.
At the end of March the 11-day Arupathumoovar festival is centered around the Mylapore Temple. Crowds of ecstatic devotees gather to witness the ritual pageantry of the gods being taken out in spectacular processions. Late December sees the start of the Madras Music Festival, featuring performances by the best southern artists as well as musicians from other part of India. Classical music is important in Madras; concerts are well-attended by knowledgeable audiences and it sometimes seems that a new sabha (music hall) opens every other week.
One of the finest venues for music and the traditional arts is the auditorium at the Kalakshetra in Adyar, founded 40 years ago by Rukmini Devi, a pioneer in the field of dance and music who rescued Bharata Natyam dance from the depths.
Off Kodambakkam High Road is a memorial to a second-century poet and saint, Thiruvalluvar, who lived near the Kapaleeswara Temple and wrote a revered Tamil classic. The monument, in stone, is in the shape of a temple chariot with long and colorful cylindrical banners hanging from its roof and swaying in the breeze.
Close to the banks of the Adyar River is the headquarters of the Theosophical Society, established in 1882 seven years after the Theosophical movement was founded in New York. The sprawling complex with its famous banyan trees provides an atmosphere of great peace and tranquility in which to meditate.
Guindy National Park is a large open area designed for relaxation. It includes a Children's Park and Deer Park, but the most interesting section is the Snake Park.
The Government Art Museum, on Pantheon Road, established in 1851, has sections devoted to natural history and anthropology, but the finest displays are of the sculpture of South India's great dynasties, the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Pandyas. The one gallery not to be missed is that devoted to the museum's fine bronze collection.
