Armenian Church

Long back when I was designing a tee depicting 6 different icons of Chennai, like expanding an abbreviation i.e 'MADRAS'. And to depict one of the 'A', I depicted Armenian Church. Sadly I've never been there, when I designed that. Recently when I got a chance to go there with some people who know very well about its history, how would I say no???????? So, here's more on the place.

Armenians originally belong to the Armenia region (present day Turkey, Iran regions). Christianity was spread here by the apostles of Jesus St. Thaddew & St. Bartholomew. And this was the first ever country to declare Christianity as state religion in the year 301 AD, followed by Ethiopia in 324. Only after these 2 countries, Vatican declared Christianity as state religion. Followers of Armenian Christianity later on spread all over the world and that includes India too. 

The Chennai population of Armenians had their own church and that's this Armenian Church. The church was built in 1712 and was renovated in 1772.

The most important feature of this church is its bells. These are heavy, huge, iron bells, 6 in number, cast in different times from 1719 to 1737.

There are inscriptions on these bells that say when they were cast and for what purpose. Here are 2 of those,  in stitched images, so that you can read what is on it. The bells hand from oak wood that are also as old as the bells. Presently the bells are rung once a week, every Sunday morning at 9.

The entire place also served as a burial ground and you can see the tombstones, everywhere. One of the tombstones caught my attention. It was of Shmavonian (1750-1824). 

His tombstone depicts a ruler and scissor to depict he was a textile merchant; it also depicts stones and a balance to denote he was a gem stone merchant; it also depicts ink bottle and quill feather to denote he was a writer as well; and it also denotes wine glass and grapes to denote that he was a wine merchant as well. To put in a nutshell this kinda depicts the culture of Armenians. They were merchants and did as many commercial ventures as possible.

An important grave here was of Kojah Petrus Woskan (1681-1751). He was the merchant who built the Marmalong Bridge in Chennai; the original church of St.Matthias in Vepery, Chennai; and also the steps of St.Thomas Mount. He was buried in St.Matthias Church, but according to his wish, his heart was buried in New Julfa where he was born. A tablet was inscribed here in his memory. Another interesting grave stone was this. It had this man wearing a very Indo-Persian outfit, complete with turban. Below that was an image of a 2 headed bird called Ganda Perundam, a mythical bird in India.

The interiors of the Church look so elegant. The altar has Mother Mary rising to the skies with baby Jesus. The original image on the altar was a similar one, which got destroyed while renovation. The present image is pretty new. 

Below that image was a wooden platform with 4 steps and 5 sections in each step denoting 20 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. It includes the 14 stations of the cross and 6 miracles. In many churches these scenes are depicted as wall hangings or as glass paintings. 

Another interesting factor is the location of the choir. Its located in the mezzanine opposite to the altar facing the altar. I was informed that the practice of having the choir beside the altar on the leftside is only a modern practice. The chairs, tables, chandeliers, everything has a gorgeous old world charm to it. 

The street where this church is located is called Armenian Church. But when I went into the street and enquired for the church, I was directed to a huge church. This church is much more posh looking than the ancient church. This even has a dwaja sthambam like in Indian temples. 

Guess what, that's a brand new Catholic church, built just beside the ancient Armenian Church!!! From the exterior the original Armenian Church doesn't even look like a church!!!

TO GET THERE:

Dedicated to Kra.Narasaiah

Saturday, July 26, 2014

http://travel.bhushavali.com/

Search For Old Jail Road !

The last fabulous huuuuge piece here is of the gateway of Madras Central Prison – 1837. 

This has an interesting story behind it.

 It was in the year 2009 when the Chennai High Court passed a verdict to send this piece of history to the gallows after it served its purpose for 172 years

. This prison has seen several important persons, including Subash Chandra Bose, Veer Savarkar, Annadurai etc. who served their grueling sentences here during the Indian Independence Struggle.

Though it was demolished in 2009, the Main gate, Jail Name plates and Cell no. 78 found a new home here in Steve Borgia Museum
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Where is or was the Old Jail, wonders Jayanthi Selvam, saying she uses Old Jail Road quite often. The road is the central portion of a three-part road, from east to west being Ebrahim Sahib Street, Old Jail Road and Basin Bridge Road in the southern shadow of what was the North, or Old Town, Wall, of which only the stretch preserved with the Maadi Poonga atop it is all that survives. It was south of a bastion of this wall that the Old Jail was established in 1804, though its roots go back to 1692.

The Old Jail’s premises, at the corner of Popham’s Broadway and Old Jail Road, was cleared of prisoners shortly after Independence and the campus was given to the Congress Prachar Sabha which ran a cottage industries training centre in the numerous buildings there.

When Kamaraj stepped down as Chief Minister in 1963, the enthusiasm for the training centre waned and the premises were handed over to the Central Polytechnic Institute and a new Arts College for Women in 1964.

 Four years later the last of the CPI’s constituent units moved to Adyar and the college expanded into the Bharathi Women’s Arts College. It was many years before the College got new buildings for its students, its early batches having used many a prison block, some of which survive, derelict, till today.

 S Muthiah, : H : 19 Oct 2014

Egmore Railway Station :the land of Egmore Railway Station belonged to Dr. Pulney Andysold it for Rs.1,00,000 to the SIR in 1904.

I had mentioned in this column that the land on which the handsome Egmore Railway Station (then of the South Indian Railway) was built had belonged to Dr. Pulney Andy (Miscellany, September 20, 2010) and that he had sold it for Rs.1,00,000 to the SIR in 1904. 

It wasn’t a particularly happy sale, I now learn from a copy of Dr. Pulney Andy’s letter to the Deputy Collector of Madras, J.R. Coombes, which was sent to me by a reader from ‘Trichinopoly’, N.C. Martens. 

The land in question was 1.83 acres in extent and had several buildings on it. It was his attachment to those buildings that were the cause for the reluctance of ‘S. Pulney Andy M.D., M.R.C.S. (Eng.), F.L.S.’ to sell the property, the letter of ‘15th February 1904’ makes clear.

Reacting to a letter from the Deputy Collector citing ‘Act I of 1894’ requesting his property for “the remodeling of the S.I.R. Egmore Station”, and asking whether he had any objections to handing it over to the S.I.R., Pulney Andy writes, “I have very strong reasons for not wishing to part with my property…” He goes to state those reasons.

Egmore Railway Station Inside

He writes that he had bought the property “mostly for the benefit of my health which was broken down after long service in the Travancore state… (and the environment proved itself over) about 30 years… not a case of any illness or death occurred among the dwellers on this estate.”

Secondly, the house was designed and built by his wife before she passed away in Travancore, after which he returned to Madras to spend the rest of his life in the house “which perpetuated her memory” and which he had improved by developing an orchard around it.

Egmore Railway Station waiting room

Then comes his most significant argument. “After retiring from Government service, I have turned my mind to the remodeling of the Indian Christian Church and am the founder and the President of the National Church of India. My residence in Egmore is the Head Quarters of the movement and I have utilized a building here for the purpose of worship and there have been already two ordinations of Ministers during the past year. It was also my intention to erect a substantial building as a Temple for public worship by members of the Christian Community on the land… (which) is centrally located.”

 With such extent of land not available in a central area, a move to a distant location where space might be available would inconvenience his congregation considerably, Pulney Andy goes on to explain at some length. He, however, concludes:

“But should it be considered that my property is absolutely required for the purpose of Railway construction and should Government desire to compel me to part with it, under the provisions of the Act, I beg to state that I may be granted a compensation of not less than one hundred thousand rupees (Rs.100,000) for it and sufficient time should be given me for removal.” 

His request was met with alacrity but not generosity, the ‘not less’ ignored, it would appear, for the handover was quick and the station was ready to flag out its first train, the Boat Mail, on June 11, 1908.

 S Muthiah, : H : 19 Oct 2014

Bridges And buildings

Bridge-building tales

 Here are a couple of tales about the building of bridges in 19th Century Madras as related to me by civil engineer D.H. Rao who has made delving into the histories of the city’s bridges his hobby. 

These are stories arising out of Government’s practice of getting estimates for civil work and then finding the costs have been exceeded. Inquiries follow, then as now, but what happens next?

 Nothing seems to change.

In the case of the 1840 18-arch Elphinstone Bridge over the Adyar (now lying derelict but looking solid, while constant maintenance work goes on on its neighbour, the new Thiru Vi Ka Bridge), on its completion, the Military Board declared it a magnificent piece of work.

 But Governor Lord Elphinstone did not think so; he wanted to know from the Board why the cost had exceeded the estimate, particularly when it had been approved by the Court of Directors in London with the proviso that the approved amount should on no account be exceeded.

In his reply, the Superintending Engineer cited the costs of two other bridges he had built to show that the costs incurred in building the Elphinstone Bridge were on the same lines.

 The extra cost incurred was only because the river was always full of water and several persons had to be employed in constantly bailing out the water to keep the coffer dams dry while raising the foundation.

 This was totally unexpected. The arguments went on for months, but in the end the matter was happily resolved to the engineer’s satisfaction.

It was in another instance too, but in this case it caused the builder of the 1805 St. George’s Bridge (now the Periyar Bridge) considerable more concern for months.

 Lt. Thomas Fraser was not only censured for the cost over-run but also had his commission and other benefits withheld. 

In this case, Fraser justified the excess expenditure by pointing out that after the foundation work was completed, he was asked by the Council to re-align the bridge. So, he once again had to sink wells for the foundation, piers and abutments.

 Further changes were ordered by the Council from time to time and he carried out the Council’s orders every time. He was therefore not responsible for the final cost — which was entirely due to his only having carried out the orders of the Council. In this case too, the arguments continued for long, but eventually Governor Lord William Bentinck accepted Fraser’s appeal and restored all his benefits.

On a third occasion, a bridge on South Beach Road needed substantial repairs. These were carried out, but a couple of years later the Military Board sought further funds to carry out additional repairs to the bridge. 

The Governor was not ready to sanction the amount until he was told why the bridge had not been regularly inspected for maintenance, who was responsible for such inspection, and “why he had not carried out his work sincerely.” What eventually happened in this instance is not known, but what is clear is that, at one time, heads of government kept a sharp eye on even comparatively minor expenditures

 But then those were more leisurely times, weren’t they, and heads of government had time on their hands.

 S Muthiah : H :19 Oct 2014

History :Spencer’s and the railwayman

It was in this column at the beginning of this year, January 13th in fact, while recalling Alan Turing, ‘the Father of the Computer’, that I mentioned that his maternal grandfather was a railwayman, E.W. Stoney, who had retired to his cottage in Coonoor.

 At that time, I was certain that I had come across the name Stoney somewhere but for the life of me could not remember where. 

Then the other day, while researching a project I’m working on, the name leapt out of the page from a book I was going through,The Spencer Legend — and to think I couldn’t remember the man I had mentioned in that book of mine!

Stoney, I had recorded, was a very good friend of Eugene Oakshott who in 1897 kick-started the growth of Spencer’s by making the proprietary firm a public limited company. 

And the first shareholder of Spencer & Co Ltd was E.W. Stoney, a senior manager with the South Indian Railway. 

How much that connection had to do with Spencer’s being the caterers for the SIR must be 1eft to the gossip-mongers, but it was a relationship that lasted well over 50 years.

How close Stoney’s connection with the Chairman, Eugene Oakshott, was can be gauged from the fact that Stoney was made a member of the Spencer’s Board in 1902 and served on it till 1904. 

Presumably, he had by then retired from the SIR where his service had earned him a CIE (Commander of the Indian Empire).

 He must have bought The Gables in Coonoor around then and watched his grandson run about in the premises.

It would be nice to know what Stoney was in the SIR. Spencer’s records mention him as being a General Manager at a time when an Agent headed the operation.

 A history of the SIR does not mention him at all. But to have got a CIE he must have been very senior in the organisation and an achiever. Maybe I’ll hear about it one of those days from someone in ‘Trichinopoly’ where the SIR was headquartered.

S Muthiah  Metro plus 4 Aug 2014

History :The Landing in Madras

Disembarkation

As the 375th anniversary of the founding of Madras that is Chennai draws near, an oft-asked question keeps cropping up again and again. 

With no safe landing place anywhere on the three-mile long stretch of coast that was the eastern boundary of the sandy spit Venkatadri Nayak granted Francis Day in 1639, why did he accept the grant on behalf of the East India Company, realising full well what the ship-to-shore problems would be, given the rough surf and dangerous swell every landing had to contend with?

 I’ve in years of searching for an answer never been able to find a satisfactory one, but I keep finding descriptions time and again of that ship-to-shore passage. 

The latest I’ve found was a narration by a Maria Graham who travelled in India from 1809 to 1811 and had her recollections of that sojourn published in Edinburgh in 1831 under the titleJournal of a Residence in India.

 Recording her words here is a reminder of how far we have come from the early days of the city.

Stating that a friend who had seen her ship enter Madras Roads had sent out a boat — presumably what was called a masula boat — to bring her ashore (about a mile from where the ship had anchored), she continues, “While I was observing its structure and its rowers, they suddenly set up a song, as they called it but I do not know that I ever heard so wild and plaintive a cry. 

We were getting into the surf: the cockswain now stood up, and with his voice and his foot kept time vehemently, while the men worked their oars backwards, till a violent surf came, struck the boat, and carried it along with a frightful violence; then every oar was plied to prevent the wave from taking us back as it receded, and this was repeated five or six times, the song of the boatmen rising and falling with the waves, till we were dashed high and dry on the beach.

“The boats used for crossing the surf are large and light, made of very thin planks sewed together, with straw in the seams, for caulking would make them too stiff; and the great object is, that they should be flexible, and give to the water like leather, otherwise they would be dashed to pieces.

 Across the very edge of the boat are the bars on which the rowers sit; and two or more men are employed in the bottom of the boat to bail out the water… At one end of the boat is a bench with cushions and a curtain, for passengers, so that they are kept dry while the surf is breaking round the boat.

“We were hardly ashore when we were surrounded by above a hundred Dubashis and servants of all kinds, pushing for employment. The Dubashis undertake to interpret, to buy all you want, to change money, to provide you with servants, tradesmen, and palankeens, and, in short, to do everything that a stranger finds it irksome to do for himself…”

Later during her stay in Madras, Graham visits Mahabalipuram and makes two perceptive observations. She points out that the “head-dress on the gods and principal persons represented in the sculpture rocks at this place, have not the smallest likeness to any used in this part of India, but they extremely resemble those of the countries bordering upon Tartary, and those represented in the cave of Elephanta. The figures of the Brahmins and pilgrims are (on the other hand) precisely as seen every day at present…..”

 Her contention would appear to be that the sculptors came from somewhere in northern India. She then goes on to state something that fellow conservationists like your columnist are saying 200 years later: “I am sorry to observe, that the Madras government has let the rocks of Mahvellipoor by way of stone quarries, and they are digging the stone so near some of the best executed caves, as to threaten them with destruction…” Nothing, it would seem has changed; the biggest threat to heritage would appear to be governments!

S Muthiah  Metro plus 4 Aug 2014