It was a ‘cause for rejoicing’. Several volleys of shots were downed; the soldiers went ‘hurrah!’ and were ‘as merry as the punch could make them’; 19 guns were fired and prisoners were freed. The occasion? The Union Jack was to be hoisted on the teak wood mast of Fort St. George for the first time by Elihu Yale, the then Governor of Madras. Hiram Bingham traced the events of the day around 1687 in Elihu Yale: The American Nabob of Queen Square .
Historian Sriram V. read out passages from the book to a gathering of history buffs at The Madras Book Club’s event commemorating 375 years of Fort St. George. The presentation focussed on books on the Fort — Sriram took the audience through the Fort by narrating its story from books as recent as S. Muthiah’s Madras Rediscovered , to yellowing, moth-eaten ones from long ago.
The Fort, around which Madras evolved, was testimony to important events in history. It was here that the first corporation in the country was formed; where freedom fighter Arya Bashyam climbed up the flag post on January 26, 1932 to hoist the Tricolour in place of the Union Jack; it’s here that the Tricolour that flew from 5.30 a.m. on August 15, 1947, is stored to this day…
Sriram showed maps that illustrated the evolution of the original structure that existed on a strip of land between the Bay of Bengal and the Elambore River. “The Fort that exists today is not what it was before,” he said.
However, the original structure still survives — it is enclosed by the assembly building. The pillars in front of the assembly chamber, he noted, were made of locally sourced granite. “All they require is a little polishing to gleam. But they’ve been permanently painted black,” he observed.
Sriram showed a picture of a house, a relic from the 1650s on ‘Snob’s Alley’ or St. Thomas Street where the wealthy people lived. The St. Mary’s church inside the premises, a structure of great beauty, is the “oldest Anglican church built to the east of the Suez Canal,” he said. He spoke of how the church was “built in various phases”.
“Four governors are buried in the church,” he said. “One of them died under mysterious circumstances.” A tombstone, he mentioned, bears an engraving that says ‘In memory of…’ and nothing else.
“The rear end of the Fort is even more beautiful,” felt Sriram. He presented slides of the Fort Square “where soldiers marched” and the cupola of Cornwallis under which he is said to have delivered a speech.
Every piece of land within the Fort has a story to tell. But this magnificent structure is “always under threat” said Sriram. “There is a public perception that the Fort is inaccessible,” said Sriram. But it’s open to anyone who’s interested in wandering around, soaking in its history. He urged the audience to visit it: “That’s the best tribute we can pay to Fort St. George.”
Bookmark
Sriram’s must-reads on Fort St. George
Madras in the Olden Time by James Talboys Wheeler
Vestiges of Old Madras by H. D. Love
The Nabobs of Madras by Henry Dodwell
Memories of Madras by Sir Charles Lawson
Vicissitudes of Fort St. George by David Leighton
The Founding of Madras by N. S. Ramaswami
Madras Rediscovered by S. Muthiah
