Parantharami Mani

      An interior street of Black Town in this photograph taken by John Nicholas in 1865.  The beauiful tiled houses  can be seen with Thinnais outside for chit chatting and an era when no electricity was there. The new Black town developed after 1760s was originally made up of Muthialpet where the Left hand castes lived (Traders, Artisans, Oil Mongers, Leather workers and Weavers) and Peddanickenpet where the Right hand castes lived(Land owners, Accountants etc Dubashes and Merchants).  The Telugu speaking Arya Vysya and Beri Chetties generally lived west of Pophams Broadway while Tamil speaking Sengunda Mudaliyars lived east of Pophams Broadway and Moors to the North. The Black town was highly congested overpopulated and extended over 850 acres from NSC Bose Road in South to Old Jail Road in North and from Wall Tax Road on the West to North Beach Road in the East.

         A panoromic view of St.Thomas Mount in 1920s.  The church at the top of the mountain was constructed by the Portugese in 1523 and the steps to the mountain were built of charity made by Coja Petrus Uscan the Armenian merchant in 1740s.

    Visited St.Marys Church on Christmas day on 25th Dec 2015 along with my daughters to show them the heritage church and of the city.  The morning service were done by Rev. Father Kripa Lilly Elizabeth and there was a good congregation inspite of the fact that the church is inside the Fort in high security zone.She blessed us from her heart.  The 335 year old church has to be seen at least once to know the heritage of the city.  Had a satisfactory prayer and meditation.

      This is the advertisement given by Nicholas Bros who had taken many photos of South India including Madras in the second half of 19th century.  They had their studio in  Western Castlet, Mount Road,  Their Madras studio opened in 1861 and were in business upto 1905 although John Nicholas left India in 1890s. He also opened a studio in Ooty in 1869 in partnership with H.V.Curth.  One of th panoramic views taken by him of the Black Town in 1865.

         Cornwallis Cupola in the Fort Parade ground from a picture taken by Frederick Fiebig in the year 1851.  The Cupola and the statue of Cornwallis was raised by the principal inhabitants of Madras and Civil and Military personnel of East India Company in 1800 AD as a tribute to him for securing Madras from the forces of Tippu Sultan in the year 1791.  The statue was sculted by Thomas Banks of London.  As quoted in "Memories of Madras" the statue was opened on 15th May 1800 by Lord Edward Clive Governor of Madras in the parade ground in the presence of principal officers of the company amidst firing of guns from the saluting battery. It so happened that when Cornwallis came back to India to take charge of Governor General post in 1805 he passed through Madras on 6th May and was received by William Bentick Governor of Madras from the sea gate under a canopy of lined up troops upto the Cupola. An address was presented to him which was reciproca...

        Durant and Spenbcer.  This is the original Spencer shop.Charles Durant and John William Spencer were Assistants working in Oaks & Co. Charles Durant was an ambitious man and he wanted to open a shop of his own. Oaks & Co was in Pophams Broadway and in 1863 he opened his own shop in the newly developing great choultry plain on the eastern end of Mount Road. It was intially a "Merchant and Commission "Agent shop. Later that year J.W.Spencer joined him and the name of spencer  appeared in Madras for the first time. This shop is believed to have been in place near the Philatelic Bureau.

                Visited Sriperumbvudur Temple on 29th November before the rains started after dropping my daughter for an exam at Poonamalle.  It is the birthplace of Shri Ramanuja who enunciated the Vishishtadwaitha philosophy.  He was born in 1017 AD and lived for 120 years.  The main deity of the temple is Shri Ramanuja one of the three idols of him the other two being in Melkote and Srirangam.  The idols were made by his shishyas.  The perumal here is called Adikesava Perumal and thayar is called Yathirajanadhavalli. Th idol of Ramanuja is called Thanuganda thirumeni meaning that which is like by Acharya.  There is a mandapam opposite the temple in which Ramanuja was supposed to be born.  The temple has ingredients of late Chola and early Vijayanagar architechture. During the wars of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan the idols were shifted to Madras.

     Madras University students in the year 1860 with some sporting religions symbols. Hard to believe.  The student in trousers is an East Indian.

               This is a beautiful photograph of European part of Black Town taken by Frederick Fiebig a German Photographer in 1851. The original Black Town was immediately to the north of Fort wall in the area where RBI and High Court are situated now. This was raced to the ground after the war with the French in 1760s and the new Black Town was developed to the north of it in Muthiapet and Peddanaickenpet. The first Europeans to settle in Black Town were Armenians and Portugese. Still there are streets in their names Armenian Street, Portugese Church Street and Coral Merchant Street where Armenians lived and traded in Gems.        As Madras grew Blacktown became the main commercial centre and many Europeans moved out of the Fort and settled in Black Town. Its Grid pattern layout is the earliest example of English town planning in India.  Three broad streets (North Beach Road, Pophams Broadway and Mint Street) interse...

    The East Mada Street, Mylapore in the year 1851 with the chariot of Kapali. This is a photograph taken by ace German photographer Frederick Fiebig who had taken hundreds of photographs of Madras, Calcutta and Ceylon. As per the book " A view from below" written by Kanaklatha Mukund  Kumarappa Mudali who had taken over the Dharmakartaship of the temple in 1740 did a lot of things to improve the temple.  He was the Dubash and Kanakkupule of Governor Saunders. The first thing he did was to remove people of other religions from the vicinity of temple by paying handsome amounts to them.  He built the compound wall of the temple and the temple tanks and widened the four mada streets of the temple so that processions can go smoothly.  He also planted a lot of coconut trees on the mada streets and created an endowment so that a regular income is there for the upkeep of the temple.  He arranged for the dancing girls and also nominated temple servants. ...