BLACK TOWN 1865

      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 The new Black town developed after 1760s was originally made up of Muthialpet where the Left hand castes lived (Traders, Artisans, Oil Mongers, Leather workers and Weavers) and Peddanickenpet where the Right hand castes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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ananda Vikatan 1945

Image
     From my collection of old magazine.1945 Deepavali Malar of  Ananda  Vikatan and excerpts from it.  A family  enjoying  gramophone record and the  Thula Ghat in Mayavaram where the Pushkaram was held  recently
Read more

Hazarat Dastagir Sahib Dargah, Triplicane, Madras

Image
      Hazrat Dastagir  Sahib Dargah, Dr.Natesan Road in 1870s. He was descended  from a Turkish  family  and was a kin of Adil Shahi  dynasty of Bijapur where he was born. He settled in Madras after much travelling all over the  country. He predicted his death and asked his disciples not to do the funeral  prayer for him by a Imam. It is said he himself  appeared and did the Janana for himself.  He died in 1752 . The  Nawab of Arcot  Walajah   built a dargah in 1789 over his burial  site. A revered Sufi Saint.
Read more

Holiday list 1832

Image
      European and Native holidays in Madras Presidency in the year 1832. See the beautiful spellings.  What festival is  Calatapetta Wooroovady. It is Kaladipet Uriyadi celebrated in Kalyana Varadaraja  Perumal Temple,  Kaladipet. St. Thome feast  is Rathostavam of Mylapore Kapali Temple.
Read more