Santhome of faithfuls

CHENNAI: Plundered twice by Hyder Ali, bombarded from the sea by the French, demolished by the Dutch and captured and run by Golconda, Santhome has more history than any part of the city.

But today it’s the premier schooling district in Chennai and the hubbub of traffic lets people forget that. Santhome was a Pallava port and Pallava emperors termed themselves as Mayilai Kavalan (guardian of Mylapore).

Aurangzeb minted coins in Santhome though they were called Mailapur coins. Golconda had a courthouse here called the Kutcheri to which a road in Mylapore stands testimony. The Nawab moved from Arcot first to Santhome before he built a palace in Chepauk. The Christian culture of Madras is ancient and Santhome is wholly symbolic of it. This Christmas day we analyse the aspects of Santhome locality.

SANTHOME FORT

Santhome was the only megapolis in Madras even when the British hadn’t thought of building a fort. Cartographer Pedro Barretto de Rezende drew a map of a large Portuguese fort on the banks of the Adyar which was then called the Santhome river. The fort had walls half a mile on all sides with the sea on the east and moats on the rest. There were bastions and gates in all four directions.

The well-equipped fort even had a gunpowder factory on the north-western end (where a road named powder mill road stands testament even today). So obsessed with Santhome were the British that one of their fort St. George entrances was named Santhome Gate.

ST THOMAS

There were 12 apostles of Christ. Soon after the crucifixion, most of them were hunted down by their enemies and buried in nameless graves.

Only three apostles had churches built over their remains — St Peter (Vatican), St James (Spain) and St Thomas (Santhome).

St Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus is said to have died in Madras in 72AD. He was buried at the Santhome Basilica, which was earlier a minor Nestorian chapel.

Later, his mortal remains were taken to Europe, with a relic left behind at this church, for reverence. The present Neo-Gothic style structure was built in the late 1890s and was renovated later. There is a miracle attributed to St Thomas in Santhome. Unblocking the river Adyar and letting the flood waters flow into the sea.

PARRY’S FACTORY

A much-remembered businessman, Welshman Thomas Parry came to Madras and tried his hands at all types of businesses (even selling lottery tickets).

But it was in Santhome that he became an industrialist. In 1805 he established a 15-acre seaside tannery and a boot-making unit — perhaps the first organised factory manufacturing goods in India. At one point he was the largest employer in Santhome with more than 400 workers in two shifts. Parry exported most of his boots to the newly-formed United States.

To closely observe the business, he built a large house for himself within the old Portuguese fort premises and people called it Parry’s castle. Today the company in his name possesses one of the most respected brands in the country.

THE TWO BEAUTIES OF SANTHOME

Portuguese in Santhome started marrying local girls and their Mestico/Mestiza offspring had the better characteristics of both races.

Stunning beauties were known to have lived in Santhome. Two Mestico women changed the history of Madras substantially. It is strongly believed the location of Madras was chosen because its founding father Francis Day was in love with a half-Portuguese Mestico beauty residing in Santhome.

Because of this romance the choice of Madras location which went against many of the commercial advantages one needed to have for a port was done. A century later, the nemesis of Madras was French administrator François Dupleix of Puducherry.

The Madras residents had spent a sleepless decade because of his enmity which could also be because of his wife — the famous Begum Dupleix who had Santhome origins.

An unknown factor in Jeanne’s Santhome origins made her a sworn hater of the British. An influential wife, she made her husband attack Madras again and again.

CONTROVERSIES

In an age of religious disputes, Santhome always occupies the forefront of controversy. Both Hindus and Jains lay claims to having had important temples in Santhome that they say were destroyed by colonial powers in the 1500s.

Historians are divided on judging this sensitive issue because of contradictory details available. For instance, Marco Polo visited Santhome in 1310 to see a Nestorian church there over the grave of Saint Thomas while the colonial powers came only 200 years later.

On the other hand, the museum behind the Santhome Basilica exhibits remnants of a Hindu and a Jain temple dating back to the Cholas which were unearthed during the expansion of the basilica.

THE LAND OF SACRIFICE

Lawyer-turned-filmmaker K Subramaniam lived on Santhome High Road just opposite the beach palace of Mysore. He shot his famed pre-1947 film Thyaga Bhoomi, a patriotic presentation which irritated the British and thus evoked ban orders.

Kalki’s story was simultaneously serialised in Ananda Vikatan when the film production was going on with stills from the film being published.

There were shots of Congress processions and charka spinning repeatedly and songster Papanasam Sivan’s character was based on

Gandhi himself. The only memory of the film in the area is a road named after Papanasam Sivan (who acted and wrote numerous songs for the film) though he did not live there.

THE BATTLE OF ADYAR

One of the decisive battles of Indian history happened partly in Santhome. It was here that the efficacy of a disciplined force versus a rabble was proved. Also, the superiority of European warfare was enforced over local powers.

On October 24, 1746, the French East India Company was sending reinforcements to Madras which it had earlier captured. While they assembled on quibble island (now MRC Nagar) the forces of the Nawab of Arcot represented by his son Mahfuz Khan stood on the Santhome side of the Adyar to enforce peace. The French forces though less than 500 were disciplined and defeated the 10,000-strong Arcot army in a few minutes.

STELLA MARIS COLLEGE

It was on August 15, 1947, when India severed its 300-year bondage. And exactly on the same day, a college was started within the 10-year-old Rosary Matric School in Santhome. The Santhome institution was named Stella Maris after the Virgin Mary, ‘Star of the Sea’ being an age-old designation for her. The Manueline tradition of naming and designing structures with contexts to the sea was quite common in seafaring European towns.

Only 32 students got enrolled into the one-storied college as collegiate education wasn’t contemplated safe in orthodox Madras. The nuns had to go house to house in Mylapore and Santhome and sweet-talk the parents to let their daughters join the new college. Soon, as the trust grew so did the number of students and the college needing more space moved to Cathedral Road.

MARCO POLO

The most famous traveller in the world, Marco Polo, who hailed from Venice, came to Santhome around the year 1310.

He particularly wanted to visit the tomb of the apostle. On reaching the site, he would witness a small Nestorian church and would write: “The body of St Thomas the Apostle lies in this territory of Malabar at a certain little town having no great population. It is a place where few traders go, because there are very little commodities to be got there, and it is a place not very approachable. Both Christians and Saracens greatly frequent it in pilgrimage and take sand from the area as medicine for the sick.” He also mentions the area is frequented by peacocks.

CHURCHES OF SANTHOME

The connection with an apostle has led to many churches being built in Santhome in all orders.

There were five original churches built by the Portuguese within the fort. Two within the old fort walls survive — the Basilica (rebuilt in neo-Gothic style by the British) and Rosary Church.

Outside the perimeter, there are at least four Portuguese churches. Santhome is perhaps the only place to have a church dedicated to a country. The St Rita’s Church has on its wall an Armenian inscription “in memory of the Armenian nation” because, at that point in time, Armenia had been invaded and annexed by enemies.

St Thomas By The Sea Church is an Anglican church built in 1842. During the British period, this was the prayer place of the Protestant cream in Madras, especially the residents of the garden houses of Adyar. The Governor of Madras had his own pew.

MADEIROS AND MADRAS

Two features of the Santhome are widely thought of as important by historians in deciphering the etymology of Madras.

Madre-de-Deus, or the Mother of God Church, is called the Dhyana Ashrama today. For long, historians thought it possible that this church could have contributed to the name of Madras. On the other hand, the Madeiros family was the richest in Santhome. The Madeiros family was made millionaires through many products of which the main was the Madeira wine. The casks of wine called pipes could hold a hundred gallons. The nautical travel enhanced the quality of the Madeira wine and Santhome was a major port to receive and distribute it. The Madeiros had huge investments around Fort St George as well. In fact, the government house where the governor lived was previously a garden house of a Portuguese merchant, Luis de Madeiros. Could they have influenced the name of the city?

ROBERTO DE NOBILI

A Jesuit missionary, Roberto de Nobili spent his last days in Santhome. His method of preaching included adopting many local customs of India and thus was nicknamed “the White Brahman”.

He mastered Indian languages, dressed in saffron and wore a tuft. Some of the Tamil words he used including vedam (bible), poosai (mass) are still used in Tamil Christian jargon.

While his intention may have been religious conversion, he is considered one of the earliest proponents of Tamil prose when the language was predominantly seeped in poetry.However, his adoption of local customs angered the church and he was banished to Santhome where he died unforgiven and forgotten. However, soon thereafter the church realised his methods were very effective.