This is that month of the year when research and presentations on Madras reach fever pitch. Some, however, seem ever prepared with something new—or old, depending on how you look at it. Among them is Karthik Bhatt, who has sent me Chennai Kanchi, a poem on the city written in 1939 by Ra Krishnamurthy, Teacher at the Nagarathar High School, Devakottai.
It was one of three publications on the city brought out that year, which some sections of Madras observed as the tercentenary of its founding. The first was the Madras Tercentenary Volume, edited by Rao Bahadur C.S. Srinivasachari with contributions from various members of the tercentenary committee. The second was The History of the City of Madras by Srinivasachari himself, and the third was Chennai Kanchi.
Inspiration from Sangam Literature
Given that Srinivasachari was himself Professor of History at Annamalai University, it is clear he must have known of Krishnamurthy’s skills as a poet and invited him to write. The work is based largely on the format of the famed Madurai Kanchi, a Sangam-era poem that forms part of the Pattupaatu compilation.
Kanchi here does not refer to the temple town, but to a form of verse. In his introduction to Chennai Kanchi, R.C. Subramania Iyer, Lecturer at the Sri Meenakshi Oriental Training College (which a decade earlier had been the seed of Annamalai University), offers details on Kanchi as a literary form.
The Form and Its Message
Kanchi, he explains, is a long form of poetry where the impermanence of youth, wealth, and worldly glory is contrasted with lasting virtue through valour and salvation. Chennai Kanchi, while praising the glories of Madras, also warns the ruling dispensation of the fleeting nature of empire and domination.
Even its opening lines, ostensibly paying obeisance to King George VI, are tongue-in-cheek: “O those who rule over this glorious land in the name of George VI, who is king of a small country several thousand miles away.”
A Walk Through Colonial Madras
The poem then moves into describing Madras itself. It begins with the arrival of Francis Day, the growth of Fort St. George, the founding of Black Town, its demolition after the French withdrawal, and the subsequent construction of New Black Town.
It continues with the development of Company villages such as Chintadripet, Washermanpet, and Colletpet. The Nawab’s forced surrender of lands is described, along with the gradual inclusion of Thiruvallikeni, Nungambakkam, and other areas into Madras. Curiously, it even claims that Francis Day first arrived in Mylapore!
Landmarks and the Everyday City
The poem lists several important city landmarks—the beach, the University buildings, Ice House, Senate House, and Queen Mary’s College. It also speaks of the Harbour, George Town, the High Court campus, Central Station, General Hospital, the Madras Medical College, and the Zoo.
At that time, the wireless was clearly a wonder, and the poem notes its use by the police around Fort St. George. More amusingly, it complains about the proliferation of motor cars and the noise they created—a reminder of how some concerns never change.
A Call for Independence
The poem closes with a strong nationalist sentiment: urging the British to leave the city to Indians and let them get on with self-rule. And then comes a sharp irony—on the back cover it states that copies of the book could be purchased not in Madras, but from an address in Basavangudi, Bangalore.
That even a book on Madras had to be distributed from another city says much about the times—and perhaps about Madras itself.
This article appeared in The Hindu–https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/an-ode-to-madras-in-1939/article69951583.ece
My book, Chennai, A Biography can be ordered – https://sriramv.com/2021/12/27/how-to-buy-autographed-copies-of-chennai-a-biography-from-outstation/
