Setting Out on the Search

Like most others in the city, I had a very vague idea of the chronology of the names Madras and Chennai, and this year, during August, determined that I would get a clear grip on the sequence in which they were first mentioned. At the end of it, I must say I am older, and wiser. And so here goes.

William Faden’s plan of Madras published in London in 1816 | Photo Credit: Barry Lawrence Ruderman

The First Appearance of Madraspatnam

Madraspatnam is the name that first appears. This is in Venkatadri Nayak’s land grant of 1639.

The English translation of this document, reproduced in H.D. Love’s Vestiges of Old Madras, records the arrival of the British at “our port of Medraspatam,” thereby indicating that there was a village/settlement of that name predating 1639. What was more, it was a port. Patnam itself is a suffix used only for seaside towns anyway

The 1645 Grant and the Jackal’s Ground

In 1645, the grant for the same land was obtained from the ruler – Raja Sriranga Raya, who had his capital at Chandragiri and whose representative the Nayak really was.

This claims the British have arrived at “Zera Renga Rayapatam, my towne” and there built a fort. This seems to imply that alongside Madraspatnam, a new fort was built (Fort St George), which the poor deluded Raja seems to have imagined was named after him.

In addition, the grant assigns to the British the rents of the ground about the village of Madraspatam and also a place called the Jackal’s Ground, later translated as Narimedu. This name was assigned to the land where the General Hospital and the old MMC campus stand.

Where Was Chennapatnam?

So far, there is no mention of Chennapatnam. H.D. Love surmises that this was the name of the land on which Fort St George came to be built. We do know that Madras was to the north of this, and it was in 1673 defined as “the Indian town with flat houses,” meaning the Old Black Town that stood to the north of the Fort. So far so good – Chennapatnam was the fort, and Madraspatnam the village to its north.

The Temple Donations and Early Confusion

The confusion begins with 1646 when the gunpowder maker Nagabattan made a donation to the Chennakesava Perumal Temple, which he says was in Chennapattanam. The temple was in Old Black Town, north of the Fort, where the High Court now stands. A subsequent donation, in 1648, by Beri Thimmappa, the Dubash, also records that the temple was in Chennapattanam. He should have known, for it was he who built it!

The 1672 Grant of Golconda

By 1672, a fresh grant was needed, this time from the new power, namely Golconda. Neknam Khan’s grant was given that year and it clearly demarcated the “Fort and Town of Chinapatam” and distinguished it from the “Place called Madrassapatam.”

We can see that even here, the Fort was considered to be in Chennapatnam, with Black Town now added to it.

The Maratha Manuscript of 1802

In 1802, C.V. Boria, the epigraphist to Col Colin Mackenzie, unearthed a Maratha manuscript that stood many of the early theories on their head.

As per this, the town had four distinct parts –

  • Madras Coopom on which the British built their fort,
  • Chennaik Coopom, on which stood the villages of Muthialpet and Pagdalpet (New Black Town or George Town),
  • Arkoopom, said to be where the Cooum meets the sea, and
  • Maleput, later surmised to be near Salt Cotaurs.

A Reversal of History

In short, by 1802, a Marathi manuscript reversed history. The fort became Madras and the town Chennai. And this is still faithfully trotted out – Madras was English while Chennai became Tamil (it could have well been Telugu). It then became a convenient reason to rename the city.

This article appeared in The Hindu– https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/which-came-first-madras-or-chennai/article70004592.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/