Last week I led a walk tracing the bounds of Historic Chepauk Palace. Yes, we all know that the precincts once spanned 117 acres and that the palace itself comprised two wings Humayun Mahal and Khalas Mahal with R. F. Chisholm’s tower standing between them. But where today are the boundaries of this erstwhile residence of the Nawabs of Arcot?
The Missing Chepauk Palace Plaque
During the walk, I noted with sorrow that a marble plaque, let into the northwest wall of Humayun Mahal, had vanished during the restoration process. It was one of only two such markers in the city. The other is on the wall of the Great House on Charles Street, also known as Admiralty House or Clive’s House, inside Fort St. George.
The plaque at Chepauk Palace read: “These Buildings Formerly Formed Part Of The Palace Of The Nawabs Of The Carnatic.” Surprisingly, despite seeing it several times, I did not have a single photograph of it in my collection.
It was also rather tricky to capture. Fortunately, Andrew Whitehead supplied me with his copy, which you can see alongside. I hope those restoring the palace have carefully kept the plaque in storage and will return it to its rightful place once the restoration is complete.
Questions About the Restoration
Talking about the restoration, though I am no conservation architect, the liberal use of Athangudi tiles struck an alien note. The proposed museum on the site also seems to demand considerable partitioning of what were once open halls. Many of the doors seemed new.
What happened to the old ones? And why the false ceilings? Anyway, we need to be thankful that the building is receiving attention and was not brought down shortly after the conflagration. A minister had announced that possibility immediately after the fire.
The Nawab’s Private Mosque
Harking back to the plaque, it stood on the one section of the palace whose function we can identify with reasonable certainty. The three domes, the west-facing wall, and the short minarets indicate that this was the Nawab’s private mosque.
About the rest of Chepauk Palace, however, we know very little. Beyond the fact that Humayun Mahal formed the private quarters and Khalas Mahal the public area, the layout remains uncertain. Years of alterations, first by the British and later by us and our administration, robbed Chepauk Palace of any clarity.
The Boundaries of Chepauk Palace
Fortunately, the boundaries of Chepauk are better established. The Nawab’s bathing pavilion stood where the University buildings now rise, at the edge of the Cooum near Napier’s Bridge. Water from the river fed the bathing pool inside what was known as Hasht Bangala—Hasht meaning eight in Persian.
It became the Nawab’s Octagon in English. When the administration diddled the Nawab out of his palace in 1855, it converted the Octagon into a guest house for the Governor and named it Marine Villa. For many years, even after Napier’s Bridge was built, boats ferried visitors from the Fort to the Villa. In the 1930s, the administration handed it over to the University. Soon afterwards, it demolished the building to make way for the present structures.
How the Palace Grounds Changed
The Nawab’s saluting battery became the site of the Senate House, while the artillery park gave way to Presidency College. The Chisholm-designed PWD building blocked the rear of Chepauk Palace, which had faced the sea.
Later, Ezhilagam occupied the northeast corner. The Government’s Agriculture Department now occupies the northern side. That leaves the western face, opening onto Wallajah Road. Interestingly, this was the front of the palace.
Its principal entrance was a triple arch, now demolished. It stood on Wallajah Road, not far from its junction with Triplicane High Road, now Quaid-e-Milleth Salai.
Before the Buckingham Canal
Before the Buckingham Canal cut through the grounds in the 1890s, Chepauk Palace formed one uninterrupted estate. It extended westwards and included what are now the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, the Madras Cricket Club, the Victoria Hostel, and the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial (Gosha) Hospital.
Its western boundary therefore lay along what is now Bells Road, or Babu Jagjivan Ram Salai.
Forgotten Reminders of the Nawabs
Other functional units appear to have existed beyond the palace proper, deep inside Thiruvallikeni. Kombai Anwar has taken me to a narrow arch called the Kaman Darwaza, on the street of the same name just off Pycrofts Road, now Bharathi Salai.
It is now incorrectly known as Kammam Darwaza. Then there is Yanai Kulam, or Elephant Tank, now only a name with no waterbody in sight. Puli Bonu Bazaar was where the Nawab kept a caged (bonu) tiger (puli), maintained by the rents collected from the market (bazaar) alongside.
And no, Kodambakkam was not Ghoda Baugh, where the Nawab tethered his horses before walking to Chepauk.
Why Historic Markers Matter
Chepauk Palace remains an enigma. Many people do not even know it exists and confuse it with Amir Mahal. That is why the loss of the plaque is an even greater tragedy.
This article appeared in The Hindu–https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/when-historic-markers-of-madras-go-missing/article71248183.ece
My book, Chennai, A Biography can be ordered-http://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/20.ece
