Strolling around SADRAS
It isn't the most salubrious time of the year or day to go wandering along a fishing village on East Coast Road .
10 AM on a bright September day.
We hurry past ASI's blue signboard warning visitors against damaging the Protected Monument . But there is no sign board announcing the name of the monument itself : DUTCH FORT , SADRAS
It is silent as a graveyard as we linger by the portal to admire the handsome white washed tower (belfry?) crowning it . Looks like it has been replastered and painted only recently. The brick walls on either side , though unplastered, are undamaged . Some periwinkle shrubs in full bloom add a touch of cheery contrast.
Two heavy iron cannons flank the entrance, one bearing the distinct V mark on its weather-beaten surface. V from the logo of VOC - Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie ( The Dutch East India Company), the World's first Joint Stock Company , a trail blazing trading enterprise that had, in its time , eclipsed all other European fortune seekers who sailed to Asian shores.
The VOC had more ships and traded in more commodities than the English, the Portuguese and the French put together between 1600s and 1700s. Headquartered in Batavia of East Indies ( Jakarta of Indonesia today) , VOC amassed huge profits from its spice monopoly . Forts on the coasts of Malabar , Bengal , Surat, Coromandal and Ceylon were necessary outposts for storage, resupply and transit . Apart from Spice, the Dutch traded in Textiles , precious stones, Indigo , Saltpetre and Opium . However, greed, mismanagement and corruption took toll and the rising English power drove the Dutch out of India for good . Effectively , Dutch presence in India was between 1605 to 1825 . Relics they left behind in our land include forts, graveyards and Coins struck in the Mints of Cochin, Masulipatam, Nagapattinam and Pulicat .
SADRAS , the port town where the Fort we are entering stands, was only a minor bastion , south of Pulicat , which functioned as a warehouse and a weaving center for fine muslin cloth.
Right after the entrance is the small graveyard , enclosed by a compound wall. Locked.
We spy a man resting under the cool shade of a massive , aged tree on the left . Behind him is seen a dilapidated brick-and-mortar shed with a set of trough -like structures on the side. Cannot decipher the function : could be the stable or some water management idea. There is a well too , quite like a modern well. Perhaps it is. The water deep down is bright green and velvety.
Upon request , the man despatches a lady to unlock the cemetery for us. There are about 16 rectangular gravestones with elegant designs and text engraved on them . The one that stands out, literally, is double-grave with two memorial slabs stacked one above the other - signifying an undying bond.
Each of gravestones bears a design that , to our imagination, seems to reflect the personality of the individual who lies under it. There are angels and floral wreaths , a ship at sea, phoenix and fish , a heart pierced by arrows, pets and books , a horse tied to a tree and , most intriguingly, a table with a skull, cross bones and an hour glass set upon it ! We try to build stories out of these clues for those brave men and women who sailed across unpredictable seas to unknown destinations . And never making it back to their own homeland with all the golden coins that filled their purse. Graveyards always fill one with melancholic musings about "the best laid schemes o ' mice and men ....."
The tombstones bear dates from 1620 to 1769 .
Much of the fort is gone , though ASI has resurrected the tall outer walls with supplemental bricks. There's bristling golden yellow grass growing all over , among which a few goats forage , with small black swallows perched on their brown backs. Fleeting idle thoughts while proceeding down the beaten path : did these goats' ancestors provide cheese for the departed Dutch ......?
Piles of bricks are scattered here and there , like memories of buildings they once were - houses, stables and granaries . What could have been an elephant mounting platform is only barely recognisable , thanks to the steps . The remnant of a fairly large house is shot through by a robust tree sporting lush green leaves.
The one good structure standing intact is a courtyard with high ceilinged , vaulted halls all around. Arched openings serve as entrances. There are small square holes in the walls, purpose unknown. Two neat looking pillars flank an entrance ; could be drain pipes, not sure.
The outermost walls of the fort have regularly placed indents for cannon placement.
The fort , reportedly, functioned for almost a century before it was captured by the British in 1818. By which time , the Dutch influence had already started waning in India .
The sea behind the rear wall seems peaceful. Fishing boats with colourful nets and floats are parked close to the surf . It is a clean looking beach . From here, the red-brown wall of the fort looks like a flat barricade sealing off a small piece of history.
SADRAS Fort was not very crucial to any course-changing event in colonial history . The "Battle Of Sadras" (1782) too did not involve the Dutch Fort . The Battle was just one of five indecisive naval skirmishes fought between The English ( of Madras) and The French (of Pondicherry) ; the Dutch suffered collateral damage because they had trading arrangements with The French.
Today, mention of SADRAS only brings to mind the Dutch Fort . But this small village near Kalpakkam (Chengalpattu District TN) too has , in the currently fashionable lingo of patriotic India, a "5000 year old history" .
We will , for the purpose on hand, stick to a less grandiose number.
Epigraphic evidence , apparently, shows the temple to have been first built during Pallava times , but present edifice is Chola type , with Vijayanagara additions . The village was named Rajanarayanapuram by Cholas and Chatura Vasam Patnam by Vijayanagara chiefs. The wooden door of the gopuram has a copper plate inscription of the latter in Tamil and Telugu embedded in it.
Though a modest looking temple , it has its charms, one of which is that the garbhagriham is situated at a higher level , as on a small mound , so that the Lord's feet are level with the head of Garuda installed at the base of the incline. The presiding deities ( Venkatesa with consorts) are lovely , filling up the entire sanctum. The smaller shrine of Ranganatha , has a clever arrangement with a long mirror which shows the face of the reclining Ranganatha , not fully visible from eye level otherwise.
The enthusiastic Priest fills us in on the various wonders and miracles of the Temple with practised fluency. His claim that the place was once a Chinese settlement is, alas, not borne out by any research paper. But since he is convinced he has seen proof in the form of a "T" ( quote: "a Chinese invocatory mark like pillaiyar chuzhi") on a pillar , now invisible, lets leave him to his little joys.
Returning to the main road from the temple , we make our own little discovery : the figure of a Dutchman etched on the pillar of a small , old but renovated Ganesha shrine ! For sure, there's a story here ! Perhaps to be revealed to us someday , by Ganesha's grace .
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