Sadras Fort, Sadurangapattinam, Kalpakkam, Kanchipuram
Sadras Fort
is located at Sadras, a fortress town located on India's Coromandel
Coast in Kanchipuram District, 70 km south of Chennai in Tamilnadu state. Sadras is
the anglicized form of the ancient town of Saduranga pattinam. It was a
flourishing weaver’s settlement between 10th and 16th Century AD. The muslin
cloth weaved here attracted traders from all over the world. The Dutch East
India Company chose to build a fort at Sadurangapattinam not only because it
was a centre for trade in muslin, spices etc. but also because it was free of
political disturbances.
According
to an inscription (dated 14th Century AD) found here, this place was earlier
known as Rajanarayanan Pattinam after a Sambuvaraya chieftain. Later the city
was known as Sadiravasagan Pattinam after a Vishnu temple located in the city.
This name got corrupted into Sadurangapattinam, shortened to Sadirai and
anglicized to Sadras by the British. Though this fort is partially ruined, but
recently restoration work has been executed to preserve this historic monument.
For a
long time this fort was largely unnoticed by the travellers but now travellers
from different corners of the world are drawn here to explore this century old
building and the stories that it preserves. Apart from the fort, the surrounding
areas are filled with pristine serenity and tall dry grass which can be seen to
complement the scenery around it.
History
and Etymology
An
inscription found in Sadras dated to 1359 mention this place as Rajanarayanan
Pattinam after a Sambuvaraya chieftain. There is a temple to Vishnu here, and because of it later the city was known
as Sadiravasagan Pattinam. This later changed into Sadurangapattinam,
shortly known as Sadirai. Later the Dutch called it Sadras.
Philip
Baldaeus, a Dutch chaplain who served in the coast in the mid-1600s, mentions
Sadras when he mapped the way to Madras. ‘From Tirepoplier, you go by
Poelezere, Poelemoer and Alembrue to Sadraspatan, where the Dutch have a
factory and from thence to Madraspatan otherwise Chinnepatan, where the English
have the fort of St. George...’
In the
1670s, the Dutch invaded San Thome. Vestiges of Old Madras by H.D.
Love explains that when they first arrived in 1673 it wasn’t seen as a threat.
They came again from Sadras and Pulicat. “News arrived that 500 Hollanders
had landed at Sadras and were marching on San Thome, and that Rijklof van Goens
was bringing another force from Pulicat. On the 11th September, the
Netherlanders were established on the site of the former Moslem camp, and two
days later 500 to 600 Dutch, supported by Moorish cavalry, threatened the
town.” Three days later, they set up camp at the Triplicane temple. A few
months later San Thome fell.
When the
British set foot here, it caused a commercial conflict between the two powers,
which soon became a war. The English captured the fort in 1796 and bombed it
from sea, virtually razing it to the ground. The Dutch came back to the fort
briefly in 1818 but were driven out again in 1854. This ended their rule along
the coast.
According
to the historians, Sadras fort has derived its name after the Hindu Temple,
Sadurangapattinam. It is said that there was a temple dedicated to Lord
Vishnu in the present location where the fort is located. However, with the
growing influence of the Dutch in areas around the Coromandel Coast, they
invaded the temple and constructed Fort. Unlike other forts in India, this fort
was built in the 17th century with the commercial purpose rather than defence.
During
that period, the town of Sadras was considered as the major business hub for
goods like edible oil, muslin cloth and many others. Thus, Dutch find this
place to be an ideal location to build a fort that would serve as granary and
stable. Many historians also believe that this fort was built on the order of
Dutch queen. Further, this fort was badly damaged in the wars against the
British in the year 1818. The ruins of the fort evidently narrate the how
severely it was struck by the British Cannon. Today, the fort is managed and
maintained by the Archaeological Survey India and restoration of the partially
ruin fort is executed since 2003.
Architecture
Modern
Sadras was established as part of Dutch
Coromandel in the 17th
century, which was even before center for weaving superfine muslin cloth for export besides Pearl and edible oil. The
magnificent Sadras Fort, built for commercial purposes by the Dutch, is a vast
compound enclosing a huge granary, stable and structures used to mount
elephants; unfortunately only one of these structures survives. The fortress was raided by the British in 1818 and came under the control of
the British East India Company. It is now maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India in efforts to contain further dilapidation of this
great monument.
From
2003 major restoration of the damaged fort was carried out leading to may
archeological findings. The first battle between British East India Company and
the Dutch started here as Battle
of Sadras. The fort includes a
cemetery with many beautifully decorated graves that date to between 1620 and
1769. Dutch has made a significant contribution in shaping the rich culture and
heritage of the country. The fort here is an epitome of the architectural and
cultural blend of the colonial era.
It is a
large fort with a brick structure. At the left of the fort is a huge well which
was probably used by the Dutch soldiers for meeting their water requirements.
Within the fort there are many small rooms and two cannons are placed at the
main entrance which seems to give visitors a welcoming treat. As soon as one enters
the fort, one will see a cemetery on its right. The cemetery here is also known
as grave garden and it is said that people who died in the fort were buried
here. Visitors can see many beautiful tombs in the grave garden with
inscriptions on it.
The inscription
on the tombs is said to be almost 400 years old that dates back to around
1620-1780. It is quite intriguing to find some graves with two tomb stones. The
cemetery has two rows of rectangular tombs with pretty engravings and a lot of
text in Dutch, the tales of the dead. The caretaker said that the descendants
of the people buried here come all the way to visit the tombs of their
forefathers.
The
tombstone inscriptions date from 1620 to 1769 AD. Secret chamber is located
near the cemetery (which cannot be seen from outside) that leads to a secret
tunnel. This was used as an escape route, which is now closed permanently with
a brick wall. A visit to this fort is an interesting trip for travellers to
explore the Dutch lifestyle and culture during the colonial era. Besides, the
surroundings around the fort are a kind of beauty that any tourist would ever
experience anywhere else.
Inside
the fort is an inner wall and to one side is an Old Dutch cemetery. The 19
graves here date between 1670 and 1790. At the end of the cemetery is a secret
chamber built at ground level that is now closed. Outside the cemetery are
ruins of many rooms and in one particular ruin is a tile engraved with the aadu-puli
aatam that the Dutch were apparently fond of. It is said that the local
Tamils taught them to play the game.
As
mentioned earlier, this fort has largely been unnoticed by the tourists for a
long time, but after the restoration work by the Archaeological Survey India in
India, this partially ruin fort is drawing a considerable number of history
buffs and other tourists from different corners of the world. In the coming
years, it is expected to emerge as one of the preferred destination for those
who are interested in visiting historical place tucked in pristine surroundings.
Even as
trade picked up in Pulicat, the Dutch were looking to expand. They found a
place right down the coast — beyond Mahabalipuram was a weaver’s settlement and
port called Sadiravasagan Pattinam. The place dealt mainly in muslin, edible
oils and pearls. And so in 1648, the Dutch began a factory at Sadras and
exported large quantities of muslin. Soon a fort was built around the factory
and a Dutch settlement came up there.
The
Sadras fort is still in good condition, and under the protection of the ASI.
The bastions, bell tower and the arched entrance take one back to the time when
rows of shops sold goods here and the Dutch trained their armies for battle.
The fort kept expanding, according to Pulicat and Sadras by Xavier
Benedict and had four bastions. Only three remain.
The
Sadras Fort sits about 100 metres away from the silvery shores of Kalpakkam and
11 km from Mahabalipuram. The towering walls are largely intact, (restored by
the ASI), even if the insides are crumbling. This 400-year-old fort was a
flourishing Dutch trading settlement in the 1600s. The Dutch East India Company
decided to build a fort here because it was already an established port that
traded in muslin and spices. The place was then called Sadiravasagan Pattinam,
which later changed to Saduranga Pattinam, shortened as Sadirai. This came to
be referred to as Sadras.
The
warehouses of Sadras are mostly intact, with ample evidence of their
engineering skills. The pillars that run its length outside were rainwater
collection pipes and recent excavations unearthed an extensive underground
drainage system. There are dining rooms and dancing halls that are mostly in
ruins. There is also the remnants of an inner fort wall and another arched
structure with steps to the side which was supposedly an elephant mount
since Asia in the Making of Europe: A Century of Advance: South Asia, by
Donald Frederick Lach says that the Dutch, like the native rulers, trained
elephants for their armies by teaching them not to panic at the sound of
gunfire.
ASI has
been conducting a lot of excavations here and has found many interesting
artifacts like Delft Blue crockery, Gouda (a town in Holland) smoking pipes,
and crockery from China, England and Germany. The fort had housed a number of
structures including rooms, dancing halls, dining rooms and stables. The fort
had had advanced drainage systems where all the sewage from the different
structures was collected in a single chamber and drained neatly into the sea.
The
remains of a room with hexagonal tiled flooring can be seen. A little farther
on the ground is a lone tile sticking out from the ground with the traditional
aadu-puli (Goat-Tiger) game engraved on it. The Dutch officers must have found
the game interesting enough to engrave it on their tiles. The two warehouses
opposite to each other are huge structures that were once used to store grains
and other supplies. They were bombed in 1796 by the British when they captured
the fort.
Though
the warehouses had walls and roofs that were several feet thick, they suffered
severe damage from the bombings. It is very evident that ASI has painstakingly
restored these crumbling buildings. Outside the warehouse was an excavated
brick-walled well. Another interesting structure in the fort premises is a
small flight of steps leading onto a platform. This platform are used to mount
elephants, and used for execution.
Connectivity
Sadras
Fort is located at Sadras, a fortress town located on India's Coromandel
Coast in Kanchipuram District, 70 km south of Chennai in Tamilnadu state. Sadras
is located at a distance of 58 kms along the East Coast Road from
Thiruvanmiyur. It is located at about 28 kms towards Kalpakkam Township from
Chengalpet. It is located at about 85 kms along the East Coast Road from
Pondicherry. It is located at about 12 kms from Mahabalipuram.
In
recent times, Sadras has found mention due to its proximity to the atomic power
plant (Madras Atomic Power Station) and the atomic research centre (Indira
Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research - IGCAR) both located at nearby Kalpakkam. The village of Sadras is sandwiched between the power
plant and its township. There are two bridges connecting Kalpakkam and Sadras.
References
