Dutch Cemetery, Pulicat, Thiruvallur
Dutch
Cemetery is situated in Madha Church Street near to Pulicat Bus Stop in Pulicat
in Thiruvallur District of Tamilnadu. The cemetery has graves mainly for the
Dutch personal, who lived in Pulicat during 17th century. This cemetery is
an important piece of history that has survived and even today people from
Netherlands visit this place.
History
The
Portuguese established a factory for trading port at Pulicat with the
permission of Vijayanagara king during 1502. They built a port and
controlled till 1609. They were defeated by Dutch and Pulicat port came
under their control. The Pulicat was become the capital for Dutch Coromandel. Dutch
Cemetery was established in 1656 AD.
The
Cemetery
The
Cemetery has 77 graves of which 62 are identified and all of them are covered
with single stone slabs intrinsically carved flowers, birds human faces,
borders, etc. All of them have stones with inscriptions about the dead, in the
Dutch language. Stone Slabs are said to have been carved in Holland and sent to
India.
Five
graves have domes/structures built over them. There are three oblique, in one
Pulicat was mentioned as Palliacatta. Initially the name was Pazhakatta and
during British period the name has become Pulicat). The graves are between 1646
to 1777. The entrance is a creatively built gate with skeletons on either side
and a skull on the top. The inscriptions on the stones have been done
artistically (with designs).
It was
told that from one of the tomb an underground passage was leading to the fort.
History tells that the Dutch Fort Geldria, which is opposite to the Cemetery,
is the place from where Dutch trading with the East Indies. There is an older
cemetery called Portuguese cemetery where the Dutch, Portuguese and Indians
were buried, but that area is largely inaccessible, today. The cemetery is now
protected by the ASI.
Connectivity
The
Cemetery is located at about 50 meters from Pazhaverkadu Bus Stop, 600 meters
from Pulicat Bus Stand, 8 Kms from Thirupalaivanam, 9 Kms from Karungali, 19
Kms from Ponneri, 19 Kms from Ponneri Railway Station, 73 Kms from Thiruvallur,
69 Kms from Chennai Airport and 54 Kms from Chennai. Town buses are frequently available
from Ponneri and Red Hills.