Chennakesava Perumal Temple & Chenna Malleeswarar
Temple, George Town – History
Formation
of Madras:
Armagon, which
was located at a distance of around 57 kms north of Pulicat, was one of the
earliest settlements of East India Company. In February 1626 CE, the factory
was set up here. As per the instructions from Thomas Ivie of Bantam, Francis Day, the Chief of the Armagon Factory, undertook
a voyage of exploration of new site for setting up factory. He traveled till Pondicherry
in his ship. Then, he reached a small village named Madrasapattinam, which was located at about 5 kms north of
Santhome.
In Madrasapattinam, Day
met Damal Venkatappa Nayak, who was ruling that region. Venkatappa was
the representative of Vijaya Nagara Kings of Chandragiri, who ruled the coastal
region between Pulicat and Santhome. His capital was Vandavasi. His father
was Chennappa Nayaka /
Damal Kumara Chinnappa Nayaka. His dynasty was called as Kalahasthi Rajas.
They were originally from Damal village, located north of Kanchipuram.
There is a theory that the
city was named as Chennai after a hamlet called Chenna Pattinam, which was
again named after Chennappa Nayaka. On 22nd
August 1639 CE, an agreement was signed
between Day and Venkatappa, in which the Madrasapattinam village was offered to
the British for a period of two years. It enabled the British to build a fort
in this village and conduct their trade related activities. Day translated the
agreement, which was drafted in Telugu, to English, and sent the same to his
higher officials for their approval.
The higher official in Surat
did not know about the exploration conducted by Day. They had assigned a group
under the leadership of Andrew Cogan to find out a suitable site for setting
up the factory. Cogan became the company agent of Masulipattinam on 3rd
September 1639 CE. At the same
time, Day had reached Masulipattinum along with the copy of his agreement with
Venkatappa. After getting the approval from Surat higher officials, Day and
Cogan reached Madrasapattinam on 20th February 1640 CE by two ships called "Eagle"
and "Unity".
Along with them, an Indian too
traveled to Madrasapattinam. His name was Nagappan. He used to produce gun powder for the
British. Day and Cogan started constructing the Fort (which was named as St.
George Fort later) on 1st March 1640 CE. Beri Thimanna served
as the Dubashi for Day and Cogan. It is said that he was instrumental in the
purchase of Madrasapattinam village by the British from Nayak. Francis Day,
Beri Thimanna and Andrew Cogan can be considered as the founders of
Madras/Chennai city.
Constructional History of Chennai Twin Temples (Pattinam
Temples):
There was a temple for Vishnu
called as Chenna Kesava Perumal, located in the site where the High Court
is located now. It is believed that this temple was referred by Dr. Fryer, who
mentioned that he had visited a Pagoda in 1673 CE. In 1710 CE, the Thomas
Pitt map also indicates the
existence of a great Pagoda in this region. In addition, in a document
dated 26th April 1648, it
is mentioned that Beri Thimanna presented the Chenna Kesava Perumal temple,
which was built by him to a Brahmin named Narayanappa Iyer.
There is another document
dated 13th August 1646 CE, which talks about the temple and the
adjoining land given as the gift to the same Narayanappa Iyer by Nagappan. Based
on the 1648 dated document, few historians believe that the temple was built by
Thimanna in 1640s. However, based on 1646 dated document, the temple was not
built by Thimanna. He could have probably renovated the temple but boasted as
if it was built by him. This temple is much older and should have been built
even before the British landed in Madrasapattinam.
Chennappa Nayaka might have
built this temple and hence it was named as Chenna Kesava. Else, Nayaka was
named after this deity of much older temple. In either case, the name of the
temple has some connection with the name of the city (Chennai), which cannot be
denied. It appears that the Britishers gave much importance to this original
temple. Some portion of toll collected in the city was spent for this temple.
The temple servants wore the
badge of East India Company. Even the coins called Pagoda had the stamp of
Chenna Kesava imprinted. In December 1758 CE, the French army entered into
the unfortified Black town where the majority of native population lived. The
French army occupied Chenna Kesava Temple. The siege was lifted in 1759 CE.
Now, the Britishers realized that it was not safe to have settlement near St.
George Fort. Hence, they moved the settlement further north, which resulted in
the formation of Esplanade in-between.
The temple was also demolished
as part of that move. (As per few historians, the temple was demolished in 1757
CE). Reportedly, there was a public outcry after the temple was demolished.
In 1762 CE, the East India Company offered an area in Petha Naickenpet,
that was equivalent to the area occupied by the original temple. A committee
under the leadership of Manali Muthu Krishna Mudaliar, was formed to
construct the temple.
Mudaliar was the last chief
merchant of the East India Company. In Ganga Rama Street in Petha Naickenpet,
Mudaliar started constructing the temple. The Company compensated the owners of
38 houses which were removed to accommodate the space of around 24,000 sq. feet
for the temple. The Company donated 1,173 pagodas. Mudaliar contributed 5,202
pagodas and collected the rest from the public. Totally, around 15,652 pagodas
were spent in construction of the temple.
While constructing Chenna Kesava
temple, Mudaliar constructed Chenna Malleeswarar temple also nearby. The
four Mada Streets around these two temples were renamed later. The East Mada
Street became Devraja Mudali Street, North Mada Street became Netaji Bose Road,
West Mada Street became Nainiyappa Naicker Street and the South Mada Street was
renamed as Rasappa Chetty Street.
The twin temples together are
referred as Pattinam Temples. Even before the original temple was
demolished, due to fear of Hyder Ali's invasion, it is believed that the Utsava
Murti (processional deity) of Chenna Kesava was moved to Thiruneermalai temple.
After the temple was demolished and the new temple was constructed, the Utsava
deity of Thiruneermalai temple was brought down by mistake. Even today, the Utsava
deity from Thiruneermalai is reportedly found in the sanctum of this
temple.
The temples must have still
been under construction when Arunachala Kavi (1711-1779) came to Madras to meet
Muthukrishna Mudaliar and be rewarded by him. Carnatic Music lovers of course
remember Mudaliar for his contribution to the art by bringing the family of
Ramaswamy Dikshitar to Madras in 1790. When the Dikshitar children, Muthuswami,
Baluswami and Chinnaswami must have come to the city with their parents and
sister, all wide eyed at the bustling metropolis, they must have seen the
temples in all their glory.
Muthukrishna Mudaliar died in
1792 and then his son Venkata Krishna (d 1817) became the trustee of the
temples. In 1831, a civil suit recognized the grandson, also a Muthukrishna, as
the hereditary trustee and the Manali family continues to remain involved with
the temples till date.
Felicitation of Nagaswaram Player:
An endowment made by Juttur
Subramania Chetty, a patron of the 19th century ensured that a
nagaswaram player was honoured each year at the Chenna Kesava Perumal temple.
During the Periazhwar festival each year in the month of June, the nagaswaram
artiste would be invited to come and perform for ten days. He would be expected
to take up one raga each evening and perform elaborately on it, finishing off
with a Pallavi, a ragamalika and some lighter pieces. All the leading Nagaswaram
players of the past like Sembanarkoil Ramasami, Mannargudi Chinna Pakkiri, Sivakolundu
and Madura Ponnuswami and of the present like Thiruvidaimarudur Viruswami were
recipients of this honour.
In his biography of TN
Rajarathinam Pillai, Tumilan writes that the maestro’s second nagaswaram
performance in the city happened in 1917 at the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple
during the Periazhwar festival. Rajarathinam Pillai was surprised to find that
some of the city’s leading lights preferred to stand outside the temple and
hear his performance, Sir S Subramania Iyer being one. On enquiry, he found
that they felt that the shrill Timiri Nayanam was best heard from a distance.
That is when the maestro thought of switching over to the heavier and deeper
Bari and later mastered it. The nagaswaram tradition continues even now at this
temple. However, owing the diminishing returns of the original endowment, local
nagaswaram artistes are employed during the festival. Big names do not come
here anymore.
Devadasi Tradition:
The Chenna Malleeswarar Temple
had a strong Devadasi tradition and from the appeal filed with the Government
on 5th December 1927, protesting against the proposed move to ban the system of
dedication to temples, we can see that at least 14 women were attached to this
shrine. The senior most was Apithakuchambal and then in descending order of
seniority were Rukmini, Rupavathi, Nagamma, Rajamma, Kuppamma, Kanagarathnamma,
Nagarathnamma, Kuppamma (jr), Rajamma (jr), MR Thannammal, MR Kamatchiammal,
Balambal and Gnanambal. There were evidently songs that were composed specially
for Chenna Malleeswarar Swami, for in the Banni Bai Collection, now with the
Music Department, Madras University, there is song book titled Chenna
Mallikeswarar Swami Padalgal.
