To whom does Chennai belong?

To whom does Chennai belong?
by Mayilai Seeni. Venkatasami
Translated by Arun Ram Prasanth

Chennai city is in ‘Thondai Naadu’. It has been 300 years since it was formed. Among the 24 kottams, Chennai is in ‘Puliyoorkottam’. The statement of some Telugu people, who are oblivious to history and facts, that Chennai is theirs is the opposite of the truth.

The Vijayanagara kingdom lost against the Muhammadans and got destroyed. The Chandragiri king was a descendant of the defeated Vijayanagara king. In the 17^th century, due to all the looting and chaos, none of them knew which state belonged to whom and whoever claimed a place owned it. At that time, an Englishman, ‘Day’ from the East India Company got for lease that part of Chennai containing the Chennai fort in 1639. Even though Chennai belonged to the Chandragiri king at that time, history tells us that it changed ownership in the years that came.

In 1646, the Chandragiri king got attacked by Muhammadans and he fled to Mysore. His government and his state then belonged to Muhammadans, i.e. the Golkonda king chased away the Chandragiri king and captured his government and the whole of Chennai.

So, in 1640, the East India Company again got the St. George fort and Chennai city for lease from the Golkonda king. According to this contract, the company agreed to pay 1200 varagans (gold pagodas) yearly to the Golkonda (Muhammadan) king. The mediator of this contract was Nabob Neknam Khan.

So is there any meaning in the proclamation of Telugu people who are oblivious to history, that ‘Madras is ours’? Or is there any wit? In 1692, the company bought Ezhumbur, Purasaivaakam and Thandaiyarpettai from the Muhammadans and merged them with Chennai. They bought them from Assid Khan and Nabob Zulfikar Khan.

The descendants of Nabob are still getting the pension (since they owned Chennai and Karnataka). The truth being this, some self-absorbed Andhra people shouting ‘Madras is ours’ is just a meaningless joke.

Are they considering the Muhammadan Nabobs from Karnataka as Telugu people? Do the Telugu people and the Muhammadans belong to the same clan? Can they accept that the customs of the Chandragiri king and the Nabobs from Karnataka are the same? Will that be true?

As the proverb ‘Desire knows no shame’ says, creating vain falsities without reading history won’t be considered as wisdom.

Chola kings such as Rajarajan won over the Kalinga dynasty including Andhra. So, it would be as big a joke for the Telugu people to say that Chennai is theirs as saying that Andhra and the Kalinga dynasty now belongs to Tamil.

Mayilai Seeni. Venkatasami was a researcher, scholar, historian and writer from Tamil Nadu. Translated by Arun Ram Prasanth.

Source: Chenthamizh Chelvi, 23:2 (1948)