WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIV No. 4 June 1-15, 2014

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• U.Ve.Sa. remembered

• The Munro statue

• Inscriptions lost

• Losing nature heritage

(Continued on page 3)

� My Ladye’s Garden is the sole remnant of what was oncePeople’s Park – the brainchild of Governor Sir CharlesTrevelyan. Its entire management was transferred to theMunicipality in 1866. At the geographical centre of the city,some of its portions housed “zoological and ornithologicalcollections, five lakes, a bandstand, reserves for football,tennis and other games.” By 1878, a gymnasium wasstarted inside the Park near the Vepery gate. A band playedtwice a week at the bandstand, with attendance onSaturdays being “invariably numerous”.

That year went down in the annals of the Park as beingthat of the first Madras Fair; it was managed by a Commit-tee of Municipal Commissioners and commenced onDecember 30th. From 1921, its management was vestedwith the Health Officer. The Park’s heydays wereundoubtedly in the 1920s and during Christmas Week,when numerous events would take place in its commodious

Madras Landmarks – 50 years ago

Decongesting stations in city necessary

(Continued on page 3)

� by A Special

Correspondent

grounds. The Music Academy held its annual conferenceshere between 1930 and 1935.

Far more noisy and attracting huge crowds was thePark Town Fair and Carnival organised by the South In-dian Athletic Association which occupied the Moore Pavil-ion and, later, the Victoria Public Hall for several years.The SIAA’s Fair, notwithstanding a devastating fire in1886, was an annual feature in the city’s social calendar.Chief attractions were Gunboat Jack who performed dare-devil stunts on a motorcycle in a barrel-like enclosure, wres-tling bouts with King Kong and, last but not least, a localattraction – rekla (two-wheeled cart) races. The Fair wasdiscontinued in the 1970s.

By 1979, the large nursery maintained in People’s Parkon “72 grounds had to be handed over to the Southern Rail-way for expansion of the suburban railway system.” Mostof the green cover in the park has been taken over by con-structions such as sports stadia and the new Moore Marketshopping complex. The Corporation’s nursery, however,has been revived since 2007 in various parks in the city.

The park had three main attractions – the Ashoka Pil-lar lawn, the tea party lawn and the Royal Bath. The lastnamed was sponsored by the Rajah of Kirlampudi andthrown open to the public in 1922. It remained in use tillthe 1970s. What is missed today is Ashok Vihar, the recre-ation and family welfare centre that once functioned fromhere.

My Ladye’s Garden in the middle of People’s Park wasand continues to remain the Mayor’s official garden. Qua-intly named, it still exudes a charm that is unparalleled,with several age-old trees and a few statues executed in the1930s by a student of the Madras School of Art. People’sPark as a whole and My Ladye’s Garden in particular werefilm-makers’ favourites and several were the classics of theblack and white era that had at least one song sequenceshot in the area.

Between 1933 and 1973, My Ladye’s Garden was thevenue for the Mayor’s civic receptions and tea parties. Itwas also the place where the annual flower show was heldfor over a century, at a time when the city had more gar-dens than buildings. It was part of the Mayor’s duties toinaugurate the flower show. The Ashoka Pillar, unveiled in1948 by Mayor Dr. U. Krishna Rau, was the centrepieceduring those flower shows and was lovingly bedecked withflowers (as our sketch from the past shows). My Ladye’sGarden survives gloriously. Maintained lovingly, it is aparadise for birds and early morning and late eveningwalkers and joggers.

Why do welag oncivic needs?

Chennai probably has moremoney than it ever did for

public projects. Our Corpo-ration’s budget is bigger thanever and as for infrastructure,there is a lot of money beingpoured into it, thanks to specialpurpose vehicles and funds fromschemes such as the JawaharlalNehru National Urban Re-newal Mission (JNNURM).Why then does the city ratherironically have less infrastruc-ture than before – poor roads,non-existent pavements, end-less traffic jams and, above all, adysfunctional public transportsystem that makes commutingthe most painful experience?

The Economist, one of themost respected internationaljournals, recently conducted astudy of several Latin Americancapitals, all of which are facingproblems similar to ours. Andlike Chennai, they too have anabundance of funding. It cameto the conclusion that the prin-cipal causes are two – “theshortage of people in the publicsector with the training and ex-perience to design, evaluate and

supervise complex engineeringprojects” and “well-intentionedbut labyrinthine procedures de-signed to eliminate corruptionin procurement… which oftenend up causing delays instead.”Both these statements holdgood for Chennai. The tragedyis that very little is being doneto correct the situation. And,what is worse, very little can bedone in the short term, for theseare problems that need a long-term vision and political will toresolve.

The second of the two prob-lems is a well-known fact anddoes not merit elaboration. Thefirst, however, is the deepermalaise and the sooner it isrecognised as such, the better.We have had infrastructureprojects executed in our citywith more emphasis on imme-diate solutions rather than longterm impact. Take a look atsome of our flyovers and youneed go no further. Whole ar-eas beneath them have becomeuninhabitable, serving more as

(By The Editor)

being secreted in a piece ofbaggage? Will two x-rayscan ners (only one of themworking) be able to check everypassenger and other people whoenter the stations at all times ofthe day and night? These mea-sures are laughably feeble, whenyou consider that 350,000 pas-sengers use the Central Stationevery day. Probably a similar

number of people use EgmoreStation as well.

Even if there was no securitythreat, decongesting the twostations is a good exercise thatshould be taken up straight-away. One of the chief reasonswhy the stations are so full atany point of time is that passen-gers from all over the city haveto come to only these two ter-minals to board trains. Trainscoming into the city mostly stopat stations such as Perambur,Tambaram and Mambalam, but

not so trains that are leavingChennai. Consequently, peopleare left with no choice.

There was a time when therailways claimed that Peramburand Tambaram were beingdeveloped as alternative termi-nals for Central and Egmorerespectively.

That, they said, would easethe pressure on the two princi-pal stations. But this was neverimplemented in full. Passenger

The recent blast at CentralStation has seen the

authorities take several half-hearted attempts at improvingsecurity in the station. This hasalso been repeated at Egmore.Rather than enhancing safety,all that these steps haveachieved has been the creationof bottlenecks. And with vastcrowds descending on the sta-tions every day, the mainte-nance of even these levels of se-curity will soon prove impos-sible.

Rather than taking suchsteps, the railways could havedone better by decongesting thetwo stations by creating otherboarding and disembarkingpoints further down the line,within the periphery of the city.This plan, announced a longwhile ago, appears to have beengiven up halfway through.

Can the Central Station bemade more secure by simplyclosing all entrances and exitsbarring one? Can a solitary bag-gage scanner detect explosives

2 MADRAS MUSINGS June 1-15, 2014

A fortnight ago The Manfrom Madras Musings had

written about the chaotic traf-fic arrangements on BeachRoad. Now, MMM is glad toreport, these steps to ease ve-hicular flow have all been re-versed and the bottleneckshave also reduced. But what isslowing down traffic is a hugeand colourful dragon that hascome up on the premises of theLady Willingdon Institute forHigher Education. In its scaleand size it is so enormous thatpassersby cannot but helpstopping and staring.

MMM had his eye on whatinitially looked like a rollercoaster made out of bambooalmost from the time it wasfirst put up. He initially as-sumed that it was one of thosecontraptions on which mem-bers of the public could under-take hair raising rides (hairraising for those not chal-lenged in that department inthe manner of MMM) accom-panied by blood-curdling cries.But that this was not so soonbecame evident when the bam-boo scaffolding began to getcovered with canvas andcoloured paper. And soonthereafter appeared the

Unkempt grounds, a gracefulbuilding that is rather indiffer-ently maintained, and plenty ofneglect was what MMM couldsee. If this was the state of aninstitute for advanced educa-tion, what of the lesser ones inthe neighbourhood? Well,enough and more has beenwritten in this publicationabout at least two age-old insti-tutions that stand withinstone’s throw, both now doo-med, sorry deemed universities(and both aptly domed as well),which are equally shabby. Thepopulace that came to enjoythe entry of the dragon, notthat there were many, alsoadded to the mess at the LadyWillingdon Institute.

And that brings MMM totwo other points. The first, asto what exactly is an institutefor higher education doinglending its grounds for a lowquality entertainment fair? Theplace has in the past been usedas a dumping area for RepublicDay floats and also as thevenue for a rather shoddybook-fair with heavily politicalundertones (the argument be-ing that the other and biggerone in January had politicalovertones of the opposite

Dragon by the beachwhy thanks when all that theydid was perform a duty? Is itgratitude for having voted inthe other party, thereby givingthe defeated lot some time tosort out other and more press-ing internal matters?

The Chief, as MMMknows, frowns on referencespolitical and so MMM willstop with that. He will, there-fore take his lyre and now singof the poster industry itself,which, in his view, comes outin flying colours in this entirethanksgiving process. Justimagine... the election resultscome out on a particular day,and within a few hours of that,the posters are all out. Perhapsit is time for our ElectionCommission, which takes along time to conduct and com-plete the polls, to learn fromthe poster industry. “Do itnow” appears to be the mottoof the poster printers.

Closer inspection, how-ever, reveals that it is all moreinvolved than that. True, thereis a flurry of printing activitythe day the results are an-nounced. But, apparently,everyone who contested hasinvested in posters declaringvictory, long before the results

camp), but such an event withcoconut shies and hoopla-hoops did not do it credit. Sec-ondly, why does the police,which is constantly belly-ach-ing (a rather apt expression,given the paunches of some ofour policemen) about trafficcongestion in the beach area,give permission for suchevents?

Thanksgiving

That, as you all know, is anAmerican term. But here,

in our very own Chennai, therehas been a thanksgiving ofsorts. The Man from MadrasMusings alludes to the rash ofposters that has broken out inthe city, all thanking the gen-eral public for having voted andmade victorious various candi-dates in the general elections.One group has stuck to expres-sions of loyalty and fealty, andit is better that way, for MMMis told that retribution is quickand grinds exceeding small oth-erwise. “Send her victorious,happy and glorious…” appearsto be the message here andMMM is sure his readers knowthe rest.

That in a way is understand-able, for the cavaliers or royal-ists have done very well. Butwhat puzzles MMM is as towhy the roundheads, who havebeen trounced, have also putup posters. These, to be seen incertain parts of the city, thankthe general public for havingvoted and stop with that. But

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

dragon, complete with fierymouth, bulging bloodshoteyes, scales and lashing tail.

‘Entry of the Dragon’ wasthe rather strange name of thejamboree, whatever thatmeant. The more prudishreaders of this publication willforgive MMM for first think-ing that it was all an advertise-ment for a locally made aphro-disiac. But on closer inspec-tion (and NOT becauseMMM thought it was one ofTHOSE things), the whole ar-rangement turned out to be arather low key and tacky en-tertainment fair. Inside were acouple of merry-go-roundsand other what’s-their-names,all of them of a uniform sad-ness. The dragon was, how-ever, a work of art. Those whowanted to visit the fair enteredthrough its gaping mouth andcame out presumably from therear end in a rather alimentaryfashion. But of that MMM didnot pause to take a look. Healso noticed that after the en-try of the dragon, there wasnot much to do. A quick affairit turned out – just a couple ofthrills maybe?

But leaving that aside, allthis gave MMM some time towander around the campusnamed after a First Lady ofMadras and later Vicerine ofIndia who was known for herpushy nature and pursuit ofthe best in whatever took herfancy. And MMM must men-tion here that the place doesnot do her memory any good.

actually come out. Those whowin plaster the walls withthem and then take out victoryrallies. Those who lose con-sider it a part of the necessaryinvestment in what could havebeen a profitable enterprise.And, presumably, they use thesurplus sheets to warm them-selves, the electorate havingleft them out in the cold.

What all parties appear notto realise is that the electoratewould rather not like to havethese posters defacing thewalls. But then, what isChennai without its posters?People like MMM and theChief are in a miniscule mi-nority, and not even of thekind that gets special statusmind you.

Tailpiece

With the Chief’s permis-sion, The Man from

Madras Musings will make onemore political statement. All ofChennai is now divided intotwo groups. And, no, MMMdoes not mean the partiesaffiliated to the Lady or theDaddy. Rather, he writes ofthe third variety for whomthere were and more oppo-nents than proponents. Over-night, however, MMM seesseveral of the former haveswitched sides and begun sing-ing hosannas to the man theyconsider the new messiah. Asto how that pans out, watchthis space five years from now.

– MMM

How aboutArt, notbanners?Many, many years ago we at Mylapore Times supported for

about a year a few small projects at the Corporation schoolbehind our office complex.

The schools run by Chennai Corporation are now calledChennai Schools in wake of the branding make-over carried outby the city’s civic body.

When the school reopened after the summer holidays, we gath-ered a few students to paint the outer wall of the school with im-ages of their choice. Tigers and cats, flowers and the sun, grass andpeacocks.

Our link with that school snapped for various reasons but everytime I used to drive down the road where the school is located Istared at the works of art which survived the grease of the streetsideauto shops and the stains of uncouth men.

Recently, I broke journey on Cathedral Road to watch thestudents of Stella Maris’s College give the final touches to a seriesof paintings they had created on a section of the college wall.

You too should do the same. For, the girls have done a wonder-ful job. Each piece stands out and draws us in – if we care to looklong and deep.

Now these works are part of the Art Chennai season. ArtChennai is a big effort by an art collector and businessman, SanjayTulsyan, to showcase the best of Indian artists in our city and totake art into the city so that more people begin to soak in it.

This season, I managed to be at a few Art Chennai shows. Butmy focus was on how the shows in the public spaces engagedpeople. The art mela held at Cholamandal on a weekend was a bighit – people could watch 30 artists create small works and offerthem for just 500 rupees. It wasn't the cost of art that mattered;what did was artists willing to interact with people.

Having theme shows on Elliot’s Beach also worked. The largespace allowed people to take in a set of old images of our city or theimages of women screaming which were part of a theme show.

Looking at the Stella Maris’s work took me to the time whenthe civic body under one regime got artists to paint the walls along-side arterial roads and paint them extensively. And the next re-gime had most of these works whitewashed – and these were merescenery images – folk artistes, hills and dales, countryside and mu-sicians.

Does the State tolerate art? Or does it want us to be suffocatedwith vinyl banners? – (Courtesy: Mylapore Times).

– Vincent D’Souza

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June 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Lagging oncivic needs

DECONGESTING STATIONS

(Continued from page 1)

(Continued from page 1)

cesspits and refuse dumps. Thetraffic has moved on (or has it?),but the debris and the garbagehave remained. The MRTS is astory by itself. Ill-connectedwith other transport systems, itis underutilised and, worse, hasdestroyed what was once a navi-gable waterway – the Bucking-ham Canal. The elevated roadfrom the Port to Maduravoyalnow threatens to do the same tothe Cooum. All this points tojust one thing – someone higherup, invariably after a jauntabroad, takes a fancy to a par-ticular project or solution and ateam below simply executes it ina bumbling manner, with delaysand no thought aforehand of itsimpact.

It is not as though the statu-tory bodies – the Corporationand CMDA being but two –lack the necessary posts and theincumbents for them. But as totheir competence to handlesuch tasks, that is another mat-ter altogether. The recruitmentprocess, the training given and,most importantly, the freedomgiven to think and work forthemselves are all flawed. It isfairly certain that none in ourtown planning and infrastruc-ture project departments hasany long-term vision on how

their work will impact the fu-ture generations in the city. Toovercome the weaknesses in thesystem, the Government has onoccasion opted to form commit-tees to which outside expertsare drafted. But these too areinvariably from Government-backed institutions and agen-cies, resulting in a uniform wayof thinking.

When there are privateorganisations involved, they areselected on the basis of the mostopaque considerations. Andthese have mostly meant theGovernment agency completelyhanding over all its responsibili-ties to the private agency. It is,however, the Government thathas a social angle to its portfolioand not the private contractor.It is, therefore, necessary thatthe State agencies remain ac-countable and alert as to how aproposed solution impacts soci-ety at large.

All this calls for an atmo-sphere of debate, dialogue anddiscussion in Governmentcircles between the elected rep-resentatives and the bureau-cracy. The latter needs to keepitself abreast of the latest devel-opments the world over in areasthat concern it. It is highlydoubtful if officialdom in itspresent state is anywhere nearsuch preparedness.

amenities, which are not satis-factory even at Egmore andCentral, are practically non-ex-istent in Perambur and Tamba-ram. Both the suburban stationshave badly maintained plat-forms, no facilities for the physi-cally otherwise abled, and haveterrible access.

Those who live in the distantsuburbs also complain that tra-velling to Egmore and Centralbeats the very economics oftrain travel. Taxi fare from, say,Tambaram to Central is nowRs. 500 or so. A railway ticketfrom Chennai to Bangalore inan AC chair car costs only Rs.800! True, the railways providefeeder services by way of thelocal trains to help people resi-ding in far-flung areas to cometo the centre of the city, butgiven the conditions of thetrains and the overbridges to benegotiated, how many people,especially those who are elderlyor with baggage, choose totravel by local trains?

Bangalore, a city with evenmore traffic problems than ours,has now a system where severaltrains stop at the suburban sta-tions of Cantonment, Krishna-rajapuram and Bangalore East.This is both while entering and

leaving the city. Even the Sha-tabdi Express from Chennai toBangalore halts at CantonmentStation. However, it does notdo so at Perambur!

The plan to develop Tam-baram as a third terminal for thecity failed for a simple reason –the authorities wanted to makeit an alternative to Egmore.Trains would terminate atTambaram and not come intoEgmore. That was an impracti-cal idea, as those who lived inthe northern areas of the city

would have to travel long dis-tances. What is, on the otherhand, needed is that trainsshould halt at Tambaram andthen terminate at Egmore.More importantly, all trainsleaving Egmore need to halt atTambaram. A similar arrange-ment has to exist betweenCentral and Perambur as well.Only if these arrangements arein place will our city’s principalrailway terminals have lesscongestion and, therefore, lessrisk.

Four responsible

There are four hospitals inChennai which have

mainly contributed to MedicalTourism (MM, May 1st). Theyare Sankara Nethralaya, theCancer Institute, Madras Medi-cal Mission, and Apollo Hospi-tal.

While the first three are not-for-profit hospitals, the last is aPublic Ltd. Company hospitalwith profit in mind. None of thehospitals was built with Medi-cal Tourism in mind. Each oneconcentrated on its area of spe-ciality.

Dr. Badrinath wanted tomake Sankara Nethralaya thebest eye hospital in the country.He achieved it.

Dr. Shanta wanted to makethe Cancer Institute the besthospital for cancer care in thecountry. She achieved it.

Dr. Cherian and his team ofdoctors wanted to make MadrasMedical Mission one of the besthospitals for heart ailments.They achieved it.

In the process of achievingexcellence, their name andfame spread all over the coun-try and abroad. Patients startedcoming to these institutions ofexcellence from all over thecountry and even abroad. AndMedical Tourism in Chennaiwas born.

The term Medical Tourismwas not coined when these hos-pitals were started.The only aimof the founders of these hospi-tals was to provide excellenttreatment in their areas ofspecialisation at minimal cost tothe patients, irrespective oftheir economic status.

This dedication and singleminded pursuit of service to so-ciety by the dedicated teams ofdoctors created a brand imagefor these hospitals.Thus, Medi-cal Tourism as we know it nowwas born.

I agree with the author thatthe Government should takesteps to encourage MedicalTourism in Chennai. Some ofthe suggestions given by the au-thor are noteworthy and worthimplementing.

Prof. V. ChandrasekharBesant Nagar, Chennai

A music shop

There was yet another‘musical’ association with

the building occupied by theEverest Hotel (MM, April16th). At least from the 1960sthere was a musical instrumentsshop (Everest Musicals?) in atwo-roomed portion on theground floor. The owner wasone Raja and he was very skilledat repairing musical instru-ments, especially the violin. He

later specialised in manufactur-ing acoustic guitars, since elec-tric ones had not yet arrived.

He had a windfall when hewas asked to supply, in shorttime, fifty guitars for a scene ina Tamil movie, Madras toPondicherry. Although he re-ceived payment for the work,his happiness was short-lived asthe actors had not only to ‘playon’ but also ‘to play with’ the in-struments. By the end of thescene, almost all the instru-ments were in pieces and onhearing about this Raja was bro-ken-hearted for some time.

He later ‘invented’ a ‘guitar-veena’. Primarily a guitar, it haddeep concave curves betweenthe frets to facilitate pulling ofthe string. Towards the end ofthe 1970s he shifted his estab-lishment to Chromepet and notmuch has been known or heardof him since.

N. Ramanathan35, Fourth Main RoadRaja Annamalaipuram

Chennai 600 028

Academic too

After reading the threeexcerpts from Manohar

Devadoss’s book From theartist’s perspective, I bought acopy of the book. It is not onlyinteresting reading but is alsobrilliant academically and canbe used for 1st year of Civil &Mechanical Engineering stu-dents for their engineeringdrawing subject.

S. Velumanisethuramalingam.velumani@

gmail.com

Alternative?

In the letter from an eminenteducationist about the big-

hearted hotelier and the narra-tion how those who came tovalue English language schoolfinal papers remained to praisehis hospitality and generosity(MM, April 16th), I found theuse of ‘alternate arrangement’for ‘alternative arrangement’ inthe letter a bit jarring.

Alternate and alternativeconnote different concepts andthe words are not inter-change-able, having as they do differentshades of meaning, eventhough, regrettably, manypeople including even some dai-lies, indiscriminately use themas a matter of course.

N. Srinivasan9, 35th Street, Besant nagar

Chennai 600 090

What’s the source?

I have read somewhere (I can-not recall exactly where, per-

haps in Srinivasachari’s TheCity of Madras, 1939) that thename ‘Armagaon’ – used exten-

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sively in literature on Madras,both in the context of theDutch East India Company andthe English East India Company– derives from ‘ArumugaMudaliar’, who is referred to inDr. P. Sanjeeva Raj’s piece(MM, ????). Are there anythoughts on this etymology? Ihave long been searching forthe etymology of ‘Armagaon’and have never been able totrack down the details.

Some of the terms used inMadras are indeed curious andhard to derive. One example is‘Pinjarapole’, a gesture of theearly Gujarati community inMadras to look after the desti-tute cows of Madras. For long Icould not explain this term.Now I know that it comes froma Marwari [Rajasthani] term(not Gujarati), where pinjarameans cage and pola meansbulls (curiously, not cows). It iscurious that the term pinjara isused, for panjaram (with an ‘a’and not an ‘i’) is extensivelyused by the rural people ofTamil Nadu to refer to a largebasket-like structure used tocage domesticated birds likechicken.

The words ‘panjara kozhiyevittu’ were used in the popularfilm song Porale Ponnuthayee,rendered by the late Sujata andscored by Ilayaraja in a Bhara-tiraja hit (cannot remember thefilm’s name).

Dr. A. RamanCharles Sturt University

PO Box 883, Orange, NSW 2800Australia

4 MADRAS MUSINGS June 1-15, 2014 June 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Remembered when

U.Ve.Sa. celebrated 81

� ‘A Memoir’ by S.R. Venkataraman of Mangalore

that appeared in the Hindu Nesan, March 2, 1935.

PAGES FROM THE PAST

Thus wasmadethe statueof Munro

About six feet in height hisfigure is well proportioned;

his features are suffused with theculture of ages; his moralexpression is only equalled by hiscultural, for there is a softness, agentleness, and delicacy about it,and that air of profound religiousveneration which characterisessupermen. Verily, Mahamaho-padhyaya Dr. U. V. SwaminathaIyer is one without a second inthe field of Tamil research andscholarship.

For over two generationsMahamahopadhyaya Dr. U. V.Swaminatha Iyer has been devot-ing his best talents and energiesfor Tamil research. He will becelebrating his 81st birthday onthe 6th March, 1935. He wasborn in 1855 of respectable par-ents in the village of Uttamada-napuram in the district ofTanjore. His father Venkata-subramanya Iyer was a greatdevotee of Lord Shiva. Early inlife Swaminatha Iyer was initi-ated into the study of Tamil lit-erature and music by his dutifulfather whose proficiency in thosetwo subjects was of no mean or-der. Swaminatha Iyer possesseseven to this day a good voice andhis knowledge of music is full andcomplete.

His old students remembereven now the sonorous cadenceof his voice with which he usedto read Tamil poems in class. Hewas very fortunate indeed inrespect of his early year teachers.He studied Tamil literature deal-ing with Saiva and Vaishnavacults at the feet of the exponentsof the respective schools. Unlikethe present day students, youngSwaminatha Iyer lived with histeachers and studied the wholegamut of Tamil literature. Togive a finishing touch to his stud-ies, his father apprenticed him tothe celebrated Tamil scholar ofthe day, one Meenakshisunda-ram Pillai of Mayavaram, whoseems to have influenceed thelife of the young protege in an ex-traordinary manner. Swami-natha Iyer was then a lad ofbarely 16 or 17.

Pillai had a host of disciples,all of them taking up advancedstudy in Tamil literature. He didnot at first know that his newacolyte had attained very highproficiency in Tamil which is notordinarily associated with youngcolts of his age. Naturally, Pillaientrusted the supervision of hisstudies to one of his assistants.As days wore on, the assistantfound he learned more from hisward than he could teach him.He felt helpless to clear thedoubts raised by his ward. In

good time, Pillai came to knowof this and very gladly agreedthereafter to supervise the stud-ies of Swaminatha Iyer,.

The disciple never for a dayeven absented himself from thepresence of his guru. He waspresent with his guru when greatscholars carried on discussionson Tamil literature and dialecti-cal disquisitions. He used to ac-company him during his travels.Whenever Pillai taught him, helistened to him with great atten-tion and respect. Pillai himselfwas very proud of his new dis-ciple and spared no pains toshape him well. SwaminathaIyer’s love and respect of his guruhave taken the shape of a biogra-phy which was published lastyear. As a biographer, Swami-natha iyer has, perhaps, excelledeven that prince of biographersin English, James Boswell.

Meenakshisundaram Pillaiwas highly respected by theThambirans of the Thiruvava-duthurai Mutt. He used to payfrequent visits to them, accom-panied invariably by SwaminathaIyer. The head of the Mutt,Srilasri Subramania Desikar andthe Thambirans were equally im-

part. They examined him ingrammar, in prosody, and in ex-tempore poetry. SwaminathaIyer came out with flying coloursin the examination and was ap-pointed to the post. This was in1880.

As a teacher of Tamil, it issaid that Swaminatha Iyertouched the high watermark.Students used to flock to his classand scramble for seats. It is saidthat the then Principal, RaiBahadur T. Gopala Rao, whoguided the destinies of the Col-lege with great success and dis-tinction at the time, used to stopfor a few minutes and listen tothe lectures of Pandit Swami-natha Iyer.

In 1903, Swaminatha Iyer wastransferred to Presidency Col-lege, Madras. He too was anxiousto go to Madras as he was at thetime engaged in research workand in editing the Tamil classics.He felt that his transfer toMadras would facilitate his pub-lication of the Tamil classics.

He retired from service in1919 at the age of 64. After retir-ing, he was persuaded by Raja SirAnnamalai Chettiar, the founderof the Annamalai University, to

and at great cost. You will findthe disciples engaged in deci-phering these manuscripts andhelping their Kulapathi in edit-ing them. If you sit for a whileand watch the great scholar atwork you will really marvel at hismemory power and scholarship.The way in which he gives crossreferences to similar words inother classics of Tamil literature,quoting chapter and verse andgiving the special sense in whichit is used in each of these clas-sics, is nothing short of an amaz-ing feat of memory.

The Mahmahopadhyaya’stitle to lasting fame as the great-est scholar that the Tamil worldhas seen within the last two gen-erations rests on his bringing tolight the great Tamil classics. Itmay surprise many to be told thatthe Tamil classics JivakaChintamani, Silappadhikaram,Manimekalai etc. were known toscholars fifty years ago onlythrough references to these clas-sics in other pieces of Tamil lit-erature. Nodody had ever readthese classics fifty years ago, astheir existence was not at allknown. It is even said that thegreat guru of Swaminatha Iyer,

rectly represent the religious im-port of the works. He consultedBuddhist and Jain scholars andstudied their philosophy and re-ligion along with them. If Bud-dhists and Jains hold Swami-natha Iyer’s commentaries onthese works as authoritative andcorrectly representing theirfaiths, it only speaks of Swami-natha Iyer’s German-like tho-roughness in his work.

In his publication of Patthu-ppattu, Swaminatha Iyer hastouched the highest plane ofresearch scholarship. At first hecould not get original of thebook. A rare manuscript, a com-mentary of the Patthuppattu, fellinto his hands and the commen-tator had dealt with its peculiarprosody and grammatical con-struction. Taking these technicalsuggestions as the basis, like theexpert jeweller who makes an or-nament of beauty and brillianceout of ill-shaped diamonds,Swmainatha Iyer, exercising hisscholarship and imagination, wasable to reconstruct the whole ofthe original of the book. In asimilar manner, he has improvedthe commentaries on Silap-padhikaram, Purananuru andManimekalai.

Besides this, Swaminatha Iyerhas played a distinguished part inthe cultural life of the Tamils. Hehas attended invariably almostall the important conferences ofthe Tamil pandits and religiousleaders and has contributed nota little to the promotion of Tamillearning. He played the role of aUniversity lecturer in 1927 anddelivered a series of lectures onthe topic “Tamil of the Tamil ageand the Post Sangam age”.TheGovernment also honoured himby conferring on him the title of“Mahamahopadhyaya” for thesolid and lasting contribution hehad made to Tamil literature.The Madras University alsohonoured itself when two years

ago it conferred on him theDoctorate in literature. He is amember of the Boards ofStudies of the Madras, Benares,Mysore and Annamalai Univer-sities.

Quiet and unassuming, com-passionate and charitable, as heis, Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. V,Swaminatha Iyer is a type of su-perman, always returning goodfor evil. He remembers smallhelps with gratitude. His charityis not known to the public. He iseven now helping the widow ofthe Satagopachariyar of Ari-yalur, under whom he read Tamilat the very outset. He is, to thisday, helping the grandson ofhis guru, the late Meenak-shisundaram Pillai. He hasendowed a scholarship in theGovernment College, Kumba-konam, in the name of the lateThiagaraja Chettiar who wasresponsible for inducing him toaccept the post of Tamil Panditin that College.

The significance and impor-tance of Swaminatha Iyer’s ser-vices and contribution to Tamilliterature cannot be over-stated.Before Swaminatha Iyer pub-lished his works very little wasknown about the culture andcivilisation of the Tamils. Nowhe has made the glorious past ofthe Tamils live in these books ofhis. As a commentator he is su-perb and unrivalled. He has triedin his works to always give theviews of the author instead offoisting his own views on him.

He has made the lot of theTamil pandits much better thanwhat it was before. He has in-duced the Pandara Sannidhi ofthe Thiruppanandal Mutt to givea prize every year to the studentwho passes first in the Vidwan’sexamination.

In any other country Swami-natha iyer would have been raisedto the peerage; statues wouldhave been erected to honour him;

institutes would have been estab-lished to continue the useful workin which he has been engaged formore than fifty years.

The Celebration Committeethat has been formed in Madraswould do well in the first place tomake arrangements to continuethe work that he has been carry-ing on for over half a century.We should have an institutenamed Dr. Swaminatha Iyer In-stitute and it should be subsi-dised by the Government like theBhandarkar Oriental Institute inPoona. Attempts ought to bemade to publish a commemo-

raton volume with a fairly goodbiographical sketch of Swami-natha Iyer. His brithday shouldbe observed all over Tamil Naduin every important town andvillage, and attempts ought to bemade to start a reading room andlibrary in each village, namedafter him. It is high time that theMadras Committee issuesnecessary instructions to such ofthe local committees as arewilling to celebrate the day intheir own places. In conclusion,let us all join hands to honourone that has done yeomanservice to Tamil literature.

The great object of SirFrancis Chantrey in all

works of this nature is to com-bine simplicity in the outline anddrapery with dignity in the atti-tude and expression: it is onlynecessary to look at the figure re-cently erected on the island to besatisfied as to how completely hehas here succeeded in attainingthis happy union.

The horse may be lookedupon rather as the Artist’s beauideal of the animal than as therepresentation of any particularspecies, although no doubt theArab blood will be found toprevail in its composition, andfortunately so when we considerthe country where it was to findits final resting place. The painswhich Sir Francis took with thispart of his task are almost incre-dible; the whole of the royalstud... then in all its glory – wassubmitted individually to hisinspection – he consulted thebest veterinarians – and finallykept it in the model for a space ofnearly four years, in order that hemight be able to avail himself ofany improvements which time orreflection might suggest. Thepreserving of the clay for so longa period in a proper state ofmoisture was alone a work of no

� Some time ago (MM, October 16 and November 1, 2012),Sriram V. wrote a detailed story about the Chantrey statueof Thomas Munro. Now, to add to that, reader A. Ramansends us excerpts from a letter written by ‘C’ in 1840 butpublished in the Madras Journal of Literature and Sciencein 1844.

ordinary difficulty and anxiety,for unless the greatest care betaken, it is sure to bake dry insummer and freeze hard inwinter, either of which bydistorting the form will in oneday ruin the labour of months.When at last however he wascompletely satisfied, a mould wastaken in plaster of Paris, and acast in the same material tookthe place of the enormous massof clay which was immediatelybroken up to be moulded intoother forms.

The horse being thus fixed insomewhat more permanent ma-terials, Chantrey then proceededto the figure of the rider, whichhad to be gathered from the mostincongruous sources – the chiefof which was the admirable por-trait by Sir Martin Archer Shee;but when we reflect that a paint-ing gives only one point of sightand that a piece of sculpture hasto be viewed in every direction,it forms of itself no mean tributeto the Artist’s skill, that in aplace when every body is familiarwith Munro’s face and form, notone objection has been raised tothe fidelity with which he hascaught up the likeness of a manwhom he never even saw. Thedrapery is a happy compound of

the ancient and modern, andthough perhaps it would scarcelypass muster with the fastidiousauthorities in the AdjutantGeneral’s Office, it is still suffi-ciently military to satisfy ordinarypersons and at the same time notoffend the taste of the lovers ofthe antique, whose prejudicesfounded as they are in naturemust always find favour with atrue Artist.

When the whole work wascast in plaster of Paris, the nextstep was to form moulds of sucha material, as would be at oncesufficiently fine to preserve thedelicacy of the workmanship;and yet strong enough to bearthe heat of melted bronze. Thisobject is effected by a mixture ofbrick-dust and plaster in nearlyequal proportions, and ten ortwelve inches thick. Inside of thisagain, in order to regulate thethickness of the metal, a core wasconstructed of the same materi-als and about half an inch smallerin every proportion than the truesize of the figure. These mouldswhen completed were placed inimmense ovens and slowly bakeddry, for had the slightest mois-ture remained when the metalwas poured in, the mould wouldhave been burst to pieces. Inorder to ascertain this importantpoint with certainty a small holewas bored into the thickest partof the mould, and some grains ofthe material extracted, whichwere immediately placed in a pairof Dr. Wollaston’s scales andtheir weight ascertained with theutmost nicety – they were thenexposed to considerable heat andonce more put into the scale, af-ter which if their weight was lessthan on the first trial, it was evi-dent that the mould had stillsome moisture remaining – the

experiment was repeated till allwas thoroughly dry.

The mould of the horse wasdivided into five and that of therider into three pieces. A pitclose to the furnace was then dugsufficiently deep to bury each ofthese parts – one was placed in itand all around was rammed tightwith fine sand leaving two orthree runners of channels for themetal to pass through – thebronze entered from below themould and gradually ascended tothe top, had it at once beenpoured in from above the bronzewould have been honey-combedand full of bubbles when allowedto cool. After some time the sandwas dug away, and the mouldhaving been broken up, themetal was brought out black andrough – a few days’ hard rubbingwith files and sand paper soonremoved this outer coating andleft it bright and shining, whichappearance in its turn was dead-ened into its present hue by anapplication of muriatic acid andpotash.

The various pieces werejoined together in the followingmanner – half an inch was sawedoff the edges of the parts to beconnected, and the interior wasfilled with sand; a small crucibleof melted bronze was then pre-pared and poured along the in-terval – the heat of this metal wassufficient to make the rims of thesolid part become liquid, andwhen the bronze became cool,the whole was found burned intoa solid mass.

Though the process is liable tomany accidents, I am not awarethat more than two failures weremade in the whole number ofmeltings. The sword, the bridle,and the lower part of the tailwere also formed in separatecastings.

Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Iyer

pressed with Swaminatha Iyer’sscholarship, his manners andbehaviour. He became a greatfavourite with the Mutt. Laterwhen Pillai died, the head of theMutt appointed SwaminathaIyer to succeed him. He was en-trusted with the supervision ofthe Tamil studies of the sanyasisin the Mutt.

A few years later, Swami-natha Iyer was asked by a friendand well-wisher of his, oneThiagaraja Chettiar, the Panditof the Kumbakonam College atthe time, to take up the post ofTamil Pandit in the College, ashe very much wanted to retirefrom service having become old.The Kumbakonam College atthat time was at the height of itsfame and was rightly called theCambridge of South India.Swaminatha Iyer agreed to takeup the post, though the head ofthe Mutt where he first served,was against Swaminatha Iyeraccepting the assignment.

Swaminatha Iyer, before hewas appointed to the post, had toface a Board of Examiners inTamil! He was subjected to a stiffviva voce examination in whichprofessors of the college took

take up the principalship of hisTamil College in Chidambaram.He held that post from 1924 to1927 when he retired so as towhole-heartedly devote his timeto research and study.

For over forty years Swami-natha Iyer taught college stu-dents and created in them a loveand respect for Tamil literature.Among his students he counts,with legitimate pride, many whoare leaders in various walks of lifeand many who have filled withcredit to themselves posts oftrust, power and influence. Hisold students recall with respectand reverence those eventfuland happy college days that theyspent sitting at the feet ofSwaminatha Iyer.

Swaminatha Iyer’s house hasbeen an institute of research andpostgraduate study in Tamil lit-erature for over a generation.Any casual visitor to ThyagarajaVilas in Pillaiyar Koil Street,Thiruvetteeswaranpet, will findthe venerable Bhishma in a roomsurrounded by a number of eagerand devoted disciples. His roomis a veritable storehouse of rareTamil manuscripts which he hadcollected with great difficulty

the late MeenakshisundaramPillai, had not read some of theseworks as their existence was notknown. When Swaminatha Iyerstarted on his mission of collect-ing rare manuscripts of Tamilclassics, some of the works cameto light one after the other. It wasfound later, when going throughthe manuscripts, that some of thepassages in these works couldn’tbe easily understood without anycommentary.

The first book that Swami-natha Iyer took up for editingand annotating was the Jain clas-sic called the Jivakachintamani.Its first edition appeared in 1887.It was an epoch-making workand at once it establishedSwaminatha Iyer’s reputation asa rising star of the first magnitudein the literary firmament of theTamils. Since then, that bookhad undergone three editionsand the discerning reader willfind that every succeeding edi-tion has been an improvementover the preceding one. It may bementioned here in passing thatalmost all the classics deal withBuddhism and Jainism. In edit-ing these works, SwaminathaIyer took very great care to cor-

6 MADRAS MUSINGS June 1-15, 2014

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period May 1st to15th. Questions 11 to 20 per-tain to Chennai and TamilNadu.)

1. Recently, the World HealthOrganisation declared the spreadof which acute, viral disease,(which India has declared aseradicated) as ‘an internationalpublic health emergency’?2. Which cinematic legenddebuted on Twitter recently withthe tweet “Salutation to theLord. Vanakkam anaivarukkum!A big thank you to all my fans?Excited on this digital journey”?3. An US investigator recentlyclaimed to have found the wreckof the Santa Maria, the flagshipof a famous explorer, near Haiti.Name the explorer.4. Which Oscar-winner is, star-ring as the protagonist in Graceof Monaco which kick started thisyear’s Cannes film festival?5. Name India’s own paymentgateway, developed by the Na-tional Payments Corporation ofIndia, that was launched recentlyto compete with networks suchas Visa and Mastercard.6. The Supreme Court has givenpermission to Tamil Nadu, re-jecting the objections raised byKerala, to raise the height of the116-year-old Mullaiperiyar Damby how many feet?7. Name India’s first indigenousair-to-air Beyond Visual Range(BVR) missile, that was testedfrom a Sukhoi-30MKI, recently.8. Who is the next Army chief?9. Which India-born siblingshave emerged as the richest inthe UK with 11.9 billion GBP?10. Scientists recently an-nounced that a new elementnamed Ununseptium is about tojoin the periodic table. What isthe proton number of the new el-ement?

* * *11. By what more famous nameis Madras-born singer ArnoldGeorge Dorsey known to fansaround the world?12. What do the initials TTstand for in the name of the illus-trious TTK and his family mem-bers?13. What first in Tamil cinemadoes the 1985-release AnnaiBhoomi claim to have?14. Which place near ChennaiCentral gets its name for ‘a banksloping down from a fort whichexposes attackers to the defend-ers' missiles’?15. The first school in Madraswas a little ‘public school for chil-dren, several of whom are En-glish’, started in a priest’s housein White Town. Name the priest.16. According to Rudyard Kipl-ing, in The Song of the Cities, whokissed Madras on her mouth,eyes and brow?17. Which is the latest workingstation added to the list of MRTSstations?18. Name the MPs from thethree Chennai constituencies.19. Continuing known the pre-vious question, name the onlytwo constituencies in the Statethat the AIADMK did not win.20. In the days of the MadrasPresidency, how many fanamswould two rupees get you?

(Answers on page 8)

An ancienttemple that’slosing itsinscriptionsCrowded Purasawalkam has

an ancient Chola templefor Siva right in its centre,whose tall, five-tiered gopuramis visible from the main road. Itis dedicated to Gangadeeswara,the form of Siva who receivedthe River Ganga on her torren-tial descent from the heavens.

This area gets its name fromthe Purasai (Palasha) tree, orFlame of the Forest, which mustonce have grown in abundancehere. Perhaps it was a sacredgrove of these trees. Our an-cients knew it had a number ofmedicinal uses other than reli-gious significance and wantedto preserve it. Alas, there is butone Purasai tree here today.Luckily, it is the sacred tree ofthe Gangadeeswarar templeand, being inside its precincts,is well protected.

� by

Chithra Madhavan

This temple is said to be oneof the oldest in Chennai; it iscertainly one of the better-known shrines in the city. Themandapa opposite the mainsanctum, from where you canalso see the shrine for GoddessPankajambal, is very modern.Apparently it was constructedin 1964 when the temple wasrenovated. A rare stone image

here, not usually seen intemples, is of Bhagiratha, a kingwho performed penance to Sivafor bringing the River Ganga toearth from the heavens. A won-derful sight is the very well-maintained temple tank full of

water. The temple itself is cleanand well maintained.

All this is there, and more.But, is something missing? Theancient inscriptions are missing.A temple of the Chola times itcertainly was. A few stray Cholapillars are mute testimony tothe temple’s antiquity. The bestway to date a monument is byreading the stone recordsetched on the walls, repletewith many a date and nugget ofinformation. Sadly, they are notthere in this temple, havingbeen wiped away during one orperhaps many renovations. By astroke of luck, a few of the in-scriptions that had survivedearlier renovations were spottedin the past, and copied. If notfor them, no one would knowthat this is an ancient monu-ment.

Only one Chola inscriptionhas been discovered in theGangadeeswarar temple. This

lithic record in Tamil etched inthe ancient Tamil script of theCholas, dates to the 13th Cen-tury CE. Interesting but per-plexing is the fact that this epi-graph registers a donation madeby a man named Neelakanka-raiyan to the temple in Tiruvan-miyur (probably referring to theMarundeeswarar temple).

A few other inscriptionshave also been found in thistemple and these belong to thereign of the Vijayanagara em-perors. One such inscriptioncan be dated to the 15th Cen-tury CE and perhaps belongs toDeva Raya I or Deva Raya II. Itis written in the Tamil script ofVijayanagara times, but is un-fortunately in a damaged con-dition, with only some portionsreadable.

On a stone slab found in thistemple is another inscriptionbelonging to the Vijayanagaratimes of the 16th century CE. Ittoo is in Tamil. Unfortunately,this too is slightly damaged. Itrecords that a person was em-ployed in this temple to lightthe lamps daily. AnotherVijayanagara inscription of the16th Century CE found on thenorth wall of the sanctumsanctorum (garbha griha) is alsoin Tamil. This fragmented epi-graph mentions devotees pray-ing at the temple and givinggifts to the shrine.

The inscriptions in thetemples of Chennai are very im-portant to students of historyand archaeology and to thoseinterested in our city’s past. But,over time, a sizeable number ofinscriptions have been lostbecause of mindless renovation.These epigraphs are now few innumber and most of them arefragmentary. We have lost andare losing much history by wayof defacing our inscriptions.When will we ever learn?

Gangadeeswarar temple, Purasawalkam.

A view of the Temple-tank.

‘Two States’ in 1923� A tale from the past by

GANGA POWELLIn 1923, a wedding took place under the famed

banyan tree in the Theosophical Society inAdyar. It was between Jayalakshmi, daughter ofRanganatha Mudaliar of Arcot, and Bhagat RamKumar, son of Hukum Chand Kumar of Quettain the North West Frontier Province. The bridewas 19, the bridegroom 26.

It was in July, traditionally an ‘auspicious’month for weddings in South India, so undoubt-edly there must have been many weddings beingcelebrated on that day. But this one was differ-ent, for the bride was South Indian and the bride-groom was from the North. Contrary to whatmight be expected, given the social mores in In-dia at the time, it was not a runaway affair. It hadthe blessings (indeed, had been arranged) of thefathers who were both Theosophists. There wereno mothers, for both the bride and the groom hadlost their mothers when young. Many leadingTheosophists were there to bless the couple, in-cluding Annie Besant and George Arundale.

Annie Besant gave them an ornate silver vase asa wedding present and Arundale a clock.

Looking back on the event now, it occurs tome that both mothers, by dying, had set in mo-tion the events leading to this union. ForJayalakshmi was sent to study in far-off Benares(as it was then known) when she was eight yearsold because she was a motherless child; BhagatRam, likewise, was sent to Benares for schoolingbecause, it was hinted, his step-mother was notgood to him.

The school in Benares was the TheosophicalSchool in Kamacha. It was a rocky start for mymother who was fresh out of Kurnool and spokeneither Hindi nor English. But she was deter-

(Continued on page 8)

June 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

� Endangered natural heritage

An evening with aShort-eared Owl

� by

T. MURUGAVELIf only I had known what my

friends would sight thatevening I wouldn’t have said noto that birding trip. For, it was aspecies that I had last sightedover a decade ago in the wet-land close to the Alambara Fortruins. It was a Short-eared Owl,Asio flammeus, which my friendshad sighted in the wetlands ofSiruthavur. I had been lookingout for this species for so manyyears. So when I learned of thepresence of this species, Idecided to go to the spot thenext day. However, I was alsocertain that the probability ofsighting the bird was almost nil.

The next day, along with myfriends, I reached the spotaround half past three. To mysurprise, I found three otherfriends of mine already there.They were also in search of thebird, but they couldn’t locate it.We joined them and scannedthe landscape. We could seeseveral other birds, like sky-larks, pipits and plovers, but notthe owl. We then decided tosplit and search in two groups.Patient search yielded results.

My friends were lucky enoughto sight it. The owl was on theground, close to the high,brown grass tufts, well camou-flaged, its pale fawn colour withheavy dark brown streaked un-derbody blended perfectly withthe background. Its blackish-brown erect ear tufts wereshort, and black bristles domi-nated its pale white facial disc.It did not bother much aboutus, but it kept looking at us withits beautiful, bright, lemon yel-low eyes, following our move-ments.

As we watched the owl, a fewcrows landed close to it and it

was obvious that the owl didn’tlike their presence; it took off,escaping from the mobbingbirds. Followed by the crows, theowl flew with its deliberate flap of

wings, going in circles, and itwent up high, until the crowsstopped their chase. After a briefstay in the air, the owl landedseveral metres away. Thereagain, it settled in the safety ofthe grass. We observed the birdthrough our scopes for sometime and, as the sun started sink-ing, we left the place with a lot ofsatisfaction of sharing some pre-cious moments with a magnifi-cent bird.

Back home, I referred toSalim Ali’s Compact Handbookof the Birds of India and Pakistan(Volume 3, page 315) and wasamazed by Ali’s keen observa-tion and accurate documenta-tion. His description of the owl’sflight pattern, especially whenmobbed by crows, is an exactportrayal of what we hadobserved: “…flight irregular,rather rolling and wandering,punctuated with glides. Eitherflops into the herbage again af-ter a hundred metres or so, orcovers long distance beforealighting, sometimes very highup in the air, and flying in widecircles, especially when mobbedby crows and other birds…” Ithen called Dr. Santharam,the ornithologist, and men-tioned the sighting. He said hehad sighted this species wayback in the 1980s in the AdyarEstuary.

This news really surprisedme, considering the present sta-tus of the estuary, which haslost its grasslands to tall build-ings. I couldn’t stop worryingabout protection of the wetlandwe visited, as almost all the landaround the lake was marked forsale and small huts had beenraised. It is disturbing to notethat quite a few projects, likepower plants and ports, are pro-posed along the coast. It is com-mon sense that these so-called‘developmental projects’ willwipe off the biodiversity of thisfragile ecosystem. It is up to usto think sensibly and minimiseour interference with ourenvironment so that local aswell as migratory birds cansojourn in peace.

A Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus). (Sketch by the Author.)

SPEED, thy name isBlackbuckBlackbuck, Antilope cervica-pra, Cervus is

‘deer’and capra is ‘she goat’. The figure mayremind you of a goat, lean and nimble-toed witha tiny tail. Blackbuck are considered second onlyto the cheetah in their speed, they literally flyover ground as they gallop, as I saw over threedecades ago when I visited Point Calimere.

At the end of my first yearworking towards a B.Sc. gradu-ation in Zoology in Tiruchi,when I was busy cramminginformation about the variousinvertebrate phyla, I was asked,along with some two or threesenior students, to volunteer incounting blackbuck. I doubt if Iknew what they were, but myProfessor convinced me thatthis was a not-to-be-missedchance of a trip to Point Cali-mere (Kodaikanal).

This trek was the idea of theForest Department, Tiruchi. Awonderful idea with the doublepurpose of sensitising youth towildlife and carrying out acensus of animals. Definitely itworked, at least in my case. It ithad not been for them, I doubtif I would have developed aninterest in the ‘life’ part of lifesciences; I would possibly havegone into medicine or microbi-ology instead and, who knows,may have continued to be blindto the biodiversity around.

We reached Point Calimereat night and even as we enteredthe protected area through anarrow road, we saw eyes ofvarious animals relflected in theheadlights of the bus. A smallgroup of feral horses was graz-ing not far from the forest guesthouse. Feral? ‘Feral’ refers to

animals that have descendedfrom domesticated aniimals butare now living wild, explainedone of the forest officials withus. After an early morninglecture on migratory birds bythe resident BNHS scientist, wewere divided into groups, eachassigned one area to count theblackbuck. That is when I firstgot to see them. We first learntto identify the various animalsin the herd and I wrote this in anote about the trip.

“The fully grown adult buckshad a black coat on their backsand had horns with three rings.The sub-adult males did not haveso dark a coat and had horns withone or two rings. The females werelight coloured and the white stripeacross their belly was prominent.There were fawns too. The firstgroup that we saw consisted of anadult male, a female and a fawn.They appear to have sensed ourapproach though we were at quitesome distance. Through thebinoculars we saw the majesticsplendour of the male, standingerect and tense, poised to run if weapproached closer. The femaleand the fawn were grazing quitelynearby.”

Later, we did see someanimals trotting and thengalloping. An unforgettablesight indeed!

Blackbuck are bovines.Bovidae, or bovines, are animalswith cloven-hoofs and charac-teristic unbranching hornscovered in a permanent sheathof keratin. The term ‘Antelope’is used to describe all membersof the family including Bovidaethat do not fall under thecategory of sheep, cattle, orgoats. Wikipedia tells us thatthe English word “antelope”first appeared in 1417 and isderived from the Old Frenchantelop, itself derived fromMedieval Latin ant(h)alopus,which in turn comes from the[Byzantine Greek] word antho-lops. It is also possible that theword is derived from the Greekanthos (flower) and lopos (eye)indicating beautiful eye oralluding to the long eyelashes.There are many references to‘doe eyes’ in Indian literaturetoo but, interestingly, antelopeare merely ‘a type of deer’ inTamil; looks like they don’thave a special name of theirown. Like all ruminants, theydigest food in two steps. Firstthey chew and swallow in thenormal way, and then regurgi-tate the semi-digested cud to re-chew it and thus extract themaximum possible food value.That is because they feed largelyon grasses.

While many antelope spe-cies are native to Africa,blackbuck are native to the In-dian subcontinent. A couple ofcenturies ago, they were foundin large herds all over the coun-try. Today, the blackbuck islisted as ‘near threatened’. It isprotected under Schedule 1 ofthe Indian Wildlife ProtectionAct, 1972.

So what made this animalthat once was seen in largeherds across the cuontry to belisted as a threatened species?The primary reason is its speed.In fact, the swift movement ofthe antelope has been recogni-sed from ancient times in ourscriptures. Nandita Krishna inher book, Sacred Animals ofIndia, tells us that the antelopewas considered the vehicle ofVayu, the Wind God. It was themount of the Maruts, the stormdeities. Lord Shiva is seen inmany sculptures holding ahorned stag, representing con-trol over the restless mind andthoughts, for “thoughts are likethe antelope, flying switfly asthe wind.”

From time immemorial,antelope have been hunted bykings. In nature, their chiefpredator was the cheetah.Trained captive Asiatic chee-tahs, now extinct, were used tohunt this graceful animal. Soon,the large herds began to shrink.The killing of antelopes was sorampant that a movement de-veloped to protect them withthe birth of Guru Jambeshwar(Jambaji) in 1485 CE in Bika-ner, Rajasthan, and the estab-lishment of the Bishnoi who fol-low his 29 principles of whicheight are about preservingbiodiversity. The Bishnoi arestrong protectors of blackbuckas they revere them as Jambaji.They share their crops with

(Continued on page 8)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS June 1-15, 2014

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

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blackbuck and other antelopeand even bring up orphanedfawns. They are also strong pro-tectors of the trees, a lifeline inthe desert.

It is not just in Rajasthanthat these graceful animals areprotected by locals. In Ganjam

‘Two States’ in 1923(Continued from page 6)

mined to stay, she later told us,because she hated her teacherin Kurnool so much!

The next ten formative yearswere spent at Kamacha in theTheosophical School and Col-lege. Undoubtedly they were avery special part of her life, forshe never ceased telling us talesof her school friends, teachersand escapades. She was troopleader of the Girl Guides whenLady Baden Powell visited. Sheand her classmates, who were aheady mix of Bengalis, Biharis,Burmese Indians, Kashmiris,Mahrattas, Punjabis, Sindhisand other South Indians, wouldhave been one of the earliestgroups of women graduates inIndia.

Father would have been sixyears ahead – and that is a bigdifference when you are still inschool. He never recalledMother from this time. By thetime he completed high school,he was one of a select group ofyoung Indians chosen byArundale to be sent to Englandfor higher studies. The groupincluded, amongst others, J.Krishnamurti and his brotherNithya. They left India in 1913.My father went to Oxford.World War I intervened andmost of them did not return till1918.

Around 1922, upon re-visit-ing Kamacha. Father saw Jaya‘running in the rain’ and de-cided that this was the girl hewanted to marry. All his life hewore an enamelled ring in theshape of a shell with a blue bandin the centre, with JAYA on itin gold letters. As a girl I lovedthis romantic slant to the wayFather and Mother had cometogether. Mother was more cir-

cumspect. Questioning her em-barrassed her, and she alwaysbrushed off my attempts to gether to open out the story. Thisdichotomy in their characterswas a part of our family ambi-ence.

Father the stereotypical ‘sen-timental’ Punjabi. Mother themore ‘down-to-earth’ Tamilian.Their shared Benares experi-ence and Theosophical back-ground were a bond resulting inshared interests. For both,friendships forged in schoolwere lifelong ties and thesefriends often visited our home.

The marriage, if not quite asromantic as I imagined, wasnevertheless groundbreaking. Itwas an ‘arranged marriage’, butan arranged marriage pre-empted by a young man whohad fallen in love after a passingglance. The wedding broke con-ventions of caste, religion (Fa-ther was a Sikh), and the re-strictions of geographic region.There were not many such mar-riages in India at the time. Oneof the handful of places where itcould possibly have happened,was Adyar under the spreadingbanyan tree in the gardens ofthe Theosophical Society.

Education was an importantaspect of Theosophical work inIndia in the early 20th Century.With some breaks over theyears, Father’s working life as an

educator was in associationwith the Besant TheosophicalCollege in Madanapalle, formost of the time as Principal. Inthis role he succeeded eminenteducationists like Ernest Wood(the founder), Dr. Cousins andC.S. Trilokekar. The College,founded in 1915, will celebrate100 years as an educational in-stitution next year.

Mother, during the earlyyears of her marriage went toShantiniketan where she stud-ied painting with Nanda LalBose. She also completed theMontessori Teachers’ coursewith Dr. Maria Montessori inAdyar. My memory of her rolein Madanapalle is as the moverand shaker behind culturalevents. She conducted paintingclasses on campus, organisedexhibitions, and produced playswhen she was not running thegirls’ hostel or supervising theCollege gardens.

The banyan tree is a strong,standing symbol of continuity,change and regeneration. Myparents’ union lasted sixty years.The family that started with Jayaand Bhagat now includesAndhras, Konkans, Mahrattasand Tamilians as well as Ameri-cans, Australians, Chinese andCanadians, and is spread overfive countries. – (From: South ofthe Adyar River by K.V.S.Krishna and K. Ravi Menon.)

Answers to Quiz1. Polio; 2. Superstar Rajinikanth; 3. Christopher Columbus; 4. NicoleKidman; 5. RuPay; 6. Six feet; 7. Astra; 8. Lieutenant General DalbirSingh Suhag; 9. The Hindujas, Srichand and Gopichand; 10. 117.

* * *11. Englebert Humperdinck; 12. Tiruvellore Thattai; 13. It prides

itself on being the first 3D film in Tamil; 14. (Fort) Glacis; 15. FatherEphraim de Nevers; 16. Robert Clive; 17. Mundakanni Amman Koil;18. Dr. J. Jayavardhan, S.R. Vijayakumar and T.G. Venkatesh Babu;19. Dharmapuri and Kanniyakumari; 20. 24 fanams.

SPEED, thy nameis Blackbuck

(Continued from page 7) district of Odisha, locals in theBalipadar-Bhetnoi area protectthe blackbuck that range freely,sometimes even eating part oftheir crop. It seems that over acentury ago, the locality was hitby a long spell of drought. Dur-ing this period, a small group ofblackbuck appeared in the area.Soon after, it began to rain andthe drought was broken.Subsequently, the locals beganto associate their prosperitywith the blackbuck and, now,actively protect them.

Despite such instances, theblackbuck population is shrink-ing as they are under threatfrom poaching as well as beingat risk from inbreeding becauseof the isolated populations,apart from the loss of habitat asopen areas are taken over foragriculture and other activities.There are, of course, a numberof protected areas. In Chennai,you can see some blackbuck inthe IIT campus too, a part ofGuindy National Park. It was alovely surprise to see a youngbuck trotting out from behindsome bushes as we walked outfrom the Humanities Block oneday. I quickly pulled out mycellphone and took a picturebut all that I got was a blur.Speed, thy name is blackbuck.(Courtesy: Sri Aurobindo’s Ac-tion)

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEBTo reach out to as many readers as possible who share ourkeen interest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response torequests from many well-wishers – especially from outsideChennai and abroad who receive their postal copies very late– for an online edition. Madras Musings is now on the web atwww. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

Till June 16: Art exhibition byBrijesh Devareddy (at Dakshina-Chitra).

Till June 30: Photographs byKushboo Bharti – art in publicspaces of Jaipur (at Dakshina-Chitra).