Badrian Backyard Avenue in Chennai | Photograph Credit score: Particular Association
Strolling (or quite stumbling) about in George City the opposite day, I noticed the signboard proven alongside Badrian Backyard Avenue. And that set me off on a visit to the previous when this identify cropped up a number of instances in my analysis. However the first of those involved historian S. Muthiah, and never me.
It was someday within the late Nineteen Eighties when he was knowledgeable that an obelisk had been found on the intersection of this road and NSC Bose Highway. A non-public home was being demolished, and a 15-foot obelisk had appeared among the many ruins. All excited, the chief, as I all the time referred to him, rushed there solely to search out the obelisk demolished as nicely. The proprietor was unapologetic. He feared that if the federal government obtained to know of the existence of the pillar, his property can be taken over.
The obelisk was one in all six erected within the 1770s, to mark the southern boundary of George City. Their location is given exactly in a census survey of Madras relationship to 1961, which says they have been at China Bazaar, Parry’s Nook, Kondi Chetty Avenue, Stringer Avenue, Broadway, and Badriah Avenue (the identify has modified significantly over time; it was Budreeah, Badraiya, Badriah, and Badrian). The census says 4 have been nonetheless standing in 1961, although as to which they have been, it doesn’t element. Right now, as we all know, just one survives, within the shadow of Dare Home, protected by the Murugappa Group.
The Badriah Avenue I confer with above is, nonetheless, not Badrian’s Backyard. From Love’s Vestiges of Outdated Madraswe all know that as early as 1718, there have been six guardhouses meant for the safety of Madras, of which 4 have been on the northern aspect, going through Royapuram. The fifth, going through the ocean, was unnamed. The sixth alone was on the west, by the river, by which meant the Elambore that’s now a part of Buckingham Canal. In later years, these guardhouses got here to be often called block homes and nonetheless later, batteries. Barring the one going through the ocean, the others have been named after dubashes – Sunkurama, Gangarama, Balu, Kalasti, and Badriah. With peace, his battery in all probability turned a backyard named after him.
Who was he?
In 1717, he turned acknowledged because the chief of Left Hand Castes within the metropolis, together with Gangarama. Their predecessors, particularly Kalavai and Kalasti Chettis, had been fomenting caste riots, which appears to have been the favourite dubashi occupation when not earning money, and had been dismissed. Not a lot is thought of Badriah in any other case.
Within the 1830s, Badriah Backyard turned a residential locality, and a distinguished home proprietor there was Vambakkam Raghavachariar, the primary Indian to be appointed Police Justice of the Peace in Madras. He was additionally a graduate of Pachaiyappa’s college and so turned one of many first managing trustees. Badrian’s Backyard got here to be recognized informally as Police Raghavachariar (PR) Sq.. The household lived in a large home often called Vani Vilas and the higher storey was a curiosity, being formed like a ship. This was as a result of somebody within the household made a fortune as a ship dubash. Raghavachariar’s grandson was VV Srinivasa Aiyangar, a distinguished advocate of the Excessive Courtroom of Madras, and a member of Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar’s Suguna Vilasa Sabha, the place he performed lead roles in theatrical productions.
Strolling down Badrian’s Backyard is one thing of an journey in the present day, placing life and limbs in danger. However from what little I managed, I may discover no hint of Vani Vilas, or its neighbor Terrace Mahal, as soon as a hostel for Pachaiyappa’s Faculty college students. Just like the obelisk, they’ve gone. Historical past fades quick in George City.
(Sriram V. is a author and historian.)
Printed – November 19, 2025 06:00 am IST