Trip started from Chennai. All of us woke up at unearthly hour of 3.30 am to be inside ca
at or before 5 am, as per trip captain's orders. However the drive was pleasant. Breakfast
at GRT Hotel had innovative stuff like 'Masala Dosha' with 'Uppumavu' as filling. Coffee was
excellent and all had several cups !
Some of us had abdominal belts to prevent back-aches and a few of them took it off after
some time since 'Masala Dosha' kept rising up with the car jerking on potholes.The usual Tamil
Nadu scenery on the way. By about noon we reached Tranquebar ( Taragampaadi in Tamil
which means "land of the singing sea waves"). The waves sounded the same as anywhere
else to me but I was told that one needs to have classical music-ear to appreciate.
Several leaflets and tourist booklets claimed that the breeze there has very high OZONE
content. The second highest in the world after a place in Switzerland !! Please keep a pinch
of salt at hand when you read all this. However the said breeze is recommended for heart
patients and prohibited for Asthmatics
T'bar is on the east coast and the port towns from north to south on the coast will be Pulikat,
Chennai, Pondicherry,Tranquebar,Karaikal and Nagapattinam, in that order. We enter the
T'bar area which was a Danish Colony. T'bar is a 'Taluk' in the Nagapattinam Districtnow.It is
a Heritage Town now as declared by The Indian Govt. In our estimate, the whole of T'bar could
be 1.5 square Kilo Meters maximum.
Motivated by the huge profit made by the British & Dutch East India Companies, the then
Danish Monarch got bitten by the bug that bit many in that area, and a Danish East India
Company was formed in Denmark in 1616. Based on that a few Danes were sent by the
Monarch to Indian east coast and they arrived and entered in to a treaty with the then King
of Tanjore ( Thanjavoor) Named Mr Ranganatha Nayak ( himself a Maharashtrian, not a Tamil
as the name Nayak signifies). So it was outsider agreeing with an outsider to loot the insiders.
Reportedly the Danish jokers came to trade mainly in Pepper ( useful then in preserving
raw meat products).
The local Ruler, Nayak the king, asked for only Rs 3111 as annual rent for erecting a fortress
( Fort Dansborg) at the coast in T'bar. From 1620 till 1845 the area that the Chennai Party
led by JM ( the Trip Captain) trampled up and down was "Danish Trade Settlement". It was so
good to relive history ( no wonder History Channel is thriving on TV). At night I dreamt I lived
from 1640 to 1700 while sleeping on the one meter high bed ( all rooms had such beds) which i
had to climb on to, using wooden steps.
We stayed in a Danish Colonial building named "The Gate House". However other than a
kettle with which one could make tea, food was not served in the building. Reason Unknown.
So for each meal one had to go to another colonial mansion named "The Bungalow on the Beach
( BOB). Our captain being very protective of his regiment, got his driver to ferry us back and forth.
T'bar had the same hot and humid weather of Madras ( Chennai). There is a defunct Railway
station in T'bar. The trains ran from 1926 to 1986. Tsunami did obviously hit T'bar on 26th
December 2004. 800 people died. The Danish Fort was not affected.
The inscription at various places say that Bartholomaeus Zigenbalg and Pleutschan; two German
missionaries sent by the then King of Denmark to spread the Gospel in the Danish settlement
reached T’bar in 1706 and founded the Tranquebar Lutheran church and a printing press was
installed ( said to be the First in India) in 1712. In 1715 the New Testament was translated into
Tamil by Ziegenbalg and printed it in the said Press. A mint started functioning in 1753.
Ziegenbalg brought out his great work titled “An Account of Malabarians” ( sic); ( now exhibited at
London).
On the last day we walked up and down King’s Street, Queens Street, Gold Smith Street etc.,
which are all 20 feet wide at the most. Our major interest was the Danish Governor’s Bungalow,
built in1785. Built in Danish style architecture in 1785. The Bungalow is straight opposite the Fort.
We inspected every nook and corner of the Fort including ‘chicken room’, ‘war room’, ware house,
prison, provision room and the Loo Room. Contracts and Agreements between the Nayak & Danes
were there in the Fort’s museum. They were all in Danish lingo. How could Nayak sign all those is an enigma.
New Jerusalem church built in 1718 holds the grave of afore mentioned Ziegenblag. Other
Interesting spots are Pillars House, St. Theresa’s Convent, St. Theresa’s Teacher Training
Institute, St. John’s Primary School, Govt Hostel for Girls, St. Theresa’s High School for Girls,
Gateway of Tranquebar, Pastor Training Institute, St. Theresa’s Dispensary, Old Mosque ( built in
1415), Nayak House ( the same Nayak who allowed the Danes to come in and settle), Pillaiyar
Temple built in 1306, Hotel Tamil Nadu ( new structure-year 2000), Post Office Building built in
1884. In 1968 Indian Bank started operating from an ancient building ( the first ever bank),
Tsunami Monument,etc.
The First Governor of T’bar was Roland Crape 1624 to 1636 & the last one was Peter Hansen
1841 to 1845. The last Governor sold it to the British East India Co in 1845 and packed his bags
and left. Though the booklets and other places did not mention it, I was told by a man from
Chennai that corruption among the Danes in T’bar was so bad ( meaning they swallowed most of
the profits of trading and the Danish King was fooled), that the King told the guys to sell the territory and
return to Denmark.
Interestingly we did not find any shop or any commercial activity in the whole of the ‘territory’;
Not even a grocery kiosk. One has to go out of the DANISH GATE for that and there it is as messy as
anywhere else
The trading post and the territory was ‘sold’ to the British in 1845 for Rs 12,50,000. That is US $
25000 at current exchange rate.
One thing that struck me as strange was that the so called territory was and now is, very small. Our driver felt
cheated that he could not engage even the third gear of a five-gear vehicle, inside of the T’bar territory.
The Museum in the Fort has a list of ships that came and departed (with year of arrival and year
of departure). The gap between arrival and departure seemed very long, sometimes more than a
year.
From the Fort one gets a beautiful view of the sea bringing in high Ozone laid breeze and really
Peaceful waves that do not thunder like say at Kovalam in Keralam. The name “Tharangampaadi”
Is more than appropriate. “tharangam’ in Tamil and M’yalam means WAVE ( any wave) and
“pattu” means song; “paaduka” means “to sing”; “Paadi” is “singing”.
A trip to Tranqueba is a must for Indians and Danes. After all, the Danes did not stay back to
RULE any one. Nice guys !
No comments:
Post a Comment