Building a city along its banks: Adyar river

After completing the cultural mapping of the Cooum

river

that flows through Chennai, Venkatesh Ramakrishnan, a historian and novelist, along with a group of enthusiasts have started their next project — The Adyar, a cultural mapping — early this year. A recent talk by him about the

Adyar river

and the history attached to it was quite informative. For many of us today, the

Adyar

river only brings to mind images of the swollen, angry river it was during last year's floods. “But the fact is that the river is dry most of the time and it burgeons only when Chembarambakkam lake overflows. After mapping Cooum, we wanted to do same with Adyar. The river is just a focal point. The primary idea is to study the civilisation and history along its banks. And we came to know that if Cooum is about imperialism (they built impressive buildings — museums, libraries, universities, etc — along its banks), the Adyar river bank tells stories of the aspirations of Indians,” says Venkatesh.

Adyar was earlier called Vanmiki river
The river starts at Manimangalam (a place between Vandalur and Chembarambakkam), and the water from the lake joins the river near Thirumudivakkam. And it flows into the Bay of Bengal, at a place called Adyar. “Actually, it was not called Adyar till about 100 years ago. The British used to call it Chengalpattu river as it came from the direction of Chengalpattu. Also, there is one temple near Ramapuram and an inscription there refers to the river as Vanmiki river. The word ‘Adyar’ could mean a river that gets blocked. And the reality is that the river, which is several hundred meters wide, has a mere 5m entry into the sea. And even that entry is only for the tidal water to ebb and flow. Actually, water from the Adyar never flows into the sea, except when the excess water from the Chembarambakkam lake floods it,” explains Venkatesh.

Battles on the banks of Adyar
Manimangalam, where Adyar starts, is a battlefield that is documented in the historical records. “That’s where the Pallavas and Chalukyas fought a battle. As the Chalukya dynasty spread over Maharashtra and Karnataka, they wanted to capture Kanchi (Kancheepuram), and a battle was fought in Manimangalam,” shares Venkatesh, and adds, “Another one, that was fought along the banks of this river, was the Battle of Adyar, which was fought between the French East India Company men and the Nawab of Arcot’s forces over the St. George Fort.”

Religious sites along Adyar river
With the settlement of foreign merchants along the banks of this river, it also saw several churches coming along the way. “All the sites of St Thomas in Madras are on the banks of Adyar river — St Thomas Mount, Little Mount in Saidapet and Santhome. Another church near Santhome, called the Church of Madre De Deus, has been modernised and the only remaining historical parts are the altar and the entrance arch. It was run by a family called the Madeiros. Some records say that the city was named Madras by this family.” And temples? “While there are several old temples on the banks of the Cooum and the Buckingham Canal, the only prominent temple near Adyar river is Thiruneermalai temple. It’s situated near the airport. Vishnu idols in four forms are the deities here. As a joke, people would say all the nuptials that happened secretly in Madras, happened in Thiruneermalai,” laughs Venkatesh. The Kapaleeshwarar temple, too, is only 800 meters from the Adyar creek.

Culture, thrived on The Adyar river bank
According to historians, the Theosophical Society in Adyar, on the banks of this river, was like a magnet, attracting talented people. Venkatesh says, “Not many know that Maria Montessori, the one who introduced the system of kindergarten teaching, lived and taught at the Theosophical Society. Another noted personality, Margaret Cousins, who set the national anthem — Jana Gana Mana — to tune, lived and died within the campus of the Theosophical Society.” Again, Bharatanatyam traces its origin to the Theosophical Society. “Bharatanatyam was earlier called Sadir, which didn’t have much social acceptance. It was a dance form that used to be performed by temple devadasi community. The name Bharatanatyam was coined within the campus of the Theosophical Society.” Kalakshetra is another important cultural landmark in the neighbourhood. “It was Rukmini Devi Arundale who transformed Sadir into Bharatanatyam. And when she founded Kalakshetra, Bharatanatyam was taken to a whole new level. The institute soon rooted itself as a cultural hub and they started teaching music and also opened a weaving and printing unit,” says Sreemathy Mohan, who will be organising a Kalakshetra walk soon.
Talking about films, there is another interesting fact that brings together two legends — MS Subbulakshmi and MG Ramachandran. “You generally read about them in different books. One who is only interested in Carnatic music would have never seen an MGR movie. But the fact is that they both were Bharat Ratnas, both were residents of Adyar and also acted together in a movie called Meera. Actually, that’s the only film having two Bharat Ratnas starring together,” states Venkatesh. Also, back then, there was a strong presence of influential women in Adyar. “Social reformer Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, eminent dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale, socialist and women’s rights activist Annie Besant, freedom fighter Durgabai Deshmukh, to name a few.”

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