35. Reconnecting with India’s historical heritage: Part II: A visit to Sadras Fort built by the Dutch in 1648: The ruins tell a story of a flourishing Sea-trade::

Reconnecting with India’s historical heritage: Part II:
 A visit to Sadras Fort built by the Dutch in 1648: The ruins tell a story of a flourishing Sea-trade:

(This article is in continuation of the previous post on the Sadras Fort).

Sadras Fort – Present Day:

     

    Sadras Fort is situated some 15 kms from Mahabalipuram, at the entrance of the River Palar, (on its northernmost branch). It was a major weaving centre, renowned for its muslin since the days of the Chola chiefs (3^rd Century BCE to 13^th Century CE), the Sambuvarayars ( in the 13^th & 14^th century CE) and the later Vijayanagar Empire (14^th to 17^th century CE).

    An inscription stands in Sadras dating back to 1359, which mentions that the town was called “Rajanarayanan Pattinam” named after a “Sambuvaraya” chieftain. A temple dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu was constructed sometime later (Lord Vishnu is called called “Giri Varadar” in this temple), after which this place was renamed as “Sadiravasagan Pattinam” and later “Sadurangapattinam” or even “Sadirai”. Unable to pronounce the local names, the British conveniently, called it “Sadras” because of its proximity to Madras.

The Dutch built this magnificent Fort for commercial purposes near the beach at Sadras in 1648. One can see Dutch architecture inside the remnants of the buildings in the Sadras Fort as well as ancient South Indian patterns. Some of the portions of the Fort have been damaged during the colonial wars.

  The Fort was devastated in the final land battle  between the Dutch and the British and is now in ruins. Tell-tale signs of the battles fought for supremacy can still be seen inside the Fort. What now remains of the once grand fort, bustling with trading activity are the ruins of two rooms, granaries/godowns, stables, a church, a prison, a hanging post, a cemetery  and two cannon at the front of the main gate of the Fort. Some of the structures are said to have had secret underground tunnels connecting the fortress to the Bay of Bengal. These tunnels have been sealed permanently.This tale seems to have been put forth by some die-hard romanticists to add mystique to the Fort's history. However, in my view, what is more possible is tunnels leading to the sea front to carry out shipment and receiving of goods as part of trading activity.

The  Naval Battle (First War of Sadras) off the coast of Sadras:

This Sea-battle was fought between a British Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and the French Fleet under the command of Admiral Bailli de Suffren off the east coast of India on 17.02.1782, near present day Kalpakkam, during the American War of Independence, when the Americans and the French were adversaries against the British. The British Fleet suffered substantial damage. Although the French Fleet was hampered as they were acting as an escort group to troop transports, the French emerged victorious, and successfully managed to land the troops at Porto Novo, their primary destination, for a link-up with the Mysore ruler Hyder Ali from where they could march and capture British strongholds, in particular Cuddalore, as well as, recapture any French and Dutch possessions along the way which had fallen in British hands. The French on the ground, had support from the Dutch, to whom the Fleet had given support at the Dutch colony in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa against a British Fleet. This British reverse by the French Fleet, helped protect the Dutch Fort of Sadras .

The British after setbacks in the First War eventually prevailed upon the Dutch defences and took over the Sadras Fort in 1818 after raiding the Fort several times.

Tell-tale signs inside the Fort, stands testimony to the fact that fierce battles were fought here between the sea-fleets of the British, Dutch and the French for territorial supremacy, as well as, a larger slice of the business pie, with all combatants being evenly matched.

The daily visitors are few, but on a weekend or a major holiday, Mr. Selvaraj shared that the number of visitors can range between 5000 to more than 50000.

The entrance to the Fort as it is seen today . Two cannon are placed in front. On top is seen the bell tower

The outer Fort walls. One can imagine them replete with cannons placed strategically on the Fort bastions

A well supplying water to the Watchman's family . Mr. Selvaraj , the Fort watchman shared that it was built only some 80-90 years ago during British times

                         The arterial passage into the Fort

 Mr. Selvaraj, the watchman of the Fort, took us to the ruins of a recreation room which is tile-engraved with the “aadu-puli aatam” game tiles which the Dutch were apparently fond of playing, taught to them by the local Tamils. “Aadu Puli Aatam” (Game of goats and tigers) is a strategic, two player or 2 teams asymmetric board game played in South India. One player controls three tigers and the other player controls upto 15 goats. The tigers “hunt” the goats, while the “goats” attempt to block the tiger’s movements. Ajit engrossed in taking pictures.

                                Ruins of the Recreation room

 One can see two differently coloured tiles in this room in the shape of a triangle, topped with a rectangle, which have given credence to this story

A typical "Aadu Puli Aatam" Game Board. To me the tiles forming the  rectangle in the recreation room seem to be placed on top of the Triangle, but then this could be a variation.

Remnants of structures on the right side of the Fort as one enters.

                                Sumita connecting with the past

An elephant loading platform. One of the two which is still in good condition.

This building is described as the stables, but it could be another administrative unit. One can see the remnants of a room in front of this building.
 

Photos of the building described as the Granary. To me it also looks like a godown of sorts where finished goods/raw materials could be placed/stored.Still in a well preserved condition
           

                                  Anu entering the Granary

                           A view of the courtyard inside the granary

Sumita and Anu in one of the rooms inside the granary/godown. Very difficult to get avid photographers to pose for a camera shot, when they would prefer to be on the other side of the camera.

        One of the godowns in one of the Granaries/storage sections.

The walls of one of the rooms inside the granary

             "Yeti footprints" ?? (Did the Dutch have a secret weapon??)

                             

                    An underground storage unit

Some structures described as a prison or holding station or an administrative unit for routing the outgoing bales/consignments

Fallen structures suggesting the ruins of a Church and some rooms

                      This remnant of a fort outer wall shows tell-tale signs of  fierce land battles.

A Fort wall now in ruins. Historical heritage co-exists with modern day structures.

The Fort was built very close to the Sea, so that transporting the finished goods to the waiting boats/ships through elephants and manual porters would be quick.

              Fallen structures suggesting a once grand rooms, perhaps the  dining hall and living stations

                        A well near the kitchen/dining/living rooms

Next to the fallen structures is this small room which Mr. Selvaraj, the Watchman at the Fort mentioned was the kitchen

            The stairway leading to the Fort  outer defenses - quite well preserved over four centuries

        Sumita doubling up as an alert officer on the Watch: "Hukum dharandhar fande-foo" (Indian  soldiers equivalent of "Who comes thereunder - Friend or Foe" ).

                                                On the way out

                               Rajeev with Mr. Selvaraj, the Watchman of the Fort,                                       discussing some important aspects of the Dutch Fortress.



Links:

1) Reconnecting with India's historical heritage: Part I Commentary on the Dutch Presence in India & the Dutch cemetery

2) Fort St. George, Chennai : Indo-Dutch, Indo-Danish, Indo-French and Indo-Portuguese coins

3) The advent and early days of the British East India Company

34. Saving Olive Ridley Turtle eggs

The last day in Chennai we spent looking for Olive Ridley Turtle eggs on the beach. It was one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. Imagine walking on the beach in the dead of night looking for turtle tracks in the sand which would lead to a turtle nest and a clutch of eggs.

It started with us registering through mail with a group called the STUDENTS SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION NETWORK(SSTCN) (sstcnchennai@gmail.com ) who has been walking the beaches of Chennai every day during the Turtle nesting season, since 1987. They locate nests, dig out the eggs and relocate them to a safe hatchery. They dig holes of similar dimensions in the hatchery and put the eggs in them to hatch in due course. On weekends they let people like us join them on the walks.

So late at night, not without some trepidation and excitement we reached at 10pm, (a whole hour early) the meeting point on Elliot’s Beach, to walk some 8 km through the night, up to Besant Nagar Beach. We watched a red coloured, rugby ball shaped moon rise over the sea, making the sea water shimmer tantalizingly in the dark. While we were busy clicking pictures of the moon a group of students saw a turtle waddle off to the sea after laying her eggs.

The ominously red moon, hope it bodes well for the endangered ridley turtles

We were pleasantly surprised to meet Suresh, who was with us on the birding trip to Masinagudi. Such surprises make me believe in Synchronicity and that nothing is random in the Universe. 

Friends on a boat

 

THE QUESTION ANSWER SESSION :The organisers came promptly at 11 pm and took an hour’s session familiarising us with their work and mission. The Olive Ridley turtles nest on these beaches during the months of December to April after which they just swim away leaving the eggs to hatch on their own in about 45 days. A good percentage of the eggs hatch but the hatchlings are conditioned to make a beeline for the water which is generally lighter than land. Unfortunately, the city is so near the beach and the surrounding area so lit up that the hatchlings get confused and move towards the city instead! Their plight thereafter can well be understood. So these good Samaritans have taken it upon themselves to relocate the eggs to a safer place and monitor them till they hatch and the hatchlings safely make their way to the sea. 

 

THE WALK :As some students had already seen a turtle, we could see the first nest and a clutch of over 100 eggs immediately, greatly raising our enthusiasm.

The turtle's flipper marks in the sand which led us to the nest

Anu couldn't switch on the flash and produced a sharper picture in the torchlight

Digging the nest

The first few eggs

Rajeev gingerly holding the soft, freshly laid egg. It will harden after a few hours.

The nest and the probing rod

Recording the dimensions of the nest for replication in the conservation hatchery

A bagful of turtle eggs! Worth its weight in gold

 

The hatchery

Making similar nests in the hatchery

 

A just emerged hatchling being given to us to release in the sea - oh! the excitement.

Being guided to the sea.The hatchling tried to come towards the torchlight rather than swim towards the sea.

We found three nests during the night. One of the turtles had a missing flipper which our experts could identify from the tracks in the sand.

The stray dogs could be a threat to the eggs and followed us all the way. Here they are pretending to be guarding them!

Hermit crabs were scooting everywhere.But the bottles recklessly thrown on the beach were more scary.

Lepidochelys Olivacea :The smallest of the sea turtles, the Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea) is so called because of its olive green shell but why ridley? is a riddle.  They measure around two and a half feet in length and breadth and are by and large carnivores. Satellite tagging has shown that these turtles travel through the warm and tropical waters to all parts of the world. During the nesting period a female can lay anywhere between 50 to about 200 eggs one to three times. An interesting aspect of the hatching is that the sex of the hatchling will be determined by the temperature of the nest. It would be interesting if researchers could find out if the mother turtle plays any conscious role in determining the sex of her hatchlings!  

ARRIBADAS :Before going for this walk I had heard of mass hatching of Olives on the shores of Odisha. It was a revelation to me that the same turtles do group nesting (called arribadas) on the shores of Odisha in thousands but in single nests in Chennai. The sites popular with the turtles for synchronised mass nesting being  the mouth of the Rushikulya river and Gahirmatha beach in Odisha. It is apparently a survival technique – safety lies in numbers. I was shocked to learn that the survival of a hatchling and reaching adulthood is 1 is to 1000 and we all wondered if the tyke we released would be the one to survive; our collective good wishes were with it. The Olive Ridley turtles are considered endangered because their nesting sites have gone down greatly in numbers.

THE THREAT :Apart from the dwindling nesting sites there are other threats to the Olive Ridley Turtles. Egg harvesting apart from killing the adults for food, oil, leather and making fertilizer have all contributed to their numbers going down. In India thankfully it is believed that Vishnu took the shape of a giant turtle (Kurma) in his second avatar. The local fishing communities of Odisha worship the turtle as a god (may Kurma bless them!) and therefore they help in their conservation.

On the T-shirt of a volunteer