On 19th August 2017, 06:07 AM, we all gathered in T Nagar for an event. T Nagar, one of the most buzzling parts of Chennai is a shopping hub surrounded by huge multi storey shopping centers and even the tiny roadside shops will have an amazing collection of fancy items. But that’s not all. Todays walk took us to an altogether new dimension of this place.
A city is shaped by many factors such as geography, culture, tradition, food habits, demography etc. Today we learned about a tiny fraction of this amazing city from the perspective of History. With Chennai day round the corner we went to revisit the history of T Nagar on a cloudy Saturday morning. Thanks to the rains the previous night the climate was pleasant throughout the morning and thanks to no rain that morning that we enjoyed this event hassle free.
Few facts about this place. T Nagar was once a huge lake called the Long Tank which formed the west frontier of Madras Presidency. A massive natural lake of 540 acres, which extended from the present day Nungambakkam to Saidapet , was drained out to make the first planned township of Chennai in the British Era. Madras Presidency extended to Kanjam District in Orissa also covering parts of Karnataka and Kerala. T Nagar was built in the year 1923-25.All the main roads and streets are named after the members of the Justice Party – a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. This part of the city is planned in the form of the Rising Sun with Usman Road forming its base, Panagal Park forming its body and GN Chetty Road, Theagaraya Road (aka Pondy Bazaar) and Venkatanarayana Road forming its Rays. An amazing bit of history, which makes us realize that the practice of building a city on lakes exists since decades.
Justice Party
Justice Party
In the pre Independence Era, the Caste divide was much more rampant than what we see in the present day. The Brahmin and Non Brahmin divide is an issue since ages and with the political development, this divide just got bigger. With a view of protecting the interests of the Non Brahmin population the South Indian Liberation Federation was formed. It aimed at the upliftment of the social status of the Non Brahmin community. The Non Brahmin communities were oppressed and denied for several rights and looked down upon from the upper castes who were the Brahmins. Even today, in several villages all over India, we can see this stark divide where the lower castes are not even allowed to use the river water as the upper castes feel that they will contaminate the river water.
During the British Era, the Brahmins enjoyed a higher position in the social hierarchy. Due to this, they had access to more job opportunities, political dominance, better educational opportunities etc. The South Indian Liberation Federation was formed in the year 1917 by P. Theagaraya Chetty, T.M. Nair and C. Natesa Mudaliar. This party was later popularly known as the Justice Party after the English Daily Justice published by it. They released the Non Brahmin Manifesto in 1916 which represented the interests and safeguarding all the other communities except the Brahmins.
During the British Era, the Brahmins enjoyed a higher position in the social hierarchy. Due to this, they had access to more job opportunities, political dominance, better educational opportunities etc. The South Indian Liberation Federation was formed in the year 1917 by P. Theagaraya Chetty, T.M. Nair and C. Natesa Mudaliar. This party was later popularly known as the Justice Party after the English Daily Justice published by it. They released the Non Brahmin Manifesto in 1916 which represented the interests and safeguarding all the other communities except the Brahmins.
We can say that it laid the foundation for all the existing Dravidian Parties of Tamilnadu. T Nagar being the first township planned by them has its own piece of history oozing out of every nook and corner. As I mentioned earlier that this township has all the roads and streets named after some prominent members of this Elite Political Party which existed between 1917 – 44, we were privileged to revisit this place and experience more than what we learn in the books.
Usman Road
Usman road, one of the busiest roads of T Nagar is also the costliest commercial stretch in Chennai. This road is named after Khan Bahadur Sir Mohammed Usman, an Indian Politician, Unani medicine practitioner and socialite who served as the Minister of Home for the Madras Presidency in the Justice Party government. Born in Thanjavur, he graduated from Madras Christian College and joined the Justice Party. He served in the Madras Legislative Council, Governors Executive Council and the Viceroys Executive Council. He was the first India to serve as the acting Governor of Madras Presidency for a short stint.
Panagal Park
Panagal Park, a huge park in the center of T Nagar, is named after the Ruler of Panagal (Correct pronunciation being Paanagal), the chief minister of Justice Party who created this park. Sir Panaganti Ramarayaningar also known as the Raja of Panagal, was an active member in the Justice Party and remained with it until his death. He worked towards the empowerment of oppressed classes for social justice and also supported women empowerment. He brought in many social reforms like the Hindu Religion Endowment Board, Communal G.O etc to mention a few.
Hindu Religion Endowment Bill sought to establish Trusts to maintain the temple funds and control the temple administration.He brought in the caste based reservations to ascertain the jobs for all the castes based upon the population divide under the First Communal GO. In order to learn medicine, it was compulsory to learn Sanskrit those days. He introduced a bill which removed this compulsion.
Between the years 1929-87, there was a public radio inside the park to cater the visitors who gathered there to listen to music and news and stayed till the last news broadcast at 7.15 p.m.
We were privileged to meet the descendants of this amazing man in the walk which enriched our experience.
Pondy Bazaar
Pondy Bazaar, one of the commercial stretch of T Nagar, is officially called Soundarapandian Angadi and was named after W.P.A Soundarpandian Nadar. He was a leading figure in Nadar Mahajana Sangam and became the first Nadar member of the Madras Legislative Council upon a recommendation by P.T. Rajan in 1920. He served as the Board President of Ramanad District. He is known for his effort to associate the Nadar community with the Self-Respect Movement. Non Brahmins were not allowed in Public Transport. He made commendable efforts for them to use public transport. It is said that he strongly refused to give license to buses if they don’t allow non Brahmin in public buses.
GN Chetty Road
This road is named after Diwan Bahadur Sir Gopathi Narayanaswami Chetty. He was an Indian merchant, landlord, politician, legislator and economist. He was a member of the Joint Select Committee of the Reserve Bank of India Bill and played a pivotal role in the formation of the Reserve Bank of India.
The beauty of this road is that, two of its streets – Govindu Street and Nathamuni Street is named after labourers who died building the drainage.
This road also has the Sir Pitti Thyagaraya Hall which is named after Sir Pitty Theagaraya Chetty who was one of the founder members of the Justice Party. He used to be a member of Indian National Congress but was unhappy with the caste divide which he experienced in the party. One of the wealthiest people those days, he donated a staggering amount of Rs.10000 for the Kapaleeshwarar Temple. But on the festival day was forbidden to climb the temple as he belonged to a lower caste. This discrimination enraged him and he went to T.M.Nair with whom he had some difference of opinion over letting water for the Parthasaarthy Temple. They both had been victims of caste discrimination despite being elite and educated. Thus, they went to
C. Natesa Mudhaliar, who was already working towards these issues and founded the South Indian Liberation Federation and started the Non-Brahmin Movement. His home in Tondiarpet is now a heritage building.
T.M Nair Road
He fought for the rights of the oppressed and died in England due to ill health. He travelled, despite being warned, to speak in support of communal representations.
Basudev Street
Basudev street is named after Mayor Basudev who was a member of the Madras Legislative Council and the Mayor of Madras. He was known for his efforts to move the Madras Moneylenders Bill in order to remove the indebtedness of farmers. His descendants joined us in the walk and it was indeed a pleasure to meet such people about whom you just get to read about in books.
This road is named after Thanikachalam who was a leading lawyer in the period of 1875-1929. Thanikachalam Chetti participated in the early sessions of the Justice Party and was responsible for drafting the resolutions in the Madras Legislative Council which eventually became the Communal G.O of 1928.
CD Nayagam T Nagar Higher Secondary School is on the Venkatnarayana Road. He joined the Self Respect Movement with Periyar. Periyar was a member of Indian National Congress but due to his philosophy that different sections of a society should have equal rights to enjoy the fruits of the resources and the development of the country he left the Congress and proposed the Self Respect movement. Justice Party accepted the proposal and he joined them. But due to internal conflicts between CD Nayagam and Periyar, Nayagam left the Justice Party. This was the beginning of the fall out of the Justice Party.
Natesan Park is nowadays one of the famous joggers park and gathering areas in Chennai. It is named after C Natesa Mudaliar, who was one of the founder members of the Justice Party. He was already heading the Dravidar Sangam when Pitty Theagaraya and T.M Nair approached him with the idea of South Indian Liberation Federation.
This street is named after T.N Sivagnanam Pillai who served as the minister of development in the Justice Party.
Popularly known as the Duraisamy Subway, this road is named after an Eye specialist Dr. Duraisamy. Sivalingam bridge, the lesser known bridge that runs over the subway is named after a person who set himself ablaze over the Anti Hindi Protests.
We ended our walk at the Periyar Statue near to the T Nagar Bus depot, where he gave his last speech. Periyar joined the Justice party as it accepted his ideology of the Self Respect Movement. After suffering a huge loss in the elections, Periyar said that, “This loss is for our own good”. Many people had already started leaving this party as the Indian Freedom movement had gathered momentum. He had been the fighter for the rights of the oppressed. He condemned the Vedas which divided the people. He was much closer than the other Justice Party leaders as he would personally go among the masses and be one with them. He was in jail for the Anti Hindi protests when he was made the party leader. Anti Hindi protests are often misrepresented as an opposition to Hindi as a whole. Hindi and Tamil are both of different scripts and have its own set of languages. If Hindi was made the national language, it would have superseded the other script, which is the Dravidian Script and it would have been compulsory for the people to learn Hindi. In order to protect the Dravidian Languages, this opposition sparked up and lots of lives were lost in this protest. Though Hindi is still the official language but it’s still not the National Language and even today the regional languages are recognized and all the official circulars come in these languages as well.
The beauty of this road is that, two of its streets – Govindu Street and Nathamuni Street is named after labourers who died building the drainage.
This road also has the Sir Pitti Thyagaraya Hall which is named after Sir Pitty Theagaraya Chetty who was one of the founder members of the Justice Party. He used to be a member of Indian National Congress but was unhappy with the caste divide which he experienced in the party. One of the wealthiest people those days, he donated a staggering amount of Rs.10000 for the Kapaleeshwarar Temple. But on the festival day was forbidden to climb the temple as he belonged to a lower caste. This discrimination enraged him and he went to T.M.Nair with whom he had some difference of opinion over letting water for the Parthasaarthy Temple. They both had been victims of caste discrimination despite being elite and educated. Thus, they went to
C. Natesa Mudhaliar, who was already working towards these issues and founded the South Indian Liberation Federation and started the Non-Brahmin Movement. His home in Tondiarpet is now a heritage building.
T.M Nair Road
Taravath Madhavan Nair was a political activist of the Dravidian Movement from the Madras Presidency. He was initially a member of Indian National Congress and also worked in London as a doctor. He was nominated for the Imperial Legislative of India but lost the election and blamed the caste discrimination for this loss. This led to his involvement in the Dravidian and Non-Brahmin Movement.
According to the Varna system, the society is divided into four castes – Brahmins (Head), Kshatriyas (Chest), Vaishyas (Belly) and Shudras(Feet). This has created a lot of ripples in Indian Social Format as the lower castes are always looked down upon. According to this system the caste is determined by birth. T.M Nair condemned this idea. In his magazine, Antiseptic he mentioned that though people are divided based upon caste but I have never seen a child born this way.
According to the Varna system, the society is divided into four castes – Brahmins (Head), Kshatriyas (Chest), Vaishyas (Belly) and Shudras(Feet). This has created a lot of ripples in Indian Social Format as the lower castes are always looked down upon. According to this system the caste is determined by birth. T.M Nair condemned this idea. In his magazine, Antiseptic he mentioned that though people are divided based upon caste but I have never seen a child born this way.
He fought for the rights of the oppressed and died in England due to ill health. He travelled, despite being warned, to speak in support of communal representations.
Basudev Street
Basudev street is named after Mayor Basudev who was a member of the Madras Legislative Council and the Mayor of Madras. He was known for his efforts to move the Madras Moneylenders Bill in order to remove the indebtedness of farmers. His descendants joined us in the walk and it was indeed a pleasure to meet such people about whom you just get to read about in books.
Thanikachalam Road
This road is named after Thanikachalam who was a leading lawyer in the period of 1875-1929. Thanikachalam Chetti participated in the early sessions of the Justice Party and was responsible for drafting the resolutions in the Madras Legislative Council which eventually became the Communal G.O of 1928.
Thiagarajar School
CD Nayagam T Nagar Higher Secondary School is on the Venkatnarayana Road. He joined the Self Respect Movement with Periyar. Periyar was a member of Indian National Congress but due to his philosophy that different sections of a society should have equal rights to enjoy the fruits of the resources and the development of the country he left the Congress and proposed the Self Respect movement. Justice Party accepted the proposal and he joined them. But due to internal conflicts between CD Nayagam and Periyar, Nayagam left the Justice Party. This was the beginning of the fall out of the Justice Party.
Natesan Park
Natesan Park is nowadays one of the famous joggers park and gathering areas in Chennai. It is named after C Natesa Mudaliar, who was one of the founder members of the Justice Party. He was already heading the Dravidar Sangam when Pitty Theagaraya and T.M Nair approached him with the idea of South Indian Liberation Federation.
The non Brahmins were denied food in the Madras University. He opened a Dravidian Student Hostel specially meant for the Non Brahmin students.
This park falls on the Venkatanarayana Road, which is named after Venkatanarayana Rao Naidu who had contributed towards the abolition of Caste System.
Sivagnanam Street
This street is named after T.N Sivagnanam Pillai who served as the minister of development in the Justice Party.
Duraisamy Road and Sivalingam Bridge
Popularly known as the Duraisamy Subway, this road is named after an Eye specialist Dr. Duraisamy. Sivalingam bridge, the lesser known bridge that runs over the subway is named after a person who set himself ablaze over the Anti Hindi Protests.
Periyar Statue
We ended our walk at the Periyar Statue near to the T Nagar Bus depot, where he gave his last speech. Periyar joined the Justice party as it accepted his ideology of the Self Respect Movement. After suffering a huge loss in the elections, Periyar said that, “This loss is for our own good”. Many people had already started leaving this party as the Indian Freedom movement had gathered momentum. He had been the fighter for the rights of the oppressed. He condemned the Vedas which divided the people. He was much closer than the other Justice Party leaders as he would personally go among the masses and be one with them. He was in jail for the Anti Hindi protests when he was made the party leader. Anti Hindi protests are often misrepresented as an opposition to Hindi as a whole. Hindi and Tamil are both of different scripts and have its own set of languages. If Hindi was made the national language, it would have superseded the other script, which is the Dravidian Script and it would have been compulsory for the people to learn Hindi. In order to protect the Dravidian Languages, this opposition sparked up and lots of lives were lost in this protest. Though Hindi is still the official language but it’s still not the National Language and even today the regional languages are recognized and all the official circulars come in these languages as well.
He declared the party name to be changed from Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam. He fought vehemently for the abolition of untouchability and liberation of women and women’s education.
But due to his differences with Anna Durai they separated and Anna Durai formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Anna Durai had compromised with Delhi to be a part of the Independent India but Periyar was fighting for an Independent State. He was staunch supporter of Anti-Brahminism and was an atheist.
With this amazing chunk of history, many of which might be left out, we left for the day. Even today we fight for our rights and social status in many places but imagining doing that in an era where the concept of freedom didn’t exist, is altogether is different experience. Thanks to the efforts of these great selfless people, we are still breathing in the open air and enjoying all the benefits.
Lot of work is yet to be done but if India is on the path of development, it is due to the fore vision of these founding fathers of the nation.
Sources:
T Nagar Justice Walk – Conducted by Mr. Govi Lenin
The Hindu Newspaper
