You may remember my post on the Dutch cemetery at Pulicat. Pulicat also has a Dutch cemetery that I unfortunately did not have time to visit. Well, so basically, Dutch had occupied this part of India for a long time, before British and alongside British as well, before British took over completely!
Apart from Pulicat, Dutch forts and settlements and cemeteries can be seen in quite a few places in this locality. 2 more places very close to Chennai would be Sadras Fort and Alamparai (Alhambra) fort. I'm yet to visit Alamparai, so here's the travelogue on Sadras.
Sadras is the anglicized name of Sadhurangapatnam. Infact Chennai was called by English as Madras, an anglicized name of Madrasapatnam. Sadhurangapatnam and Madrasapatnam were twin cities!
The fort in now under ASI (Archaeological survey of India). The name Sadhurangapatnam is derived from Sathurangavalli, a queen who ruled this place. According to the ASI caretaker here, infact, the fort was originally built by the queen.
The fort is said to have a direct access from the beach to a room within the fort which was the queen's room, so she could directly access the beach to take bath and come back into the fort in full privacy! This was also used as an escape route in bad times!!! The Portuguese had taken away the fort from her...
The fort is a brick structure and parts of it are now in ruins. But the place is very well maintained by ASI! As soon as you enter, to the right is a cemetery. Quite unlike Pulicat, here I did spot some cemetery which were in raised platform, with double tomb stones!!!
Certain sections of the fort were intact and some were in ruins. Some were intact. Esp., a small room with arched entrances was very much intact. I was informed that this was a horse stable.
From the rear side of the fort, steps were there to reach the top compound wall of the fort. From here was a splendid view of the sea! Beyond the fort was the road, beyond it was the beach and further beyond was the sea!
One thing about the Dutch forts that I always love is the true arches. If you notice, the bricks atop the arched entrances would form a semi circles. The bricks would be aligned radially, making it so picturesque.
And that's the sun playing hide and seek on our way back to Chennai!
TO GET THERE:
From Chennai: 58 km from the along the East Coast Road, from its beginning at Thiruvanmiyur
From Chengalpet: 28 km towards Kalpakkam Township
From Pondicherry: 85 km along the beach northwards
From Mahabalipuram: 12 km along the beach southwards
Contact number of ASI caretaker: Mr. Selvaraj: +91 98946 73989
UPDATE 29/12/2014: Contact no. of present ASI caretaker: Mr.Anbuchezhian: +91 89404 58292
UPDATE 29/12/2014: Contact no. of present ASI caretaker: Mr.Anbuchezhian: +91 89404 58292
Dedicated to Venkat
interesting! i liked the last snap of the sun & the silver skyline
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Ashok! :)
DeleteHave heard about this fort, but never been there. Should visit next time am in Madras.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely visit, Niranjan! :)
DeleteBased on your series of Kanchipuram temples, I made sure to visit them. Now that you have come up with this fort, will have to make another visit. Beautiful post!
ReplyDeleteGlad you visited new places in Kanchi. :)
DeleteGood place to visit..
ReplyDeletedo we need to contact him to go inside? His no. is not reachable.
ReplyDeleteThe caretaker has the key to this place. You need not contact him, he should be there.
DeleteHowever, if you're travelling from far, its better to call & then go, just to be sure he's there, and not sick or on leave.
interesting!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I visited mahabalipuram,Tranquebar,and pulicat I failed to visit this place.I will visit next time I go to Mahabalipuram.
ReplyDeleteYou should go here as well as Alamparai Fort too!
DeleteHi Bhushavali,nice post.thanks for sharing the info. Would love to visit this place. Just wanted to know is this safe for couples and women?.Waiting for your response.
ReplyDeleteHi Devi. Yes, indeed it is safe for women. Its under ASI and has a watchman and is locked everyday. So yes, it is safe for couples & women.
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