Modern apathy succeeded, Britishs envy failed

CHENNAI: It was not just government files that were destroyed in the fire that broke out at the Ezhilagam complex in the wee hours of Monday. An important symbol of the city’s heritage was reduced to ashes in no time. It was a symbol that the British had tried for decades to eclipse. Where the British attempts to hide the Chepauk Palace failed, modern apathy seems to have succeeded.The heritage structure that caught fire was part of the larger Chepauk Palace, the residence of the Nawabs of Arcot in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Called Kalsa Mahal, the building had in fact been the private quarters of the family of the Nawab till 1855.The Chepauk Palace, completed in 1768, was the first ever structure in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style that later became a staple of British architecture in the subcontinent. It went on to provide the architectural basis for the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.The British had for long tried to suppress the splendid sight that the Chepauk Palace posed. Literature from the time shows that many a writer and administrator cited the Palace as their first sight of Madras from the sea. The Palace dwarfed the British capitol at Fort St George, which at the time was much smaller than its present avatar.Ever since the British took ownership of the Palace in a ‘sham auction’ in 1850, they tried to construct buildings that would hide the regal structures from sight while at sea. First among these additions was a sea-facing building in 1860 that we today know as the headquarters of Tamil Nadu’s Public Works Department (PWD).The British also converted the Palace into offices for various departments of their government. While that intent led to the desired reduction in the profile of the magnificent structure, it was sheer callousness that led to its complete abuse following Independence. The construction of the Ezhilagam building did more to damage the image of the Palace, more than the British could have imagined. The Palace was completely hemmed in with only its rear facade visible along the Wallajah Road.Activists have time and again raised the call for maintenance and restoration of the heritage structure.