Vizag's hidden history

My article in the Times of India dated 21 Feb 2016

Vizag's hidden history TOI web link

People fascinated by Indian history are familiar with historical facts of several old towns and cities such as Varanasi, Hyderabad, Chennai or Mumbai. While most old Indian cities and towns have interesting past our own Vizag has a secret history that has escaped some of us residing here all our lives. We pass by structures surrounded by buildings as we rush about our work scarcely throwing a glance at those forgotten spots that have played a significant part in Vizag’s past. Tourist brochures convey a simplistic view of Vizag’s history describing it as a “sleepy fishing village” that over time transformed into today’s bustling city. Somehow we visualise a bunch of fisher folk sleeping all day. In fact Vizag has been an important town for many centuries and has witnessed the ebb and tide of rulers, armies, cultures and outstanding men of vision - who slept very little.

What’s in a name?

Ports towns typically have the suffix “patnam”. Our city has been known by different names in recorded history ending with patnam. It is said that some centuries ago a King travelling from the south along the coast to Varanasi stopped at a site south of what is now Lawson’s Bay. He was taken up with the beauty of the place and perhaps the great toddy from the millions of Palmyra plants. As it was before the CRZ came into force, he ordered a small temple built at the shore and named it “Vaisakha”. The sea swept away this structure a long time ago but the name persisted for a while and then changed to the Vizagapatam, then to Vishakhapatnam and now it is commonly known in its abbreviated form of “Vizag”. Many know this story but there are two other stories of Vizag’s name.

Kulotungapatnam

Some time prior to 1095 a Chola king named Kulotunga I felt the urge, like many rulers do occasionally, to expand his empire. He set out with his army up the coast, all the way from Tanjore (now Tanjavur) and took control of our neck of the woods. He was fond of his own name and promptly named the area Kulotungapatnam. Well he eventually was sent packing by the Chalukyas and thankfully the odd name of Kulotungapatnam disappeared. Otherwise we would have to change the code of Vizag airport from VTZ to KLP.

Ishakapatnam

There is another twist to the name. Near the port channel, atop a hill in Kota Veedhi is an ancient Dargah which is said to have been constructed prior to 1257. This Dargah was built over the tomb of a holy Muslim Saint Syed Ali Medina, also known as Ishak Medina. It is possible that our town was originally known by the name of this Saint as “Ishakapatnam” which, over time changed to “Vizagapatam”.

Rebellion!

Our history books tell us that the first Indian Sepoys Mutiny or Rebellion took place in Meerut in 1857. Re-write that because Vizag has the distinction of an earlier rebellion on 3^rd October 1780, Seventy seven years before the other one. Here is the story. To meet the invasion of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali of Mysore the British asked for four companies of sepoys to be sent from Vizag to Madras in the ship “Sartine Frigue” anchored off Vizag at that time. The Sepoys refused to go ostensibly saying that it was a matter of sentiment that they should not travel by sea but perhaps really because the admired Hyder Ali and some wanted to join him. When ordered to board the vessel and set sail for Madras, they mutinied and killed a number of British officers.  The tomb of one of the officers, Kingsford Venner, can be found at the European Cemetery in old town. The military sent a party after the mutineers and they were caught at Kasimkota as they were making their way South and some were killed and many captured. End of Rebellion but we can be sure that this would make a terrific movie. I suspect that the lead role will be that of Subahdar Shiek Mohmud the instigator and leader of the Mutiny; any takers for that role?

Waltair was cool!

We are all familiar with Waltair; we call it “Waltair Upland”. The British first made their way to Waltair in 1727. A gazetteer of 1907 refers to it as the “northern extremity of the municipality” and describes it as a “clean, bright, well-built line of houses wearing a prosperous air”. Most of the European officers took up residence here. Apparently the landscape was scrubby broken ground, gullied and with impassable crevices, red vivid soil, sloping towards the sea. One can imagine that it would look very much like the present day Erra Matti Dibbalu near Bheemunipatnam. The area was considered to be good for health owing to its clean ground water and cool temperature. The January temperature in the Waltair uplands area in middle of the 1800s was around 17°C. You can still feel that temperature in Waltair but have to be inside an AC room.

Lawson’s bay

Most of us are familiar with Lawson’s bay colony. Some old timers remember Lawson’s Bay as a picturesque cove with sparkling blue waters in which we swam all day during our school holidays and where the fishing boats came in every afternoon leaden with fish. That was before it got surrounded by slums and a filthy RTC bus station.  The bay was named after Patrick Lawson, commander of the Indiaman ship “Lord Hobart”. Lawson died in 1820 and is buried in the Old Cemetery in old town near the Kurupam market.

Upputeru and Dolphin hill

Incidentally - the channel to the south of Dolphin nose hill now leading to the port was once a shallow waterway that drained the marsh inland  known as “Upputeru”. It is told that at low tide people would actually wade across it to make it to Lova Thota and on to Yerada by foot. The channel was dredged to allow ships to pass through. The port area was once a marsh and was reclaimed and engineered to become the port that it is today. Incidentally Dolphin Nose Hill was called Blackmore Hill around 1801 after a Captain Thomas Blackmore of the Artillery obtained a grant from the East India Company to build a house on the hill on 44 acres of land.

Whet your historical appetite

We could immerse ourselves completely in the pages of history and Vizag has plenty of interesting tales of the past. There are gazettes and historical records to browse through for those interested. The Simhachalam temple because of its antiquity – it may have been in existence before 99 AD – and with their rock cut records, are a great source of information. We must make sure that no ignorant or negligent official of the Endowments Department or other Government bodies remove the evidence of history to give these heritage areas a “brand new look”.

Let’s not destroy ourselves

The few points mentioned here just go to show that we also can be proud of our historical heritage. George Orwell, an English author and journalist who was born in Motihari, Bihar in 1903 comments “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” Let us not destroy ourselves.