|
Madras Day is a festival organized to commemorate the founding of the city of Madras (now Chennai) in Tamil Nadu, India. It is celebrated on 22 August every year, 22 August 1639 being the widely agreed date for the purchase of the village of Madraspatnam or Chennapatnam by East India Company factors Andrew Cogan and Francis Day from Damerla Venkatapathy, the viceroy of the Vijayanagar Empire. The idea of a Madras Day was first suggested by Chennai-based journalist Vincent D'Souza to historian S. Muthiah during a meeting of the trustees of the Chennai Heritage foundation in 2004. Since then, Madras Day celebrations have been held every year without fail, its highlights being exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and quizzes. The Madras Day festival has registered a steady increase in popularity year after year. The 2015 and 2016 editions have lasted through August and extended into September as well, prompting demands to rename Madras Day as Madras Week or even, Madras Month. There has been a contention that the deed of purchase was actually dated 22 July 1639 and not the 22nd of August. The motive of the celebrations have also been criticized by academicians and state government organizations who feel that it gives undue importance to colonial heritage. ==Background== The modern history of the city dates back to 1639 when Francis Day of the British East India Company bought a small strip of land on the Coromandel Coast from the Vijayanagara King, Peda Venkata Raya in Chandragiri. The region was ruled by Damerla Venkatapathy, the Nayak of Vandavasi.〔(Chennai district Profile )〕 He granted the British permission to build a factory and warehouse for their trading enterprises. A year later, the British built Fort St George, which became the nucleus of the growing colonial city.〔 It was on 22 August 1639 that a sliver of land, where now stands Fort St George, was handed over by the local Nayak rulers to the East India Company’s Francis Day, his dubash Beri Thimmappa, and their superior, Andrew Cogan. From this small three square miles given to the East India Company grew the city of Madras where more than four and a half million people live now.〔 As years passed by out of the fort grew settlements and the villages around it were brought together with the old and new towns linked up and hence birth of a city.〔(Madras day website )〕〔( And the city grew ) The Hindu〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Madras Day」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|