Madras Day: Know The Historical Significance Of This Day Celebrated Every Year

Madras Day is widely celebrated on August 22 to commemorate the foundation of the city Madras (now Chennai). On this day in 1639, East India Company's administrators Francis Day and Andrew Cogan made a deal with the viceroy of Vijayanagar Empire to acquire the land of Madras, which today is known as Chennai.

In the first, Chennai-based journalist Vincent D'Souza suggested the idea of celebrating August 22 as the foundation day to historian S.Muthiah in 2004 during a meeting of trustees of the Chennai Heritage Foundation. Since then, the people of Chennai have celebrated this day as 'Madras Day' with highlights of several events and workshops.

In 2004, the celebration began with five events across the city, and it grew gradually to 60 events in 2005. Throughout time, the day has gained popularity among people as 2014, and 2015 editions of the celebration lasted for a month, prompting demands to rename Madras Day as Madras Week or Month, suggests Wikipedia.

In the 383rd edition, the primary objective of celebrating Madras Day is to focus on the past and present of the city.

Significance Of Madras Day

The oldest building of Madras dates back to the 7th and 8th centuries CE. The city has a rich heritage and traditions defining ancient culture practised. The Parthasarathy Temple and Kapaleeshwarar Temple are examples of antique touches in the city made with Dravidian architecture.

The city of Madras is elder to Mumbai and Kolkata- two cities founded by the East India Company (EIC). Earlier, Madras was not a settlement made by the British administration. However, the EIC made a deal to purchase the village of Madraspatnam from the viceroy of the Vijayanagara Empire, Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka.

In the old records, the date of July 22, 1639, is mentioned as Madras's birthday, which was later corrected to August 22 based on facts and documents. Madras has always been a point of attraction for the British administration due to its rich heritage and culture.

The particular focus of Britishers was the Coromandel coast, as it was the most acceptable location to build a factory and warehouses to initiate trading and other business activities. Most of the city's highlights came into existence during the rule of Cholas, Pandyas, Chera, Pallavas, and Vijaynagara Pallavas.

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