India, but he was overthrown by Clive, whose defence of Arcot in 1751 forms the turning point in Indian history. In 1760 the crowning victory of Wandewash was won by Colonel (afterwards Sir Eyre) Coote, over Lally, and in the following year, despite help from Mysore, Pondicherry was captured.
Though the English had no longer any European rival, they had yet to deal with Mahommedan fanaticism and the warlike population of the highlands of Mysore. The dynasty founded by Hyder Ali, and terminating in his son Tippoo Sultan, proved itself in four several wars, which terminated only in 1799, the most formidable antagonist which the English had ever encountered (see Hyder Ali and India). Since the beginning of the 19th century Madras has known no regular war, but occasional disturbances have called for measures of repression. The pálegárs or local chieftains long clung to their independence after their country was ceded to the British. On the west coast, the feudal aristocracy of the Nairs, and the religious fanaticism of the Moplahs, have more than once led to rebellion and bloodshed. In the extreme north, the wild tribes occupying the hills of Ganjam and Vizagapatam have only lately learned the habit of subordination. In 1836 the zamíndarí of Gumsur in this remote tract was attached by government for the rebellious conduct of its chief. An inquiry then instituted revealed the wide prevalence among the tribe of Kondhs of human sacrifice, under the name of meriah. The practice has since been suppressed by a special agency. In 1879 the country round Rampa on the northern frontier was the scene of riots sufficiently serious to lead to the necessity of calling out troops. The same necessity arose three years later, when the Hindus and Mahommedans of Salem came into collision over a question of religious ceremonial. A more serious disturbance was that known as the “Anti-Shanar riots” of 1899. The Maravans of Tinnevelly and parts of Madura, resenting the pretensions of the Shanans, a toddy-drawing caste, to a higher social and religious status, organized attacks on Shanan villages. The town of Sivakasi was looted and burnt by five thousand Maravans. Quiet was restored by the military, and a punitive police force was stationed in the disturbed area.
The different territories comprising the Madras presidency were acquired by the British at various dates. In 1763 the tract encircling Madras city, then known as the Jagir now Chingleput district, was ceded by the nawab of Arcot. In 1765 the Northern Circars, out of which the French had recently been driven, were granted to the Company by the Mogul emperor, but at the price of an annual tribute of £90,000 to the nizam of Hyderabad. Full rights of dominion were not acquired till 1823, when the tribute was commuted for a lump payment. In 1792 Tippoo was compelled to cede the Baramahal (now part of Salem district), Malabar and Dindigul subdivision of Madura. In 1799, on the reconstruction of Mysore state after Tippoo’s death, Coimbatore and Kanara were appropriated as the British share; and in the same year the Mahratta raja of Tanjore resigned the administration of his territory, though his descendant retained titular rank till 1855. In 1800 Bellary and Cuddapah were made over by the nizam of Hyderabad to defray the expense of an increased subsidiary force. In the following year the dominions of the nawab of the Carnatic, extending along the east coast almost continuously from Nellore to Tinnevelly, were resigned into the hands of the British by a puppet who had been put upon the throne for the purpose. The last titular nawab of the Carnatic died in 1855; but his representative still bears the title of prince of Arcot, and is recognized as the first native nobleman in Madras. In 1839 the nawab of Kurnool was deposed for misgovernment and suspicion of treason, and his territories annexed.
See Madras Manual of Administration, 3 vols. (Madras, 1885 and 1893); S. Ayyangar, Forty Years’ Progress in Madras (Madras, 1893); J. P. Rees, Madras (Society of Arts, 1901); Madras Provincial Gazetteer (2 vols., Calcutta, 1908).
MADRAS, the capital of Madras presidency, and the chief
seaport on the eastern coast of India, is situated in 13° 4′ N.
and 80° 17′ E. The city, with its suburbs, extends nine miles
along the sea and nearly four miles inland, intersected by
the little river Cooum. Area, 27 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 509,346,
showing an increase of 12.6% in the decade. Madras is the
third city in India.
Although at first sight the city presents a disappointing appearance, and possesses not a single handsome street, it has several buildings of architectural pretensions, and many spots of historical interest. It is spread over a very wide area, and many parts of it are almost rural in character. Seen from the roadstead, the fort, a row of merchants’ offices, a few spires and public buildings are all that strike the eye. Roughly speaking, the city consists of the following divisions. (1) George Town (formerly Black Town, but renamed after the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1906), an ill-built, densely populated block, about a mile square, is the business part of the town, containing the banks, custom house, high court, and all the mercantile offices. The last, for the most part handsome structures, lie along the beach. On the sea-face of George Town are the pier and the new harbour. Immediately south of George Town there is (2) an open space which contains Fort St George, the Marina, or fashionable drive and promenade by the seashore, Government House, and several handsome public buildings on the sea-face. (3) West and south of this lung of the city are crowded quarters known by native names—Chintadrapet, Turuvaleswarampet, Pudupak, Royapet, Kistnampet and Mylapur, which bend to the sea again at the old town of Saint Thomé. (4) To the west of George Town are the quarters of Veperi and Pudupet, chiefly inhabited by Eurasians, and the suburbs of Egmore, Nangambakam, and Perambur, adorned with handsome European mansions and their spacious “compounds” or parks, which make Madras a city of magnificent distances. (5) South-west and south lie the European quarters of Tanampet and aristocratic Adyar. Among the most notable buildings are the cathedral, Scottish church, Government House, Pachayappa’s Hall, senate house, Chepauk palace (now the revenue board), and the Central railway station.
Madras possesses no special industries. There are several cotton mills, large cement works, iron foundries and cigar factories. Large sums of money have from time to time been spent upon the harbour works, but without any great success. The port remains practically an open roadstead, protected by two breakwaters, and the P. & O. steamers ceased to call in 1898. Passengers or cargo are landed or embarked in flat-bottomed masula boats. The sea bottom is unusually flat, reaching a depth of ten fathoms only at a mile from the shore. The harbour is not safe during a cyclone, and vessels have to put out to sea. Madras conducts about 56% of the foreign trade of the presidency, but a much smaller share of the coasting trade. As the capital of southern India, Madras is the centre on which all the great military roads converge. It is also the terminal station of two lines of railway, the Madras & Southern Mahratta line and the Madras & Tanjore section of the South Indian railway. The Buckingham canal, which passes through an outlying part of the city, connects South Arcot district with Nellore and the Kistna and Godavari system of canal navigation. The municipal government of the city was framed by an act of the Madras legislature passed in 1884. The governing body consists of 32 commissioners, of whom 24 are elected by the ratepayers, together with a paid president. The Madras University was constituted in 1857, as an examining body, on the model of the university of London. The chief educational institutions in Madras city are the Presidency College; six missionary colleges and one native college; the medical college, the law college, the college of engineering, the teachers’ college in the suburb of Saidapet, all maintained by government; and the government school of arts.
The foundation of Madras dates from 1640, when Francis Day, chief of the East India Company’s settlement at Armagon, obtained a grant of the present site of the city from a native ruler. A fort—called Fort St George, presumably from having been finished on St George’s Day (April 23)—was at once
