Brothers in books

It was 206 years ago to the day, in 1808, that the Society of the Brothers of St Patrick was founded in Tullow, Ireland. Unlike many of the religious orders that were begun around that time, the Patrician Brothers, as they were called, did not concern themselves with bringing the word of God to the masses. They were rather more concerned about helping people figure out such words for themselves, because its founder, the Rt Rev Dr Daniel Delany believed that it was education which caused hope for the future. His followers took this to heart and established such a good reputation in Ireland, that even the British colonies began to take notice. 

Madras was the first to go beyond just taking notice. The Bishop of Madras invited the Patrician Brothers to take over the orphanage at Kondi Chetty Street and so three of the members were sent over: Bros. Ignatius Price, Paul Hughes and Fintan Parkinson came to Madras in 1875 and in that year itself, they started the St Patrick's School in Armenian Street. But they did not stop with just that one. 

St Michael's Academy is much younger. But it has built up quite a reputation for itself and is today one of the sought after schools in Chennai. Its entrance seems quite cramped, but don't let that fool you. The grounds open up inside and there is quite a bit of space for the children to enjoy their day at school!

New dawn

The new titular head of the Royal Family of Travancore, Moolam Tirunaal Rama Varma, was formally anointed last Friday. That is a good reason to think of the last monarch of Travancore, or to give it its vernacular name, Thiruvithamcoor, who decreed that temples are not exclusive to any group of people. It might sound trivial today, but a century ago, entry into temples was restricted only to “caste Hindoos”. That was the prevailing practice across the whole of India, and it was a young ruler from South India who opened the floodgates with his “Temple Entry Proclamation” in 1936. 

Chithira Thirunaal Balarama Varma Maharaja was barely 24 when he declared that "...there should henceforth be no restriction placed on any Hindu by birth or religion on entering or worshipping at temples controlled by us and our Government", thereby putting an end to centuries of discrimination. The decree was welcomed by both the British government as well as the Indian nationalists. Therefore, when there was a move to erect a statue of the Maharaja in Madras, it met with little resistance. Of course, it was projected more as a commemoration of the event, rather than the man. The statute of Maharaja Balarama Varma came up in the Travancore Maharaja Park, opposite the Raja Annamalai Mandram in Esplanade. 

The Raja of Travancore had large tracts of land in Adyar, which is where his Madras 'camp' palace was. As Adyar developed into a residential area, Balarama Varma granted the new residents' request to provide land for a temple, the only proviso being that it should be dedicated to Padmanabhaswamy, the presiding deity of Travancore. So it was that the temple came up in what is Gandhi Nagar today. That grant helped the Raja's statue as well; by the early 1990s, the Travancore Maharaja Park had become a parking spot for buses and the city formalised it by converting the park into a bus terminus. The statute was sadly out of place and was in danger of being vandalised. Luckily, it was shifted to a corner of the Padmanabhaswamy temple, where it stands, appropriately holding the proclamation that lets anyone with faith enter the temples!

Studying development?

If you have ever had questions about how the patterns of rural-to-urban migration have evolved over the years, this is one place you could probably look to for answers. The Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) was founded in 1971 by Dr Malcolm S. Adiseshiah after his retirement as a Deputy Director-General of the UNESCO. The work that he turned out was impressive enough for the government of India to think about making it an institute of national importance. Accordingly, in 1977, MIDS was taken over by the government (both centre and state governments collaborate in its administration now).

Even though its work continues to provide significant inputs to the development agendas of governments at various levels - remember, it does have a national brief - the main body of the MIDS continues to operate in these premises. It was Dr Adiseshiah's house, which the MIDS trust turned over to the government - and it appears to be pretty much the same way it was when it was taken over!