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Churches are Chennai's best-kept
secret. While Chennai is known as a metropolis that teems with Hindu
temples, its quaint churches are a reminder of its ancient history.
Due to the early infiltration of Christianity into South India and
with the arrival of the Portuguese, the Dutch, French, Nestorian
Christians and Armernians in Tamil Nadu, Chennai's 500 years of
church architecture reflects the varied cultures of the faithful
who built these monuments. The two prominent clusters of churches
in Chennai can be found in the George Town area and the Santhome
locality. Visiting the churches of Chennai makes for a walk past
the city's varied history.
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The
East India Company erected the first ever church outside of the
Mediterranean within Fort St. George in Chennai. It was named St.
Mary's Church and was meant for the Company's
residents of that area. From Elihu Yale, Job Charnock, Warren Hastings,
Wellesley, and Robert Clive, the church has heard many illustrious
footfalls. Today it needs patience to get to this church that seems
hidden away in the dull and grey concrete buildings of the Tamil
Nadu state secretariat, housed within the walls of the Fort.
This Sunday I am lucky. The government
offices are closed, and finding the church and its small congregation
is easy as the pastor's sermon reaches out to the grove of neem
and mango trees that surround the church. Its altar has The
Last Supper painted in a Raphael technique and the church's
possessions include a 1660 Bible and silver plates of the same time. |
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My second stop is at St. Andrew's Kirk cathedral
on the busy truck laden, dust spewing Poonamalee High Road. The
church was built when the Scottish regiments were stationed in Chennai
in the 19th Century. A Kirk Session, a Church of Scotland committee,
decided that a church for the Presbyterian tradition in Chennai
would serve the faithful among the Scots. The church is unique as
it has a circular form based on a design originally meant for the
London St. Martin in the Fields. The neo classical church stands
amid a large compound of trees. Inside the church, 16 fluted Corinthian
columns support its circular interior and its dome is painted a
deep blue with tiny stars, said to resemble the skies in Scotland.
Its woodwork and the pews are in mahogany and its portico with columns
at the front gives it a classical touch. This grand edifice is a
must-see for the aesthete.
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The Armenians were the first settlers along with the Jews who came
for trade to Chennai. While there are no records of lasting value
left on the coral trading Chennai Jews, the wealthy Armenian community
traded in pearls, diamonds, and silks. Today the Armenian
Church on Armenian Street, in the busy commercial centre
of George Town, is a testimony to their ancient presence. A hush
falls over when you enter the church through a wooden door topped
by a Dutch gable. Abruptly the noise and bustle of George Town is
forgotten in this spot of stillness. It has a baroque façade
and its prayer hall lies deserted this Sunday for the community
has no members in the city. The lone occupant of the church quarters
remains the last of the Armenians left in Chennai whose footfall
echoes whisperingly on the 350 tombstones of the Armenians who once
lived in this city.
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Santhome (a Tamil mutation of St.Thomas)
was a Portuguese settlement since they first arrived on the Mylapore
shores in the 16th Century. A walk down Santhome
with its garden houses that hark back to the Portuguese times, the
sandy seafront, its many Catholic institutions, 100 year old buildings,
garden houses, convents and the majestic
Santhome Bascilica can give a whiff of Chennai’s Portuguese
era.
Legend has it that the Apostle, St.Thomas landed on the Malabar
Coast and after founding churches and converting many locals,
landed in Mylapore in 52 A.D., where he is believed to have built
a tiny chapel with his own hands. The Portuguese built repeatedly
upon the remains of the St. Thomas church with the shoreline expanding.
The basilica fell into the British hands by 1740 when the Portuguese
power declined. The present handsome neo-Gothic cathedral, with
its 183 feet-high spire, was built in 1894. In the centre of the
Basilica is believed to be a crypt that houses the tomb of St.Thomas.
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A mile away from the Sathome Bascilica, hidden by bungalows and
apartment complexes is the Luz Church or the Church of our
Lady of Light. It's almost a church in the woods and you
can locate it by a narrow lane that leads from St. Isabelle's Hospital.
Even now it retains a shrubby charm with mango and neem groves in
the compound. It is known to be the oldest church constructed in
Chennai. Its altar is done up in silver and gold leaf with its ceilings
painted in powder blue in the inside. Story goes that a mysterious
light safely guided a group of Portuguese sailors tossed by stormy
waters, and the light disappeared when they struck land. They are
said to have built a chapel dedicated to` Our Lady of Light'. The
church has a special Sunday Mass for children.
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History reveals that the Nestorian Christians erected a small church
in the 7th Century on the summit of St.Thomas's
Mount when they heard the legend of the apostle. St.Thomas
is said to have preached atop the hillock when he was martyred at
72 A.D. Marco Polo visited the site in 1293. The Portuguese who
arrived later in the 16th Century rebuilt a church on the crumbling
structure and there is a legend that a bleeding cross was found
at the spot. It was dedicated on `Our Lady of Expectations' when
the Portuguese rebuilt it sometime between 1543-47. The shrine can
be reached on the way to the Chennai airport with a tough climb
up the hillock, but the view seems worth it.
With the bells pealing and the choir singing in unison, a visit
to Chennai's many antiquated churches has made this Sunday a special
one for me.
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