Heritage walk exploring St. Thomas Mount held in Chennai

Residents explore heritage of St. Thomas Mount: Historian Thirupurasundari Sevvel explains various aspects of field work for Great Trigonometrical Survey, contributions from different communities, significance of St. Thomas Charnockite. Group focused on heritage conservation initiatives and metal bust in remembrance of survey.

A group of residents participated in a heritage walk at the St. Thomas Mount on Saturday, exploring various aspects of field work for the Great Trigonometrical Survey and the heritage of old settlements in the area.

Starting the walk, organised by The Hindu Made of Chennai as part of Heritage Week, at the foot of the St. Thomas Mount, historian Thirupurasundari Sevvel from Nam Veedu, Nam Oor, Nam Kadhai covered various heritage aspects associated with the locality and the role played by various persons and communities in the development of the heritage value of St. Thomas Mount, otherwise known as Parangimalai.

“There are many reasons to celebrate our city. One is to understand and acknowledge the various contributions and support from different communities and groups — Portuguese connect, Armenian contribution, Anglo-Indian legacy and the various paintings and accounts from yesteryears. While climbing the St. Thomas mount, we can hear the temple bells and the prayers from the mosque as we reach to hear the songs from the church,” said the historian.

Pointing to the oral tradition of St. Thomas Mount, otherwise known as Parangimalai,

The group focused on discussing the heritage conservation initiatives and the metal bust in remembrance of the Survey, also located at the Church complex. “By extension, it is also the name of the neighbourhood surrounding the hillock. ...St. Thomas Mount is the place where William Lambton started his field work for the Great Trigonometrical Survey on April 10, 1802. He was the Lieutenant Colonel, who headed the large-scale trigonometrical survey across the width of the peninsula of India and went on a mission for two decades to map the extent of British India,” she said.

“There was a need to understand how much territory of India they really controlled and wanted to scientifically and precisely measure. One of the surveys was the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. The triangulation method had been perfected to measure land. It was started in Madras, as Madras already had a School of Survey set up for Anglo Indian orphans near Fort St. George on Poonamallee High Road. The Fort St. George School of Survey was rechristened as the College of Engineering, Guindy later,” she said.