It’s time for Victory War Memorial to welcome visitors

It’s time for Victory War Memorial to welcome visitors

December is time for the Victory War Memorial on Kamarajar Salai to open to members of the public. Every year, the memorial, which anyone driving down the Marina beach towards Fort St. George cannot miss, is kept open from December 16 to 19 for the citizens of Chennai to pay homage to the war heroes.

The circular structure, with a tall obelisk at the centre, was initially built to commemorate the victory of the allied forces in World War I. It was later called the Victory War Memorial in memory of soldiers, from the Madras Presidency, who laid down their lives in World War II. It is located on the spot which once housed the coastal battery and was earlier called Cupid’s Bow where a band used to play in the evenings. The memorial, however, is not open to members of the public at other times.

Until recently, Maj. Gen. M. Indrabalan was the Chief of Staff, HQ, Dakshin Bharat Area. He has taken part in four major operations: Operation Rakshak; Operation Vijay in Kargil in 1999; Operation Parakram in 2001; and Operation Khukri, a multinational campaign launched as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone in 2000. He says that like the National War Memorial in Delhi, the one in Chennai should be thrown open to members of the public.

“The National War Memorial in Delhi gets around two lakh visitors a month. The Victory War Memorial in Chennai should also serve as a place to educate the public about the various wars in which our nation has fought... The entry and exit should be strictly regulated, given its sanctity. A museum and a sound-and-light show would be welcomed by people,” he says.

In November 1933, The Hindu described the war memorial as follows, “The predominant idea underlying the design of the Madras Victory Memorial was to produce a distinctive memorial to those members of this Presidency who gave up their lives in the Great War and to place this Monument in an area of such dimension that it could be approached with reverence and without interference from traffic and the noise of passing crowds. The Cenotaph itself is an obelisk crowned with a lotus dome surmounting a chajjah, typical of this country, bearing four altars at its base, each separated by wing walls to ensure privacy, at the other ends of which are arranged four lamps.”

The inscription, ‘1914 Victory 1918’, is carved on the cenotaph itself, in Tamil on the south side, in Telugu on the north, in Hindustani on the west, and in English on the east. The dedication inscription, ‘To the memory of all those from the Madras Presidency who lost their lives in the service of the Empire in the Great War’, is carved immediately above the altars in the same languages.

The whole memorial is mounted on a circular platform approached by seven broad circular steps from the ground level. The height of the top of the dome above the ground level is 70 feet, the width of the circular platform on which the cenotaph is erected is 50 feet. The maximum breadth of the approach steps at the ground level is 74 feet. This central feature is arranged axially in an oval area surrounded by a balustraded raised walk which — at the north, south and western sides — is converted into pillared verandahs or pavilions, while the side facing east is left almost entirely open.