Over the years, I have come to disbelieve folklore accounts on the names Chennai/Madras and also those of many localities within the metropolis. They, however, make for amusing reading if you set aside your irritation at patent disregard for facts. The latest I have received are absolute gems — Rajakilpakkam apparently gets its name because the Pallava ruler (Raja) who endowed the Madambakkam Dhenupureeswarar Temple came down (Kil) to address his people there and hence the name. I presume he descended from the gopuram of the temple. The other is that Saidapet takes its name from Sadayu Varma Pallavan, whoever that is, and not Sadatullah Khan, who was Mohammed Syed before he became Nawab.
But, on a more serious note, I have been asked recently by Marturi Vasanth, a reader from Udumalpet, as to why I consistently ignore Telugu versions of the city’s history. Sadly, I do not know how to read, write or speak that language, a felicity that Vasanth has. And he seems equally good at Tamil too! I agree with him that writers have relied mostly on colonial records as far as Chennai’s past is concerned, while there is a treasure trove out there waiting to be discovered in Indian languages. In my own limited way, I have been trying to correct this imbalance but Telugu to me is a closed book. I manage only with Tamil and Sanskrit sources.
The discussion with Vasanth led me to realise that there is a whole Telugu history of Chennai — partly factual and partly made up. There is a strong view out there that many areas of the city, and indeed the names, Madras and Chennai, too have Telugu roots, which were mutilated by Tamils when they gradually took over the village administrative posts traditionally held by Telugu-speaking Brahmins and Kapus. Some of their explanations for place names make for interesting reading too, though I cannot vouch for their veracity. Just as in Tamil, Telugu is plagued with a lack of factual record and the usual answer, when pressed, is “I have heard it said so”, or “my grandfather told me”. I have increasingly concluded that grandfathers, once they attained that status, spent their time making up explanations for Chennai place names.
