CHENNAI: Where did the name Kodambakkam originate from? — This was a question for 10 points. But even the toughest quizzers were stumped by that one. They sat back in silence not knowing the history of the city they call home. The scene was at a Namma Chennai based quiz at a city college recently. And the answer?
“Horse stables. Goda-bagh. Can you believe it? I lived there through my childhood and had no idea that it basically used to be a row of horse sheds,” says 20-year-old Ashmita. Sure enough, the age old city we live in has drawn its locality names from a multitude of things ranging from history, ecology, populace all the way down to mythology.
“There is a belief that Koyambedu was named after the Ashwa Medha Yagam done by Lord Ram’s sons Lav and Kush who are believed to have tied the horse here. The story was passed down to me by my mother, but really I sometimes wonder how it made it across generations,” says Padmaja, who lives in the locality now. Velachery also has similar mythlogical roots as it is considered to be derived from ‘Vedasreni’, meaning all 4 vedas were worshipped in this very place.
The City of Chennai, or Madrasapattinam as it was called, is divided into 5 divisions or ‘Thinai’ by topography, it also contributed to a large number of the localities being named after it, sprouting names from ecological roots. “Adyar, Vedanthangal, Thenneri, Ponneri, Ekattuthangal are examples of places that are located near water bodies. They draw their names from this, ‘eri’, ‘thangal’ and ‘aaru’ are all Tamil derivatives of water bodies,” says Sekhar Raghavan, of Rain Center Chennai.
‘Purasaiwakkam’ from Purasai trees, ‘Teynampet’ named after coconut or ‘Thennai’ trees and ‘Triplicane’ from Thiru Alli Keni which was a pond of Alli flowers are others that skip notice, although a large number of people pass by. But historians aside, people who migrated to the city express better interest than many natives.
“When I was new to Chennai, I didn’t know even a word in Tamil. But being surrounded by tamil-speakers put pressure on me to learn. That’s how I picked up an interest towards understanding the city better. I lived in Besant Nagar, and got to know its called so after Annie Besant. I told a friend that where he lives now (Porur) was once a battlefield, that shocked him,” says 32-year-old Chirag Vasisht, an automobile engineer.
But there are some names that jump to mind even for most of the locals who are unaware. For instance, Chromepet named after the Chrome factory and ‘Washermanpet’/ ‘Vannarapettai’ named due to the inundation of washermen are a few that made it to popular notice.
‘Over time, ease of pronounciation along with colloquial dilution has changed many names of places around the city and will continue to change over years,” says Tamil Selvi, a gold medallist in History.