CHENNAI: Is changing a city’s name merely a cosmetic exercise or does it really rob the city of its glorious history, culture and identity? While city-based historians stand divided on this issue, they unite in asserting that the focus should shift to better amenities
Part of our identity
Arunima Shankar, Conservation Architect
Our roots form a big part of our identity. Places have been associated with names through history to recreate a new collective memory. Adapting to altered names affect our shared sense of place. Whose history are these names being chosen from and who are ‘we’ in the process of decision making? What difference would it bring to the inhabitants? Stories alter as the questions unfold. Would the flower rose by any other name smell as sweet?
Re-look history unbiased
S Anwar, Historian
Renaming of a city is not something new. It has happened so many times in India, and right through the ages, I am not surprised at all. Having said that, it is unfortunate that even 70 years after independence, our mind still remains colonised by the white man and we still view our history as distinctly Hindu or Muslim eras, which it was not. Unless we start earnestly re-looking at our history, without the biases introduced by our colonial masters, these are bound to happen, whether we like it or not.
People not benefited
Dr V Jeyaraj, Museum specialist
There are some suitable or fanatic reasons for the change of names of cities. There is not much benefit to people by changing the names of cities. Kolkata was changed to Calcutta and now it is Kolkata and the West Bengal state is trying to change it to Bangla in order to achieve the fourth state in the order of states. Even though the names of the cities had been changed, some of the names of institutions are not changed like Madras University and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Religious or language fanaticism is the cause for the changes by political parties. We have lost our past glory. Changing the names is not required, but changing the economy, status, productivity to higher side is required at this moment.
Influences govt decisions
Shalini Ravikumar, Conservation Architect
The most drastic of the name changes was Madras becoming Chennai in 1996. Madras was the colonial version of Madraspattinam while the origin of the word ‘Chennai’ has got multiple explanations. Madras, has found itself unable to cope with the forces of growth and conflict of cultures and areas like Park Town, Parrys etc. have disintegrated into chaos and confusion and lost their roles as the focal points of the city. In Chennai, it doesn’t change the city life, but it influences decision of people and government authorities in terms of conserving the historic buildings of the city.
Causes confusion
Venkatesh Ramakrishnan, Historian
Many still call Chennai as Madras. Changing road or city names does not help anyone except the small publicity blitz that happens at that time. It causes confusion in documents. These are cosmetic changes, and there are a hundred better ways to preserve the culture of a place.
Disrupts unity
Sivagamasundari Thavamani, architect
It’s natural for people to get attached to the city or town they live or grew up in. Anything that’s been associated with the city for a long time becomes an integral part of its folklore as it imbibes a huge chunk of local history every time it is manifested in the form of art, architecture, and fashion. Change of name breaks the long-sustained connectivity and the resultant disjunctive pieces of history will disrupt the equilibrium of unity in diversity.
Name is a reference to history
Tahaer Zoyab, Co-founder of Triple O Studio
A name is a reference to a multitude of associations across various spectrums — significant among them being the history of place from a local perspective and the branding and packaging of the city. The latter can be a crucial factor for various economic drivers especially tourism.
Renaming erases history
Nivedita Louis, Historian
Renaming cities and states doesn’t change anything, the city remains the same, so does its character and culture. What essentially changes is that it kills a part of old timers who associate themselves with these names. The Saidapet bridge now renamed Maraimalai Adigal bridge was then Marmalong Bridge, repaired by Armenian Khoja Petrus Woskan, using his own funds. When we rename it, we essentially forget the man who left his home country, never went back, but donated about `7 lakh of his private estate to the City of Madras, in his will. And think over, this was around three centuries ago! I guess one always associates Marmalong bridge with the name Woskan. Should not the great people from other countries who contributed to the city be remembered this way? People associate names of places with something more precious than sentiments and culture — memories. Remember the great men by following their ideals and not renaming every nook and cranny, erasing a valuable part of history that way.
Change amenities too
Pradeep Chakravarthy, Historian
I have been reading about the history of Tamil Nadu in the last 2000 years, and the numbers of temples, cities and roads which have their names changed are innumerable... even from the Chola period. This is an old tradition where the king renames the temple in his name, the ministers rename the temple in the Kings’ name and roads are renamed after the person who funded it. Today, if I go back to those temples, the names given to the temples are hardly their current names. For instance, if you go to Kodumballur, a small village near Tiruchy, there’s nothing. But back in those days, this was one of the largest and most important cities. So, if you look at the history, names don’t really matter. The question is... if the names change, do amenities change? If you rename a place now, it will happen in the future too. I think renaming a place is inevitable. It has happened for 2,000 years and it will happen in the future too. But, as a lesson from history, instead of just focusing on the names, we should also focus on bettering amenities.
Compiled by Dia Rekhi,KV Navya, Roshne Balasubramanian, and Vaishali Vijayakumar