02nd October 2016.
The final point of our Heritage
Walk around Adyar Creek was at the junction of Pattinapakkam and Santhome
High Road, where the famous Battle of Adyar took place. The battle
was a consequence of Fort St. George surrendering to the French early in October 1746 CE. The Nawab of Arcot, in support of the British, sent his son Mahfuz Khan with troops
to ask the French to hand over Fort St. George to the British. Instead, the
French chased them away. Mahfuz Khan, reinforcing his army to about 10000
soldiers, moved south and seized Santhome, which was under the control of the French then, and lined up on the north bank of the River Adyar.
Two hundred French and French-trained Indian troops led by a Swiss mercenary, Captain Paradis, marched
from Pondicherry and took the position on the south bank of the River Adyar,
after capturing Quibble Island on October 22, 1746. Paradis came
to know that De la Tour also, from Fort St. George, was marching towards Adyar to attack Mahfuz Khan from the back. But he came very
late. On 24th Oct 1746, with trained, disciplined, and
systematic firing from the French troops led by Paradis, Mahfuz Khan with
his troop of 10000 men fled away towards Kanchipuram. The
Battle started in the morning and ended in the evening itself. This battle
taught a lesson to the British to form the Madras Regiment and train the soldiers.
This also seeded the formation of the Indian Army and the Pakistan Army.
Before finishing our heritage, we had seen the former Finance Minister’s house on the banks of the Adyar River. Work is on to demolish and
construct a new building. It was learned that Mr. Chidambaram was not given a share
of this property, since he married a woman from another community.
… End of our
Heritage walk around Adyar Creek.
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