More on a pioneering missionary
The photograph of Rev. Loveless accompanying the notes on him was surely a bonus to the contribution that appeared in MM, August 16th. Rev. Loveless was originally appointed by the London Missionary Society to establish a mission in Surat. He reached Madras in 1805. But an unexpected series of events had him settling in Madras.
At that time, the British East India Company was still hostile to the evangelisation of the natives. Hence, Loveless was practically compelled to devote himself largely to the needs of European residents. Though a non-Anglican, Loveless was chosen by Dr. Richard Kerr, the Anglican Chaplain at Fort St. George, to assume the overseeing of the Male Orphan Asylum meant for Eurasian and Anglo-Indian pupils.This institution, along with the Female Orphan Asylum, the Military Asylums, Waltair Orphan Asylum and the Gordon Orphan Refuge in later years, came to be amalgamated with the St.Mary’s Church Charity School in Fort St. George, originally established in 1715. (An earlier school establishment 1672-1707 had also existed in the Fort. The merging of these institutions evolved into the St.George’s Anglo-Indian School and Orphanage on Poonamalle High Road.) In 1903, when the Railway required for its new terminus in Egmore the land and the portions of buildings of the Civil Orphan Asylum there, the Asylum moved further down Poonamalle High Road. The old Military Female Orphan Asylum originally situated there became part of the Lawrence Asylum (now School) in Lovedale in the Nilgiris.
Rev. Loveless built the Davidson Street Church in Black Town for the London Missionary Society in 1810 (not in 1806 as stated). But it was not the first church to be built outside Fort St.George. St.Mark’s Church, behind the Bharathiar Women’s College, was the first church outside the Fort St.George. It was completed in 1800 and consecrated in 1804, However, the Davidson Street (William Charles Memorial) Church was a notable centre in missionary history.
A 1893 report states, “If the old walls of Davidson Street could repeat what they have heard, what notes of holier days we now might hear!” Ringletaube, the great and pioneering missionary in South Travancore (including Kanniyakumari District), preached here in 1815 his last sermon in India. Thereafter he went on his tragic mission to no one knows where and disappeared (alleged to have been killed in the Malayan jungles). Henry Bower, the chief translator and reviser of the Tamil Bible, was nurtured in this church in his earlier days.
Rev. Loveless also mentored Cornelius Traveller and was instrumental in Traveller building the Missionary Chapel at Purasawalkam (1819). A vibrant congregation still worships there. Loveless resigned the mastership of the Male Asylum in 1812 and opened a “high class boarding school” in Vepery. The whereabouts of this property is yet to be properly identified though it can be guessed.
Due to his failing health, Loveless returned to England in 1824. A significant aspect of the legacy left behind by Loveless was in the domain of Christian literature. The Madras Bible and Tract Societies founded by Loveless came to initiate and promote a huge mission of printing and publishing activities. In the following half a century, by 1871, as many as 717 Tamil publications came to see the light of the day. During 1862-71 alone, more than 2,900,000 copies of tracts containing Protestant and evangelical teachings and precept were in circulation. The banner of the Bible rose to new heights among Tamil Christians.
Loveless, along with Robert Morrison, the first missionary to China, was trained in the Hoxton Academy in England. It is on record that many of his fellow missionary trainees were highly inspired by the “awful magnitude of the spiritual burden” of Loveless and his prayer life.
Rev. Philip Mulley
Anihatti Road, Kotagiri 643 217
The Nilgiris
Memories of Kilpauk
Timeri Murari’s narrative (MM, September 1st) brought back several pleasant memories of Kilpauk. As a cycling errand boy in my father’s pharmacy in Kelly’s, I have crisscrossed Kilpauk and its neighbourhood many a time. I remember not only the majestic Taylor’s Road in detail, but also the tiny Kuttiappa Gramani Street opposite the Secretariat Colony behind the now-extinct Uma Talkies. Reading Murari’s piece, all those big and small streets of Kilpauk came to mind as though in a flash. Every year, when I visit Madras to spend my annual holidays, I make it a point to either walk or ride a push bike to Purasawalkam (where I was born) from my house in Shenoy Nagar, via Kilpauk, at least twice during my month-long stay. This is in addition to at least two evenings I spend in the chokingly crowded Marina.
The photo of the interior of Our Lady’s Votive Shrine (the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) in the Kilpauk story left me wondering whether the leader of the Kilpauk heritage walk remembered Edgar Raphael Prudhomme. This merchant of Madras and Pondicherry donated his property, that included a bungalow on Hall’s Road, Kilpauk, to the Archdiocese with a request that his bungalow be used to care for the destitute and abandoned. The then Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, the Most Reverend Louis Mathias, SDB, who was satisfied with the selfless service of the Sisters of the Society of the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (SMMI), handed over this property to them to start what today exists as the Prudhomme Viduthi (the Mercy Home) celebrating the munificence of Edgard Prudhomme. The foundation stone was blessed and laid on May 24, 1957 by Archbishop Mathias. The home was officially inaugurated by K. Kamaraj, the then Chief Minister of Madras State, on January 8, 1958.
I hope that the leader of the Walk would have spoken about Ratnavelu Subramaniam of Balfour Road (and Guruswami Mudaliar of a slightly earlier period, but away from the Heritage Walk stretch), Madhaviah Anantanarayanan of Ormes Road, besides the distinguished Lakshmiratan and Venkatapathy Naidu families, whose descendants reside in Kilpauk even today. Of course, the greatest memorial of Kilpauk is Balfour Road, reminding us of that noble and multifaceted Scottish surgeon Edward Green Balfour of 19th Century Madras!
We can talk about Kilpauk endlessly: its name originated as opposed to Medawakkam that lies opposite Kilpakkam; the lake – including the elevated area – got the name Medapakkam (corrupted as Medavakkam), whereas the lake – including lower area – got the name Kilpakkam.
Shobha Menon and I have written in Madras Musings earlier on the Mental Hospital in Kilpauk. The Poonamalee High Road section of Kilpauk includes some of the great names in Madras medical history, starting from Lt. Col. K. Gopinatha Pandalai and P. Rama Rau’s Radiology Clinic.
P. Rama Rau was the brother of P. Ananda Rau, the most articulate cricket commentator of yesteryears; not many would know that P. Ananda Rau, before he became the General Manager of Hotel Dasaprakash, worked in his brother’s x-ray clinic and because of this experience he could read radiographs and interpret them meticulously.
Anantanarayanan Raman
Charles Sturt University
Orange, NSW 2800, Australia
Ensure their use
I remember my schooldays in a village in Tiruchchirappalli district where there was a small temple tank (MM, August 16th). It was put to excellent use not only for temple needs but also for those of cattle, the fields closeby, and those who lived nearby. During rainy days, overflowing street/road water was carefully directed to the tank.
There are thousands of such temple tanks all over the State. Government departments should take suitable action to protect these tanks and put them to use for the good of all. The public should also take responsibility for making proper use of temple tanks and their maintenance. In cities like Chennai, such action is imperative.
S.R. Rajagopal
7/12, Peters Colony
Royapettah, Chennai 600 014
A correction
“Well, the natives seemed fairly friendly so I decided to stay the night.”
“I made a mental note never to seem fairly friendly to an explorer. If you do , he always decides to stay the night.”
MMM in his column (September 1st) has stated the above as having been said by (Jim) Corbett (of “ManEaters of Kumaon” fame). However, it needs a correction.
The statement appears in a golfing story by P.G.Wodehouse titled “A mixed threesome” and is uttered by Eddie Denton, a Big-game hunter in the story.
The “I” in “I made a mental note...” refers to the Oldest Member of the golf club who narrates the story in the first person.
I do, however, enjoy MMM’s narrative in every issue.
Rajaram
62/1, M.E.S. Road
East Tambaram, Chennai 600 059
In memory of M. Krishnan
The Madras Naturalists’ Society has instituted a Nature Writing Award in memory of M. Krishnan to be awarded every year beginning 2014.
The Writing Competition is open to all those between ages of 18 and 30 and opens on September 1. The last date for submission of the Original Work is November 30, 2013.
Details and rules of the Nature Writing Competition, together with the Entry Form, are available on our website blackbuck.org.in
G. Vijayakumar
Hon. Secretary
Madras Naturalists’ Society
98400 90875
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