For decades, a travellers’ house built in the 17th century during the Vijayanagara era and located in present-day Madhavaram in the city’s northern limits stood between development and conservation.
The Chennai Corporation could not raze the travellers’ house on Kumarappapuram Main Road to widen the stretch in Madhavaram for years as residents came out against damaging the heritage structure. Now, the civic body has found a way.
For over a month, experts from Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department and engineers of Zone – III (Madhavaram) of Chennai Corporation have been working round the clock to relocate the heritage structure, stone by stone, to a few hundred yards inside the premises of the 200-acre Dairy Development Department of the State government.
“The structure belongs to the Vijayanagara period with sculptures of Narasimha, Balakrishna, Muruga and Vinayaga on its pillars. It was a rest house for travellers and pilgrims during those days,” J. Baskar, Archaeological Officer (Chennai), Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department, told The Hindu .
Archaeologists said that the building was also a rest house for deities of famous temples in the neighbourhood whenever they were taken out in procession during festivals. Also, the road was part of a pilgrimage route for Vaishnavite temples as it has many sculptures of Vaishnavite deities. Madhavaram has an ancient Vishnu temple and was a major route to Tirupati.
“Travellers’ houses were a unique feature of Vijayanagara rulers as they promoted their culture in faraway places through many festivals and processions. Such houses used to serve food and medicines for travellers and even milk for infants,” said K. Sridharan, retired deputy director of the Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department.
Surrounded by mango groves and palm trees, Kumarappapuram Main Road was a narrow sandy stretch connecting Grand Northern Trunk (GNT) Road, a national highway, to the city via the 200-ft-Inner Ring Road. Despite its narrowness and poor illumination, the road is widely used by container lorries from Andhra Pradesh as the stretch is a short route to Chennai Port.
Plans to widen the stretch hit a roadblock a few months ago after residents objected to razing the heritage structure. Subsequently, Corporation officials roped in archaeological experts and R. Mani, a retired official of Archaeological Survey of India, to recommend steps for a safe relocation of the structure.
The Dairy Development Department too agreed to the Corporation’s request to give 800 sq. ft. of its space for the building’s relocation. The entire relocation work is expected to be complete in six months, Corporation officials said.
