Social Conflict and Caste Warfare in Old Madras: Urban Space and the East India Company

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1733 Map after the Caste Survey by Governor Pitt

The Chronicles of Old Madras particularly the four volumes of Vestiges of Old Madras by D H Love, provide startling evidence of a series of violent social conflicts between the Right Hand and Left hand castes. The emphasis of historians has been largely on events that traspired during the Gvernorship of Richard Pitt starting from the the recitation of the Vinayaka adoration by the Right Hand caste before the temple of Vinayaka located on Devaraja Mudali Street.

The social and economic aspects of the Caste conflict, may be seen as an off shoot of the policies pursued by the Madras Administration rather than a sudden dramtic assertion of caste loyalties. We may dadd that the Eighteenth

The Vinayaka Temple at Devaraja Mudali St

Century violence was a continuation of a trend that began nealy a century earlier. When Madras was founded by the East India Company, weavers, painters, labouring folk, palanquin bearers were invited to settle in the City from areas as afar as Pullicat, San Thome, Armagon,Triplicane ect. Settlers came in from the outlying areas of the Bound Hedge such as Nungambakkam, Egmore, Puruswakkam and Trivottriur. And when the settlement was stablished the Right Hand and Left Hand Castes were given separate areas of the City fr their settlement. The Map enclosed above drawn after the Pitts' Settlment shows the urban space allocated to the caste in 1653 when AAron Baker was the Governor. The area around Mutialpet of George Town of present day Chennai was handed over to the Left Hand Castes and Peddunaikenpetta to the Right.'

Keshava Perumal Temple George Town

However, certain changes made in the procurement policies f the Company with regard to the purchase of Textiles created the immediate conditions for a major flare up between the two castes. Pitt, in consultaion with his Council, decided to change the system of procurement of Textiles for export from Madras. Hitherto, thetextiles were bought on behalf of the Company by middlemen who contracted the production and purchase of Textiles on behalf of the Company and weavers in Chindradipettai were under contract to produce textile like Chintz, Pallores, Calicoes and Pallores, for the Company and middle men belonging to the Right Hand Castes were mainly involved in this task.This system known as dadni or advance, was in the hands of rich merchants like Casa Verona, Sunka Chetty, Bala Chetty and others became enormously wealthy as a consequence of th near monopoly they enjoyed and the control over the weavers and their looms. The Company decided tha the weavers could bring their textiles to the Bazzar near the Sea Gate and the company will be in a position to buy the textiles directly. This change in policy was obviously to the advantage of textile merchants from the Chetty community to the disadvantage of those from the Commatti taders who lelonged to the Right Hand caste. A member of the Council, Fraser, seems to have championed the cause of the Right Hand communities and was consequently removed from the Council and sent back to England.

The immediate provocation for the Conflict was a provocation by the Right Hand castes who proceeded to the Vinayaka Temple located in the streets occupied by the Left and sand the Addoration of Vinayaka before the Temple. In normal circumstances this even may have gone un noticed. But tension was in the air over the changed procurement policies and there was a further complication caused by the Portuguese Administration in Goa making an attempt to take over the Fort by using its hold over parts of San Thome.The Right Hand Caste started rioting and attacked a Wedding Procession of the Left Hand community which was taking place in one of the disputed streets of Pedanaikenpettai. Apparently the violence was put down by the soldiers posted in the Fort. June 1707 saw the beginning of this cycle of social tension in Fort St, George.

After the outbreak of hostilities between the Two caste a feeble attempt was made to broker peace. The residents of both communities living in areas not belonging to their respective caste were order out and they wee told to sell their houses only to memberes of the caste entitle to live in that particula area. A stone inscription giving the details of the boundaries was set up and the Right Hand Castes took this to be a grevious infringemen of their liberty and dignity and dcided to desert the town and lve in San Thome and given the suspicious of the Catholics and the alledged intentions of the Portuguese this desertion was deeply resented. With the departure of the Right Hand Castes from madras the production of Cloth and Textiles needed for export fell rather sharply.

The Administration on the intevention of the Armenian Merchants gave time up to September 1707 for the return of the Right Hand castes from San Thome where hey had sought protection. The only concession given t the Right hand caste was the exclusivve right to their area of the Black Town. The Procurement Policy which was at the root of the conflict remained unchanged. Pitt blamed his suspended Council member Fraser for the instrangience of the Right and even made preparations fr an armed attack on San Thome to kill the rebels of the Right Hand caste. Fortunately Pitt was dissuaded from carrying out his disastrous plan by the Armenians wh acted as intermediaries in the dispute between the company and theRight Hand groups:"treacherous collusion with Right Hand Caste" was the accusation against Fraser.

The Right hand cates returned after Pitt issued a general pardon and the disput simmered on till 1717 when Governor Collet made certain important changes. A new Weavers settlement was established at Collet Pettai. The Commattis were henceforth forbidden to sing the adoration of Ganesha before the Chidari Pillaiyar now located in the Devaraja  Mudali Street of George Town.

The caste dispute that took a turn towards social polorization in early Eighteenth Century Madras stemmed from economic disputes triggered by changes in the procurment policies of the Company. It is also clear from the record that the company offcials had ested interest in different caste gropus as indeed was the case ith Fraser.

Corruption and Scandal in Old Madras: The James Macrae Saga (1723-1727)

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

William Dalrymple in his best selling The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence and the Pllage of an Empire had prodided a narrative of the rise of the East India Company as it faught, intrigued and bludegeoned its way to hegemony even acquiring the Diwani rights over Bengal which gave the Company an income wich was more than the National Income of Engalns at that time. Even before the grant of the Diwani of Bengal, Madras was seen as the "Pagoda Tree" which had to be shaken in order to garner wealth which the "nabobs" invested in Parliamentary seats, estates, faux castles and follies and general upgradation of social and political class. Scotland, after the Union of 1707 was uniquely palced for social and political experiment as the East India Company largely due to the patronge of Henry Dundas provided ample opportunities for young men, rarely women of Scotland, employment in India. the East is a Carreer as Disraeli famously remarked and indeed it was for James Macrae (1677-1744) about whom the History of the County of Ayr vol II records rather inelegantly, "After amassing a huge fortune in India, he came home" and this Macrae was related to th Darlymple Clan through marriage.

Pirate Edward England, James' Ship in the picture

Equestrian Statue of King William III presented by Macrae

James Macrae was a social zero but his 40 long years in India had equipped him with both the means and the ability to rise up the social ladder and in that his life in India is instructive. Eventually his family married into the Campbell Clan becoming powerful both in Scotland and in West Indies. The Records of the Slave Compensation Commission show at least three Macrae names among the beneficiaries. James'mother was not rich and a "fiddler" of unknown origin took an interest in Macrae and got him educated. James Macrae joined the Navy and served as a Captain of the ship that ran into the most notorious pirate of the day, Edward England off the coast of Madagascar. Arriving in Madras, James Macrae joined the lower ranks of the East India Company and became the Deputy Governor of Fort St. David at Cuddalore.

Fort Saint David Cuddalore

The Records of the Fort Saint George published by Talboys Wheeler contain interesting materials  on James Macrae and we have culled details of his Administration fromVolume II. The chronicler of Old Madras was so ipressed or struck by the egresious scale of corruption that flourished under this Governor that he had the history of his Adminstration issued as a separate Volume. The Company, at this point in time was still a commercial enterprise and the buying and slling of cloth was its main task. The Company signed contracts with weavers who were setted within the "Bound Hedges" denoting the limits of the territorial limits of the Company and the Company Officials were tasked with certifying the quality of the ware. Bribes were routinely collected for such certificates and weavers had to pay the Company officials to have their cloth accepted by the Company. If Broad Cloth was rejected by the officials the weavers had to endure considerable hardship. Weaver settlements like Mutialpet and Chindradipettai were targets of particular interest as they were literally at ghe mercy of the Company. Extortion was the chief occupation of the Company Officials and in this nefarious task they used "Natives" The "Dubash" employed by James Macrae called Guda Anacona,obviously a Beri Chetty, was the instrument used for extrotion and we have a Petition signed by Sunkah Chetty, Tambi Chetty  Nina Chetty, Rajappa Chetty,Nina Kumara Chetty,and Mummudi Chetty (names modernised) detaiing several instances of corruption indulged in by Guda Anacona who enjoyed the protection of his Master as the Petionin was admitted only after the removal of the Governor when Pitt took charge as the Governor of Madras. Immediately after the removal of the Governor, Anacona was placed under arrest s it was feared that he would escape and seek refuge with the "Country Government" the several contending indigenous principalties and chieftains.

Anacona is stated to have forced merchants like Muta Chetty, Muttappa Chinnan, Annada Chetty to sell goodgrain to him at the rate of 40 pagodas when the going rate for the same quantity was 90 pagodas. Another merchant complained that the Dubash extorted Rs 12,000 form him in the form of Arcot ruppees and forced the same merchants to buy the silve rcoins back at the rate of Rs 310. The arbitrage on Silver coins of the East India Company and Arcot Ruppee was the cause of many speculative ventures and the Dubash engaged in this practice perhaps under the protection of James Macrae, the Governor. The Dubash took a cut from the silver that was brought to Madras for being minted into coins and from the records it appears that Macrae himself forced the merchants to buy a stock of gold taht he held. Often these extra legal or illegal extortions were accompanied by threat of cutting off the ear and lashing at the Market by peons specially appointed for this purpose. Petty despotism seems to have been the rule, the norm during the early days of the Company. Diamond merchants were deprived of their stones and were released only after the payment of a ransom of 8000 pagodas. The list goes on and in the end the Dubash had to pay 20,000 pagodas to the merchants who had brought the charges against him.

As for James Macrae he left India with 100,000 pagodas and arrived in Scotland back after 40 year absence. He used his huge fortune to set himself as a respectable burgess by presenting an equestrian statue of William III which still stands in Glasgow. During his last days inOffice, Macrae met Colim Campbell one of the promoters of the South Sea Company, a Stock Holding Company which traded in Slaves along with the Royal African Company. Excessive inflation of its stock value led to the collapse of the South Sea Bubble and Colin Campbell as stated in the record. "came to Madras to retrive his fortune".

The immense fortunes made in India, and in this case we have seen 100,000 pagodas in just four years goes to prove that even before the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the English East India Company had started despoiling India. Such studies are important as they expose the hollowness of post colonial approaches to Imperial History which is structured on Ideas, Ideologies and Identity.