From a market to a college: a Madras transformation

Last week, I was invited to preside over the annual day of the Sri Kanyaka Parameswari College for Arts and Science (SKPC). I accepted at once. It is not often that you get to visit a space in Madras that has a continuous recorded history from 1708 onwards. The college occupies land belonging to the Sri Kanyaka Parameswari Devasthanam (SKPD). Readers will be aware of the area’s better-known name – Kotwal Chavadi.

For centuries, it was the city’s vegetable market, until it was shifted to Koyambedu. Its history begins in 1708 when it was mentioned as the Komatla Thotta in a property document. The full name was Kooragayala Komatla Thotta – the vegetable garden of the Komatis or the Arya Vysyas. This group of Telugu-speaking businessmen had their heyday during the East India Company (EIC) and British Raj days. The garden was a community property that was dedicated to the “general body of the Vysya caste people for the performance of the festivals, ceremonies and charities of the caste,” as per historian Mattison Mines.