visit the ruins of Sadras – The lesser known historical Landmark of Chennai

The British left a lot land marks from their colonial heritage in Madras , but not many know that the coastal areas surrounding Chennai were once the centre of Dutch colonial power on the Coromandel Coast, located prominently and boast a rich Dutch heritage still evident today. A key example is the hidden coastal fort town of Sadras, located on the scenic East Coast Road, just south of Mamallapuram. While the fort itself is in near-ruins today, its enchanting high walls, centuries-old halls, and a lone cemetery remain as one of the last remnants of Chennai’s Dutch heritage!

Originally a weavers’ village, the town was very well known for its muslin cloth and also a flourishing brick-making factories. To take advantage of this, the Dutch first built a factory at Sadras and started exporting high-quality muslin from Sadras to Europe. Once trade starting booming, the Dutch felt the need to construct the fort around the town, and built a magnificent fort that stands today as Fort Sadras alias sadhurangapattinam. The fortress featured high walls and included within its compound a granary, stable and a beautiful cemetery that still holds graves with impressively carved tombstones marked between 1620 to 1769.

Fort Sadras was later ruined as the location where the battle of sadras the first confrontation between the English and the Dutch East India Companies, was fought in 1782.

Apart from the booming muslin cloth trade, It was also a crucial supply point for bricks, which were used to build the other Dutch forts in both the Coromandel Coast and Ceylon later called Srilanka . But Dutch hegemony in the area was not to last, and soon the English came out as the undisputed colonial power

Fort Sadras remained under the control of the Dutch for more than a century, but was raided and taken control of in 1818 by the British – an incident that resulted in extensive damage to the beautiful commercial fort.

After the end of Dutch control, the fort fell into disrepair and lost most of its features and fortifications. However, Chennai’s quick post-Independence development soon reached the towns surrounding Sadras, and a nuclear power station was built close to it at Kalpakkam. Development and maintenance of the fort came under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has continued slow and diligent repair work on the fort for years. Today, this magnificent fort remains under the shadow of the atomic power station and attracts few tourists, if any. But that is not to say that this monument has lost its charm.

A visit during November/December, when the clouds stanch the sun, allows for the best views of the Bay of Bengal. The dilapidated gate of the fort still holds a belfry on top, and entrants are welcomed by a rusty cannon standing in defence of whatever’s left inside.

With hardly any visitors knocking on its doors, there’s little incentive for the ASI to repair, and much less renovate, the fort. But over the years, nature has added its own decorations, in the form of walls of coconut trees and scattered mounds of greenery. The grass flourishes unhindered within its walls. After all, only the graves at the cemetery call this fort their home now, and the dead don’t care much for lawn maintenance anyway.

How to Reach Sadras?

If you are going by car, it’s easy to reach there and located 15km just south of Mahabalipuram.

In case of taking public transport, it is best to board the kalpakam bus and get down at Sadhurangapattinam bus depot. You can walk down two minutes to reach the fort.

All images are copy right protected  to Srivatsan Sankaran.