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| Thanjavur Rani's Clock Tower, Tamil Nadu. Times Content |
Please refer to my post: https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2017/02/heritage-structure-ranis-clock-tower.html on Thanjavur Ranee clock tower which is reproduced ''verbatim'' by Thanjavur information/ Thanjavur tourism (http://thanjavur.info/thanjavur-tourism/rajappa-park-ranees-clock-tower-thanjavur.
It is very unfortunate they neither mentioned about my above post; nor did they give credit to some of the photos taken by my son Sri. Ramakrishna Anand.!! I wish they had done it as a courtesy............. ................
Among many historical buildings of Thanjavur district that are in dire need of preservation and
restoration, the red-brick walled tall octagonal structure - Ranee's Clock tower is the foremost one. In 1855 the English company annexed the Thanjavur kingdom as the last ruler Raja Shivaji did not have a legal heir to the throne. Under the Doctrine of Lapse, adoption of a child to ascend the throne was not allowed by the EIC. So, the British rule was established and the ruling Maratha family was left with limited regal power within the town and adjacent places.
In 1861 railroad was laid by a private company Great Southern Railway of India connecting Tiruchirappalli (old spelling Trichinopoly) and Nagapattinam. Being one of the few old towns with population more than 50000 in the Madras Presidency in 1866 CE Tanjore (then an Anglicized name) became a
British Municipality.
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| Doctrine of lapse. facebook.com |
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| Location map. Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.Weather Forecast |
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| Thanjavur Rani's Clock Tower, Tamil Nadu flicker.com |
Above images: Ranee's clock tower, Thanjavur. Four clocks were made in London in the year 1869 and mounted carefully on four sides of this tower. These clocks were fitted to a marble ornamental frame having single pendulum. Octagonal tower clock’s chime would reach up to 3km. Now the clocks are either defunct or broken now. Under Smart city project, it is believed that a new quality clocks will be fitted on four sides of the tower..................
Till the late 1950s the clock used to chime every hour that could be heard in many parts of the fort area of Thanjavur town and I myself, when I was a boy, heard its resonating, soothing sound for several years. Part of the reason was there was not so much urban din and noise in this town which has become noisy in the past couple of decades. One could see a few buses, cars (mostly imported from the USA: Ford Prefect, Studebaker, Pontiac, Chevrolet; UK: Hillman, Morris Minor, Vauxhall, Vanguard, Standard motors, etc., and trucks plying on the well-kept dust-free concrete roads. The concrete roads lasted for years and there were no pot holes. Nor was there any water-logging after heavy rain
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| Thanjavur Rani's Clock Tower, Tamil Nadu.commons.wikimedia.org |
Among the attractive features of this clock tower, its green colored wooden ornate projecting balconies with a nice roof on all four sides overlooking the roads, etc but they are in bad shape due to poor upkeep. There is a spiral stairway with railing inside the tower through which those balconies could be accessed. The entrance doorway is on the east side at the base of the tower abetting the Gandhiji road. In particular, those wooden balconies perching close to the top need immediate attention.
On the ground, the park used to be well-kept and in the evening visitors to the park (Rajappa park) could read news papers in the library ( built in the name of Venugopal Naidu, former chairman of the Thanjavur Municipality) or listen to the AIR (All India radio) evening radio programs. Nowadays, the park is not well-kept and on the bench one may see unwanted people taking long nap in the tree shades. At the far side of the park one could see heaps of garbage here and there. One municipal employee told me they would take steps to beautify the Ranee's clock tower and the surrounding areas in the near future under the smart city project.
Prior to 1968 around the front of the Rajappa park, both on the Gandhiji road and Hospital road, there were no shop buildings and people could walk comfortably on the sidewalks (platforms). From the then old popular and ever busy Coffee hotel ''Mangalambika'' (famous for piping hot flavored coffee and tasty Rava Dosai and Patnam pagoda) right across the clock tower one could see the park as well as the base of clock tower clearly; the place around the monument was barricaded and maintained well. There used to be a coronation arch (connected to a colonial event in 1901) across the Gandhiji road near the park and it was removed long ago because it caused traffic jams in that busy area.
Why is it called Ranne's clock tower? Out of the total sum of Rs.19,000.00 spent on the construction of this clock tower in 1833 during the reign of Raja Serfoji, the Maratha queen's contribution was Rs. 12,000.00 - a whooping sum in those days. Hence, the clock tower was named after the Ranee. It is is so tall if you traveled by train from Kumbakonam toward Thanjavur, after passing the Vadavar railway station (now it is abandoned), you could see at the distance the clock tower building like a tall stick protruding skyward on the distant horizon along with the palace Arsenal tower and the big temple tower.
In 2011, the municipal authorities, along with the Rotary club of Thanjavur town renovated the old clock and replaced it with a new one. Unfortunately, after some period, it became defective and stopped working. Since then, the clock has not yet been either repaired or replaced. Since such old mechanical clocks and spares are not available on the market, the authorities need to replace the clock with an electronic one.
Recently, as part of the Smart City program introduced by the Central Govt, the Municipal corporation removed all the illegally built shops along the clock tower area, besides structures built on the one side of the entire stretch of the old Ramparts including the East gate market place. They were once part of a big moat protecting direct access to the old fort ( it is believed it is under the ASI control).
In the Clock tower park there is a poorly maintained bust of King George V (1865 - 1936) and the inscription below the bust reads: “His Imperial Majesty King George V, Emperor of India. 6th May 1935 Silver Jubilee. Presented by Mr. T.N. Kalidoss, B.A., B.L., an humble and loyal citizen of Tanjore (Shri.T.N. Kalidoss happened to be a practicing lawyer at Thanjavur attached to the Thanjavur Bar Council then and his father was a famous lawyer Sri. Naganatha Sastry whose residence was just across the old bus stand
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| Thanjavur Rani's Clock Tower, Tamil Nadu. Times Content |
Above image: There is a memorial plaque for World War 1 soldiers from Thanjavur. Inscription in this clock tower indicates that it was built in memory of persons who sacrificed their lives in World War I. Four people died out of 61 from Thanjavur who took part in World War. Roughly 67000 Indians died in WWI and equal number of people were wounded. India had nothing to do with the European war theater but her contribution was vast in terms of uniforms, arms and ammunition, food and money.........................................
on the South rampart - presently Hotel Arya Bhavan is functioning there. As an old timer I am glad the inner part of the old house with kalyana koodam is being well maintained by the hotel owner. The front narrow passage used be an old space. Here, on a few occasions I used to play cricket with the lawyer's grandsons. The Ranee's clock tower carries a plaque mentioning the names of people from this town who died in WWI (1914 and
1918).
Tit-bits:
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| Thanjavur city map. Tamil Nadu. mapsofindia.com |
I
myself saw the wide and deep dry moat without water stretching all the way from
the present old bus stand on the East and far beyond the recently
demolished Thiruvalluvar Theater on the West side. Close to the
Thiruvalluvar theater area there used to be a Small Town Bus Stand
with 4 or 5 bays in the early 1950s. It was the main bus stand then for
the entire town!!. It was not a pucca one and the roof was
covered with coconut palm thatches. No long distance buses were
available in those days from Thanjavur to places like Madurai and other cities. Some
buses were run on coal gas, not on petrol. Most of them were efficiently operated by the private companies.
In the late 1950s, the then Tamil Nadu govt. reclaimed the moats and adjacent areas, filled them with dirt, etc., leveled them and converted into plain even ground. During the Congress ministry under dynamic Sri K. Kamaraj Nadar with efforts taken by Industries Minister R. Venkatraman, eminent local congress men like late Sri Parisuththa Nadar and well-known Poondi land lords- Vandayar bros of Thanjavur, an excellent, big modern bus stand was built and opened in 1959 and later on the near-by land in the early 1960s an Inter/Intra state Bus stand came up to go to distant towns and cities like Chennai city and other places. In those days, no shops were allowed to function inside the bus stand, blocking the pathway. The police were so strict, at night if you ride the bike on any street without a head light, you would be fined. When some body uses the public place in the town to urinate, he will be taken to the police station. At night couple of police used to be on duty, patrolling the streets. The entire state was a dry one. No liquor or local Sarayam sale across the state was allowed. The crime rate was almost at the lowest level. After 1968s, the Thanjavur Main Bus Stand, the clock tower and adjoining park lost their glamor because of encroachment on the sidewalks near the Rajappa park and inside the bus stand and close to the bays. Slowly, a chaotic situation arose and the bus travelers had to pass through many hawkers on the path way to get to the bus.
As for Ramanathan Chettiar Hall, just across the Union Club building close to the old bus stand, it was, I was told, donated to the municipality by a rich Chettiar family. It was, in those days like a town hall - a venue for dance programs, Tamil dramas and public meetings. I myself along with my school buddies saw the late Cho Ramaswami's hilarious drama - Mohd. Bin Tuglak. It was a house-full show and, for a week or so. the lampooning drama was the talk of the town and the audience had a good laugh.
As for the Raja
Mirasudar Hospital (RMH) on the Hospital road, in the 1950s and early 1960s,
it was well maintained by the then govt. and they gave good public health services to the people. The poor patients were well taken care of by
the hospital management - by nurses and doctors. They were given free quality bread/
bun, food, etc and good quality milk almost daily. In the absence of a Medical College and a
well-equipped modern hospital then, the entire town and adjacent villages
were dependent on the RM hospital. They, with particular care, handled
dreadful diseases like Cholera, Smallpox, etc that were threats to the people in those days in the summer time. As in other parts of the world, medical services were not well-advanced as they are today. Though most of the people were leading a hand to mouth life in those days, they led a contended life. Corruption in public places was looked upon as a sin by the people and govt. employees. Corruption did exist as pockets here and there and did not affect the poor. The people's only sources of entertainment were the movie halls in the cities and towns; the touring theaters in small villages were equally popular. Thanjavur town had a large tree cover and the air pollution was at the minimum. As a senior citizen, I am missing the old charm of the this historical town and the pollution-free environment.
http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/08/stories/2005120804430200.html
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/architect-calls-to-give-heritage-buildings-in-thanjavur-lifeline/article2067160.ece
(Modified 24 November 2021)
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/architect-calls-to-give-heritage-buildings-in-thanjavur-lifeline/article2067160.ece
(Modified 24 November 2021)
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