Revisiting the Chola Mandalam Prospects of Port Prosperity from Chennai to Colachel Ms. Diana Arachi

Revisiting the Chola Revisiting the Chola Mandalam Mandalam Prospects of Port Prospects of Port Prosperity Prosperity from Chennai to Colachel from Chennai to Colachel

Ms. Diana Arachi Cenkāntal Cenkāntal

Since centuries, ports have been of utmost geopolitical and social importance in every country. Indologists and ardent readers of history are in many ways still uncovering the historical significance of port cities in trade and cultural exchanges. Port Power

Today, the Chinese Belt and Road (BRI) Initiative seeks to reconnect the conceptual ideas and trade links laid out by the Old Silk Road. Around 70 countries have signed up for the BRI, with another 140 countries engaging in other Chinese infrastructure and investment mega projects. The scale of expansion is rapid and big, yet certainly not the first of its kind. One may argue BRI borrows on the capitalist expansion of the East India Company and aspires to emulate the soft power reach of the Chola empire. Through strategic geographical agreements, China has successfully captured many port cities in Asia and Africa that are crucial to the success of the New Maritime Silk Road. China’s strategic valuation and highly coveted relations with the Pearl in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, may thus come as no surprise. In this context, port cities have not only become valuable possessions in a strategic game of chess and debt-trap diplomacy, but also symbols of national pride and geosecurity. Such large BRI infrastructure ambitions have however come at a heavy cost. Freedom of speech, muted media, restrictions on movement, wide-scale systemic human displacement and environmental degradation are but a few externalities. South Indian port cities, despite their glorious past, have been spared of the extra-territoriality– or so it may seem.Tamil Nadu owns 1,076 km of India’s shoreline. The Chola Mandalam Coast (or Coromandal Coast) stretches across the South Eastern coastline covering many settlements from Chennai to Colachel. While Chennai has become the eight largest Indian metropolis, cementing its role in commerce and education, it also served as the first entry point for Colonial powers and is thus infamously also the Gateway to Century of foreign exploitation. The urban architecture in and around Old “White Towns” of Chennai and Puducherry stand testimony to an era un-proportionally etched in the records of history and firmly promoted by tourism boards. Many other places along the Chola Mandalam however have been in parts or in its entirety lost to nature and from memory. In this respect then, is it worthwhile to revisit the few key locations along India’s East Coast that bear immense potential for an economic and ecological renaissance. The suffix‘Pattinam’ refers to a town near the sea in Tamil. Unfortunately, the grandeur of these old Pattinams is captured in only fragments of historical anecdotes and parts of Sangam literature. Some still recognisable Pattinams include Chennaipattinam or Madrasapattinam or Adiramapattinam for Chennai; Devanampattinam for Cuddalore; Kaveripoompattinam for Poombuhar; Nagaipattinam for Nagapattinam and Thenaipattinam in present-day Kanyakumari District.

Disruption by Nature

The Coromandal Coast is a environmentally riskattractive region, prone to the forces of tectonics, changing hydrological patterns, several tsunamis, and sediment erosion. Many flourishing ancient port cities fell to such forces of nature. Among many Tamils it is known that ancient port cities such as Kaveripattinam (Poombuhar), Korkai, Danushkodi fell to similar environmental fates. Danushkodi, once known as the Little Singapore of South India, was turned into a ghost town by nature and politics. Kaveripattinam once was a flourishing trading post of the early Cholas as well as the later Chettiars. Nagapattinam was the departure point for the impressive Chola fleet embarking to explore the shores of Southeast Asia. To this day, South Indian and Chola-inspired temples dot the landscapes of Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia with archaeological excavation efforts to unearth Tamil influence more enthusiastically implemented outside India than in Tamil Nadu’s own historical treasure trove Keezhadi or Arikamedu. Disruption by Humans

Ay Nadu, or Kanyakumari, was once known for pearl fishing and as the departure point for Princess Seembavalam (Heo Hwang-ok) to Korea. Today it is a mere tourist attraction held together by small fishing hamlets, interspersed by hundreds of giant windmills, and a contested nuclear plant site. Industrial polluters such as Sterlite factory in Toothukodi, SIPCOT industry in Devanapattinam or the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Idhintakarai have witnessed public outrage in reaction to industrial territoriality and political reservedness. Industrial pollution, excessive groundwater extraction is rampant in an environment where regulation is flexible and advocacy for human rights is dangerous. The widespread human interference and regional exploitation through harbour obstruction, sand mining, excess fishing and unsustainable tourism have thus left an irreversible footprint on coastal ecosystems and natural habitats. Intervention

Coastal rehabilitation and sustainable shore developments have been below desirable levels in Tamil Nadu posing further threats to any efforts of preservation and regeneration. To reverse the damage, well planned and executed project can revive ports. Prospective ports in Colachel or Manapad require transparent planning and management. Deflecting development and diversifying ecotourism may even allow regions such as Manapad and Idinthakarai to capitalise on its surfing and sailing potential. Renaissance

Danushkodi is an exemplary case study of sorts. After 53 years of dormancy the sleeping fishing hamlet has placed on the map again for a crumbling church, an underwater bridge to Sri Lanka and a visually spectacular scenario. Note: Pamban Islands’ strategic vantage (and military) point facing Sri Lanka cannot be ignored and may be one reason for its sudden and swift revival. Given the government aided efforts, the town, once declared ‘uninhabitable by humans’, now has a busy Hyatt Hotel.

Looking out at the sea from Vattakottai Fort at the southern tip of India, it becomes clear how attractive South India may have been for any outside force. If the natural Pattinams, with its ecological bounty, can be revived by bearing in mind an aesthetically, ethically and inclusive ecotourism revamp, then the prospect for the old Pattinams are high and exciting. Most importantly though it bears testimony in itself that despite all the human and natural interferences, people for centuries were able to thrive in the region, a region endowed with plenty of wind-, solar-, hydro- and manpower giving. As the waves come and go, what rises may fall, what falls will rise. Let us make an attempt to revive, through knowledge of the past and preparation for the future, the glorious prospect of Chola Mandalam – India’s own Gold Coast.

(Ms. Diana Arachi is an Intelligence Strategist and Policy Analyst with over 16 years of experience working for the United Nations, academia and media agencies. As an Austrian with Tamil roots, having lived in across four continents and travelled 50 countries she takes keen interest in China’s geopolitical strategies, India’s parallel development course and the past lessons of the Chola soft power expansion internationally. The Author currently resides in Australia.)