CHEPAUK PALACE

CHEPAUK PALACE, that genesis of the Indo-Saracenic School of architecture, is impossible to be seen in its handsome entirety today, hidden as it is by the buildings that have come up around it. Even its vast grounds are no longer visible, Chepauk Park is but a sad memory. And this sad stage of affairs is not wholly due to present-day development; it began when the `Government' of the time took over the palace and park 150 years ago.

 When Mohammed Ali Wallajah, friend of the British, died, he was succeeded as the Nawab of Carnatic by his son Umdat-ul-Umrah, no favourite of the Council in Fort. St. George. Accusing him of having conspired with Tippu Sultan during the Fourth Mysore War, Lord Edward Clive sent his soldiers in to occupy the palace in 1801, annexed the Carnatic in consequence of the settlement of the Carnatic debts and reduced the Nawabocracy to a Titular Nawabship. When the last Titular Nawab, Ghulam Ghouse Khan Bahadur, died in 1855, the British decided to make its occupancy of the palace permanent by moving out of it, its chief occupant, thereafter to be known as the Prince of Arcot. After a series of moves, Amir Mahal became the home of the successive Princes of Arcot, who from 1868 began receiving a pension from the Government, various tax exemptions and the maintenance costs of their new home. These obligations are still met by the Government of India, honouring the agreements of the Victoria era, as they do for three other princes as well, those of Tanjore, Calicut and Oudh.

 With Chepauk Palace now vacant, the Madras Government decided to legitimise its occupancy by putting up the property for sale in 1859. When Government was the only party that could meet the minimum asking price, it took over the ownership of Chepauk Palace and its host of outbuildings, Marine Villa by the Cooum and their 117 acres for Rs. 5.8 lakhs. And into the palace it moved several Government offices, beginning the process of decline.