Monegar Choultry is a

choultry Choultry is a resting place, an inn or caravansary for travelers, pilgrims or visitors to a site, typically linked to Buddhist, Jain and Hindu temples. They are also referred to as .Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is considered to be the first organised charity in Madras city.

History

In the 18th century, there were constant wars between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and the Nawabs of Mysore, resulting in destruction of property and lives and eventually a famine in Madras. In 1782, a village headman, locally known as a 'maniakarar', established a gruel centre in his garden in

Royapuram Royapuram is a locality in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for its beach, and for Royapuram Railway Station. The station is the first railway station of south India, opening in 1856, and is today ...

off

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. Soon after the war, the centre became a choultry for the sick and poor people. During the 1782 Mysore War, the government ordered that all buildings within a proximity of the Black Town Wall be destroyed. However, the choultry was exempted from this order. In 1807, the government made a substantial donation as more people started coming to the choultry. The

Nawab of Arcot The Carnatic Sultanate was a kingdom in South India between about 1690 and 1855, and was under the legal purview of the Nizam of Hyderabad, until their demise. They initially had their capital at Arcot in the present-day Indian state of Tamil N ...

also donated a huge sum to the choultry. A hospital was constructed within the premises of the choultry in 1799 by John Underwood, an assistant surgeon with the company. In 1801, the hospital was combined with the 'Native Hospital and Poor Fund' in the choultry. The building was rented by the Famine Relief Committee which conducted a charity for the 'sick and the poor' along with St. Mary's Church. The Government of Madras took over the affairs of the choultry from the Committee in 1808. The Native Hospital and the choultry's land were taken over by the government in 1910 and was renamed Royapuram Hospital, while the choultry was shifted to the premises of the nearby Rajah of Venkatagiri Choultry where additional rooms were built. The hospital later become the Stanley Hospital.

Etymology

Originally, the choultry did not have any name of its own. It was given the unofficial name "Monegar Choultry" the anglised version of the term "Manyamkarar" (village headman) who ran a

gruel Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a ...

centre nearby.

The choultry today

The choultry functions today as an asylum for elderly people. The Collector of Madras remains the chairman of the choultry's managing committee. There is an ancient temple at the base of an old tree within the premises, dedicated to the

Hindu deity Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati. The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...

Periya Palayathu Amman. A rule still remains with the choultry that in case of the death of an inmate, the corpse will be sent to the Anatomy Department of the Stanley Medical College for study, rather than handing over to the relatives.

References

* {{coord missing, Tamil Nadu History of Chennai