The Bungalow on the Beach is a 17th-century

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

colonial house which has belonged to the Governor of

Danish India Danish India () was the name given to the colonies of Denmark (Denmark–Norway before 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish colonial empire. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, i ...

, who was styled Opperhoved, and after their exit in 1845, to 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, ...

administrator of the colony. Built in the 18th century, opposite the Fort Dansborg, by the

Danish East India Company The Danish East India Company ( da, Ostindisk Kompagni) refers to two separate Danish-Norwegian chartered companies. The first company operated between 1616 and 1650. The second company existed between 1670 and 1729, however, in 1730 it was re-fo ...

in what was once a

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

trading post of

Tranquebar Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...

, now known as

Tharangambadi Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...

, in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. Tranquebar is a Danish term and came from the native Tamil word Tarangambadi, meaning 'place of the singing waves'. The bungalow was acquired by

Neemrana Hotels The Neemrana Hotels is an Indian organisation, noted for restoring ruins and turning them into heritage hotels. History The story of Neemrana begins in 1977 when, while writing a book, Aman Nath and Francis Wacziarg first saw its 15th century r ...

in 2000, and after restoration was opened in 2004, the company also runs two more heritage hotels in the town, Gate House and Nayak House.

History

Founded in 1616, following a privilege of

King

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...

, the Danish East India Company, set up its base in

, in the fort Dansborg, which was the seat of its Governor of

, styled Opperhoved. Here

Ove Gjedde Ove Gjedde (27 December 1594 – 19 December 1660) was a Danish nobleman and Admiral of the Realm (''Rigsadmiral''). He established the Danish colony at Tharangambadi (Danish: ''Trankebar'') and constructed Fort Dansborg as the base for Da ...

, a Danish admiral arrived in 1620. He was given territory by the Nayak ruler of Tanjore. The Danish then settled there so as to export pepper to Denmark. They remained there until 1845, when after suffering heavy losses, the colony of Tranquebar was sold to

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, thereafter the house became the residence of the British administrator of the colony. The bungalow was then sold to Vellia Nadar ; who was a prominent distillery owner whose descendants lived in it for over 125 years. Rao Bahadur Vellia Nadar was the uncle of Rao Bahadur T. Rattinasami Nadar of Porayar (a nearby town) T. Rattinasami Nadar was famous for forming the Nadar Mahajana Sangam and the Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank (formerly called The Nadar Bank). After the Nadar family partition, the bungalow was finally passed down to B.Thavasumuthu Nadar and T.Rajeswari Ammal who along with their nine children T.Balagurusamy Nadar,T.Ponnusamy Nadar,T.Rajapather Nadar,N.Padmini,P.Dhanalakshmi,T.Rethinasamy Nadar,T.Narayanasamy Nadar,A.Gowri and K.Sundari lived a good many years in the bungalow. They were the last and final family to have resided in the bungalow. After the demise of T.Thavasumuthu Nadar, the children moved out and T.Rajeswari Ammal who found it difficult to maintain the colossal bungalow all by herself sold it to the Taj group of hotels in the1990's. The house was referred to as "Nadar Veedu" and was sold during the 1990s to the Taj group. In 2000, the Bungalow was bought by heritage hotel company,

, which after a two years of extensive restoration, the hotel opened on Christmas Eve in 2004, though the next day,

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

seriously damaged it, and another three months of restoration was required thereafter.

References

External links

Bungalow on the Beach website
{{coord, 11.0258653, 79.8539003, display=title Hotels in Tamil Nadu Danish India Buildings and structures in Nagapattinam district Buildings and structures in Danish India Official residences in India Heritage hotels in India