Sunday, June 18, 2006

The Ice House, Its History and Heritage

I received a query from someone of Indian descent, now living in the United States. She wanted to know whether I could give her any information about the history of the Ice House, which had at one time belonged to an ancestor. She wanted to be able to tell her children about their proud heritage. Here is my reply:
If at all, most people's interest in Ice House is either because it was indeed an ice house in a sultry countryside, or because of the spirituality it acquired due to Vivekanand's visit there, as well as his supposed stay for a considerable period.

Yours is one of the rare interests, in the genealogy of ownership, and curiosity about the extent of pride you can proffer to your children and your mother, whom you will bring to Madras.

Well, first, the matter of your greatest interest: The founding and owning of the building at different stages in the history of British Raj is somewhat obscure. Different claims are made by different writers or researchers. One more cogent is as follows: one Mr. Frederick Tudor is credited with importing ice for his compatriots from America and therefore requiring storage facilities, which he built in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

How ice could come from half a globe away, travelling at 10 mph in ships, and be stored to serve the 'Burra Sahibs' with chhota or 'burra' pegs, would be in the annals of so many things that happened in man's evolution, which now would seem a mystery or miracle.

Tudor supposedly ran his business in Madras from 1842 until around1880. The business collapsed, because ice began to be made, again by British invention (Indians abhorred inventing anything), locally, by what was called the steam process.

One Mr. Biligiri Iyengar, affluent practitioner at Madras High Court, purchased the Ice House and added circular verandahs and windows to convert it into a residence.

The Ice House was renamed Castle Kernan, in honour of Mr. Iyengar's friend, who was then a Justice of repute at the Madras High Court. Mr. Iyengar, apart from staying in the building himself with his family, also provided shelter to poor and educationally backward students. Aside from its original fame as Ice House, the building acquired renown once again during Swami Vivekanand's stay there (Feb 6-14, 1897). Biligiri Iyengar became one of his staunchest devotees, and thus it transpired that Swami Vivekanand happened to stay there with his Western and indigenous devotees.

In 1917, the Government acquired the House, which was then called Marine Mansion. This can be found in an obscure marble tablet somewhere on the building. From 1922 to 1941, the building was used as a hostel for teachers and students. The Ice House, renamed Castle Kernan, was re-renamed the Ice House by an enactment by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1963. Today, the Ice House is known as Vivekanandar Illam, which is the result of continuous application by the Ramakrishna Math since the visit of the Master, which the government, out of procrastination, finally accorded on 6 Feb 1997, and handed over management to the Math on lease, to set up a permanent exhibition on Swami Vivekananda and Indian cultural heritage.

The story can be completed in 3 to 4 pages more, from all the sources, including the Goverment archives, which are available, or have some interest. But since your inquiry is in connection with your family's ties and connection to that building, I think I have dealt with it sufficiently. You will have to find, in your great-grandfather, either on your maternal or paternal side, a connecting link with Mr. Biligiri Iyengar, since I do not believe you will be able to trace anything with Justice Kernan or Frederick Tudor, or the various successive Swamijis belonging to Ramakrishna Math, who variously or together lorded over the building, which I can assure you was very uncomfortable since it was not properly ventilated -- on purpose, in order to preserve the ice.

For more information, recommended reading: Madras Discovered by S. Muthiah; Madras: The Architectural Heritage by K. Kalpana and Frank Schiffer; Vivekanandar Illam



(the picture comes from padalis)

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