971 emails were awaiting me when I arrived back in the UK- the vast majority of them from India, and I must say that having been teased about calling Mumbai, Bombay, could someone please explain to me why they've changed the name of that city? And indeed Madras to Chennai? But it seems that Calcutta is still to be Calcutta - which I am much looking forward to visiting next year when I shall be opening Landmark's new bookstore.
12 Comments:
er, sorry, that would be kolkata.. circa 2001 :)
suggested reading - http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~easwaran/papers/india.html
My Lord.
Mumbai and Chennai were the original names. During the Raj, they were changed to Bombay and Madras. Recently they were changed back to their original names.
You are slightly wrong about Calcutta. It has it's original name now, Kolkatta :)
Glad you enjoyed India, I myself recently came back from Madras and it was a hoot. How'd like the traffic then? I was with a friend from Chester who mentioned, "Mahesh, red light here seems like a polite suggestion" :)
Waiting for your next book already!!
Calcutta is Kolkata.
Names of many cities have been (and are being) restored pre-anglacized versions.
Bangalore, FYI, is now Bengaluru.
Fascinating - I stand corrected! Best wishes, Jeffrey.
Dear Mr. Archer,
Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995 after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, the city's patron deity.
Madras came to be known as Chennai in 1996. It is derived from the word Chennapattinam,after its ruler Chennappa Nayakar. This was supposedly the original name of Madras , and the government wanted to revert to that name.
I would like to mention that Bangalore is now Bengalooru, and Calcutta is now Kolkata.
These names derived locally belonged to the pre-colonisation era and the Britishers either mispronounced them or changed them to be able to pronounce them. There are so many stories relating to these names and how the Britishers changed them that i find unnecessary to mention. But of course I would be happy to tell you in case you want to know.
From 1995 -1996 the 50th year of Indian independence the names of many big cities in India have officially been changed to the names I have mentioned.
I hope I the information I have furnished is of some use to you, Mr. Archer.
Looking forward to your next India tour.
Oh lord!
Calcutta is Kolkata
Trivandrum is tiruvanantapuram
Bangalore is Bengaluru
you want the whole list?
Dear Mr Jeffrey,
Our city was Mumbai only from time immemorial, but the aggressors or the occupation army changed it to Bombay since they could not pronounce the original name. Similar is the case with Chennai also. Original name was chennapattanam. Hope things are clear now, Mr.Jeffrey. (ravi815@hotmail.com)
You may have heard of muligatani soup this is actually a tamil word meaning 'pepper water'!
Actually, Madras might have been originally Chennai, but Bombay was Bombay. There was never a large city known as Mumbai. The name was derived from the Portugese: Bom (good) Baim (bay), i.e., the good bay. It, of course passed into British hands in 1661 as part of the marriage treaty between Portugal and the British.
Bombay was not truly a city, and definitely not the huge city we know now, and whatever was there was definitely not called Mumbai in some distant, mythical past.
The Mumba Devi temple, which was later said to be the source of the name, is quite a distance away, and was quite obscure until the right-wingers got a hold of the issue, and made the deity more major than she was.
The name change, therefore, did not reflect a back-to-roots campaign but was part of a right-wing Hindu victory.
The other name changes, Chennai, Kolkata, and even Bangaluru were, however, what they say they were, i.e., going back to original pronounciations and names.
In fact, in some strange way, Mumbai and Bombay still co-exist. There is a certain, more cosmopolitan crowd that still calls it Bombay. And then, there are those who insist on Mumbai. I find that duality quite interesting.
Am from a place called Visakhapatnam, and that is very much also known as Vizag as the britishers couldn't pronounce it as visakhapatnam.
In my state of andhra pradesh,
Orugallu was called warangal by britishers.
Vijayawada as bejawada or blazewada for its heat.
I admire u as a writer Mr. Archer!
All my Indian friends refuse to call them by their new names. So shall I.
Everyone has given you their thoughts which are of course true. But as far as an intellectual person like you is concerned, names hardly matter, it's the essence that really matters. Kolkatta or Calcutta, mumbai or Bombay, they'll remain the way they are,
won't they?
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