AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 160 of 237 The location of OTA at St Thomas Mount is of historic significance. A convenient transformation of the name of the hill, based on popularity than archeological evidence is, Bhringi malai (from sage Bhringi)-Beerangi malai (from canon) – Parangi malai (from Foreigner in Sinhala). Sage Bhringi, one of the Saptarishis is said to have understood the philosophy of Purusha and Prakriti lived at Bhringimalai. South Indian Christians attribute it to the supposed martyrdom of St Thomas the apostle around 68 A.D. Parangi means wanderer/foreigner in Sinhalese. The meaning in Tamil language is more botanical and does not refer to foreigner as popularly perceived. It is more of a dialectical variation to justify a theory. The name sticks and we move forward. Another importance of the place is the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India that took place from 1802 to 1852. It was started by the British surveyor Col. William Lambton on 10 April 1802 from St. Thomas Mount. There is a statue of Col Lambton and inscriptions at the trig point near the entrance of the Church. We owe the British for giving us the maps that we use today in the armed forces. The birth of the Madras Regiment under Stringer Lawrence in 1758 has roots in the area around St Thomas Mount. Capt Ramachandran narrates the Battle of St Thomas Mount fought between the British East India Company and the French, in 1759, in the plains below the ‘parangimalai’ literally where the golf course and the academy are situated today. The French had their lines of communication extending from Pondicherry to the Fort St George. St Thomas Mount formed the interdiction point on the French logistic lines. Capt Achilles Preston and Maruthanayakam Pillai alias Muhammed Yusuf Khan held the heights and harassed the French. The battle ended in a stalemate and withdrawal of the French.