India
News: Denmark princess turns a page of history
in India
Indo-Asian
News Service: 15-March-2004
Chennai, A beautiful, if neglected, page of
history in Tamil Nadu got its due attention when
Princess of Denmark Benedikte visited the 17th
century Danish settlement evocatively called
Tranquebar on the east coast. The princess, who
is in southern India, visited Tranquebar, or the
Fort of Dansborg as the Danes named it, in
Nagapattinam district, 450 km from here Sunday.
Vijaya Raghunath Nayaka, the king of Thanjavur,
gave the fort to then king of Denmark Christian
IV in 1620.
The Danes built a Danish trade post and a fort
in Nagapattinam within a decade. By 1777, the
Danes took complete control of Tranquebar and
the region now known as Tarangambadi, or the
village of the dancing waves. They ruled here
till 1845 when they handed over the settlement
to the British.
Neglected for more than a century, the abandoned
Tranquebar settlement is now being developed as
a tourist site. The Dansborg Fort is being
renovated with funds collected by a voluntary
agency in Denmark, Association of Tranquebar,
with help from the Danish monarchy.
Princess Benedikte reviewed the renovation
work at the fort. Tranquebar is the last point
before the Cauvery river and its tributaries
enter the sea. The entrance to the small town of
Tranquebar is through a crumbling gateway and
arch. But some things have stood the test of
time and an impressive royal Danish seal can be
seen on a section of the arch that still stands.
After renovation work began last year, the weed
and grass has been cleared and the arch still
stands out to mark the frontiers of a lost
Danish settlement.
There is little left of the fort. The
brickwork has been cemented over -- no one knows
why -- and renovators have a difficult job ahead.
They have to reclaim from the ugly cement
encasing, parts of the fort wall, cannons buried
in cement and other structures scattered on the
beach.
The
princess also visited the governor's bungalow
and the Zion Church, the memorial of
Bartholameus Zeigenbalg, one of the first
Lutheran missionaries, which are still intact
and continue to draw tourists, particularly from
Scandanavian countries.
The
original church of Zion, also locally called the
Jerusalem church, is closed because it is too
dilapidated. However, a new practising church
has now been set up.
The
government's archaeological department has plans
to reclaim the ruined jetties that still stand.
The crumbling fort has a museum of sorts where
hundreds of original maps dating back to the
seafaring days of the great Danes are stored in
a musty hall. The home of Rehling Gard, a Danish
governor, is not open to the public as it has
been converted into a teachers' training collage
by the government.
After
Tranquebar, the princess is scheduled to visit
the former French settlement of Pondicherry, now
one of India's most popular spiritual centres.
Over
the weekend, the princess also decorated
Prabhakar Rao, the honorary vice consul for
Denmark in southern India, with the
Belonningsmedalje Med Krone, an award from the
Queen of Denmark Margrethe II.
Rao,
president of corporate affairs in the Chemplast
Sanmar group of industries, "has protected
Danish interests in south India for 25 years and
helped further Indo-Danish relations," said
Michael Sternberg, ambassador of Denmark.
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