MADRASSA, any Muhammadan college. One of these was established in Calcutta in the year 1780 by Warren Hastings. Another was established in Madras by Nawab Gholam Muham mad Ghouse, which after his death was taken over by the British, but abolished in 1884. 'MADRAS CITY, on the Coromandel coast, is situated in lat. 13° 4' 6" N., long. 80° 17' 22* E. It is the principal town of the presidency which bears its name, and in 1881 had a population of 405,848 souls. It is the third largest town of British India, the population of Bombay being 773,196, and Calcutta town and suburbs, 736,316; that of the Calcutta municipality being 433,219, its north suburbs 51,658, and its south suburbs 251,439. Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon, Kurachee, Singapore, all of them now busy mercantile towns, are alike creations of the British since the 17th century. Madras city is an aggregate of 16 hamlets, viz. Mootial Pettah and Peddoo Naik Pettah, which arc commonly called Black Town ; Chintadrepettab, St. Thome, Triplicane, Comaleswaram Coil, Nungurnbauktun, Egmore, Vepery, Pursawakum, Nadoombary, C hetput, Peramboor, Veysurpady, Eroongoondum, and Tondiarpet. St. Thome, 3 miles south of the fort, is famed as having been a Christian hamlet since an early part of the Christian era. This part of the coast has no sheltered harbour, and the waves of the Bay of Ben?al break continu ously on the shore, with which communication can only be held by means of catamaran rafts, and masula boats ofplanks sewed together.
The history of the Madras Presidency forms an integral part of the history of India. and occupies many hundred pages of Mill and Wilson, Elphin son, Grant Duff, and other standard works. Ala ud-Din, the second monarch of the Khilji dynasty at Dehli, and his general, Malik Kafur, conquered the Dekhan, and overthrew the kingdoms of Karnatica and Telingana, which were then the most powerful in Southern India. But after the withdrawal of the Musalman armies, the native monarchy of Vijayanagar arose out of the ruins, with its capital on the Tumbudra river. This dynasty gradually extended its dominions from sea to sea, and reached a pitch of prosperity such as had been before unknown. At last, in 1565, after a glorious history of two centuries, Vija yanagar was overwhelmed by a combination of the four Muhammadan principalities of the Dekhan.
Mr. Francis Day, the representative of the English E. I. Company A.D. 1639, obtained per mission from the local chieftain, Damerlu Venka tadri Naidu, to settle at the fishing village which is now the site of Madras, and on the 1st March 1640, the Rayel of Chandragiri, a descendant of the Vijayanagar kings, issued a sunnud granting permission to erect a fortress. The city gets its
name from Mundir-Raj, but the Rayel wished it to be called Sri-Ranga Patnam, and the Naik wished its name to be Chinnapa Patnam, by which last it is known to the natives to this day. In A.D. 1653 the Agent and Council of Madras were raised to the rank of a presidency.
In 1702, Daoud Khan, Aurangzeb's general, blockaded the town for a few weeks ; and in 1741 the Mahrattas attacked the place, also un successfully.
In 1746, Madras was besieged by M. de la Bourdonnais, and on the 10th September the city capitulated, but it was agreed to be ransomed by a payment of 11,00,000 of pagodas. On Bourdonnais departing, however, M. Dupleix declared the treaty void, and the British were taken prisoners to Pondicherry, or escaped to Fort St. David, which, till 1752, became their chief town, though in 1749, Madras, after the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, had been restored to the British. War again broke out between the British and French, and M. Lally a second time besieged Madras, from the 15th December 1758 till the 17th February 1759, when the French withdrew to Pondicherry.
The progress of Madras through the two centuries of its existence has been continuous, though its government has sustained some severe strains. In 1774, the governor, Mr. Wynch, was deposed by orders from the Court of Directors. In 1775, Lord Pigot was appointed, but in 1776 he was deposed by • his Council, and confined ; he was restored, but in April 1777 he died. In 1770, Sir Thomas Rumbold was appointed Gover nor of Madras, but dismissed in January 1781. In the beginning of the 19th century much agita tion occurred whilst Sir George Ham Barlow was governor, and in 1860 Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan was •removed from the Governor's office. Its annals contain some of the most romantic episodes of Anglo-Indian history, such as a struggle with the French for supremacy, the ex ploits of Clive, Wellesley, and Cornwallis,—Assaye and Seringapatam, the mutiny of Vellore. As soldiers, Sir Barry Close, Major Laurence, Gen erals Harris and Meadows, acquired fame and honours. As soldiers and administrators, it pro duced the great Lord Clive, Sir Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras, and Sir John Malcolm, Gover nor of Bombay. As botanists, the missionaries John, Rottler, and Kcenig, and Drs. Roxburgh and Wight, laboured in the Madras Presidency ; Dr. Jerdon, author of the Birds of India and of the Mammals of India, was a Madras medical officer ; and Dr. Russell and Dr. Day described the fishes of the coasts. Xavier, Ziegenbald, Dubois, and Caldwell have been eminent as Christian mission aries; and the first Government Museum in India was established there in 1851 by Assistant Surgeon Balfour.