Painting by Dr K Prabhakar Rao of Fort St David

FORT ST DAVID. TAMILNADU STATE, INDIA Fort St D avid is located in the state of Tamil Nadu near Cuddalore. It was a British strong hold during the rule of East India company.The fort is located 100 km South of C hen nai at the mouth of river. Gadi lam on the coromandel coast. the region was under Jinjee nayaks who were vassals to emperor of vijay nagar stationed at Chandragiri. Tge Dutch traders wanted yo expand their business and negotiated with K rishnappa naika of Jinjee to build a fort at Devana patnam. the permission was granted in 1608 to build a fort. Construction commenced. but the portugese pressurised Venkata I of Vijaynagar empire to withdraw the permission given by Jinjee ruler.T therefore the construction was stopped.The British governor in the region Elihu Yale was then granted permission by Chatrapathi raja ram who took shelter at J injee and Aurangzeb Mughal emperor laid seizeto Jinjee. Rajaram intended to sell the region Devanapatnam to highest bidder and the British managed to get the grant. Devvanapatnam and surrounding areas were sold to B ritsih. the surrounding areas that fell with in the cannon ball range all round were given to the British. To determine this the British fired a large cannon in different directions and all the areas that fell with in the cannon ball range were given to them.these villages were known as cannonball villages. James macrame was the governor of Madras presidency and he fortified the area and repulsed French attack. Robert Clive the famous English governor who laid strong foundations of British rule in India was the governor on 1756.the fort was captured by French in 1758 but after two yeras abandoned it.in 1782 the French retook it and reinforced to repulse British attack In 1785, the fort finally passed to the Englishmen. Today the fort is in neglected state and a tourist spot.thecfort has many colonial buildings of course in poor state. We are nation who are not proud of our legacy and history and heritage. should we erase all the British. French and Dutch monuments in the country that mark our failures in sustaining freedom .