Chennai (Madras)

Most of our visits to India on this blog have been to the northern part of the country. But there is so much going on in the southern part of India. We have visited "Bengaluru (Bangalore). Today let's have a look at Chennai, formerly known as Madras, on India's southeastern coast.

Hindi is a northern Indian language and southerners speak different languages. Chennai is known today as an industrial center and for producing so many cars. It is one of Asia's most important financial centers.

Health care has gotten so expensive in places like the U.S. that many patients can be flown all the way to India, have the medical procedure done, and then flown back home for less money than it would have cost to have the procedure done at home. This is known as medical tourism and so many of the patients go to Chennai.

Chennai, unlike so many other cities in India, does not go back to ancient times as a major city. One of Jesus' apostles, Thomas, went to India after the Crucifixion and spread the Gospel there. He landed on India's west coast but journeyed across southern India before being martyred at what is now Chennai.

Thomas was the apostle who expressed doubt that Jesus had really been resurrected. This earned him the nickname of "Doubting Thomas".

More than 1500 years later, during the Age of Discovery, Portuguese explorers intended to spread Christianity in India. They were greatly surprised to find that there were already Christians there.

The original Christians of India, sometimes referred to as "Thomas Christians", were part of what is sometimes called the Church of the East. The Church of the East is often referred to as Nestorians or Jacobites.

We have seen the Nestorians already, in the compound posting on this blog "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began".

What differentiates the Church of the East is Christology. Jesus had both a human and a divine nature and Christology refers to how those two natures relate to each other. There are three fundamental positions on Christology.

1) The divine and human natures are completely separate.

2) Jesus's divine and human natures were two natures in one.

3) The human nature was completely absorbed by the divine nature.

This might sound like hair-splitting to some people but it was considered as very important in the early days of Christianity. The reason we do not often hear of Christology today is that the vast majority of Christians, Catholics, Protestants and, Eastern Orthodox, are of the second position, called Chalcedonian because it was agreed on at the Council of Chalcedon.

Some Christians today are of the third position, known as Miaphysite, and including the Egyptian Coptic Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The original Christians of India were of the first position, known as Nestorians, Jacobites or, the Church of the East.

The Portuguese explorers tried to pressure the Christians in India to become Catholics. Some formed one of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

This is not the same thing as the Church of the East. There are actually more than twenty Catholic Churches, in communion with the pope. The vast majority of Catholics belong to only one of those churches, the Latin Church. The others are called the Eastern Catholic Churches, and do not use the same rites as the Latin Church.

Some of the original Christians in India continued as Nestorians. Some later became Protestants.

In the Sixteenth Century the Portuguese built a church over the tomb of St. Thomas.

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https://www.google.com/maps/@13.0313177,80.2772713,3a,75y,142.02h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMjRUubkfa9IWkjM7kTbpi3LA3hdMNXFibmhEzL!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMjRUubkfa9IWkjM7kTbpi3LA3hdMNXFibmhEzL%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0.7298001-ya52.753628-ro-1.4551557-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

Fort St. George is now occupied by government buildings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@13.0798999,80.2863557,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDxn2PgFTpA9aqgf0d9jEOQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DDxn2PgFTpA9aqgf0d9jEOQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D110.54223%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is central Chennai.

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This is more of central Chennai.

https://www.google.com/maps/@13.0822478,80.2760689,3a,75y,59.54h,110.48t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPIM2-SGngNWsVuNcUmfQFzwikqfhtLmaNOlf0!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPIM2-SGngNWsVuNcUmfQFzwikqfhtLmaNOlf0%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20.482315-ya247.54019-ro0-fo100!7i4000!8i2000

Here is north central Chennai.

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This is a shopping area.

https://www.google.com/maps/@13.0849016,80.204761,3a,75y,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipObrJh4tTWVy-1VwMVLX49LrT54VZ69Vc6iBnE!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipObrJh4tTWVy-1VwMVLX49LrT54VZ69Vc6iBnE%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya32.55-ro-0-fo100!7i6000!8i3000

This is north of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@13.0892344,80.1781261,3a,75y,320h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOMi41Ur0Awwntw3sttQerUwP4XFQWnc1QMRo42!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOMi41Ur0Awwntw3sttQerUwP4XFQWnc1QMRo42%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya322.86685-ro-0-fo100!7i13312!8i6656

Proceeding south from Chennai we arrive in this area.

https://www.google.com/maps/@12.973835,80.2510922,3a,75y,240h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipP7BWqYN57QIJl8PxVE9Cjp0cDPw01ylm05j6ym!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipP7BWqYN57QIJl8PxVE9Cjp0cDPw01ylm05j6ym%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya234.12766-ro0-fo100!7i13000!8i6500

This is a residential area to the south of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@12.9712505,80.2090302,3a,75y,100h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOWBpWcuJz5hy5srNiPne0E_3DeYmsv5wAu6ADK!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOWBpWcuJz5hy5srNiPne0E_3DeYmsv5wAu6ADK%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya265-ro0-fo100!7i9728!8i4864

Here is another residential area to the south of Chennai.

https://www.google.com/maps/@12.9589656,80.1417936,3a,75y,80h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN46CZXDiJQNkS0AOjcVbkBVQCyed63eA7MaRyP!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN46CZXDiJQNkS0AOjcVbkBVQCyed63eA7MaRyP%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya238.49655-ro-0-fo100!7i13312!8i6656

India's space program is run from Bengaluru (Bangalore). But the launch site is on the coast north of Chennai.

Like America's Cape Canaveral, the reason for putting a space launch site on an east coast is that the earth rotates eastward. The spacecraft picks up some of the eastward momentum and this means that, if something should go wrong or stages have to be dropped, they would fall into the sea rather than onto a populated area.

India's space program has several notable accomplishments.

In 2008 Chandrayaan 1 was launched to the moon to take measurements from lunar orbit. An impact probe would separate from the spacecraft and strike the near the moon's south pole. That part of the mission was successful but communication with the spacecraft was lost in 2009. In 2016, NASA located the spacecraft, still in orbit around the moon.

Mangalyaan, to go into orbit around Mars, was launched in 2013. Missions to Mars have a high casualty rate but the mission was a success. India remains the only nation to have a successful Mars mission on it's first attempt. Unfortunately the spacecraft recently ran out of fuel and contact with it was lost, but it far exceeded expectations.

The name of "Chandrayaan" means "moon craft" and "Mangalyaan" means "Mars craft".

Chandrayaan 2 was launched to the moon in 2019. It was going to land a rover near the moon's south pole, but it crashed and was destroyed. As every spacefaring nation has learned, occasional heartbreak is part of the game.

India has put quite a bit of effort into the area around the moon's south pole and I think it would be appropriate to name the area "New India".