The “French Bungalow” in Arni

Shortly before I left on my first trip to Vellore this year (on 17 February 2017), my neighbour and friend Dr. Chakko Jacob told me that one of the sites I should definitely visit was “The French Bungalow”.

I did some internet research and one of the sites I found was:

http://www.nativeplanet.com/vellore/attractions/french-bungalow/

The content here said:

“The French Bungalow, also referred to as the French Castle, is a renowned tourist attraction. There is a romantic side to this construction of the building. It was made by a prince of Mysore, Srinivasa Iyer, and is still owned by the Mysore Royal Family. The French Bungalow was built by him for residential purpose after he married a French woman, whom he met and fell in love with while he was abroad for studies. The bungalow was constructed with imported material, mostly from Glasgow.

“The walls of the French Bungalow are made of limestone blocks and stones which hold the main framework. The building has one tower at each corner of the four walls. The bungalow also has a dry well which served as a Roman Bath. The house had servants’ quarters and kitchens and there is also a repository for grains on the premises of the French Bungalow. However, due to low maintenance, the bungalow is now in ruins.”

There were some serious problems with this information. The royal family of Mysore are the Wodeyars, and they are definiely not Brahmins. “A Prince of Mysore” could not have had the name “Srinivasa Iyer”.

The credible reports are that the ruined stately home in Poosimalaikuppam, about 16 kms from Arni once belonged to the Jagirdars of Arni and might have been built by Thirumalai I Rao Sahib:

“There were two palaces situated 3 miles from Arni . There were also Palatial residences for the Jagirdar of Arni in Poosimalaikuppam (a forest resort very close to Arni town), in Chennai (Arnee House) and in Bangalore (formerly Jai Mahal Palace).”

http://wikibin.org/articles/arni-jagir.html

Thirumalai I Rao Sahib, the fifth Jagirdar was the jagir holder at the time of the Battle of Arni 1751. He died in 1765 and was probably the builder of the Poosimalaikuppam Bungalow. His successor was Sreenivasa I Rao Sahib and this name could have inspired the name, “Sreenivasa Iyer”.

One clue I found was that, “The famous Mysore Maharaja Maligai (Jagiri Maligai) at S.V. Nagaram is located 5 km from the Arani Town. “S.V.Nagaram expands as Sathyavijayanagaram, which was the former capital of the jagir of Arni. Visiting this settlement is on my Todo list for my next visit to Arni.

At any rate, the so-called French bungalow stands forlorn in the jungle in Poosimalaikuppam, which is marked as a Reserve Forest (RF) in Google Maps.

I haven’t been able to get a professional opinion if the architecture is French, although it may well have several French architectural features, especially since Arni is only 118 kms North West of Puducherry (Pondicherry, the erstwhile French colony.)

This might also explain the romantic story about the “French Woman” of Poosimalaikuppam.

The clinching evidence that the so-called “French Bungalow” was one of the palaces of the Arni Jagirdar is the Latin family motto at the entrance of the building:

“Per Deum et Ferrum Obtinui“

“I have obtained it by God and by my steel [sword]”

It appears that this is the motto of the Hill family in Worcestershire. The Hill family traces their ancestral roots back to Norman origin before the year 1100.

The son of Thirumala I Rao Sahib was named SRINIVASA RAO SAHIB, which gives us some idea why the name of the “Prince of Mysore” turned out to be “Srinivasa Iyer”.

The Jagirdars of Arni were descended from to Vedaji Bhaskar Rao Pant. Those who know Tamilnadu history will remember that Tanjore District was a Maratha kingdom till it was absorbed into independent India. These Marathas, like the Arni Jagirdars speak “an archaic Marathi” which was no doubt well integrated with Tamil.

The “serendipity” of my interest in Arni is that earlier this week, on 8 Mar 2017, I traced and was almost miraculously introduced to a representative of the present descendants of the Jagirdar of Arni, who lives in Bangalore.

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