Sadraspatnam

The walls and canons of what is left te Ducth fort in Sadraspattinam (in Tamil Nadu) are now used in Indian election time.

It looks as if the fort was demolished only recently. Marion Peters en Andre de la Porte wrote in their 2002 book "In Steen Geschreven" (Written in stone) that the Archgeological Survey of India in 1998 gave the cemetery and fort a rehaul.

Emblems are carved in most of the 15 tombs within the old fort in Sadraspattinam.

On the Coromandel coast the Ducth tombes usually are simple flat stone with carvings. In contrast with this tombes in Bengal an Gujarat were often more pompous, mausoleum type dome shaped contructions.

Inscriptions on Dutch tombes en monumenten hoeven don't need to be made be made 100 yeras ago the British documented all the European graves in India, Wilson in 1896 in Bengal, and in 1905 in Madras (Cotton).

Now there is the book In Steen Geschreven, Leven en sterven van VOC-dienaren op de kust van Coromandel van Marion Peters en Andre de la Porte, published on the occasion of an exhibit g Fotos uit verre landen (Pictures from far), work of Andre de la Porte in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, from 12 January tot 8 April 2002.

Dick. de Jong,
Uithoornstraat 33
1078 ST Amsterdam