In 1639, a British trading company got permission from the local rulers to set up a factory on a thin strip of the Coromandel coast. Measuring about three square miles and lashed by the fury of the Bay of Bengal, Madraspatnam gave no early signs of the historic metropolis it would soon morph into. As the little port grew and grew into Madras Presidency, it would birth radical ideas, movements and personalities that would change the very face of a nation still waiting to be born. Let’s drop anchor for a while at its harbour and travel to when it all started…READ MORE
Madras Talkies
Visiting the Queen of the Coromandel Coast
The Making of Madras
The history of the Madras Presidency is also the history of an embryonic nation finding its identity under colonial rule. We take you through some key moments, movements and personalities that shaped Madras and what would in time become India
Madras Chic: Textiles and jewels of Tamil Nadu
Temple jewellery, Kanjeevaram silks, pure cotton lace and the ever-chic Madras check—come with us on a style journey through the Madras Presidency
Remembering Cholamandalam – The cultural legacy of the Cholas
The imperial Cholas patronised all manner of visual, literary, architectural and textile arts, in essence imprinting their larger-than-life personalities on every realm that they touched
Divine Doorways – Gopurams of South India
Exploring the towering gopurams of south India through rare photographs of temples across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala
Pondicherry Dreaming – Inside French India
How native Tamil and colonial French influences come together in the charming melting pot of Puducherry
Thanjavur – Country of Gods & Kings
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Thanjavur welcomed large communities of Telugu and Marathi speakers as a consequence of Nayaka and Maratha conquests in Cholamandalam. The result was a slow mingling and simmering of cultural influences, resulting in the unique artistic heritage of this temple town
Madras Then, Chennai Now by Sriram V
Walk through the lanes of British-era Chennai with historian Sriram V and rare photographs from the Sarmaya collection
The Curious Case of Chennai’s Elleesan & the Dravidian proof
A story about Francis Whyte Ellis, a British linguist whose study of law, land and language in the 1800s would influence the Dravidian politics of the 1900s
Reeling them in – How Tamil cinema shaped politics
For over a hundred years, Tamil cinema has had its finger on the pulse of the region’s cultural and political life. Find out how this love story began and the chief protagonists who directed its course
Chettiars: The History of A People by MV Subbiah
During our visit to Chettinad for Sarmaya's Art of Travel, eminent industrialist and the former Executive Chairman, Murugappa Group, MV Subbiah treated us to a very personalised history of his community, the Nagarathar or Nattukkottai Chettiars. He was in conversation with Sarmaya founder, Paul Abraham.
Palace of Illusions
The magnificent mansions of Chettinad hold the great riches of the world, and tell the story of extravagance, grandeur and inevitable decline
Postcards from Madras 
Family Portraiture: An attempt at reading a personal album 
Madras Talkies – Reading List 
Of Silk and Spice: A Tale of Two Empires 
Urbs Prima In Indis: The Rise and Rise of the Bombay Presidency 
Gateways to India 
Beyond the Form: Portraits in Modern Indian Art