Marina Beach - History

History

Before the Madras harbour was built, the Marina beach was just a strip of mud, teeming with mudskippers. The beach washed up close to the present day road for a long time until the harbor was built in 1881. Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, the governor of Madras from 1881 to 1886, who was captivated by the beach on an earlier visit to the city in the late 1870s, conceived and built the promenade along the beach in 1884 by extensively modifying and layering with soft sand. He also christened it the Madras Marina in the same year.

Ever since the harbour was built, the area south of the port has accreted significantly, forming the present day's beach mainly due to the presence of wave breakers laid for the construction of the harbour, although the coast in the northern region has undergone severe erosion. Eventually, the north-drifting current widened the beach to its present extent. The beach was formed as a result of arresting the littoral drift by the port's breakwater. The area of the beach is increasing 40 sq m every year due to progradation.

The Marina used to be famed for its pristine beauty, jolly ambiance, and rich ecosystems. However, since the middle of the 20th century, the beach and water have become polluted. Proliferation of plastic bags, human waste, and other pollutants have rendered many parts of the beach unusable. In recent years, many voluntary organizations have taken up the task of cleaning up the Marina and protecting the ecosystem. Particular efforts include protection of Olive Ridley turtle nests along the Neelankarai section of the beach. Meiofaunal composition at the Marina Beach chiefly includes turbellarians, nematodes, polychaetes, oligochaetes, and harpacticoids. Species of gastrotrichs are also found in the region.

Ever since the creation of the promenade in 1884, there were several additions along the stretch. The country's first aquarium was established as one of the first additions in 1909. Shortly after the Independence, the Triumph of Labour statue (reminiscent of the famous World War II photograph of the American Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima) and the Gandhi statue in 'march to Dandi' stride, which has been duplicated on the lawns of the Parliament House, were erected on the beach. Both the statues were sculpted by Debi Roy Chowdhury, an artist who at the age of 30 became the first Indian Principal of the Madras School of Arts and Crafts. In 1968, a number of statues of icons of Tamil Literature was erected to mark the first World Tamil Conference, including Avvaiyar, Tiruvalluvar, Kambar, Subramania Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan and the Europeans Bishop Caldwell, G.U. Pope and Fr. Beschi (Veeramunivar). Anna Samadhi (memorial) was built in 1970 and the MGR Samadhi in 1988, shortening the stretch at its northern end. More recent additions include the statues of Kamaraj and Shivaji Ganesan.