There are at least four thoroughfares that commemorate the Armenians

Discover the history of Chennai streets, including Armenian and Jewish influences, through V. Sriram's insightful social media series.

Have you read Thankappan Nair’s A History of Calcutta’s Streets? It is a landmark book in the history of that city. Browsing through my copy of it, I have recently embarked on a series on social media where I trace the history of Chennai streets.

And that is when I realised that there are at least four thoroughfares that commemorate the Armenians and one more that is likely of the same variety.

The most famous is, of course, Armenian Street of George Town, with its beautiful church constructed by the Armenians and now maintained by the diaspora.

Though the pediment bears the year 1772, a church came up here as early as in 1712, which probably dates when the Armenians lived around this locality.

The Tamil name of this street, Aranmanaikaran Teru, is but a corruption of Armenian and there are no records of any palace or palace attendants in this place.

To the rear of Armenian Street is Coral Merchant Street, known as Pavazhakaran Teru in Tamil and which probably gives rise to the Telugu name of the locality — Pagadalu Petta.

While Armenian Christians lived on Armenian Street, their Jewish counterparts, many of them into the precious stone trade, lived on Coral Merchant Street. Elihu Yale’s housekeeper-cum-mistress Heironima probably lived here when her husband Jacques de Paiva was alive. He was buried at the Jewish cemetery on the nearby Mint Street.