Narasapur and Dutch Connection

Narasapur and Dutch Connection

 

Valandara: Dutch name refuses to fade from public memory

K.N. Murali SankarNARASAPURAM:, JULY 24, 2015 00:00 IST

UPDATED: JULY 24, 2015 05:46 IST

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A view of the 350-year-old Dutch building on the premises of theSri Y.N. College at Narasapuram. —Photo: A.V.G. Prasad 

 

Just before the Godavari Pushkaram began, people’s representatives decided to name the Valandara Revu as the Vasishta NTR Bathing Ghat. Try telling the local people to call it by anything but its age-old name. This will always be Valandara Revu to them. The name has an interesting etymology. Even before the East India Company came to these parts, the Dutch had reached Narasapuram in 1626 and developed a boat-building centre on the Vasishta Godavari. Their purpose was to make boats to serve their interests in the East Indies. They trained local people as stevedores. The name they gave to this was the Holland Wharf.

 

The local people used to the call the Dutch traders as Valandulu, corruption of the Telugu phrase for ‘people of Holland’ term. So the whaft came to be called Valandula Revu, which has since become ‘Valandara Revu’, explained D. Venkateswara Rao, professor and Head of the Department of Public Administration at the Sri Y.N. College here.

 

The wharf was used by the Dutch to ship teakwood that was abundant in those days.

 

Even now, one can find a good number of buildings built by the Dutch in Narasapuram. And the legacy of boat making lives on here.

 

 

The administrative block of the Sri Y.N. College is located in a 350-year-old building constructed by the Dutch. “From the rooftop of the building, Dutch traders used to monitor the movements of their ships. One can still see the lighthouse at Antarvedi from the rooftop at night time,” says Prof. Rao.

 

One of the roads in town is called Steamer Road, a name which encapsulates the town’s shipping past. 

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