GAZETTEER.
Just behind the jetties and the port office are Ross' Hill and two other knolls occupied respectively by a Roman Catholic church, a Hindu temple, and a Musalman mosque, all in close proximity. Mr. Ross was a Sub-Judge who (notwithstanding some opposition from the Musalmans) built a bungalow, about 1848, on the hill which bears his name. The Roman Catholic Mission bought the property in 1867 and erected a church on the site. This was afterwards enlarged and opened in 1877. The darga to which the mosque is attached is widely known. It is the tomb of Saiyad Ali Medína alias Ishák Medína, and Hindus make vows at it as often as Musalmans. The saint is considered to be all potent over the elements in the Bay of Bengal. Mr.Carmichael says that when he wrote (1869) every vessel passing the harbour inwards or outwards used to salute the saint by hoisting and lowering its flag three times, that many a silver dhóni was presented to him by Hindu ship-owners after a successful voyage, and that in a suit between a Kómati owner of a vessel and his Muhammadan skipper about a settlement of accounts, the latter charged for a purse of rupees vowed to the darga during a hurricane and the former disputed the item solely on the ground that the vow had never been discharged ; and never questioned the propriety of conciliating the old fakir in dirty weather.
The actual history of the darga and mosque is forgotten. The inscriptions in and about them might afford information if deciphered. The inamdars in charge of them, who hold the Yerráda and Déváda villages for their upkeep, stated in a recent suit 1[1] that the date of the grant of the inam was prior to 1706. The early records of the English settlement at Vizagapatam speak of the frequent visits paid to the place by the Faujdars of Chicacole.
The southernmost part of Vizagapatam, in the apex of the triangle already referred to, is still known as 'the Fort.' Its former defences have been mentioned on p. 44 above and the map there given shows what immense changes a century and a half have effected in the place. The old fort itself evidently occupied much of the open green which now lies between the
Collector's office, the District Court and the light-house. Pharoah's Gazetteer (1855) speaks as if it was still in existence then and says 'within the fort are the barracks for the European invalid soldiers, the arsenal, the officers' quarters and various public buildings. Immediately outside the fort gate, and in an open space, near which the pettah commences, is the garrison and European Veteran Company hospital, an upstair building. Not
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- ↑ 1 O.S. No. 16 of 1902 on the District Court's file.
