The Maraimalai Adigal Bridge (previously the Marmalong Bridge) is a road bridge on Anna Salai connecting the northern and southern banks of the Adyar River.[1]

Thumb
The Marmalong Bridge, with a Sepoy and Natives in the Foreground, 1783, William Hodges, Yale Center for British Art

History

The oldest bridge across the Adyar River - the Marmalong Bridge - was originally constructed by the Armenian merchant Coja Petrus Uscan in 1728 at the cost of Rs. one lakh. He left a trilingual inscription in Armenian, Latin, and Persian.[2][3] The bridge was named after the nearby village of Mambalam which was Anglicized to Marmalan or Marmalong.[1] The dilapidated old bridge was replaced by a new one in 1966.[4] The new bridge is named after Maraimalai Adigal, a Tamil writer and proponent of the Pure Tamil movement.

Uscan's construction of the bridge is commemorated by a plaque at the northern end of the bridge adjoining the Saidapet bus stand.[1]

Notes

Other sources

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