Perambakkam
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Perambakkam
Village in the Conjeeveram taluk of Chingleput
District, Madras, situated in 12 51' N. and 79 35' E., about 14 miles north-west of Conjeeveram town. Population (1901), 1,117. Near here occurred, in 1780, the defeat of Colonel Baillie's force by Haidar All, one of the most severe reverses that ever befell the British arms in India. Sir Hector Munro, the Madras Commander-in-Chief, had directed Baillie, who had 2,800 men with him, to meet him at Con- jeeveram. Haidar received intelligence of the plan and set out to intercept the force. Baillie thereupon sent to Sir Hector for reinforce- ments, and a detachment was dispatched to him which increased his strength to 3,700 men. Baillie, however, delayed too long in setting out, and was caught by the whole of Haidar's army in a defile studded with palmyra palms. Here his force was subjected to a cross-fire from fifty guns. Baillie and most of his officers were soon wounded, and eventually the blowing up of two tumbrils of gunpowder in the middle of the square in which the troops were formed started a panic.
The British, however, concentrated the small remnant of their men on a little eminence, and repulsed thirteen attacks of the enemy during another hour and a half. Baillie then surrendered, and indiscriminate slaughter of the prisoners was prevented by French officers serving in Haidar's army. In the Darya Daulat, Haidar's garden-house on the island of Seringapatam, is a fresco depicting this defeat in quaint native fashion, an exploding tumbril being given a prominent place in the composition. This has been renovated and is in excellent preservation.
[A full account of the battle is to be found in Lives of the Lindsays (vol. iii, pp. 250-60), contributed by the Hon. John Lindsay, who was one of those taken prisoners to Seringapatam.
