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Bible Encyclopedias
Madras
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or one of the three presidencies of the Indian Empire, occupies the greater part of the south of the peninsula of Hindustan, including the coast lands, Malabar, the Laccadive Islands, and the Coromandel coast, in all covering an area of 138,856 square miles, with 31,672,613 inhabitants in 1885 (according to Behm, Geoagr. Jahrbuch, 1870, eleven twelfths are Hindus, and some 80,000 adherents of Mohammedanism). The tributary states Mysore, Cochin, Travancore, Pudocotta, and Djayapur are virtually a part of Madras, and are therefore included in our statistics of Madras. The capital of this presidency is a city of like name, and is situated on the Coromandel coast, the western shore of the Bay of Bengal, in lat. 130 5' N. It stretches along the coast, with its nine suburbs, for nine miles, with an average breadth of three and one half miles. Its inhabitants number 405,948 (1887), among them about 30,000 native Christians. Madras was the first hold of the English secured by the occupation of Fort George (situated on the coast midway between the north and south extremities of the city) in 1639. It is now truly an Indo-European city. Like Calcutta and Bombay, it is a gathering-place for the missionaries of the different denominations and associations, and the basis for all missionary enterprise in southern India. Madras is the seat of the Anglican see of Madras, established in 1835.
The missionary societies at work there are the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," the "London Missionary Society," the "Church Missionary Society" (which started in 1805), the "Wesleyan Missionary Society," the "Church of Scotland," the "American Board" (commenced there in 1836), and the "Free Church of Scotland." Its principal buildings and institutions are the Government House, a handsome edifice, though much inferior to the similar establishments in Calcutta, and even in Bombay; one of the finest light-houses in the world; the Scotch Church of St. Andrew, founded in 1818, a stately and beautiful edifice; a university, with three European professors, and numerous teachers both European and native, and containing a valuable museum and a library; St. George's Cathedral, from which a magnificent view of the city and its vicinity may be obtained, and containing several monuments by Chantrey (including one of bishop Heber), and some figures by Flaxman. There are also male, military, and female orphan asylums, a medical school, a branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Madras Polytechnic Institution, the Government Observatory, a mint, eight established Episcopal churches, among them a cathedral, besides numerous places of worship of other Christian denominations, and the Madras Club, to which members of the Bengal and Bombay clubs are admitted as honorary members. See Grundemann, Missions-Atlas, No. 14 and 15; Newcomb, Cyclop. of Missions, s.v., also under Hindostan; Wheeler, Madras in the Olden Times (Madras, 1861-62, 3 vols. 8vo); Aikman, Cyclop. of Missions, p. 148, 272. (See INDIA).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Madras'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/m/madras.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
