Stories about Saidapet

How did Saidapet get its name, wonders G. Perumal. From what I’ve been able to gather over the years, Nandanam, Saidapet east of Mount Road, and Kotturpuram all belonged to the Nawab of Arcot. Since Mohammed Ali Wallajah of Arcot began thinking of a home for himself in Madras only after 1755 and got himself a home only in the late 1760s, he is unlikely have acquired the Nandanam-Saidapet-Kotturpuram area before that. It is very likely that the property which acquired the name Nawab’s Gardens — a name still found in the area, and which derived its name from the Nawab’s country retreat, said to have been a palace on whose site M.A. Chidambaram built his Adyar House in 1958 — was developed only around the 1780s.

The Nawab, it is stated, gifted a part of these gardens to one of his nobles, Syed Khan, and it was after him that the area he was granted became known as Saidapet. Syed Khan/Shah is said to have divided his gift into four quarters, one for himself, another for the weavers, a third for traders, and the fourth for the artisans, all of whose businesses he supervised.

I am, however, not fully convinced with this story and am open to hear other versions explaining the name.

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