Underneath the Water Sports of Andaman and Nicobar

Ishita

Underneath the Water Sports of Andaman and Nicobar

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- a group of islands that has become one of India’s most visited tourist spots, have a more profound history! In today’s time, many people visit islands for the beauty and adventure sports that it has to offer, but not many know its history.

Andaman Penal Settlement, source: andamanisland.in

While it is the colonies that paved the way to settlements, the origin starts from the Chola Dynasty, which referred to the island as nakkavaram. The island was also inhabited by Danish missionaries.

Both islands were also occupied by the Japanese army under Subash Chandra Bose’s leadership during World War II. Bose renamed Andaman as Shaheed Dweep and Nicobar as Swaraj Dweep. The island was then used for Indian National Army, while the power was still vested with the Japanese, and Indian power remained nominal.

Andaman Island’s origin dates back to Ramayana.

According to the legend, it is believed that the name was earlier derived from the Hindu mythological character of Lord Hanuman. Thus the island was named Handuman.

However, over time, the name has evolved. In the 1st century, Ptolemy- a great Mathematician, mentioned the existence of an island called Angademan. The island also has been mentioned in the accounts of Arab travellers from the 19th century.

Marco Polo- a Venetian Merchant and an explorer, also mentioned in his travelogue an island called the Angamanian in the 13th century. Furthermore, in the 14th century, Friar Odoric and the 16th century, Caser Fredericke’s account mentions the island.

Lieutenant Archibald Blair established the Royal Indian Navy in the 17th century. In the process, he had ordered to clean the forests which had belonged once to the natives of Andaman. It was thus after his name that the capital of Port Blair existed.

The first colony in Andaman was established after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 under the “Andaman Committee” by Dr. Frederic John Movat, who established the island as a penal settlement for the rebels who had participated in the mutiny. By 1858, the penal settlement was completely in function.

Superintendent James Pattison Walker’s account reveals that the name “Kala Paani” that Andaman was known by had been true to its name as no convicts could escape the jail.

The term Kala Paani was associated with the Andaman Islands as a curse, as it was believed to be a land where no one could escape. As the land was surrounded by water and anyone who dared to escape the jail would meet death. Walker’s account mentions that 140 convicts tried to escape, though they were never recaptured, but all of them died of starvation or were killed by savages.

To develop the penal settlement into a full-fledged jail the prisoners were asked by the British officials to clear the jungle, which had led to a clash between the natives of the land, who depended on the jungle for their livelihoods. The clash was known as the Battle of Aberdeen of 1859.

Both Andaman and Nicobar Islands are part of a great island arc that was a result of plate tectonics and above-sea extensions of the Patkai Mountain ranges and Mentawai mountains, which also formed Indonesia.

The name Nicobar has Tamil origins- nakkavaram, which means land of the naked, denoting the natives of the land. Nicobar, unlike Andaman, has more diversity to offer in terms of culture. However, due to the oriental gaze as Anthropologist Christopher Pinney also mentions, the colonisers turned the culture into photographic idioms of ‘salvage’ and ‘primitivity.’ The colonisers documented the culture of Nicobar as savages, naked people, and “exotic.”

The exercise of power was so brutal that locals developed a hatred for Bose and the Japanese. In today’s time when the debate to rename the island was started, it was suggested that three islands will be renamed Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Shaheed Dweep, and Swaraj Dweep as a tribute to Bose. However, the campaign was rejected by the locals who did not want the same as “things of irony given that Bose was intensely disliked by the locals [of Andaman and Nicobar Islands],” mentions LP Mathur.