Chingalpat

Chingalpat (Chengalpat), a town of India, 36 miles SW. of Madras by rail, with district court and hospital, a public bungalow, and an old fort, now abandoned, but formerly of great strength and importance as a key of Madras. Clive captured it in 1752. Pop. 5617.—The district to which the town gives name has an area of 2842 sq. m., and a pop. of 1,136,928, mostly Hindus. It is a flat country, cut up by canals. The soil is poor. With 115 miles of coast, it has not a single harbour or anything like shelter from the surf.