(Skt/Hin): श्री विजय पुरम् śrī vijaya puram
‘Victory City’ – City/Capital Andaman and Nicobar Islands
From Skt/Hin: śrī, ‘auspicious’; vijaya, ‘victory’; pur, ‘town, city’.
Renamed Sept 13, 2024, replacing its colonial-era name, Port Blair. The change symbolises shedding colonial legacy and honours what is claimed as the islands’ historical links to the Chola empire and freedom struggle.
Lieutenant Archibald Blair surveyed the Islands in the late 18thC for the British East India Company.
Sri Vijaya Puram/Port Blair is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Its infamous Cellular Jail [also Kala Pani from Hin: kālā, ‘black’; and Hin: pānī, ‘water’], built in 1906, is now an Independence memorial commemorating the freedom fighters who were imprisoned here and died here.
On December 30th, 1943, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the Indian freedom-fighter, symbolically hoisted the Indian National Flag here when the islands were still under Japanese control.
For related place names see Indian Place names and Andaman & Nicobar Islands place names.
