KOLKATA: Can a lessee of a mass of land become the founder of a city?
Can the date of his landing in Kolkata be suddenly interpreted as the
city's birth date?
Such questions, and many more, will be asked by a
host of historians - who contest the claim that August 24 should be
celebrated as the city's birthday - on August 23. But the debate has
already started raging among those who are preparing to celebrate the
occasion on Friday.
The state government and the Kolkata Municipal
Corporation celebrated the tercentenary of the city in 1990. But a high
court ruling had put an end to the celebration, saying that August 24
cannot be considered the birth date of the city. Though the state-backed
agencies stopped commemorating the day, several private organizations
followed tradition and stuck to the August 24 date.
However,
there are some who contest this established notion and feel public
awareness should be generated about the misconception. One such
organization - Sutanati Boimela Committee - will bring together
historians of repute, including Debashish Basu, to contest the claim at
an event on August 23.
Job Charnock, the British trader who landed
near Nimtala Ghat on August 24, 1690, was unanimously considered to be
the founder of Kolkata till now. He is believed to have received lease
of the three villages - Sutanuti, Gobindopur and Kalikata - from the
then owner, Sabarna Ray Chowdhury.
The Sabarna Roy Chowdhury Paribar
Parishad challenged the date and filed a PIL in Calcutta high court in
2001. They produced a copy of an old 1698 deed where Charnock's
son-in-law, Charles Eyre, was leased out the three villages. The court
formed an expert committee of historians comprising Arun Dasgupta, Barun
De, Sushil Chowdhury and Naren Sinha, to look into the matter.
"We
unanimously decided that Kolkata's existence is certainly older than the
arrival of Job Charnock. Even Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari (1590) mentions
Kollegot, which can certainly be interpreted as Kolkata. Naturally, you
cannot celebrate the city's birthday on August 24. Moreover, how can a
city which is a landmass that grows over time, have a birthday, at least
logically?" asks Barun De. Soumitro Sreemani, another noted historian,
also dismissed the birthday claim.
Incidentally, Sutanati Parishad,
an NGO that celebrates many of the old anniversaries and events
associated with the city, will start its Sutanati Utsav on August 24.
"When our organization was formed on August 24, the city was agog with
the tercentenary celebrations. However, the date was debated and
disproved later, but we continued with our Sutanati Utsav, which is not
necessarily a birthday celebration," said Kalyan Kumar Deb of Sutanati
Parishad.
The August 23 talk has been organized at the house of Chatu Babu - Latu Babu, one of the princely houses of the city,
to
add a touch of history to the event. "We will also be celebrating the
birth centenary of Binoy Krishna Deb Bahadur, a pioneer in the field of
education and literature. Right from the Oriental Seminary, General
Assembly and Metropolitan School, he was on the committee of many
institutions.
His books - Growth and Early History of Kolkata and
Pancha Pushpa - are still considered to be scholarly documents on the
city's early history," said Suman Bhowmick, general secretary of
Sutanati Boimela Committee.
Once again it is that time of the year
when a debate rages as to whether Friday, August 24, should be
celebrated as the city's birthday. In 1990 both the state government and
the Kolkata Municipal Corporation celebrated the tercentenary of the
city following the date that history books had been propagating
eversince. After this hullaballoo of the tercentenary was over, a High
Court ruling put an end to the matter saying that August 24 cannot be
considered the birthdate of the city.
Though the state backed
agencies do not celebrate the birthday of the city anymore, there are
several private organisations that do, as a matter of tradition. So
there are some others who contest this, feeling that public awareness
should be generated about the misconception. Sutanati Boimela Committee
is one such organisation, which will bring together historians of repute
to contest the claim that August 24 should be celebrated as the city's
birthday. They will present their case on August 23.
Job Charnock,
the British trader who landed near Nimtolla Ghat on August 24, 1690, was
so long considered to be the founder of Kolkata. He is supposed to have
received lease of the three villages - Sutanuti, Gobindopur and
Kalikata from the then owners, Sabarna Ray Chowdhury.
'Can a lessee
of a mass of land become the founder of a city? Can the date of his
landing in Kolkata be suddenly interpreted as the city's birthdate?"
asks Debashish Basu, an expert on the history of Kolkata, who will argue
the case on August 23.
The Sabarna Roy Chowdhury Paribar Parishad,
challenged the date and filed a PIL at the Calcutta High Court in 2001.
They produced a copy of an old 1698 deed where Charnock's son-in-law,
Charles Eyre was leased out the three villages. The court formed an
expert committee of historians comprising of Arun Dasgupta, Barun De,
Sushil Chowdhury, Naren Sinha etc.
"We unanimously decided that
Kolkata's existence is certainly older than the arrival of Job Charnock.
Even Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari (1590) mentions Kollegot, which can
certainly be interpreted as Kolkata. Naturally you cannot celebrate the
city's birthday on August 24. Moreover, how can a city which is a
landmass that grows over time, have a birthday, at least logically?"
asks Barun De. Another historian who will also dismiss the birthday
claim will be Soumitro Sreemani.
Incidentally, Sutanati Parishad, an
NGO that celebrates many of the old anniversaries and events associated
with the city, will start its Sutanati Utsav on August 24. "When we came
into being on August 24, the city was agog with the tercentenary
celebrations. However, later when the date was debated and disproved, we
have continued with our Sutanati Utsav which is not necessarily a
birthday celebration," said Kalyan Kumar Deb of Sutanati Parishad.
The
talk has been organised at the house of Chatu Babu - Latu Babu, one of
the princely houses of the city, to add a touch of history to the event.
"We will also be celebrating the birth centenary of Binoy Krishna Deb
Bahadur, who was a pioneer in the field of education and literature
those days. Right from the Oriental Seminary,
General Assembly and
Metropolitan School, he was on the committees of many institution. Two
of his books, Growth and Early History of Kolkata and Pancha Pushpa are
still considered to be documents by scholars of the city's early
history," said Suman Bhowmick, general secretary of Sutanati Boimela
Committee. ( साभार-टाइम्स आप इंडिया )
भारतीय
सांस्कृतिक निधि (इंटैक) के उरई चैप्टर की ओर से बुंदेलखंड संग्रहालय के
सभागार में उरई के मातापुरा मुहल्ले से मिले ताम्र युगीन उपकरणों पर एक
संगोष्ठी का आयोजन किया गया। संगोष्ठी का विषय का प्रवर्तन करते हुए इंटैक
के उरई चैप्टर के संयोजक डाक्टर हरिमोहन पुरवार ने बताया कि बर्तन
व्यावसायी रवि माहेश्वरी की दुकान से कुछ ताम्र पिंड और उपकरण मिले थे।
उनका जब बरीकी से अध्ययन किया गया तो पता चला कि ये उपकरण ताम्र युगीन
सभ्यता के हैं। गोष्ठी के मुख्य वक्ता भारतीय पुरातत्व सर्वेक्षण विभाग
(एएसआई) के अवकाश प्राप्त सह अधीक्षण पुरातत्ववेत्ता डाक्टर कृष्ण कुमार
थे। उन्होंने कहा कि बुंदेलखंड क्षेत्र में प्रागैतिहासिक काल के अवशेषों
के मिलने की सूचना अभी तक नहीं थी। लेनिक इन ताम्र उपकरणों के उरई में
मिलने से देश के प्रागैतिहासिक काल के मानचित्र में उरई का नाम अंकित हो
गया है। उन्होंने कहा कि यहां मिले उपकरण दो हजार साल ईसा पूर्व से 13 सौ
साल ईसा पर्वू का है। इन ताम्र उपकरणों में चार सीघी कुल्हाड़िया, दो
शोल्डर्स कुलहाड़ियां, दो बरछियां (हारपूंस), एक गोल चक्का और 5.460
किलोग्राम, 1.340 किलोग्राम, 650 ग्राम और 570 ग्राम के चार ताम्र पिंड
शामिल हैं। इन ताम्र पिंडों से ताम्र उपकरण बनाए जाते थे। ताम्र उपकरणों
के शिल्प विज्ञान पर प्रकाश डालते हुए डाक्टर कृष्ण कुमार ने कह७ा कि सीधी
और शोल्डर्स कुल्हाड़ियों का निर्माण एक सांचे में ढालकर एक बार में किया
जाता था, जबकि बरछियों (हारपूंस) का निर्माण दो अलग-अलग सांचों में दो बार
में ढालकर किया किया जाता था। 
नैनीताल के प्रसिद्ध नयना देवी मंदिर प्रांगण में मां नंदा-सुनंदा की युगल मुखाकृति
