/ARTS WEEKLY/INDIA: Kolkata ‘Orphaned’ By Archaeological Finds

By Sujoy Dhar Reprint | | Print |

Sujoy Dhar

KOLKATA, India, Feb 4 2003 (IPS) - India’s bustling eastern metropolis, which in 1990 celebrated the 300th year of its ‘founding’ by British colonialists with much fanfare, is looking for a new birthday.

This search is as a result of recent archaeological finds that push its history back two millennia and the findings of a court committee on the matter.

Archaeologists excavating the northern outskirts of the city at the mouth of the sacred Ganges river have dug up artefacts and "habitational deposits" that are believed to be the remains of an urban settlement dating back to the 2nd century BC.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is excavating the site near the Dum Dum neighbourhood, say the artefacts and potsherds appear to be from the Sunga Kusana period which ruled the region about 2,200 years ago.

But the city’s serious identity crisis stems mainly from the report by an expert committee set up by the high court here, which finally exploded the myth that a British trader, Job Charnock, founded Kolkata in 1690.

According to the report submitted to the high court on Jan. 31, there was no particular year marking the city’s birth and its actual founder could not be determined though Charnock could be claimant.

Other claimants include Charles Eyer and Gold Borough on the side of the British and Lakshmikanto Roychoudhury, the Sett and Basak families and the Subarna Roychoudhury family, which sold the village to the British East India Co.

Archaeologist Bimal Bandopadhyay says excavations conducted between December 2001 and April-May 2002 have indicated that an ”urban population continuously lived here for centuries without any break”.

The ASI has not only found artefacts, potsherds and seals from the Dum Dum site, but also human skeletons that have been sent for laboratory tests. The test results are being awaited, but scientists are confident the human remains are at least two millennia old.

"It can be concluded that not jungles and marshy lands but an urban settlement thrived on the peripheral zones of the city long before present day Kolkata came up," says Bandopadhayay.

The site was occupied in two phases, from 2nd century BC with continuous occupation up to the 11th-12th century AD. After a short gap, it was further occupied during 15th-16th century AD up to modern times.

The finds include terracotta plaques displaying figures of Yakshinis (female demons who guard hidden treasures) and materials of a later period such as divine and semi-divine figurines, and punch-marked and cast copper coins datable to the same period.

Human skeletons were found at the lowest level and were sent to the Anthropological Survey of India for study. The archaeologists conjectured that they are from the period just before the 2nd and 1st century BC. Perhaps the inhabitants buried their dead close to their dwellings, says Bandopadhayay.

The site yielded beads fashioned out of various materials such as semi-precious stones, crystal, steatite and terracotta besides a remarkable find of a miniature icon of Mahishasurmardini (the mythological killing of the bull-faced demon Mahishasur by Hindu goddess Durga, wife of Lord Shiva).

According to historian Dilip Biswas, the finds are not surprising as the river Ganges, on whose bank the city is situated, was highly navigable and foreign ships sailed down it regularly. "The Greeks write of a port named Gange. The two sides of the Ganga are archaeologically very rich," he says.

"The blackware and greyware pottery in fine fabric show a clear affinity with pottery of the pre-Christian era discovered on the site," Bandopadhayay of ASI says.

The city’s birthday has long fuelled an academic debate, with some historians challenging the popular belief that Charnock founded it on Aug. 24, 1690.

City mayor Subrata Mukherjee too believes that the city was neither born on Aug. 24, 1690 nor founded by Charnock. "The name ‘Kolkata’ finds mention in documents dated much before August 24, 1690. In fact, the name occurs in documents like ‘Chandimangal’ (a religious scripture), written between 1598 and 1606," argues Mukherjee.

He says ‘Calcutta’, the British term for Kolkata, finds mention even in a map drawn in 1660. The ASI’s discovery at Dum Dum bolsters Mukherjee’s claim.

Besides the debate in academic circles, an aristocratic Bengali family, believed to have ‘owned’ much of what is today Kolkata, had challenged in court the city’s birthday and history leading to the report.

The Subarna Roychoudhury Parivar Parishad (SRPP) – which says it sold the three villages that make up Kolkata to the British East India Co on Nov. 10, 1698 – and some historians went to the high court, disputing popular notions on the city’s history and birthday.

At present, Aug. 24, 1690 is accepted as the city’s birthday because Charnock was believed to have set foot here that day. But some historians hold that Charnock had landed in 1676. On Aug. 24, 1690, Charnock landed in the city for the third time.

The SRPP claims that if present-day Kolkata if at all it can have a birthday, it should be celebrated on Nov. 10, 1698, the day the city’s ownership was transferred to the British East India Co.

SRPP’s counsellor Smarajit Roychoudhury claims that Charnock died six years (Jan. 10, 1692) before the sale deal was signed. "How then can Job Charnock be the founder of Calcutta?" he wonders.

The SRPP claims that the actual founder of the city was Zamindar (landlord) Laxmikanta Roychowdhury (1570-1649) who received the ownership rights over eight villages, including the three that make up today’s Kolkata, from Mughal emperor Akbar as a token of appreciation for his services.

Numismatic evidence show that human settlement began in Kolkata about 1,500 years ago. The first European traders to arrive in the region were the Portuguese in 1510. Before that the Chinese, Arabs and the Malays formed part of the trading community.

The Portuguese were followed by the Dutch, the Danes, the English and the French. The Armenians settled in Kolkata at least 60 years before the arrival of Charnock.