Blogger Soham Chandra first drew my attention to a
crumbling building near the Sunderbans in South Bengal that he called “Lord
Canning’s Bungalow”. The British Governor General, he said, had once had this
house constructed, which is why the city in the South 24 Parganas District of
West Bengal is also called Canning. But this struck me as rather odd. Lord
Canning had died in 1862 and back then, this part of Bengal was malarial,
tiger-infested jungle. Why would the Governor General of India ever want to live
here? And if it wasn’t him, then whose was the once-magnificent colonial
building? My research led me to one of the biggest commercial debacles of
British India – the Port Canning disaster.
The Concrete Paparazzi
Architecture. . . History. . . Travel
Tuesday, 29 January 2019
Monday, 24 December 2018
The Ghosts of Garstin Place
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Garstin Building no.4 (left) and 5 (centre) - the only surviving buildings |
Monday, 10 December 2018
Akbar's Tomb, Sikandra
“Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar, guardian of mankind” – I
learnt the Kipling poem when I was in school, and its opening lines were all I
could think of as we drove the 5 miles from Agra to the Emperor’s final resting
place, Sikandra. Growing up in India, the history you are taught in school is
somewhat one sided, but creates a lasting impression, especially about the
Mughal Emperors of India. Babur was the conqueror. Jahangir was the just one.
Shah Jahan was the romantic. Aurangzeb was the angry old man. But only Akbar
was “The Great”. A king who was just, fair, a great warrior, a wise
administrator, a man who gathered around him a court of such brilliance that
stories about it are told to this day. Every child in India knows the stories
of Akbar and his court wit, Birbal, about his Hindu Rajput wife, Jodha Bai, who
in all fairness is more legend than fact, and about how his court musician, the
Vaishnava Tansen, could make it rain by singing the raga “Malhar”. Akbar is to
Indian history what Shahrukh Khan is to Bollywood cinema – a superstar you see
on screen or read about, but never imagine will be able to approach. Needless
to say, I was excited as I stepped into the vast funerary garden at
Sikandra – this is the closest any human being could get, to Akbar the Great.
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Akbar's Mausoleum, Sikandra |
Labels:
Agra,
Islam,
Islam in India,
Mughal,
Mughal Tombs of India,
Uttar Pradesh
Sunday, 2 December 2018
How Guides are Destroying the Murshidabad Experience
I have visited the Murshidabad thrice in 2018. The city
was the last capital of Bengal before the East India Company took over and the
power centre shifted to Calcutta (now Kolkata). From 1704 to 1757, Murshidabad
was the seat of the powerful Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, who ruled over
the richest province of the Mughal Empire, accounting for some 50% of the
Empire’s GDP. There are a large number of historic structures and ruins left
over from that period which make the historic city a fascinating place to
visit. Like all historic sites, tourist guides are locally available. But while
these guides are supposed to enhance the experience, in Murshidabad, their
effect is quite the opposite. Tourist guides, who behave like goons, harassing
visitors makes a trip to Murshidabad deeply unpleasant. Through my last 3
visits, here are some experiences I have had.
Monday, 26 November 2018
Belur & Halebid: Finest Examples of Hoysala Art
When it comes to ancient Indian art, the best examples
are all associated with temples. While the erotic art of the Khajuraho Temples
is famous, the Chennakeshava Temple of Belur and the Hoysaleshwara Temple in
Halebid are perhaps a little less famous, but are no less beautiful and
magnificent. These are temples that were built by the Hoysala ruling dynasty of
the South India and represent some of the finest achievements of the people this
country in architecture and sculpture. I visited the temples in February of
2017, but before I tell you more about them, let’s take a look at the dynasty
which had them built.
Sunday, 11 November 2018
The REAL Dakshineswar Temple
Let me start off by clarifying that I do not mean to
suggest that the Kali Temple established by Rani Rashmoni in the Dakshineswar
village (Barrackpore Subdivision, North 24 Parganas District, West Bengal), is
false or fake. The temple is, in fact, one of the most popular Kali Temples of
West Bengal and is visited by lakhs of devotees every month. But the temple is
commonly referred to as the “Dakshineswar Temple”, which is incorrect. While it
is a temple, and it is in Dakshineswar, the name of a temple of Goddess Kali
cannot be “Dakshineswar”, because Dakshineswar is a male name. Many people
believe that it is called Dakshineswar, because the idol inside is of Dakshina
Kali. This too is incorrect, because the idol housed in Rani Rashmoni’s temple
is of Bhavatarini, one of the many aspects of Kali. Even if the idol was of
Dakshina Kali, then the temple’s name couldn’t have been Dakshineswar, but
Dakshineswari – that crucial “i” in the end makes it a female name. The temple
is erroneously called Dakshineswar because that is the name of the village it
is located in. But the name Dakshineswar definitely refers to a Hindu deity of
some kind. So who is this Dakshineswar and where is his temple? That is the
point from which my search began.
Labels:
Hinduism,
Temples of Bengal,
Temples of Calcutta
Sunday, 4 November 2018
Kaliprasadi Hungama: The Scandal That Shook Calcutta
Hungama
Noun; Persian
tumult, riot, uproar, confusion, disorder
Bengalis in general, at least the educated upper and
upper middle classes of the capital city of Calcutta (Kolkata) pride themselves
on being liberal and permissive. Inter-caste, and even interreligious
marriages, that can cause uproar in the rest of India, especially in what is
referred to as India’s cow-belt, are fairly common in Calcutta. To a large
extent, this liberal outlook is the result of the Bengali renaissance, led by
such stalwarts as Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy. 30 years of
atheist, communist rule in the post-independence period, have also ensured that
caste plays no part in politics. But of course, it wasn’t always this way. In
the early 19th century, Hindu society, even in Calcutta, exposed
constantly to Western influence, was notoriously conservative and it is during
this period that one of the city’s biggest scandals happened. Known as the
Kaliprasadi Hungama, the scandal connects several of Calcutta’s biggest
families, and places of worship belonging to multiple faiths, including
Calcutta’s most famous Hindu temple – Kalighat.
Labels:
Calcutta,
Calcutta Heritage Buildings,
Heritage Buildings of Kolkata,
Hinduism,
Imambara,
Islam in Calcutta,
Kolkata,
Muslims of Kolkata,
Temples of Calcutta
Thursday, 20 September 2018
The Imambaras of Kolkata
Say the word Imambara to the average Bengali in Kolkata,
and what he or she is likely to think of first, is the Hooghly
Imambara. Prod a little further and the Nizamat Imambara will come up.
Located in Murshidabad, it is the largest in Asia. The really well-informed
will be able to name the Sibtainabad Imambara in Metiabruz where Wajid Ali
Shah, the last Nawab of Oudh is buried. But what the vast majority of people in
Kolkata don’t know is that there are some 20 imambaras in city, most with long
histories and some are spectacularly beautiful. For Muharram this year I would
like to highlight this unknown aspect of Kolkata.
Sunday, 8 July 2018
Sarfaraz Khan: Murshidabad's Forgotten Nawab
Since Murshid Quli Khan moved the capital of Bengal from
Dhaka to Murshidabad around 1704, there have been only 4 Nawabs of Bengal from
two dynasties to have succeeded him, before the East India Company’s takeover.
The Nasiri Dynasty to which Murshid Quli Khan belonged, was unseated by the
Afshar Dynasty, led by Alivardi Khan. The Afshar Dynasty’s rule came to an end
with the Battle of Plassey, on the 23rd of June,
1757. The next to take their place on the Musnad of Murshidabad, was the Najafi
Dynasty, beginning with the much-maligned Mir Jafar. But while the war that
brought the Afshar Dynasty to an end is much discussed, and how its last scion,
the hapless Siraj-ud-Daulah met his end has been memorialised in plays, the end
of the Nasiri Dynasty has been almost completely forgotten. We know where every
Nawab of Bengal is buried, except the last Nasiri Nawab, Sarfaraz Khan. For
years, books have pointed to the rough area where he was buried, but no one has
given the actual location, nor printed a photograph of the tomb. Has the tomb
of a Nawab actually been lost? And how did it come to this?
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Interiors of the incomplete Fauti Masjid. Construction was started by Sarfaraz Khan and ceased upon his death |
Labels:
Architecture of Bengal,
History of Bengal,
Mosques of Bengal,
Murshidabad,
Nawabs of Bengal,
Terracotta Mosques of Bengal,
Travels outside Calcutta,
West Bengal
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Weekend at the Himalayan Hotel
“How would you like to stay in a 100 year old hotel”? The
question from fellow blogger Poorna Banerjee was a purely rhetorical one, of
course. She knew that I would jump at the chance. And so it was that in the
last weekend of the month of May, I found myself escaping the heat and dust of
Kolkata for the chilly comfort of the historic Himalayan Hotel, now the Mayfair
Himalayan Resort and Spa.
Friday, 15 June 2018
The Abandoned Mosque of Beliaghata
On Beliaghata Main Road, a little under a kilometre southeast of the point where the road crosses the canal lies a mysterious, abandoned mosque. I say abandoned because the mosque is not used for prayers by Muslims anymore, although it is far from empty. What was once a mosque is now used as a residential building and storage space. I first found out about the abandoned mosque in Beliaghata from a Facebook post by my friend Avijit Das. Avijit and Souvik had been alerted to the presence of the mosque by another Facebook post. “Sayan Banerjee had posted about the mosque, claiming that it was the oldest mosque in Kolkata and that it was ASI property”, Souvik told me. But when they visited the site, they found it to be occupied by a Hindu family. Souvik was able to identify the family as Vaishnava based on the “kanthi” or wooden necklace that a male member of the family was wearing. The sheer ridiculousness of a Vaishnava family living inside a mosque was enough to pique my curiosity, and so I decided to do some investigation of my own.
Labels:
#AbandonedPlaces,
Abandoned Sites,
Calcutta,
Calcutta Heritage Buildings,
Heritage Buildings of Kolkata,
Islam,
Islam in Calcutta,
Kolkata,
Mosques of Calcutta
Friday, 18 May 2018
The Lesser-Known Museums of Kolkata
Such is the reputation of Kolkata’s Indian Museum, that when one says museum or “jadughar” in Kolkata, the Indian Museum is what one refers to, and that one word is enough for taxi drivers to take you to your destination. However, housed in various buildings around the city, are a number of smaller museums, from 1-room displays to multi-gallery affairs, which house antiquities and objects that can educate and provoke curiosity.
Labels:
Calcutta,
Kolkata,
Museums of Calcutta (Kolkata)
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Photo Feature: The Transformation of the Calcutta Bungalow
Back in 2015, I remember having the first conversation about what is now the Calcutta Bungalow with Iftekhar Ahsan. I had known Ifte since college and had watched his Calcutta Walks growing in popularity, till it became the number one thing for visitors to do, on Tripadvisor. A Bed & Breakfast for his guests seemed like the logical next step.
Labels:
Calcutta,
Calcutta Walks,
Kolkata
Sunday, 6 May 2018
Sayed Jamaluddin's Mosque, Saptagram
Located in the Saptagram area of Hooghly district in West Bengal, Sayed Jamaluddin’s Mosque is the only surviving monument from the Hussain Shahi period when Saptagram was a flourishing port and mint town. The last surviving witness of the glory days of this erstwhile capital of southern Bengal, Sayed Jamaluddin’s mosque is also a fine example of that phenomenon unique to Bengal – a terracotta mosque.
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