Kolkata: The Untold History.

The Howrah Bridge

The ancient house, rather the oldest compilation of bricks of kolkata, is still there where it was hundreds of years ago, with its mossy walls. It is not just a mere structure, but also a living document of the original history of our beloved city. It tends to defy and challenge the traditional story of foundation of the then Kolkatah by a European named Job Charnock

The Translaled Firmaan

Devarshi Roychowdhury a historian and the joint secretary of Saborno RoyChowdhury Paribar Parishad (SRPP) was sitting in his drawing room of his ancestors old ‘Aatchala’ house( a house with eight roofs) at Behala, when he took us for a ride of old Kolkata. Early monsoon has already hit the city, and the damp, thick air was compounded with more damp but warm interior of the house.

The building screams to tell the story of our root, which has been forgotten and hidden. “But, you actually cannot hide the truth for eternity”- said Mr. Roychowdhury.

The popular myth, rather history, says that there were three villages named Sutaluti, Govindopur and Kolkatah by the side of Hoogly River. A British named Job Charnock, came here in the year 1690 and turned these three villages, into an urban city, and named it Calcutta. “But Calcutta was always there, where its now even the birth of Charnock”-Roychowdhury added.

Recent findings reveals that Job Charnock came to India’s St Fort George (now Chennai) in the year 1655 and allegedly took a free ride from England to India without buying a ticket, as no name has been found in the Master Roll. During 1680s, he was appointed as a chief of British Naval Army of Bay of Bengal.

“In the year 1690, 24th August he escaped from Hooghly district and took refuge at Sutaluti (Sutanuti), as the Mughal army was hunting for him due to some of his illegal and immoral acts.”- said Mr. Devarshi Roy Choudhury, making a matter of fact face.

During his stay in Calcutta, Charnock was involved with various indecent activities, and developed a hostile relationship with the Roychowdhury Family. “we have been the devotee of lord Krishna, for what the Dol Utsav have been very important festival for us, and we used to celebrate that at Laldighi”- said Roychowdhury, in 1691 while celebrating the festival of colors, Charnock’s soldiers demanded to see the bathing of native girls at a lake named Laldighi. This was unacceptable and disrespectful for the honorable family, so the personal family guards attacked the British soldiers. “The most astonishing part was that the  British army were defeated by Bengali Stick fighters, and it was headed by another outsider named Charles Firingi, who was an employee of Roychowdhury family . Later Charles was beaten up and punished by British soldiers.

The Farsi firman

After 28 months, Charnock died on 10 January 1693. Six years after the death of Charnock, his son-in -law Charles Eyre fetched a firmaan from the Mughal court, which asked the then zamindar Vidyadhar Roy Choudhury to give the three villages of Sutaluti, Govindapur and Kalkatah to the British. But the then governor Azim-us-maan advised Vidyadhar to make the transfer of the three villages of Kalkatah, Sutaluti,and Govindapur to the British but through an invalid dalil.  Then only these three villages came under the control, as a trading centre to the British. Though after 1757 , the entire land of Bengal was captured by them.

Roychowdhury added excitedly “So, Charnock was no where when the firmaan was fetched. It was his son in law who took the initiative for the lease of three villages, six years after Charnock’s death. It is quiet absurd to claim that Charnock was the founder of the then Calcutta, because it existed much earlier than Charnock.

Man Singh granted the land of eight parganas (from Halishahar to Lakhhikantapur) to the Laksmikanta Gangopadhyay in 1608. He was also conferred the titles of "Ray" and "Choudhury". Only after this, his descendants came to be known as members of Sabarna Roy Choudhury family. Much of the land of this region was uninhabited jungle and uncultivable waste, what he developed and made usable for cultivation.  When Charnock came, Roychowdhury’s administrative building was already there, Kalighat- an important Hindu religious place was there, and a full-fledged business transaction was running with Armenians and Portuguese. Roychowdhury argued, “A complete civilized urban environment was present, even before Charnock came to India.” However, the history of kolkata dates back to 15^th century, when renowned Bengal Poet Bipradas Piplai in his magnum opus and well-known poetical work Manasa Vijaya, written in 1495 had described the place called Kalikatah, the old name of Kolkata. In addition, the name appeared in Ainee-Akbari written by Abul Fazl in 1596.

Old Dharamtala

“To uncover the truth and to reveal the original history was my childhood dream, and I have achieved it. We have thrown out Charnock’s name into the Bay of Bengal”-said Roychowdhury gleefully.

However, the same cry echoed back from the inner walls of Kolkata High Court, as an order, only then it was heard, obeyed, and made it obligatory to rewrite few pages of history. In May 16, 2003, Kolkata High Court said neither Charnock was the founder of Kolkata, nor 24 August is the birthday of the City. Sabarno Roychowdhury Paribar Parishad (SRPP) filed a Public Interest Litigation in 2001 to officially unearth the truth.

With the order of the High Court of Kolkata, Roychowdhury family got back their glory, what was snatched long ago. While returning from the house, walking on the mismatched modern concrete road, glimpse of that glory could be seen in the eyes of Devarshi Roychowdhury- the proud descendent of Saborno Roychowdhury.