Akhbar-i Mahabbat 1: Foundation of the city of Calcutta by Mr. Chdnalc (Job Charnock), chief of the English tribe.
Akhbár-i Muhabbat, of Nawáb Muhabbat Khán (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) 1
- Language
- English
Foundation of the city of Calcutta by Mr. Chdnalc (Job Charnock), chief of the English tribe.
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Calcutta formerly was only a village, the revenue of which was assigned for the expenses of the temple of Kali Devi which stands there. As in the Bengali language the words Karta and Kat mean the proprietor of that Kali, in course of time, by the elision of the i, it began to be called Calcutta. I now proceed to an account of the foundation of the city, and how the Honourable Company's factory was maintained at Gholghat and Mughalpura, near Hughli. Suddenly, at about sunset, when the English officers were at their dinner, a violent bore arose in the river, and fell with such force upon the shore that the factory was in danger of falling down. The officers ran out in great consternation and saved their lives. All the goods and property were destroyed by the water, and a few men and several animals lost their lives. Mr. Chanak, their chief, having purchased the Benarasi Bagh, which belonged to the Company's agent at Gholghat, near the city, cut down the trees, and founded a factory, the buildings of which were raised two and three stories high. When the compound was made, and the rooms were ready to be roofed in, the nobles and chief men among the Saiyids and Mughals, who were great merchants, went to Mir Nasir, Faujdar of Hughli, and declared that if the strangers were allowed to ascend their lofty houses, they, the Mughals, would be greatly dishonoured, seeing that the persons of their females would be exposed to view.
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The faujdar sent a report of the matter to Nawab Ja'far Khan, and directed the Mughals and other principal inhabitants of the place to accompany it. They all complained before the Nawab, who issued orders to the faujdar, to the effect that not another brick or timber should be allowed to be raised. The faujdar, immediately on receipt of the order, prohibited all the masons and carpenters from carrying on the work, and ordered that no one should go to the factory. Thus the work remained unfinished. Mr. Chanak, with great indignation, prepared to fight; but as he had a very small force, and only one vessel was present at the time, while the Mughals, who were joined by the powerful faujdar, had assembled in great number, he saw no advantage in taking any hostile measure against them, and was obliged to weigh anchor. He had a burning glass in his ship, with which, by concentrating the sun's rays, he burnt the river face of the city as far as Chandernagore. With a view to avenge this injury, the faujdár wrote to the police station at Makhuá, with orders to stop the vessel. The thánadár accordingly, in order to prevent the passage of the vessel, prepared an iron chain, each link of which was ten sirs in weight, and having made it in length equal to the breadth of the river, kept it ready and made it firm to the wall of the fort. The chain being extended across the river, the vessel was thus intercepted; but Mr.
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Chanak cut through the chain with a European sword, and went on his way. He took his vessel out to sea, and proceeded towards the Dakhin. In those days the Emperor Aurangzeb was in that part of the kingdom, straitened by his enemy for provisions, and his camp was reduced to starvation. Upon this the chief of the factory in the Carnatic sent vessels laden with grain, showing great consideration for the throne, and proved of great service. The Emperor was much pleased with the English people, and desired to know the Honourable Company's wishes. The English chief requested him to grant a sanad and farmán, giving permission to establish factories in all parts of the kingdom, and particularly in Bengal. The request was granted, and the royal orders exempting the Honourable Company's ships from custom duties, fixing a sum of three thousand rupees as a peshkash to be presented to the bakhshí of the port, and giving permission for the establishment of factories, were issued. Mr. Chanak returned with the royal farmáns from the Dakhin to Bengal. He sent his agents with the peshkash and some presents to Ja'far Khán, and obtained permission to erect a factory in Calcutta. Mr. Chának accordingly erected a new factory at the place where he anchored after returning from the Dakhin, which is known by the name of Chának. He founded the city and populated it, and gave a stimulus to the trade of Bengal. That factory is well known to this day by the name of the Old Fort.
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Calcutta is a large city, situated on the banks of the Bhagirathi. It is a large port, and the great mart of the trade of the Honourable Company and their dependents. Small vessels called silap (sloops ?) every year trade with this port from China, Europe, and other countries, and almost at all times some are at anchor there. In these days this city is the residence of the chief English officers, and the city and its dependencies are considered their property. The buildings are built entirely of masonry, plastered with lime or mud. The land, on account of its vicinity to the sea, is very brackish and damp, and hence the houses are raised two or three stories high. The lower apartments are not fit to be inhabited. The buildings are like those of Europe, airy, spacious, and commodious. The city is very large, and all constructed of brick. Besides the English, the Bengalis, Armenians, and other inhabitants, are also opulent merchants. The water of the wells, on account of its brackish quality, is not drinkable. If any person drinks it, he is sure to suffer. In the hot and rainy seasons it becomes peculiarly bitter and saline, and consequently drinking water is procured from tanks. The sea is forty kos distant from the city, and the ebb and flow of the tide occur every day and every night. At full moon the bore rushes in for three days with unusual violence. It presents a curious and wonderful scene; it throws some boats on the shore, and breaks others to pieces;
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those which are not near the shore receive no injury from it, and therefore no boat, large or small, is left there unanchored. In the same manner, towards the end of the lunar month, the water rolls in with great violence for three days and nights. These high floods are called homán in the Bengali language, and that which takes place daily is termed jowár-bháta. A mud fort towards the south, outside the city, constructed after the English model, is very marvellous. Its praise is beyond all expression; it is well worth seeing. The wall which encircles it appears in every direction low from the outside, just like the embankment of a tank ; but looking at it from the inside it appears high. Very large and lofty buildings are erected within it, and much skill is shown in the entire construction of this fort. There are many other wonderful and excellent works in this city. As regards the beauty of the buildings and various novelties, there is no city like this in the whole of Hindustan, except Shah-Jahanabad, which is incomparable. Its only defects are that the air is very insalubrious, the water brackish, and the soil damp, to such a degree that the floors of the houses, although made of bricks and lime, are still, from the excess of moisture, always damp, and the walls also are wet to the height of two or three cubits. For four months in the winter the climate is not so unhealthy ; but for eight months during the summer and rainy seasons it is very injurious.
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Calcutta is a wonderful city, in the country of Bang. It is a specimen of both China and Farang. Its buildings are heart-attracting and delightful. Their heads are exalted to the height of the sky. The decorations executed in them by skilful persons Exhibit a variety of good colours and beautiful drawings. From the beauty of the works of the European artists The senses of the spectator are overpowered. The hat-wearing Englishmen who dwell in them All speak the truth and have good dispositions. As are the dwellings, so are their occupants. How can I sufficiently indite their praises ? The roads made of pounded brick are so level, That the morning breezes sweep away all the dirt from them. In all the lanes persons whose faces are like the moon take their walks, So that you would say the earth was bathed in moonlight. One is like the moon, the other like the planet Jupiter, The third shows a beauty like that of Venus. As a multitude of persons like the planets roam in every direction, The streets take the resemblance of the Milky Way.
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You will see, if you go to the bazár, all the excellent things of the world. All things which are produced in any part of the inhabited world Are found in its bazár without difficulty. If I attempt to write in praise of the marvels of the city, The pen will refuse its office. But it is well known to all of every degree That it combines the beauties of China and Farang. The ground is as level as the face of the sky, And the roads in it are as straight as the line of the equator. People go out to walk on them, And there they meet together like the planets. Such a city as this in the country of the Bengalis Nobody has seen or heard of in the world.