Emperor Aurangzeb's Grave, Khuldabad, Maharashtra

“I am grown very old and weak. I know not who I am or what I have been doing. I have not done well for the country or its people. My years have gone by profitless. God has been in my heart; yet my darkened eyes have not recognized His light. Every torment I have inflicted, every sin I have committed, I carry the consequence with me. Strange that I came with nothing into the world, and now go away with this stupendous caravan of sin! Alas, life is transient, and the lost moment never comes back. There is no hope for me in the future, and I know not what punishment be in store for me to suffer. Though my trust be in the mercy of God I deplore my sins. Come what will, I have launched my bark upon the waters! Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!”

– Emperor Aurangzeb’s last letter to his son Azam

In the middle of nowhere

The unchallenged reign of Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (AD 1658-1707) stands forth as such an unprecedented epoch in the annals of Indian history that his own life story practically mirrors the chronicle of the enormous subcontinent for 50 years. 300 years later, he unarguably remains the most despised sovereign, especially for the saffron brigade, so much so that an arterial road in the national capital was rechristened recently in an endeavor to erase his life and times.

And why shouldn’t it be so?

His deliberate reversal of his predecessors’ religious policies towards his non-Muslim and unorthodox Muslim subjects, and his fiercely bigoted discrimination in matters of religious co-existence and taxation and revenue collection remains uncontested. Not only that, he prohibited by royal decree the celebration of Holi and Diwali and the marking of Muharram.

In his famous “Benaras Firman” of AD 1659, he decreed that though no long-standing, legally authorized temple henceforth be demolished or desecrated nor the inhabitant Brahmins be disturbed or persecuted in any way, new temples should not be allowed to be constructed without permission nor should Hindu religious education be disseminated from any shrine. Several temples in Benaras, Sindh and Multan were thus destroyed and Brahmins imprisoned and punished for using them for purposes of instruction.

In AD 1665, he ordered officials in Gujarat to demolish all those shrines, including the famed Somnath temple, which the Governor had previously devastated but Hindus had had renovated or reconstructed. The beautiful stone railings of Keshav Deo temple of Mathura were dismantled the next year since the same were financed by Dara Shukoh. In AD 1669, the Governor of Orissa was obliged to destroy all Hindu shrines that fell in his dominions. Vishwanath and Gopinath temples in Benaras and Keshav Rai temple in Mathura were also totally devastated the same year and mosques raised at their sites.

The ninth Sikh spiritual preceptor Guru Tegh Bahadur and his closest associates were imprisoned, barbarically tortured and decapitated in AD 1675 for refusing to convert to Islam and protesting the anti-Hindu barbarities.

In AD 1679, over 300 temples were destroyed in Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Amber – Rajputs resisting the same were brutally slaughtered. Numerous Hindu shrines were also destroyed in Dwarka, Ayodhya and Haridwar.

Not relenting yet, a special “Daroga-i-Beldar” (“Superintendent of Laborers”) was appointed to the armies to oversee the razing to ground of all Hindu shrines encountered on the march through Deccan, Maharashtra, Golconda and Bijapur.

In an unpretentious compound

Though his disastrous religious policy is generally held responsible for the swift downfall of the empire, for the Emperor however it wasn’t merely a matter of personal caprice or earthly gains, but consideration of the Quran's orthodox interpretations which exhort every pious Muslim to exert him/herself to wage Jihad against non-Muslim countries (“Dar-ul-Harb”) to transform them into realms of faith (“Dar-ul-Islam”). To him, the religion of the great majority of his subjects was an abomination and a mischief which he fervently abhorred and considered his sovereign and personal duty before heaven to persecute and, if possible, stamp out through iconoclastic sacrilege, judicial persecution, economic repression, forced conversions and restriction of worship.

But did he ever regret his decisions and proclamations? We know not.

We do however know that until his demise at the ripe old age of 89 years, he remained distinguished for his religious dedication, personal chastity and public austerity. So much so that he willed to be interred not in Aurangabad where rests in eternal repose his beloved queen Rabia-ul-Daurani, but in nearby Khuldabad (“Abode of Eternity”) close to the hallowed mausoleums of 1,500 Sufi philosopher-dervishes including the illustrious 14th-century saints Hazrat Zainuddin Saiyyid Shirazi and Hazrat Burhanuddin Garib (disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, refer Pixelated Memories - Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah). Not only that, he also refused to appropriate royal funds for personal expenditures, and paid the Rs 14.75 due for the minuscule space where his grave is located from the proceeds of the sale of the prayer caps he hand-stitched and had sold anonymously! Not unsurprisingly, though he also had assimilated Rs 350 from the sale of the calligraphic Qurans he copied, he forbade the use of this money for any personal purpose, simply stating that he’d be answerable to Allah if he had committed any mistakes in the copied renditions and profited from the same.

Such was the unadorned and uncovered grave's austerity that it stunned Governor-General Lord Curzon (officiated 1899-1905) so much so that he immediately requested the then Nizam of Hyderabad to have it enclosed with a delicate marble lattice screen. Vis-à-vis the monumentally magnificent mausoleums of his predecessors, the grave still retains its heartrending simplicity, unpretentiously shrouded only by a scanty layer of grass and stunted herbs like his sister Jahanara Begum’s unembellished tomb in Delhi (refer Pixelated Memories - Jahanara Begum's Tomb). That this is how the exceedingly powerful master of India’s unparalleled wealth, the man whose empire extending from Ghazni to Chittagong and from Kashmir to Karnataka yielded Rs 3 billion annually in revenues (in AD 1700!), decided to be buried is certainly bewildering!

“Though under Earth and throneless now I be, Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me!”

– C.S. Lewis, “The Chronicles of Narnia”

In an austere grave, rests “the dervish clad in imperial purples”

Stepping through the massive whitewashed gateway and exploring the colossal courtyard of the adjoining mosque, one cannot help feel overwhelmed by the impermeable silences, the terrifying solitariness. Neither birds flutter overhead, nor do the ubiquitous palm fronds whisper their frighteningly eerie secrets. Time, ceaseless elsewhere, seems to have come to an unheralded standstill. In Delhi, the saffron brigade might be restlessly deleting the signs of the Emperor’s existence, but here he appears to have already been irretrievably forgotten! Wonder what he would have made of that!

Location: Khuldabad is located 27 kilometers (an hour by car) from Aurangabad. One can hire a private taxi for 12 hours (costs approx. Rs 1,500-2,000) and explore the nearby located fortress-citadel of Daualatabad and the rock-cut caves at Ellora as well on the same day. The highway connecting Khuldabad and Aurangabad is exceptionally well-maintained, however expect vehicular congestion and human overpopulation within Khuldabad itself.

Open: All days, sunrise to sunset

Entrance fees: Nil

Photography/Video charges: Nil

Time required for sightseeing: 30 min (though the whole of the Khuldabad funerary zone will take considerably more)

Suggested reading -

Mausoleums of Emperor Aurangzeb's siblings and other Mughal sovereigns -

1. Pixelated Memories - Humayun's Tomb complex, Delhi (where is interred Dara Shukoh as well)
2. Pixelated Memories - Jahanara Begum's Tomb, Delhi
3. Pixelated Memories - Moti Masjid, Delhi (where is interred Emperor Bahadur Shah “Zafar” II)

Other monuments/landmarks in Maharashtra -

1. Pixelated Memories - Pataleshwar Temple, Pune
2. Pixelated Memories - Vishrambaug Wada and Shaniwar Wada, Pune

Relevant links -

1. Aulia-e-hind.com - Tomb of Great Moghal Emperor Aurangzeb
2. Double-dolphin.blogspot.in - Aurangzeb's Tomb, Khuldabad
3. Scroll.in - Article "Was Aurangzeb the most evil ruler India has ever had?" (dated Sep 02, 2015) by Shoaib Daniyal
4. Wikipedia.org - Aurangzeb
5. Wikipedia.org - Khuldabad

Curzon Gate, Bardhaman

The documented history of the province of Bardhaman (aka Burdwan) in Bengal goes back over 2,500 years when the last Jain Tirthankar Vardhaman Mahavir stayed at a small hamlet known as Astikagram during his lengthy sojourn – the hamlet was immediately christened as Bardhaman in his honor and continued to exist in its simplistic, pristine state for over a millennium while the world around it changed and developed, emperors and local lords came and went, and territories changed hands. In 1657, when the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan (reign AD 1627-57) ruled over the vast subcontinent, Sangam Rai Kapoor migrated from Lahore (present-day Pakistan) to Bardhaman under express command of the emperor to take over, expand into a local stronghold and manage the affairs of Bardhaman. But that is not where our story begins – it fast-forwards two and a half century to when Maharaj Bijoy Chand Mahtab (ruled 1887-1941, under regency from 1887-1902 since he was only six at the time of crowning) ascended the throne of Bardhaman province and immediately ordered the provincial administration, lukewarm and largely undecided in transferring its loyalty from the ousted Mughals to the British colonists, to leave no stone upturned to serve and appease the British administration that had overtaken the country following defeat of the native forces in the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny/War of Independence – it is difficult to ascertain the primary reasons behind the Maharaj’s capitulation to the foreign forces but he could have been guided by sensitivity towards his subjects who would have benefited greatly, financially, academically as well as socially, by assisting the subcontinent’s masters in their entire capacity against localized revolts and freedom struggle outbreaks, or by the lure of personal achievements, monetary, social as well as statutory – either way, in his bid to keep his colonial masters content and satiated, the Maharaj, who was no more than a local well-paid and extremely affluent revenue collector (“zamindar”) enjoying a title (“maharaj”) that was under no circumstances hereditary, turned away from the freedom movement that was gradually gripping the country in a fervent and united stance – he was bestowed with the title of “Rajadhiraj” by Bordillian, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, in 1903 and “Maharajadhiraj” by Lord Minto, the then Viceroy of the subcontinent, in 1908 in recognition of the valuable assistance he provided against the revolutionaries and the revenue his province generated annually to keep the coffers of British treasury overflowing. The Maharaj’s chivalry and courage was hailed when he saved the life of Sir Andrew Fraser, the Lieutenant-Governor, from Bengali revolutionaries intent on assassinating the latter and he was awarded with further titles of KCIE (Knight Commander of the Indian Empire) and Indian Order of Merit (class III).

The splendid gateway and the bazaar adjoining it

The Maharaj commissioned the grand Curzon Gate (also referred to as Bijoy Toran, a play on the Maharaj’s name since it could be translated both as the Maharaj’s gateway or “Victory gateway” (Bijoy literally translates to victory), when Viceroy Curzon visited Bardhaman on August 16, 1904 as part of a tour to Bengal. The magnificent gateway, a huge Gothic-inspired structure, looks slightly out of place at the head of the typical Indian bazaar (market place) where it stands, but definitely fulfills its function by acting as a majestic gateway leading to the Maharaj’s palace, which is about a kilometer away on the road emerging from the gateway. The massive gateway’s central and largest arch is surmounted by spellbinding sculptures of three Greek women dressed in robes and personifying Education, Industry and Agriculture – the three ethos in which the Maharaj aimed to and largely succeeded in making his province sufficiently affluent, he himself being the first member of the royal family to formally attain educational qualification from the renowned Calcutta University. Each of the two smaller, side-arches is crowned by the statue of a lion seated regally atop a low platform. 

Sculptures

Exquisitely sculpted, thick Corinthian pillars support the high pedestals while the pedestals that serve as the base for the pillars are themselves adorned with panels crafted out of incised plaster and displaying a very intricate, highly fantastical and ethereal representation of foliage, trees and flowers; A band of beautiful floral patterns runs along the central arch while the gateway’s top is ornamented with star-spangled medallion motifs – in its entirety, the gateway is undoubtedly a testimonial to the skill of the artists who toiled on it and dexterously conceived and executed a European style structure even though their chief preoccupation might have been crafting traditional and vernacular artistic and architectural specimens. The gateway leads to the aforementioned multifaceted bazaar where one can purchase numerous items ranging from food articles and sweets to clothes and accessories – walk straight in and you can also visit the famed Sarvamangala temple, a pretty Shaktipeetha and a well-known shrine housed within the premises of a huge mansion. 

The panel with fantastical representation of trees and foliage at the bottom of the gateway

It is of course another matter that in 1905, Lord Curzon announced the partition of Bengal into Hindu-Muslim enclaves leading to widespread riots and repercussions for the imperial administration. Soon thereafter, though Bengal was reunited into a single province, the Maharaj, sensing a shift in British policies that were bound to be greatly unfavorable to the Zamindari (revenue agent-landlord) system and would have depleted his resources and revenues in a single stroke, began associating with and funding the freedom struggle leaders. Following independence and the abolition of Zamindari system, the magnanimous descendants of Maharaj Bijoy Chand gave up their territories and palace to establish small cultivators and the University of Bardhaman respectively and themselves began managing the private companies and industrial institutions in which they were stakeholders and took active interest in commercial and real estate interests. The gateway still functions as a beacon, welcoming visitors to the city with its gentle, unassuming enormity and graceful artwork – after all, the Bardhaman railway station is so close to it that most visitors pass by it and marvel at its regal splendor whenever they emerge into the city.

The realistic lion and the skillfully-sculpted Corinthian pillars (bottom)

Location: Near Bardhaman Railway station

How to reach: If arriving from out station via rail, one can simply deboard and walk to the gateway. Buses and rickshaws are available from different parts of the city to the gateway.

Photography/Video charges: Nil

Time required for sightseeing: 10 min

Nearby attractions: Pixelated Memories - Kankaleshwar Kalibari, Bardhaman

Suggested Reading - 

1. Outlookindia.com - Article "Sita's Sweet Tooth" (dated Jan 15, 2007) by Jaideep Mazumdar
2. Wikipedia.org - Bardhaman Raj
3. Wikipedia.org - Company rule in India

Raj Bhavan, Calcutta

The gubernatorial house of Bengal, Raj Bhavan (“Regal House”), is an essential stop on the itinerary of any heritage enthusiast on a sightseeing tour of the historic British-built BBD Bagh Area (formerly Dalhousie Square) despite being out of bounds for visitors. Strewn with history from the colonial past with Gothic and Victorian edifices, beautiful churches, ancient cemeteries and impressive English buildings complete with exquisitely sculpted Corinthian pillars, ornamental statues, imposing facades and splendid interiors, BBD Bagh is one of the most renowned and endearing heritage zones in the city of Calcutta. As its centerpiece, the skillfully designed and laboriously executed enclave has the residences of the mighty – Raj Bhavan and Writers’ Building (office of the Chief Minister of Bengal, refer – Pixelated Memories - Writers' Building). By the numerous police officers on duty around Raj Bhavan, one is only granted permission to click the lovely cream-yellow facade from the streets afar and from the massive gateway if one happens to be unyieldingly adamant, like yours truly (unlike the superbly visitor-unfriendly Writers’ Building where photography is prohibited even from afar!) and hence one has to rely on old photographs and satellite imagery to achieve an idea of what the Governor’s residence is actually like. The largest and unequivocally the most highly adorned residence of a state head after the President’s House in Delhi (refer Pixelated Memories - Presidential House, New Delhi), the Raj Bhavan sits snugly in a colossal green space measuring 27 acres in the heart of the city and consists of a central domed rectangular core from which emerge four annexes connected to the core by quadrangular curved sections – the dome is not visible from the primary (northern) gateway since the raised triangular facade of the structure supported on six Doric pillars impedes the view from this particular side, however one can observe the giant semi-circular dome from the southern gateway.

The Raj Bhavan. At the bottom of the staircase is a Chinese canon brought by the armed forces following the First Opium War.

Though there are masonry gates along all four sides of the vast lawns housing the palatial building, only the northern gateway has been envisaged as a grand, though simplistic, structure with an ornamental iron gate complementing the thick marble pillars crowned by decorative marble vases; the rest of the gateways possess cement-finished terracotta/brick sculptures of lions (atop central (largest) arch) and sphinxes (atop the smaller side arches) but simply fail to hold a candle to the northern gateway, probably because the statues are undoubtedly unrealistic or because despite their decorative appearance and much adorned surfaces, they are unremittingly not as grand as the intention behind their conceiving might have been. The present form and composition of the statues was arrived upon after much experimentation that continued for over a decade! Photographs depict how luxuriously regal the structure is from within and since I haven’t been inside (but would love to!) I am sharing photographs from the official website to display the same. On the north side, an enormously long gravel-lined walkway flanked by palm and other trees leads to a wide flight of stairs following which the building’s interiors can be accessed. At the bottom of the staircase rests a beautifully decorated Chinese cannon mounted on a winged dragon and brought to India in the year 1842. A plaque fitted on the cannon's plinth reads "Edward Lord Ellen borough, Governor General of India in Council, erected this trophy of guns taken from the Chinese, in commemoration of the peace dictated under the walls of Nan kin by the Naval and Military forces of England and India under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker and of Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Gough (1842).", thereby commemorating the victory over the Chinese in the highly unethical First Anglo-Chinese Opium War that broke out as a result of the Chinese emperor’s opposition and punishment with regard to the pushing of massive quantities of illegal opiates into his country but was largely motivated by the British frustration at the Chinese trade framework which limited their influence in the region. The seal of Indian sovereignty – the Ashokan lions mounted on their pedestal and underlined by the national quote “Satyamev Jayate” (“Truth alone triumphs”) – can be seen embossed in gold on the northern gateway as well as the triangular pediment of the main structure – these replace the British coat of arms that once made up the insignia defining the Viceregal lodge, as noted by the renowned painters Thomas and William Daniells –

“Contiguous to the Esplanade is the Government House, a superb edifice, approached by four colossal gates emblazoned with the Britannic Arms” 

As witnessed from vintage photographs, the coat of arms belonged to the British government and the East India Co. (these were later removed in favor of the former) and featured on the triangular pediment as well was emblazoned on the front face of each annex. 

The simplistic yet marvelous northern gate. Notice the Indian administrative insignia emblazoned in gold on the gates.

Completed in 1803 after four years of laborious construction work, the grand building, then referred to as “Government House”, was a brainchild of Lord Wellesley, the then Governor-General of the British East India “trading” Company (which incidentally also owned vast territories and commanded a very powerful army). Prior to the construction of this splendid structure, the Governor-General used to reside in a rented country house that stood at this very spot and was owned by Mohammed Reza Khan, the Nawab (revenue collector/”Zamindar”) of Chitpur but was found to be unfit for regal residence by the Governor-General. Embarrassingly, though Lord Wellesley has been credited with gifting one of the most elegant colonial buildings to Calcutta, he was soon charged with misuse of Company funds for construction and furnishing of this extremely expensive structure and was recalled to England in 1805. Considered to be amongst the finest European architectural legacies in the subcontinent, the structure was designed by Captain Charles Wyatt and inspired by the Kedleston Hall of England (the ancestral residence of Lord Curzon, a later Governor-General and occupant of the Government House). It, however, differs from Kedleston Hall in several key aspects – the latter features only two annexes curving along its front instead of the four elegant pavilions curving symmetrically along each corner of the central building as observed in the former; nor does Kedleston Hall boast of a fusion of several architectural influences like spacious verandahs and colonnaded hallways.

Warm and regal - The Throne Room within the gubernatorial house (Photo courtesy - Rajbhavankolkata.nic.in)

The Neoclassical Raj Bhavan building has since housed numerous Governor-Generals, (following the transfer of governance from East India Co. to the Govt. of Britain in 1858) Viceroys, (following the transfer of British administration to Delhi in 1911) Lieutenant-Governors of the territory of Bengal and (following independence) Governors of the state of Bengal – it was only natural that several changes would have to be made to the structure to accommodate the requirements of these illustrious personalities while also modifying it to keep pace with technological and structural developments – thus somewhere around 1805 the metallic dome was added – it used to be surmounted by a sculpture of a female deity holding a spear and shield but it was removed to avoid lightning strikes – the dome has since been repaired and replaced several times, Lord Curzon had a small electric lift installed within even though the building only possesses three floors with a total of sixty regally furnished and tastefully decorated rooms; he also added the ornamental vases, each of which is over six feet tall (a fact not apparent from the gateways!), marking the roof and modified the color scheme from pale yellow to dazzling white, though at present yellow seems to be back in favor (I must point out that in comparison the new supposedly “gentle and soothing” blue and white color scheme being enforced in the entire city by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) dispensation appears to be a highly garish eyesore, nowhere more apparent than in the elitist, elegant and warm BBD Bagh area). Several more cannons and guns were added as trophies around the main structure as the British established administrative and military control over new territories – Sindh (Pakistan), Mesopotamia (Iran), Punjab (India-Pakistan), Mandalay (Myanmar), Kabul (Afghanistan), Seringapatnam (capital of Tipu Sultan's kingdom at Mysore, from where comes the Governor-General's stunning throne) – I wish public entry to the complex was allowed if only to view these historic artifacts. A lesser proportioned “Garden House” was added in the huge lawns in 1977 when T.N. Singh, the then Governor, expressed unwillingness to stay in the main building citing its massiveness and opulent character. The most prominent of the recent Governors of Bengal, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, a forthright and extremely brilliant writer-columnist whose articles and essays I adore, had several environmental measures taken up in the complex, including solar panels and rain water harvesting systems.

An aerial view depicting the central core topped by the metallic dome, the triangular facade supported by the six Doric pillars and the four annexes (Photo courtesy - Panoramio.com/sandipanoramio)

The richly decorated offices and the lavish residential quarters are accommodated in the four annexes; the complex also maintains, in a corner of its lawns, a small cemetery dedicated to the gubernatorial pets that deceased during the tenure. Besides a “Throne Room” (where once princes and visiting dignitaries were received but today the Governors are administered oath of office), the structure also boasts of several huge and colonnaded banquet halls, visitor rooms and conference chambers, each of which is lined with precious artifacts and magnificent paintings besides rich carpets, comfortable seating arrangement, luxurious chandeliers and expensive wooden furniture thereby completing the lavish royal appearance deserved by the Governor (based on the photographs available on the official Raj Bhavan website, see site link at the end of this post). Of course, one can argue that such extravagant show of splendor and affluence is sick and demoralizing in a poor state such as Bengal where the government makes headway in providing the most basic civic amenities only after receiving millions of rupees worth bailout packages from the central government, but – one, the (nominal) head of the state needs an exclusive, lavish residence in accordance with her/his position, and two, duh, people aren’t after all allowed within the massive structure! (except occasionally, like the recent much written about, open invitation to visitors by then Governor M.K. Narayanan). 

Lavishly luxurious - One of the several drawing rooms (Photo courtesy - Rajbhavankolkata.nic.in)

It is interesting to note that while the British no longer run the country and the Governor is only the titular head of a state with the actual legislative power resting with the Chief Minister, the landmark gubernatorial houses in every state are still referred to as “Raj Bhavan” or “Government House” – definitely a colonial legacy in nomenclature which has been adopted to modern vernacular utilization. The Raj Bhavan at Calcutta has been the site from where some of the foremost personalities of their time legislated over the entire country and several eminent Governors managed affairs of Bengal; it is also the site for the undertaking of several key projects and signing of several important treaties and orders. The majestic structure proved to be a pinnacle of European construction in the magnificent city and has undoubtedly been paid a grand tribute by Lord Curzon (who happened to be a discerning visitor and pro-conservation administrator of several endearing historic structures throughout the subcontinent) through his words – 

“(It is) without doubt the finest Government House occupied by the representative of any Sovereign or Government in the world.” 

Flamboyant! (Photo courtesy - Flickr.com/Chiradeep Mukhopadhyay)

Location: BBD Bagh Area (formerly Dalhousie Square)
Nearest Bus stop: Esplanade
Nearest Metro station: Esplanade
How to reach: Buses and metro can be availed from different parts of the city to Esplanade from where one can walk/take a taxi to Raj Bhavan. One can also take a taxi from any part of the city to Raj Bhavan/BBD Bagh.
Entrance fees: Nil, but visitor entry strictly disallowed without prior written permission from the authorities or appointment with the Governor.
Photography/Video charges: Nil from the outside. Again, prohibited within the complex.
Time required for sightseeing: 20 min
Relevant Links – 

1. Pixelated Memories - Presidential House, New Delhi
2. Pixelated Memories - Writers' Building

Suggested Reading –

1. Kolkataonwheelsmagazine.com - Raj Bhawan: A Magical Palace
2. Rajbhavankolkata.nic.in - Official website of Raj Bhavan, Calcutta/Kolkata
3. Telegraphindia.com - Article "Raj Bhavan welcomes with ‘na... na’; Cops know not you are invited" (dated Feb 12, 2013) by Subhajoy Roy
4. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com - Article "Raj Bhavan resurrects Empire's lost insigni" (dated Masr 10, 2012) by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey
5. Victorianweb.org - The Raj Bhavan (Government House), Kolkata, India
6. Wikipedia.org - First Opium War (1839-42)
7. Wikipedia.org - Kedleston Hall

Black Hole Memorial, Calcutta

This post is part of series about St. John’s Church located in BBD Bagh area, Calcutta. The integrated post about the church and the structures within can be accessed from here – Pixelated Memories - St. John's Church.


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"Of one hundred and forty-six prisoners, one hundred and twenty-three were smothered in the Black Hole prison, in the night of the 20th of June, 1756. Few survived capable of giving any detail of the manner in which it happened; and of these I believe none have attempted it: for my own part, I have often sat down with this resolution, and as often relinquished the melancholy task, not only from the disturbance and affliction it raised afresh in my remembrance, but from the consideration of the impossibility of finding language capable of raising an adequate idea of the horrors of the scene I essayed to draw. But as I believe the annals of the world cannot produce an incident like it in any degree or proportion to all the dismal circumstances attending to it, and as my own health of body and peace of mind are once again, in a great measure, recovered from the injuries they suffered from that fatal night, I cannot allow it to be buried in oblivion."

– John Zephaniah Holwell, "A genuine narrative of the deplorable deaths of the English Gentlemen, and others, who were suffocated in the Black Hole in Fort William, at Calcutta, in the kingdom of Bengal; in the night succeeding the 20th day of June, 1756" (1758)

A solitary edifice remembering the victims of Calcutta's Black Hole (Photo courtesy - Johnandlucyareback.blogspot.in)

The British East India "trading" Company, an early example of capitalist privatization and massive-scale political maneuvering and powerbrokership, was given the charter to trade silk, spices and jewels in foreign lands, most notably India and south-east Asia, by the British crown – the Company soon began to maintain its own army in the areas where it established factories, hired British army officers as administrators, maintained regiments of mercenaries and Indian soldiers and turned kingmaker in several regions where it practiced its writ by interfering with local politics and sovereignty of the kings and landlords and also through political intrigues and offering military assistance to the warring factions. The Company adopted a policy of high-handedness and abuse of its duty-free privileges when Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ascended the throne of the Nawab (Provincial Governor) of Bengal and Bihar in AD 1756. Only 23-years old at the time of his ascension, the wise Nawab, from the very beginning of his reign, was worried stiff by the ever-increasing territorial power and influence of affluent foreign imperialist countries and their militarily-strong trading companies. And he had valid reason to be worried as well – the assiduously cunning British East India Company never wanted him to become the ruler of Bengal-Bihar, but instead supported, financially and militarily, his renegade uncles and cousins. Immediately upon ascension and as one of the first working orders he issued, an enraged Siraj demanded the fortifications and armouries of both the French and British strongholds in Calcutta be torn down. The French promptly obeyed, but the obdurate British did not comply, further refused to pay the respects due to him, and soon thereafter even indulged in rioting and war-mongering. Incensed, Siraj marched to Fort William, the Company’s military and trade stronghold, and laid siege to it. The fortress' Commander and other officers had escaped beforehand to safety, leaving behind only a small retinue of trained soldiers and civilians to defend it and they proved no match for Siraj's martial prowess and surrendered four days later. The fortress captured and its defenders imprisoned, Siraj handed them over for further dealings and interrogation to his commander Manikchand. It is said that 146 of the survivors of that melancholic siege and battle were confined overnight in a horribly small, poorly ventilated dungeon – consequentially, 123 of them died as a result of asphyxiation and the ensuing stampede when water was passed around the prison cell!

Commemoration (Photo courtesy - Heritagestructurewb.blogspot.in)

The entire miserably terrifying, heartrending brutal incident from British-Indian history is based on the account of John Zephaniah Holwell, who claimed to be a survivor of the “Black Hole” tragedy (nomenclature he himself invented – in a way, the credit for the christening of the spatial phenomena of gravitationally collapsed colossal objects discovered much later goes to him) and penned an exceedingly detailed account, filled with pictures of blackened windows, suffocation and terrible physical and mental atrocities, about the abominable incident. British politicians and public, outraged and vehement in their demands for retribution and vengeance, never asked questions about Holwell's stories nor accounted for the numbers of soldiers, dead or missing, following the incident. No other contemporary historian or even Company papers mention this particularly important incident, nor was a report of it made to the Company Director. Nevertheless, it gave Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Clive the opportunity to march from Madras with a regiment of especially trained soldiers and challenge Siraj-ud-Daulah's authority in the Battle of Plassey (AD 1757). The Company became the de-facto ruler of the entire province of Bengal after Siraj's capture and execution on the battle front, the ascension of his Commander and Paymaster-General Mir Jafar Ali Khan (with the Company's inauspicious blessings) as the (nominal) sovereign and the appointment of J.Z. Holwell as the Governor of Bengal. British Governors, administrators and politicians of the day magnified the incident by adding gruesome details, used it to justify their conquests over the “uncivilized and brutal” Indians and, considering the meteoric rise of Robert Clive and J.Z. Holwell, also milked its aftermath to their own personal advantage. Later British historians justified the conquest of Bengal through intrigues and treachery by considering it a just retribution for the tragedy and an essential requisite for the Company's trade and territorial supremacy – but what if the maligned event itself was a case of crookedness and falsehood?!

Today, many eminent historians, including the renowned British scholar J.H. Little, question the veracity of Holwell's eyewitness account and contend that the ghastly incident did not take place at all but was a fabrication by Holwell to blemish the monarch’s name and present himself as the hero of the day. Most historians, however, do accept that some prisoners were indeed put in the dungeon and many amongst them did die due to suffocation, summer heat and the ensuing stampede, but hotly dispute that Siraj was not personally responsible for their deaths and Holwell’s version is highly exaggerated in itself as 146 people could not have been physically confined in the said punishment room (14 ft X 18 ft) and only around 65 people were actually confined. They even deny Holwell's statements that the women prisoners of European or mixed descent were forcefully relegated to Siraj's harem. There are many other inconsistencies unaccounted for that render the entire episode a shameful sham – for instance, how did Holwell move about in the cramped chamber to comfort his co-prisoners like he claims to have done in his recounting? How did he observe their agonized faces and keep note of the time in his watch if the entire chamber was drenched in darkness and even the windows had been barred and blocked till not a stream of light escaped through? Also, it has been countered that Holwell and several other officials and military officers escaped from Fort William through a series of tunnels to the Hooghly riverfront from where they were transported to Chennai (Madras) by a ship and only 43 people, including many Indian soldiers, were left unaccounted for.

The monument at its original location, after it was recommissioned by Lord Curzon in 1901 (Photo courtesy - Wikipedia.org)

Besides penning the said book about the tragic incident, Holwell even commissioned a commemorative memorial edifice that was originally located near the present-day Calcutta General Post Office (refer Pixelated Memories - General Post Office) in 1760. Interestingly, the entire monument vanished without a trace in 1822! Some historians claim that it was demolished upon the orders of then Governor-General Francis Rawdon-Hastings who was disturbed by the congregation of barbers at all times of the day around the obelisk memorial. The "Black Hole" itself, afterwards transformed into an ordinary warehouse, was dismantled when the fortress was rebuilt several years later. It is surprising that an edifice remembering such a gruesome catastrophic event in British history was destroyed in its entirety and there was no monument whatsoever following its obliteration to mark the same. Another monument, exactly identical to the original in all aspects except a few further fabrications (discussed below), was rebuilt in the vicinity of Writers' Building (present day office of the Chief Minister of Bengal, said to be the actual site of the “Black Hole”, refer Pixelated Memories - Writers' Building) by Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, in 1901. But in addition to the twenty seven names that Holwell had furnished of the British officers massacred in the tragedy, Lord Curzon also added several more who were known to have actually died in the siege of the fortress and the skirmishes and fighting that followed! Epigraphs were inscribed on each side of the memorial. The one etched upon the orders of Lord Curzon reads –

"This Monument

Has been erected by

Lord Curzon, Viceroy and Governor-General of India,

In the year 1902,

Upon the site

And in reproduction of the design

Of the original monument

To the memory of the 123 persons

Who perished in the Black Hole prison

Of Old Fort William

On the night of the 20th of June, 1756.

The former memorial was raised by

Their surviving fellow-sufferer

J. Z. Holwell, Governor of Fort William,

On the spot where the bodies of the dead

Had been thrown into the ditch of the ravelin.

It was removed in 1821."

At the height of Indian independence movement, with the growing clamor, especially provoked by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, for removal of signs of British supremacy and colonial history, the memorial was removed in its entirety from the Writers' Building compound and shoved in a corner of St. John’s Church (refer Pixelated Memories - St. John's Church for more details and photographs) where it still exists.

The 50 feet (15 meters) tall, obelisk-like memorial surmounted upon an extremely high octagonal base, one of the earliest examples of British masonry in the country, is inscribed with the names of the 123 people (supposedly) killed while incarcerated in the Black Hole. One of the legends states –

"The names of those who perished

in the Black Hole prison,

inscribed upon the reverse side

of this monument

are in excess of the list

recorded by Governor Holwell

upon the original monument.

The additional names, and

the Christian names of the remainder,

have been recovered from oblivion

by reference to contemporary documents."

Citing the memorial's meager forgotten existence in the corner of the church complex, another engraving, belonging to a later date after the sober but shambolic edifice had been shifted here, notes –

"This Monument was erected in 1901

by

Lord Curzon on the original site of the Black Hole

(North-West corner of Dalhousie Square)

and removed thence to the Cemetery of

St. John’s Church, Calcutta in 1940."

The reason (Photo courtesy - Wikipedia.org)

Whatever the true story was, the event has become an important constituent of the annals of Indo-British history and has been one of those instances where stories, conceived out of half-truths and falsehoods and constructed on the premise of an irresistible and unquenchable lust for political and territorial power, repeated again and again become transformed to "truths", difficult to chaff from reality, in popular perception. Oddly enough, J.Z. Holwell, as a surgeon and commentator interested in Indian civilization and Hindu scriptures and culture, drafted massive essays titled "An account of the manner of inoculating for the Small Pox in the East Indies with observations on the mode of treating that disease in those parts" (1767) and "Interesting historical events, relative to the Provinces of Bengal, and the Empire of Indostan with a seasonable hint and persuasive to the honorable the court of directors of the East India Company. As also the mythology and cosmogony, fasts and festivals of the Gentoo's, followers of the Shastah. And a dissertation on the metempsychosis, commonly, though erroneously, called the Pythagorean doctrine" (3 vol., 1765-1771). The latter exhorted fellow British clergy, scholars and administrators to consider Hinduism as equivalent to Christianity and, in distant future much to the chagrin of his corrupted, hell-bound soul, was particularly used by Indian nationalists during the Independence Movement. Revenge is best served cold!

Location: Inside St. John's Church complex, BBD Bagh area (refer Pixelated Memories - St. John's Church),  approximately a kilometer from Esplanade square.
Nearest Metro station/bus stop: Esplanade
How to reach: Walk/take a taxi from Esplanade.
Open: All days, 10 am – 5 pm
Entrance Fees: Rs 10 for visitors on foot; parking charges applicable.
Photography/Video Charges: Nil
Time required for sightseeing: 10 min
Other monuments within the church complex -

1. Pixelated Memories - Charnock's Tomb 
2. Pixelated Memories - Lady Canning Memorial 
3. Pixelated Memories - Lady Johnson's Memorial
4. Pixelated Memories - Rohilla War Memorial

Relevant Links - 

1.  Pixelated Memories - General Post Office
2.  Pixelated Memories - Writers' Building

Suggested reading - 

1. Books.google.co.in - "Calcutta: A Cultural and Literary History" by Krishna Dutta 
2. Books.google.co.in - "India Tracts" by J.Z. Holwell 
3. Books.google.co.in - "The Black Hole of Empire: History of a Global Practice of Power" by Partha Chatterjee 
4. Caravanmagazine.in - Article "A Return to the Black Hole" (dated Oct 01, 2012) by Gyan Prakash 
5. Columbia.edu - Early views - Hinduism 
6. Telegraphindia.com - Article " MYTH OF EMPIRE - The story about the Black Hole of Calcutta refuses to die" (dated June 25, 2006) by Rudrangshu Mukherjee 
7. Wikipedia.org - Black Hole of Calcutta 
8. Wikipedia.org - John Zephaniah Holwell
9. Wikipedia.org - Robert Clive
10. Wikipedia.org - Siraj-ud-Daulah
11. Wikisource.org - Holwell, John Zephaniah

Alipore Zoo, Calcutta

“To those who can remember the dirty and rather dismal looking approach to Belvedere, the improved and satisfactory condition of the neighbourhood, at present, must afford a very striking contrast. Both east and west of the roadway leading from the Zeerut Bridge were untidy, crowded unsavoury bustees. Today we shall find on the site of the old bustees, the Calcutta Zoo. A very large share of the credit for the establishment of this pleasant resort is due to Sir Richard Temple, who was Lieutenant Governor of Bengal from 1874 to 1877, but long before the scheme assumed any proper shape, Dr. Fayrer, C.S.I., in 1867 and again in 1873 Mr. L. Schwendler (known as the 'Father of the Zoo') had brought forward and strongly urged the necessity of a Zoological Garden. The visit to Calcutta of His Majesty King Edward the Seventh, then Prince of Wales, was seized upon as an auspicious occasion. On the 1st January, 1876, the gardens were inaugurated by His Royal Highness, and in May of the same year they were opened to the public."

– 

Sir H.E.A. Cotton, Politician–Barrister–Administrator–Journalist–Historian–Writer, in his book “Calcutta Old and New”

"Painted horses"

I am back in Calcutta (I don’t like the new name – Kolkata), the city as ancient as civilization and famous for its rich ancient customs that complement the poverty, filth and chaos of everyday life. For some one born and brought up in Delhi, comparisons are natural – Delhi is ancient but timeless and extravagantly royal, Calcutta on the other hand has long abandoned such pretensions – the city is vintage, the structures seem to be falling apart and yet the people make it work one way o the other, as if some magical force is holding its existence together. My ramblings were vast and my imagination soared sky-high as I made the 4-hour long journey, accompanied by two college friends Sunil and Aakash, from the sleepy suburb of Durgapur where our college is located to the heart of Calcutta with the simple motive of spending the entire day at Calcutta Zoological Park, popularly and in most official documentation referred to as Alipore Zoo. Though I, like all photographers, experience boundless pleasure in clicking nature and getting the occasional picture-perfect click, I do not possess the means to spend several days in exorbitant resorts in the middle of forests/sanctuaries like the Sunderbans or Kaziranga, and therefore zoos form an integral part of my itinerary whenever I get the rare opportunity to visit a new city/state. Alipore Zoo had long been on my list too, however my problems were compounded since most of my friends hate zoos and I was again stuck with the dilemma of having to travel alone and cut costs (which is a genuine issues given my spendthrift tendencies) – thankfully Aakash and Sunil came to my rescue the day before I was to travel to the zoo. So here I was, sitting cramped by the window seat of the bus and taking in the sunrise and the cold morning breeze while music blared loud into my earphones and my two companions slept unperturbed by noise and motion on adjacent seats.

The colors of Alipore

Alipore Zoo began out in the year 1800 as a small menagerie maintained by Arthur Wellesley, the then British Governor of Bengal, at his residence in Barrackpore, a suburb of Calcutta. Wellesley soon returned to England, leaving his collection in the care of one of his Zoologist friends. Plans were underway regarding establishing a proper zoo in Calcutta and they had support from the Asiatic Society of Bengal too, but couldn’t materialize due to unavailability of enough space to create a massive garden complex to house the animals – Sir Richard Temple, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, shifted the mini-zoo to Alipore and upgraded it into a formal, full-fledged zoo in 1873, thereby making it the oldest designated such property in the country. The zoo was finally inaugurated on January 1, 1876 by Edward VII, Prince of Wales and thrown open to the public the same year; the first batch of animals were from the private mini-zoo of the German electrician Schwendler, who also happened to be a member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal besides involved in setting up of telegraph communication between Agra and Calcutta and studying the feasibility of electric lamp lightning of Indian Railways; a monumental stone obelisk still stands in the zoo complex in his honor. The zoo saw rapid expansion as many more animals were gifted by Indian and British residents from all over the country; today it has a gigantic variety of flora and fauna on display in its 45 acre campus. Initially, the zoo was maintained by Schwendler himself along with Botanist-Professor George King; the first Superintendent of the zoological garden was Rai Bahadur Ram Brahma Sanyal, a most notable manager of the species in the zoo and far ahead of his times when it came to animal husbandry and upkeep – he introduced several successful breeding programs to the zoo, and also maintained journals where he recorded all observations regarding the animals (housing, feeding, behavioral patterns, reproduction and treatment) which he later published as “A Handbook of the Management of Wild Animals in captivity in Lower Bengal” (1892).

Schwendler's commemorative obelisk

Sleep-deprived as we were (left college at 4:30 am to catch the first bus), and after enduring the long journey to Calcutta and then to the zoo, naturally the expectations were high in our minds and there was eagerness writ all over our faces. However, as soon as we stepped down from the rickety bus, we were disappointed to see the small gate of the zoo and the cramped spot it was confined in, I had already mentally started comparing it to the Delhi Zoo (refer Pixelated Memories - Delhi Zoo), which, flanked by a medieval fortress and with its large enclosures presents a postcard-perfect moment. A colorful and extremely chaotic, though monotonous in its fares, bazaar was operating outside the Alipore zoo; there were vendors selling ice creams, hats, faux leather belts and guavas, while a line of taxis stood at attention, ready to drop one anywhere one fancied to visit; if one escaped being heckled by a group of beggars in tattered clothes and braided hair, there always were taxi drivers heckling visitors with inquiries regarding where they wanted to go, irrespective of if one just stepped out of the zoo complex or a bus/taxi! Waiting in the queue at the ticket counter and promptly realizing my folly of comparing cash-strapped, congested Calcutta with affluent, flamboyantly lavish Delhi, I promised myself to keep an open mind and just take in the sights and sounds of the place instead of judging and photograph the beautiful birds, animals plants with the new camera that my maternal uncle very recently gifted me. 

Standing proud - Swamp Deer

A small board outside the zoo notifies public that no eatables, plastic materials and polythene wrappers are allowed within and photography is permitted for free but for videoing the premises one needs to pay Rs 250 per hour. Once inside, we immediately looked if there was a map depicting a general idea of the enclosures and walkways and after consulting it we decided to follow the path that first took us along the aviary cages and then the enclosures of lions, tigers and jaguars. The map was actually very old and ill-maintained, and at first we thought that the zoo was quite small, but then realized that even the faded portions of the map were part of the premises and we shall have to spend at least 4-5 hours if we wanted to explore the complex in its entirety. The zoo was almost deserted and besides us there were only a few tourists.

Astounding, right? - Pariah kite

The remarkable bird enclosures, visible from a distance, are impressively designed in several unique shapes and boast of ample space for the small creatures within – some resembled small pagodas with their roofs topped by pointed finials, while others were massive circular wells surmounted by conical roofs and divided into numerous smaller sub-enclosures – the extraordinary range of bird species that the zoo boasts of can overawe any visitor – there are peafowl, pheasants, mynas, macaws, parrots, parakeets, kites, ostriches, emus, cranes and pelicans, besides numerous migrant birds are also lured into making stopovers at the zoo by the prospect of vast green spaces and water bodies that it has to offer. To the grey-green monotony of the cages, the beautiful birds bring tinges of vibrance and heartwarming attractiveness; several of the enclosures are also equipped with large wicker baskets and baked-mud pots (“matka”) for the birds to nest in. However at first glance, the enclosures appear to be eyesores, given that the wire meshes are thick, rusty and often double-layered, making photographing the quick avian fellows all the more difficult – the weather was opening up and dark clouds rumbled overhead while we were exploring the zoo premises, but clicking the majestic peacock that had begun strutting around its enclosure with its magnificent plumage spread and glistening was near impossible thanks largely to the thick wire mesh.

Large - One of the bird enclosures; it is divided into numerous segments radially. 

Next we headed to the mega-fauna enclosures – the massive elephants were roaming about in the extremely humid weather, perhaps like us waiting for the dark, ominous clouds overhead to open up and drench the world; the obstinate tiger was content with lying down somewhere in his thickly vegetated open-air enclosure (bound by a wide moat), the tall grass ensured that we couldn’t catch a glimpse even though we had circumambulated the enclosure several times in no less than 20 minutes. Among the other animals that we saw which didn’t have open-air enclosures but cemented cages were striking white tigers, regal lions, a very muscular Royal Bengal tiger and a magnificent jaguar – the condition of these animals was deplorable since they were being housed in very small spaces with cemented floors that certainly would heat up in summers and be chilly in winters, besides not providing a natural, foliage-and-rock environment to these mighty beasts; visitors, largely uneducated in animal husbandry and even otherwise, made mockery of the animals, teasing them and rattling the enclosure bars every time the animal decided to sit in a corner or enter the shed at the back; many of them resorted to shouting and making loud sounds to scare the animals – I felt a surge of pity and even asked one of the boys there to not do the same, but to no avail! At least, in this aspect, I have to concede that Delhi zoo fares far, far better than Calcutta zoo – the maintenance of animals is superior, so is the enclosure size and the treatment meted out to the animals by the visitors and zookeepers.

Majestic - Indian Elephant, once a common sight on the country's streets but have almost disappeared now and can only be seen in zoos and protected wildlife sanctuaries.

Moving ahead we saw deer, not aplenty as in Delhi Zoo – the Calcutta Zoo makes up with gorgeous birds what it lacks in terms of deer specie. There was a lone rhinoceros, grazing in a corner of his large enclosure, a hippotamus who soon disappeared in the depths of his pool, a bear that when teased by visitors ran to hide in his cave and a gharial basking in the sun. In a corner of the zoo complex, a segregated area has been created for inhabitation of bat species, and there were literally several scores of them flying around the tree tops or hanging upside down from the branches, it sent a chill down everyone’s spine just to look at them and almost everyone (except us since we were so engrossed clicking them) proceeded rather sharp and rapid over the low bridge through the bat territory. I was reminded of the recently released Batman movie (The Dark Knight Rises) which I really enjoyed watching in a theatre just a few days back, again with the same set of friends. Underneath the bridge flows a deep artificial stream and on considerate observation, one can observe large shoals of blue-ish fish swimming under the clear surface. The Reptile House too is located close by, but it was under renovation when we visited and therefore closed for public entry.

An attempt at minimalist photography

There’s a restaurant just around the corner next to the zoo entrance – shaped like a storybook cottage and lined with stone tiles in orange and deep red, it seemed to have jumped out of the pages of “Hansel and Gretel”, though the food served consisted not of cakes and doughnuts, but rice, noodles and Chinese-style curry dishes. The entire landscape is dotted with numerous small shops offering refreshments like water bottles and ice creams. At certain times it seemed that the zoo has more green space than enclosures and looks more like a glorified garden – couldn’t the space have been utilized more efficiently, perhaps increase the size of existing enclosures rather than stuff so many animals in small, pitiful cages?

Classic storybook-like - The zoo's restaurant

The zoo, until 2006, was home to Advaitya, a 255-year old Giant Aldabra Turtle, said to be the same as the one in the private menagerie of Robert Clive of the East India Company – it was said to be the oldest documented living being alive at the time of its death. Robert Clive gained the East India Co. a foothold in the Indian subcontinent through territorial expansion following military campaigns against the Indian sovereigns and their proxies and governors, under the suitable excuse of avenging British citizens’ death in the notorious “Black Hole Tragedy of Calcutta” (refer here Pixelated Memories - Black Hole Memorial) – not just Clive’s fame, but also his huge tortoise far outlived him, in fact Advaitya saw the establishment of the East India Co.’s territorial rule, its demise, the “Quit India” Movement, independence and subsequent partition of India, Pakistan and later Bangladesh, besides the banalities and frivolities of everyday grind. The turtle was the zoo’s pride and its demise was deeply mourned by the zoo authorities as well as all the major newspapers of the country. 

Black beauty - Black-crowned crane

For the past few years, the zoo is in news for all the wrong reasons – inability to handle the large population of animals, thefts, inefficient and often unethical cross-breeding programs, death of animals due to stress and lack of space for movement and so on. The zoo has also been warned by the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI) about the same and it risks its license to handle and showcase animals being revoked – even PETA India has called the place a “death trap for animals”. Our trip, however, was a good one and we enjoyed the time spent there. So did the other visitors and kids we observed. Certainly the zoo does need to address the issues about animal health and care and also try to improve itself in terms of visitor experience – benches meant for the visitors were unclean, signboards on the cages detailing the animal/bird inside were either absent or old and faded, water taps were broken and water dripped from everywhere except the faucets themselves, plus more route maps definitely need to be installed with immediate effect. I would hate it if the zoo were to be closed down, but given the space crunch that they face, especially by the pressure exerted by urbanization and infrastructure development in the surrounding areas, the zoo cannot expand any further, and it would perhaps e in everyone’s interest to shift part of the animals to another area, or create subsidiary zoos – point in case, the aquarium just across the road maintained and funded by the zoo authorities (we couldn’t visit it since it had begun raining cats and dogs by then). Awareness campaigns, if possible to organize and sustain, would unquestionably go a long way to attract publicity and visitors and profit the zoo and its financial needs. In my opinion, the zoo is a must visit place, especially during the period of late July to November since that’s when the migratory birds, especially the large and stunning Sarus crane, travelling to their winter destinations stop by at the zoo. 

A thing of beauty..

Location: Alipore
Open: All days except Thursday (If a holiday falls on Thursday, the zoo remains open that day and the weekly closure is observed on the next available working day).

How to Reach: One can avail bus/taxi services from different parts of the city. The locals, especially the bus conductors/taxi drivers, recognize the zoo by its vernacular nomenclature “Alipore Chiria ghar”, since most of them are uneducated, hence it’s better to ask them in vernacular.
Timings: The ticket counter opens from 9 am to 5 pm; the aquarium opens from 10:30 am to 5 pm
Entrance fees: Rs 20 (Rs 5 extra for the aquarium)
Photography charges: Nil
Video Photography charges: Rs 250
Time required for sightseeing: 4 hrs

Relevant Links -

1. Pixelated Memories - Black Hole tragedy Memorial, Calcutta
2. Pixelated Memories - National Zoological Park, Delhi
3. Pixelated Memories - Old Fort, Delhi

 Suggested reading -

1. Deccanherald.com - Article "Alipore Zoo as vulnerable to animal theft as before" (dated Aug 28, 2014) by Prasanta Paul
2. Kolkataonwheelsmagazine.com - Kolkata zoo
3. Kolkatazoo.in (Official website of Alipore zoo)
4. Lankabusinessonline.com - Article "In Indian zoos, life can be brutal and short" (dated June 5, 2006)
5. Maamatimanush.tv - Article "Historic changes at Alipore Zoo – Model for the rest of India" (dated Nov 11, 2013)
6. Outlookindia.com - Article "The Thief, His Tortoise, Their History, And The Revenge Of Myth" (dated April 28, 2006) by Vinay Lal
7. Telegraphindia.com - Article "Zombies at Alipore zoo" (dated Aug 14, 2013) by Zeeshan Jawed
8. Thehindu.com - Article "Under foster care" (dated Aug 18, 2013) by Shobha Roy
9. Thehindu.com - Article "Want to adopt a lion? Come to the Alipore Zoo" (dated Aug 4, 2013) by Shiv Sahay Singh
10. Thehindu.com - Article "Where past overshadows present" (dated Jan 14, 2001) by Gautaman Bhaskaran
11. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com - Article "Parched & pained: it’s a dog’s life at Alipore zoo" (dated June 9, 2003)
12. Wikipedia.org - Alipore Zoological Gardens
13. Wikipedia.org - Carl Louis Schwendler