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An aristocratic Bengali family has challenged in court the common belief that British trader Job Charnock founded the city of Calcutta in 1690.
A public interest petition has been filed in the Calcutta high court challenging the historical validity of the claim that Charnock, an agent of the East India Company, landed in Calcutta on August 24, 1690.
The Sabarna Roychoudhury family, which originally 'owned' Calcutta, claims that the city was neither founded by the British in 1690 nor was its birthday on August 24.
The case will come up for hearing on Friday. The petition has been jointly filed by 12 people, including the descendants of the Sabarna Roychoudhury family and some historians.
The debate regarding the origin of Calcutta has been raging for a long time. In the past, many historians disputed the claim that Charnock landed in Calcutta on August 24, 1690.
Members of the Sabarna Roychoudhury Parivar Parishad are now coming up with documentary evidence that buttresses the claim that British traders cannot be credited with the foundation of the city.
According to SRPP joint secretary Gora Chand Roychoudhury, documentary evidence shows that the family sold Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur -- the three villages that made up Calcutta -- to the East India Company for Rs 1,300 on November 10, 1698.
The deal was signed between Charnock's elder son-in-law, Sir Charles, and Ramchandra, Mahadev, Pran and Rambhadra Roychoudhury. The SRPP claims the deal was illegal because Mahadev and Rambhadra were minors. Recently the SRPP obtained a copy of the 1698 sale deed from the British Library in London.
The SRPP claims that if at all Calcutta has to have a birthday, it would be November 10, 1698, not August 24, 1690.
SRPP's Smarajit Roychoudhury, one of the petitioners, claims Charnock died six years (January 10, 1692) before the deal was signed by the East India Company. "How can Job Charnock be the founder of Calcutta?"
The SRPP claims the actual founder of the city was Zamindar Laxmikanta Roychowdhury (1570-1649), who received the ownership rights over eight villages, including the three that make for today's Calcutta, from Mughal emperor Akbar as a token of appreciation for his services.
Indo-Asian News Service
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