Kolkata’s Origin Controversy Explained: Job Charnock and Sabarna Roy Chowdhury Paribar

The “City of Joy”, Kolkata turns 331 years old today. After living through a long history of barbaric British rule, stanch communism, violent Naxal movements, and many more political diversities, it is the day of celebration for the natives irrespective of the controversies which surround it. 

Kolkata’s Origin Controversy Explained [Courtesy: Pratiti Dhang/JournaPost]

Passion-filled Bengalis continue with August 24 as the founding day of Kolkata, even after Kolkata High Court declared the fact null and void in 2003. The same sentence deprived Job Charnock of his title. 

Here is the story of Kolkata’s origin. 

Who was Job Charnock? 

Charnock was a British trader who came to India during the Mughal rule as a part of East India Company to establish the Company’s factories in Eastern India. 

At the time, there was an agitation between the British and The Mughals concerning the building of a Fort on the Hooghly River. Shaista Khan, then Subahdar of Bengal under Aurangzeb, wanted to get rid of the British. Hence, he conspired against Charnock with a false truce delaying his true plan of banishing him. 

Realizing Khan’s motives, the English trader fled Hooghly and went to Sutanuti village on August 24, 1690. This was one of the three villages which would later form Calcutta, the other two being Kalikat and Gobindapur. 

Soon as the agitation between the two Empires resolved, Charnock was permitted to build factories in two villages of present-day Odisha and one in Hooghly. 

This gave Charnock a dream to design a city by merging the three villages. 

Who were Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar? 

Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar were Zamindars of Bengal during the Mughal period. One of the ancestors of the family, Panchanan Ganguly received the title of ‘Khan’ directly from Emperor Jahangir. Ganguly, sometime later, constructed a palace in an area that came to be known as Haveli Sahar, now better known as Halisahar. 

The Mughals gave the zamindari rights of the villages of Kalikat, Sutanuti, and Gobindapur to Roy Choudhury. It was them who lent the lands of the three villages to Job Charnock. 

Sabarna Sangrahashala, a museum in Kolkata [Courtesy: Creative Common]

In the present day, there is a charitable Trust called Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad which is registered under India Trust Act 1882. They have preserved many historic artefacts of the family Sabarna Sangrahashala, a museum in Kolkata about the family and the city. 

2001 Kolkata Ownership Case 

In 2001, a Public Interest Litigation was filed by “Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad” questioning the Founder and the founding date of Kolkata. Then Chief Justice A.K. Mathur of Kolkata HC presided over the session of Sabarna Roychoudhury Paribar vs The State of West Bengal. 

Kolkata HC took up the case as it was a matter of the city’s Historic Origin and was considered of utmost importance. To verify the documents presented by the Parishad and do further research on the subject, HC formed a committee on April 5, 2002. The Parishad had presented paper works that were of great historic value and proved their claims of ownership. The committee’s reports were identical as well. 

On May 16, 2003, the bench passed its Judgement in favour of the Parishad. Job Charnock was no longer considered the Founder of the city as the court stated it was a natural process of migration and agglomeration which created the city. 

It was also stated that August 24, cannot be considered the birthday of Kolkata as it was not built in one day. The slow amalgamation of the three villages gave rise to Kolkata. 

It might have taken as long as the whole of the final decade of the 17th century. The HC rightfully stated its judgment based on the evidence presented. Yet, human sentiments and emotions fail to obey convictions. Bengalis are highly attached to their culture and history, so much so that Kolkata is also known as the cultural capital of the country. 

Hence, most Bengalis cannot let go of the day which they have known as their city’s birthday for a major part of history. The perpetuation of the celebration on August 24 for over a decade after the adjudication marks the citizen’s love for Kolkata. 

Author 

Archan Kundu