The Park Street cemetery, which is now 250 years old, is home to stories of Kolkata’s past and present.

In the 250 years of its existence, the Park Street cemetery in Kolkata has seen its share of stolen kisses and frantic lovers, both gay and straight. In Vikram Seth’s 1993 novel, Suitable Boy, Lata takes a leisurely through the Park Street cemetery along with a friend, Amit. They visit the tomb of Rose Aylmer, a Welsh girl who sailed to India with an aunt in 1798, and died of cholera two years later. Famous British poet Walter Savage Landor, a suitor of Rose, immortalised her in a poem Rose Aylmer. Amit and Lata recite the poem together at the spot.

Not far from the bustle of one of Kolkata’s busiest streets, is the South Park Street Cemetery, with two functional old iron gates at the entrance. Inside, rows of obelisks and gazebos spread out on both sides in no particular order. A marble plaque on the left pillar declares that the cemetery opened in 1769 and closed in 1790, but historians will tell you that burials continued into the 1830s.

The cemetery is the final resting place of many like Rose Aylmer. As Souvik Mukherjee, assistant professor of English, Presidency University points out, most Europeans who would land in the muggy, mosquito-ridden city, would last only “two monsoons”. “They would almost always fall prey to malaria,” says Mukherjee, who specialises in the cemeteries of Bengal. The truncated pillars that dot the cemetery signify lives lost too soon. “You will find graves of many, many children here,” says Mukherjee.

According to Susan Hosking’s book, The Great Burial Ground at Chowringhee: Reflections on the South Park Street Cemetery in Kolkata, this is one of the oldest non-church cemeteries in the world. Hosking says that by the mid-18th century, the old Christian burial grounds in the ruins of the first Fort William, established in 1665, had become inadequate. Eight acres of relatively high ground in an uneven and swampy area were marked out for a new cemetery on what was then the southern outskirt of the town.

The oldest tomb in the cemetery, according to Mukherjee, is that of Mrs Sarah Pearson, who died on September 8, 1768. Very little is known of the oldest resident of the place but tomes have been written on the one who has the most prominent tomb of the cemetery — a blindingly white structure in a maze of greys. The tomb of Sir William Jones, renowned philologist and founder of Asiatic Society of Bengal, finds pride of place bang in the middle of the cemetery.

It is definitely not the most beautiful structure in the premises. That distinction belongs to the tomb of Charles Stuart (1758- 1828) or as the officer of the East India Company was popularly known, Hindoo Stuart. A beautiful synthesis of Hindu, European and Islamic styles, the tomb looks like an exotic guest in a genteel gathering. “He was one of the few British officers to embrace Indian culture,” says Mukherjee. CP Hodson’s biography of Stuart mentions that he “had studied the language, manners and customs of the natives of this country with much enthusiasm, his intimacy with them … obtained for him the name of Hindoo Stuart.”

However, in 1984, this very tomb almost fell prey to the greed of realtors. “The cemetery continues to exist thanks to a legal intervention by the Calcutta High Court. An order was issued stopping a well known family business from turning the cemetery into an arts centre. The demolition work had already begun and the damage can still be seen. Innumerable graves have been lost, replaced by strewn rubble and a multi-storey car park. The tomb of Charles Stuart was demolished, later restored, and the demolition of DeRozio’s grave had begun. Justice Bagbati Banerjee saved the South Park Street Cemetery,” says Anthony Khatchaturian writer, guide and Kolkata Heritage activist.

Deepanjan Ghosh, who runs an exhaustive blog on forgotten chapters of the city’s history, says one of the most interesting personalities to be buried in the cemetery is Elizabeth Jane Barwell, popularly known as Miss Sanderson. The “celebrated Miss Sanderson”, daughter of a colonel in East India Company’s army, was widely known as the most beautiful girl in Calcutta when she arrived. She was also notoriously mischievous. “A popular story about her is that she told 16 of her suitors that she would be going to a ball in a Parisian dress and it would be marvellous if they wore a similar costume of pea-green, with pink silk trimmings. All of the men turned up in the exact same ridiculous outfit!” says Ghosh.

Not very far away from her tomb is the modest one of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (died 1831), the revolutionary thinker and poet who, in many ways, shaped the then Bengali intelligentsia. At the age of 18, he got the post of a lecturer in English literature and history at the Hindu College. He was considered to be a rabble-rouser by the orthodox, Hindu-dominated management of the college as he encouraged his students to question social evils. Eventually, he was expelled. His untimely death soon followed. But his legacy lived on. “His grave is the most visited one in the cemetery,” says Ghosh.

Not surprisingly, the cemetery has inspired its share of ghost stories. There were rumours of a priest in white cassock haunting the premises. Mukherjee dismisses it with a simple, irrefutable logic. “Priests in India wear black cassocks,” he says.

source:http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Eye / by Premankur Biswas / January 28th, 2018

Victoria Memorial Hall is all set to unlock a set of 5,000 paintings from the Bengal School that paved the path of modernism in Indian art.

Victoria Memorial Hall (VMH), one of the museums with the highest footfalls in the country, is all set to unlock a a set of 5,000 paintings from the Bengal School that paved the path of modernism in Indian art.

“This winter we will open a permanent gallery dedicated to this collection. It includes the largest and most important collections of the works of Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore, two of the pioneering figures of modern Indian art,” said Jayanta Sengupta, curator and secretary of VMH.

Notable among this collection are the works by cousins Abanindranath and Gaganendranath, as well as Nandalal Bose. The three are among India’s nine artists of national importance whose works cannot be taken outside the country.

“This collection is one of the most important in the context of Indian modern art because modern art movement in India centred on Kolkata, and this collection comprises works of the formative days,” said Sushobhan Adhikary, art critique and former curator of the museum at Kala Bhavana of Visva Bharati.

The Bengal School art movement that started in the late 19th century led to the development of modern Indian art during the early 20th century.

The 300-odd works of Abanindranath is the most exhaustive collection of his works and include the iconic series on Arabian Nights, Mughal Empire, Mangalkabya and the mask series. Among most famous paintings are ‘Bharat Mata’ (1905) and ‘Passing of Shah Jahan’ (1902), Krishna Lila series and the 12 original illustrations for Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat (1909-1911).

Gaganendranath’s 200-odd works include those of cubist style and his signature-style of satiric works and caricature.

Besides, there are pencil sketches of Jyotirindranath Tagore, Rabindranath’s elder brother whose art influenced the poet’s drawings in his early days.

“The permanent gallery will be a treat for art lovers,” Adhikary added.

“Jyotirindranath had the unique habit of sketching people sitting in front of him and then to get the sketch signed by the person. The collection comprises several dozen of such signed portraits,” said Subhashis Mukherjee, treasurer, Rabindra Bharati Society (RBS).

The collection of about 5,100 paintings, sketches and doodles was in the strong-room of RBS from 1945 to 2011, when it was handed over to VMH on enduring loan.

The authentication and cataloguing was going on over the past six years and is now complete. The framing and mounting has been done afresh in most cases.

The gallery, which is almost ready, will be able to display about 250-300 paintings. The works from the collection will be put on display in turns.

“We already had an exhaustive collection of the Company school of art. Now, we have a great collection of modern Indian art. At present we are equipped to provide one of the best visual documentations in India of late-medieval and modern South Asian history from the late 17th century to the middle of the 20th century,” Sengupta said.

Among other important artists in this treasure trove are Mukul Dey, Radha Charan Bagchi and Sunayani Devi, Asit Haldar, Sudhir Khastagir and Sarada Ukil – all important personalities of Bengal art.

There is also a set of about 100 paintings of ‘unknown artists’, belonging to the Bengal school and the Rajput school.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Kolkata / by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Hindustan Times / September 19th, 2018