On a rainy afternoon, Chittaranjan Dasgupta sits hunched on a chair in his dimly lit room in Bankura’s Bishnupur, working on the manuscript of his latest book, ‘Dakshin Paschim Banger Itibritto’ (History of South West Bengal).
He is 90 years old. For more than 50 years, he has been working tirelessly for preserving the history of Bankura and its surrounding region. Age has not dulled his faculties.
He has authored two other books on Bishnupur’s terracotta temple art. Recently, he wrote a paper on ‘International Trade and Cultural Diffusion in Medieval Southwestern Bengal: Some Architectural Evidence’.
His son Basab Dasgupta, economic advisor with the World Bank in Washington, has sent it to the University of Cambridge.
Dasgupta’s tryst with history began in the prime of his youth. He taught Bengali at Bishnupur High School. “Those were heady days,” he recalls. “We were still basking in the glory of new-found freedom after the British left. Everyone, especially the youth, were fired by a deep passion and commitment towards our soil.” They were free spirits, too. “We would travel to villages in and around Bankura regularly. On these trips, we stumbled upon archaeological relics buried deep in the soil.”
Bishnupur, best known for its terracotta temple art and Baluchori sarees, is a treasure trove of relics dating back to the prehistoric era.
Bankura-Bishnupur’s history can be traced back to thousands of years ago, when Proto-Australoids and Proto-Dravidians inhabited the region. Bishnupur was the core of Mallabhum that in its heydays stretched up to the Chhota Nagpur Plateau in the west and Burdwan in the east.
Its monarchs were called Malla Rajas. Bishnupur saw a confluence of various religions and sects, including Vaishnavism, Jainism and Islam. Bishnupur’s kings were patrons of art, music and culture. The eponymous Bishnupur gharana originated here.
Tansen’s descendant Ustad Bahadur Khan, a musician at the court of Bishnupur’s King Raghunath Singh Deo II, established the gharana.
The writ of time, however, ensured Bishnupur’s link with its glorious past became tenuous.
In the 1940s, Jogesh Chandra Roy, who settled in Bankura after retiring as a professor of chemistry and botany from Cuttack’s Ravenshaw College, tried setting up a museum for relics, books, manuscripts of a bygone era. Around that time, the area around the Kangsabati river was being excavated. “Prof Roy was pained to see government officials and others walking away with priceless archaeological finds,” says Dasgupta. Roy then placed an announcement in a reputable Bengali magazine, seeking help to build the museum. He received no response. Then, came a band of enthusiasts who cherished their history.
Besides Dasgupta, the motley group comprised teachers, scholars, students, businessmen and government officials. They wanted to preserve testimonies of the past for posterity.
Inspired by Roy, they set up the Bishnupur chapter of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad in 1951. Dr Manik Lal Singha was a prominent member who contributed immensely to preserving Bishnupur’s history. Like Dasgupta, he, too, taught at Bishnupur High School and became the parishad’s secretary.
“In 1970s, Manik Babu discovered a Chalcolithic site at Dihar, north of Bishnupur on the north bank of Dwarakeshwar river,” Dasgupta says. Coins, beads, semi-precious stone jewellery and pottery were excavated. The find helped establish that Bankura-Manbhum-Singhbhum was the hinterland of the Tamralipta port and part of the trade route that opened into the Bay of Bengal.
Dr Singha wrote to the Calcutta University’s archaeological department, which took charge. Parishad members scoured villages to collect bits of Bishnupur’s past. “We would go to houses asking for ancient manuscripts written on palm leaves or tulot kagoj (handmade paper). These were heirlooms and several families didn’t want to part with them,” Dasgupta says.
For about a decade — from the 1980s, till he retired in 1990 — Dasgupta, like Dr Singha, travelled through villages to collect relics. They found numerous ancient stone sculptures. Coins, ornaments, pot shards, arrow heads, weapons and tools were excavated from the banks of the Kansai, Shilai and Darakeshwar rivers. “Often, we succeeded in retrieving the relics. But there were times when villagers didn’t allow us, especially if the relic was an idol of a deity who they worshipped,” he says. Gradually, when they had a collection of manuscripts, the parishad decided to set up a museum.
In January 1951, Kabishekhar Kalidas Roy inaugurated a room from where the museum began.
Later, Bishnupur’s Bhattacharya family donated about 10 bighas of land, where then Union education minister Humayun Kabir laid the foundation of the museum, Jogesh Chandra Purakriti Bhavan, in 1954. Named after Prof Roy, today it is a two-storeyed building. The state government, too, chipped in.
During the Left Front regime, the foundation was laid for a new wing. Victoria Memorial gave a grant of Rs 15 lakh for its modernization. Dasgupta is the museum’s member-secretary. The museum became a crucible of culture.
The Parishad organized various lecture series, discussions and music performances. The list of speakers had Bengal’s best — scientist Satyen Bose, author Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, scholars like Shashibhushan Dasgupta, Suniti Chattopadhyay, Sukumar Sen, Kalidas Nag, economists Ashok Mitra and Biplab Dasgupta.
Now, most parishad members are either dead or old. Lectures and performances are no longer held. “Nobody seems to be interested in intellectual pursuits anymore,” Dasgupta feels. Also, today, moving in villages in search of relics would have been tough. “Violence and suspicion stemming from politics have eroded the innocence and peace in Bengal’s villages,” he rues.
The museum boasts a collection dating back to the Paleolithic Age. There are sculptures of Jain Tirthankaras, Parasnath, Choumukha votives and Hindu gods, including Chamunda, Vishnu on Ananta Shajya, Ganesha, Kartikeya, Shankha Purush, Indrani, Pragya Paramita and Ambika. The music gallery chronicles the Bishnupur gharana, its exponents and their instruments.
Curator Tushar Sarkar and two guards are in charge of the museum. During peak season, the museum attracts about 400 visitors a day.
Yet, such priceless treasures of Bengal’s history are left practically unguarded with not even electronic surveillance or high-tech round-the-clock vigil.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN / June 20th, 2015
