Anatomy of a Colonial Town Calcutta 1756-1794

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Calcutta in the middle of the eighteenth century was neither a town nor a village. It was situated half the way from a cluster of villages transforming themselves into a magnificent town. The present work aims at understanding the decisive aspects of these transformations the agonies of its prosaic constraints and the ecstatics of the fulfilment of its possibilities. Our period starts in 1756 when Calcutta was sacked by the invading armies of the Nawab of the province. This sack was immediately followed by the sack of Chandernagore by the English army. Thus the starting point of our study is the one that signifies an urban setback. The study ends in 1794 because in that year the first official declaration demarcating Calcutta's boundaries came into effect. Between these two polar points the present work tries to discover why Calcutta could not assume the characteristic of a full-fledged urban settlement and why it had to wait till such time as the coming into force of the Lottery Committee for its final take- off. No work on this subject can claim to be an exhaustive one and therefore the first word of this work is one of humility. One may say that the contours of a subject is drawn.

The present volume has accrued from a dissertation sub- mitted in the Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta for the purpose of obtaining Ph.D. degree. Much kindness was bestowed upon me by several persons and institutions when I was involved in this study. I must record my debt of gratitude to Dr. Ranjit Sen of Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, under whose supervision the present work came to a shape. I am equally grateful to the Governing Body of the P. N. Das College, 24 Parganas (North), West Bengal, for granting me one year's leave from my service.

1. Tradition of town-building.

The process of urbanisation in India from the days of the Indus Valley civilization reveals many unique features. Eastern India was not an exception. All "the nine victory camps of the Palas may have been towns" Again "The great expansion of commerce during the Mughal period-to be seen most conspicuously in the manufacturing and marketing of textiles to meet both an internal and an external demand-inevitably brought increased wealth to the major urban centres of the country." Some towns were regularly built for administrative purposes. Shahjahanabad or Delhi, Farrukkabad, Agra, Fatehpur-Sikri may be mentioned in this regard. In Bengal, Dhaka and then Murshidabad were good examples of such urban growth. Every- where the zeal of the rulers and unbridled mobilisation of resources on their part helped the towns and cities to flourish.

But what does urbanisation really mean? In his celebrated study, Max Weber points out certain inevitable features from which a town can be identified. To him, economic versatility of a town is essential and that can be assured by the presence of markets. But not every market can act as a catalyst in the formation of a town. Certain degree of protection as well as patronage are needed." India during the rule of the Mughals was able to receive that kind of patronage.