Bengal's Multicultural Past Offers Us Hope For A Better Future

Multiple Threads, Many Cultures

Although I am a Bengali, I have never actually lived in Bengal, having grown up in north India, and so I am tagged a probashi (migrant). I have, however, made several trips to Kolkata, especially in the last couple of years after losing my father, perhaps to try and get back to my roots and experience a sense of belonging. When in Kolkata, sitting in one of the increasingly rare yellow taxis and listening to the mellifluous tones of Bangla around me do give me a sense of “coming home”. I can’t claim to be an expert on the state nor do I have a finger on the pulse of what the future holds for it.

Listening to the post-Bengal-election conversations, however, my mind goes back to the last trip I made to Kolkata and its surrounding areas. I had just read Polycoloniality by professor Saugata Bhaduri, a book that challenges the theory of one colonising country, say England, in South Asia. Instead, Bhaduri mentions how “between the 16th and 19th centuries, Bengal was colonised by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, the Danish, the Germans, the Swedish and the Greeks”. So, there were multiple colonial powers vying for a piece of the “Bengal pie”.

Bhaduri argues that this concept of polycoloniality is more suited to current politics, especially “along the lines of the ethics of the plural, the multiple, the hybrid, and many”. He also proposes that the multiplicity of these cultures has produced a “fruitful and hospitable, rather than hostile, hybridising transactions between the coloniser and the colonised”.

Heading to Hooghly

What does this actually mean in non-academic terms? That is something I decided to find out when instead of staying put in Kolkata, I moved towards the Hooghly region, along the river, just like the boats and ships from long ago, though my mode of transport was a cab! My first stop was at Bandel, a former Portuguese colony—the first of the colonial powers to arrive in Bengal. It remained a Portuguese territory until the 1790s. Maybe it is because of this long duration that the Bandel church remains a popular spot.

On Christmas eve, there was a long queue of people waiting to enter the church despite the rain and the damp weather. The Portuguese are also credited with introducing cheese to India. Bandel cheese, with its rich, smoky flavour—once limited to artisanal tradition and found, ironically, in only a few Kolkata shops—has now started getting popular. It was showcased by celebrity chef Vikas Khanna at his New York restaurant recently, for instance.

At Chinsurah and Chandernagore

Moving on to Chinsurah, the Dutch colony, which was significant due to its location as a hub between Amsterdam and the Dutch colony in Batavia (modern Indonesia). Here you can see the influence of the Dutch in the government buildings, such as the building of the Dutch governor with its Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie(VOC) emblem. The Dutch are also credited for large pankhas (fans drawn by ropes) and the drainage system of Chinsurah.

Our final stop was at Chandernagore, which was established as a French colony in 1688. Today, its French influence is seen in the wide strand at the city centre. Strolling on the strand, you can see the French governor’s Dupleix Palace-turned Indo-French cultural centre and museum as well as the Sacred Heart church with its beautiful stained-glass windows.

The next morning, we picked up freshly baked buns, popularly considered French-influenced bread and munching on those, stopped to gaze at the Hooghly from the Durgacharan Rakshit Ghat—a structure whose columns, stucco work and flowering trellises form a unique Indo-French-styled pavilion. The city was also known to be an integral part of India’s freedom struggle. It was a refuge for the revolutionaries on the run from the British since it was under French rule.

The multicultural past of Bengal thus offers us lessons today, and perhaps, hope for a better future. Of course, this can only happen if we focus on the plurality of the region rather than on a divisive narrative.

Jonaki Ray is an award-winning poet and writer and the author of Firefly Memories and Lessons in Bending