The first Bengali to write about Calcutta of yore was Benoy Krishna Deb Bahadur of Sovabazar, but it was in English and the focus was on the “white” areas. The five Bengalis who had taken a stab at writing the city’s history were Prankrishna Datta, Mahendra Nath Datta, Kiran Chandra Datta, Jatindra Mohan Datta and last but not least, Purnachandra De Udbhatsagar, whose account of the famous folk poet and performer of Bagbazar, titled Bhola Moira: Swanamdhanya Kabiyal, was recently brought out by Sutradhar. It is edited by urban historian Debasis Bose, who is also working on a new collection of De’s Atiter Kalkata O Ananya Prasanga.

De was born in Bhadrakali near Uttarpara on August 10, 1857 — the year the Crown took over governance of the country from the East India Company — and died on October 18, 1946, just a year before the Crown had to relinquish it.

During his lifetime, De had interacted and interviewed contemporary leading lights like Vidyasagar, Bhudeb Mukhopdhyay, Reverend Lal Behari De, Kaliprasanna Kabyabisharad, and Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, and his friends were Ramendrasundar Tribedi and Sakharam Deoskar.

De was a wayward child and only started taking his studies seriously after seeing the bier of his father. He passed his First Arts from Presidency College in 1884, and thereafter did his Honours in Sanskrit from the Metropolitan Institution. He taught in various schools in Shibpur, Andul and Mitra Institution in Bhowanipore. He taught Bengali and Sanskrit in Asutosh College, and was the Bengali examiner of Calcutta University. His pupil, Narahari Kabiraj, had in De’s obituary written that he had collected a great number of Sanskrit Udbhat slokas (unwritten), translated these, and written some himself. De had written several biographies and collected material for some others, and edited Kasi Das’s Mahabharat and Krittibas’s Ramayan. He had written a history of Calcutta, besides those of Bagbazar and Sanskrit College and Medical College and annotated Chanakya slokas.

Dance exponent Birju Maharaj teaches Kathak to students at a workshop organised by Padatik on May 22. More than 300 kids from all over the country attended the event. Picture by Arnab Mondal

Debasis Bose says Bhola Moira was born at a time when after the Battle of Palashi, the Muslim aristocracy still held sway in Bengal. But the old order was suddenly challenged by arrivistes from the West. So, on the one hand, the impact of western culture was unavoidable, and on the other, Hindu traditions were trying to reassert themselves. This was very well reflected in Bhola Moira’s songs, who was by profession and caste a maker of sweets, for which Bengal is famous.

The best of sweets from all over Bengal were available in Calcutta then, and he amassed a huge fortune by selling sweets and holding Kabigaan performances. His times were very similar to ours, when, thanks to globalisation, on the one hand we have become nostalgic about the past, and on the other, American culture is making an assault on the last bastions of conservatism. By the way, Nabin Chandra Das of rosogolla fame was the son-in-law of Bhola’s youngest son, Madhabchandra.

An art work from China

Asian art

Rare art works from 20 Asian nations will be on display at Gorky Sadan from May 27 to June 6. “Few continents have the outstanding diversity of Asia. Yet there are similarities among its art and culture. Mutual awareness will promote peace and understanding and help in cultural and economic collaboration,” said K.P.V. Nair, the founder of Asia Centre.

Nair has already organised a show of Indian art in Cambodia in collaboration with the Cambodian minister of culture. The present assortment has a deep eastern focus. The collection ranges from Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam to China, Bhutan, Tibet and Arctic Siberia. He has been to places few Indians have heard of collecting paintings, sculptures, thankas, scrolls, ceramics, porcelain, handicrafts, photographs etc. The show will be on from 4pm to 7pm.