Episode 7 | From Wellesley to Curzon: History of the Government House (Raj Bhavan), Calcutta

The history of the Government House, now the residence of the Governor of West Bengal, is a history of the British Empire in India condensed into 26 acres of land at the heart of the "white town" of Calcutta. Amongst its maidan, gardens, and cannons, the Government House stands tall in typical neoclassical fashion--conservative, traditional, and imperial. In this episode, we discuss how a building came to be conceived as the domestic face of an empire and a monument to imperial success, yet, in its use, reuse, and misuse (by birds, animals, and even gardeners of India) stands today as an apt metaphor for colonialism in the Indian subcontinent.

PHOTO GALLERY:

(Copyright for all images of the Government House in the photo gallery belongs to British Library. www.bl.uk)

Photographic Print, Samuel Bourne, 1865

View from the East, Aquatint, Henry Fraser, 1826

Lithograph, Frederick Feibig, 1857

Principal Storey Plan, Ink and Paper, James Best, 1804

Basement Storey Plan, Ink and Paper, James Best, 1804

South-east view, Moffat, 1803

Photographic Print, 1875

George Curzon, Viceroy of India, 1899-1905

Keddleston Hall, Derbyshire, England, 1759

SHOW NOTES

The following discussion points are included in the podcast

• Introduction

  • Political significance of the Government House

  • Government House as a representation of the Empire

  • Controversy

• Gardens surrounding Government House

  • Soirees, parties, and nocturnal animals

  • The politics of the garden - as a space of recording British conquest

• Architectural history

  • Resemblance to Keddleston Hall in Derbyshire, England

  • Familial connections to Governor General Curzon

  • Characteristic features

• Celebrating political and military achievements at the Government House

  • Some events

  • Trophy room

• Criticism of the Government House

• Conclusion

  • Nostalgia

  • Monumentality

  • Historical marker

REFERENCES:

Blechynden, Kathleen, and Nisith Ranjan Ray. 2013. Calcutta: past and present. Kolkata: Aruna Prakashan.
Carey, W. H. 1964. The good old days of Honorable John Company; being curious reminiscences during the rule of the East India Company from 1600-1858. Calcutta: Quins Book Co.

Cotton, Evan. 1907. Calcutta, old and new; a historical & descriptive handbook to the city. Calcutta: W. Newman.

Curzon, George Nathaniel. 1925. British Government in India: the story of the viceroys and government houses. London: Cassell.

India. 1926. British India from Queen Elizabeth to Lord Reading. By an Indian Mahomedan, etc. [With portraits.]. London: Sir I. Pitman & Sons.
Pearson, R. 1954. Eastern interlude; a social history of the European community in Calcutta. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink.

Episode 6 | Emperor Jahangir: The Pleasure-Seeking Mughal of Early Modern India

Emperor Jahangir loved alcohol, opium, hunting (shikar), and, like all good South Asians, mangoes. His numerous experiences with all the above, his beloved wife Nur Jahan, his son, the future emperor Shah Jahan, and more were written down by him in his autobiography Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri. In this podcast, we discuss the colorful pleasure-seeking life of this Mughal emperor - a man who was selfish, addicted, humorous, and generous, all at once.

SHOW NOTES

We discuss:

1. Introduction to Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri

2. Akbar “Fanboying” - legitimacy and sovereignty through parental respect and similitude

3. Gift-giving (Khillat) Ritual

4. Jahangir - an effective administrator

5. Law and Order under Jahangir’s Rule

6. Jahangir - the pleasure-seeker

7. Favorites - Wife Nur Jahan and Son, the future Shah Jahan

Some quotes from Jahangiri included in the pod:

“…the good qualities of my revered father are beyond the limit of approval and the bounds of praise.” [On Akbar]

“On one particular night in Day I dreamt that the late said to me " for sake king (Akbar) : Baba, forgive my the fault of 'Aziz Khan,who is the Khan A'zam." After this dream, I decided to summon him from the fort (of Gwalior).” [On Akbar]

“…three rubies and 103 pearls, 100 rubies (yaqilt), two jewelled daggers and an aigrette adorned with rubies and pearls, a jewelled water-jar, a jewelled sword, a quiver bound with velvet, and a diamond ring, altogether of the value of about 100,000 rupees, in addition to jewels and jewelled things, cloth from the Deccan and Carnatic, and all kinds of gilt and plain things, with fifteen elephants and a horse whose mane reached the ground.” [Gift-giving]

“In order to avert the bad omen of this I had myself weighed against gold, silver, cloth, and grain, and gave away in alms all kinds of animals, such as elephants, horses, etc., the cost of all of which was 15,000 rupees.” [Generosity and Superstition]

Royal elephants shivered in winter when sprayed with cold water - 'I observed this/ he says,‘and so I ordered that the water should be heated to the temperature of luke-warm milk.’ And he adds :‘ This was entirely my own idea ; nobody had ever thought of it before.’ [Generosity]

“For fear that some injury might occur to the country and the servants of God, I kept this secret from most of those familiar with and near to me, and did not inform the physicians and hakims. A few days passed in this manner, and I only imparted this to Nur-Jahan Begam, than whom I did not think anyone was fonder of me.” [Nur Jahan]

“On the 7th, as the huntsmen had marked down four tigers, when two watches and three gharis had passed I went out to hunt them with my ladies. When the tigers came in sight Nur-Jahan Begam submitted that if I would order her she lierseli would kill the tigers with her gun. I said, "Let it be so.'’ She shot two tigers with one shot each and knocked over the two others with four shots. In the twinkling of an eye she deprived of life the bodies of these four tigers. Until now such shooting was never seen, that from the top of an elephant and inside of a howdah amarl) six shots should be made and not one miss, so that the four beasts found no opportunity to spring or move.” [Admiration for Nur Jahan]

Suggested reading:
Jahangir, Alexander Rogers, and Henry Beveridge. 2015. The tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī, or, Memoirs of Jahāngīr. (A version of this can be found at www.archive.org.)

Muṭribī al-Aṣamm al-Samarqandī. 1998. Conversations with Emperor Jahangir. Cost Mesa, Calif., U.S.A.: Mazda Publishers.

Richards, John F. 1995. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press.

Gordon, Stewart. 2003. Robes of honour: khil'at in pre-colonial and colonial India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

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If you would like to hear or learn more on a particular history/culture topic related to South Asia, please leave us a note in the comments below and we will record it!

Episode 5 Pem Nem: A Love Story from Seventeenth-Century Deccan

Pem Nem, a love story of longing, despair, and ultimate unification is discussed in this pod as an example of the multiculturalism of the Deccan Sultanate courts of the seventeenth century. Seen as a period of cultural efflorescence, the reign of rulers like Ibrahim Adil Shah II  (r.1579-1627) of Bijapur and Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (r.1580-1611) of Golconda, themselves creative and erudite, are marked by the vivid richness of their court cultures and the vast literary and artistic production of the period. 

Prince Shah Ji with the impression of his love princess Mah Ji whom he has never met, seen pining for his love here and framed by the flames of his passion. Image courtesy: The British Library (see below for link).

You can access more images at the British Library and The Met.

References and further reading:

Deborah Hutton, "The Pem Nem: A Sixteenth-Century Illustrated romance from Bijapur" in Sultans of the South: Arts of India's Deccan Courts, 1323-1687, edited by Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar (Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2011): 44-63.
D.J. Matthews, "Eighty Years of Dakani Scholarship", The Annual of Urdu Studies, No. 8 (1993): 91-108.
David Matthews, "Pem Nem: A 16th Century Dakani Manuscript" in From Cairo to Kabul: Afghan and Islamic Studies presented to Ralph Pinder-Wilson, edited by Warwick Ball and Leonard Harrow (London: Melisende, 2002): 170-175.
Marika Sardar, "The Manuscript of the Pem Nem (The Laws of Love)" in Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700, Opulence and Fantasy, by Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015): 97-98.
Mark Zebrowski, Deccan Painting (Sotheby Publications, University of California Press, 1983): 67-121.