SHIVA TRILOGY - Part 2: Rameswar Shiva Temple, Shovabazar

The title might sound familiar but this post has nothing to do with the Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy, the best-selling mythological fiction series in India. 

The article is about three, century old Shiva Temples of Calcutta, surviving through years of ignorance and atmospheric erosion while serving hundreds of devotees everyday. In fact though I named this post a Trilogy and planned three consecutive articles but in future it can easily and certainly be extended to form either a tetralogy or a pentalogy or even a decalogy, considering the number of significant shrines in the City !!

Hindu Temples in the City are a common sight now-a-days but an inevitable question is: How old are they? Various sources suggest that few of the City shrines dates back to Job Charnock or probably before that. Prosperity of a religious shrine always depends upon the people surrounding it and Calcutta was no exception. People used to inhabit Calcutta (or more specifically Sutanuti, Kolikata and Gobindapur) since the early seventeenth century, long before Job Charnock settled here. Lord Shiva and various forms of his consort Parvati, were the most worshipped divine entities. It was almost customary that the ancient rich and aristrocratic families of the City establish temples of Lord Shiva, either in their residences or in the locality or on the bank of river Ganges. In the year 1856, there were 24 Shiva temples in Calcutta compared to only 5 temples of goddess Kali, a popular form of Parvati.

This trilogy is an attempt to uncover the past of three ancient Shiva Temples of North Calcutta, situated within a radius of 1 km but almost unknown beyond its daily visitors.

Part 2: RAMESHWAR SHIVA TEMPLE, SHOVABAZAR

We found the entry 'Rameshwar Shiva Temple' in the Graded List of Heritage Buildings by KMC and after visiting the Durgeshwar Temple at Nimtalla (refer Part 1 of the trilogy), we were expecting another dilapidated gigantic structure but a surprise was waiting for us! This shrine is gigantic indeed but not neglected, in fact it is well maintained. We entered the premise with intriguing mind and open lenses keeping the 'explorer' mode on !!

Who built the temple and when it was built, is a debatable issue, hence I am coming to that part later. First let me highlight the architecture of the structure.

Temple & its Architecture -

Rameshwar Temple at 52, Nandaram Sen Street comprises of an area of around 2500-3000 sq.ft. of land. The main entrance on the street is leading to the temple premise, consisting of the main temple on left and a small club like one room structure on the right, guarded by bamboo grills. It is the office of 'Sri Sri Rameshwar Shiva Jiu Estate', the body responsible for the maintenance of the shrine, controlled by some 'Manab Bikash Trust'.

Rameshwar Temple is probably one of the classic examples of massive Aatchala temple style (eight sloped-roof) in Calcutta. The aatchala temple architecture was prevalent in 18th and 19th Century Bengal in the areas like Hooghly, Howrah, Midnapore and Bankura district. The most common type of this style can be seen at Hooghly and Howrah - massive in size, built on a high plinth, has three arches at the entrance and the walls are decorated with terracotta works. Rameshwar Temple has it all except the terracotta ornamentation, which might had been compromised during the renovation and paint work. The bright red structure is built on a plinth of approximately 4.5 ft in height. There are three entrances decorated with cusped arches. The west-facing temple is 38 ft in length, 31 ft. in breadth and 80 ft. in height. The border, where the walls meet the principal roof, is decorated with a bow type artistic ornamentation on all four sides, displaying flowers and creepers.


In the sanctum-sanctorum, a black stone Shiva linga of about 6 ft. height is there. The adjoining rooms hold the idols of Radha-Krishna, Goddess Annapurna and Goddess Kali.

Who was Nandaram Sen?

 

The plaque on the Temple facade mentions Nandaram Sen as the founder of the temple. The street on which Rameshwar Temple is situated is also named after Nandaram Sen. It certainly indicates the prominence of the person once upon a time but who was the man? What was his contribution apart from this temple? 

Nandaram Sen can be termed as one of the old Calcutta's history's mystery as historical sources/works suggest existence of not only one but probably two Nandaram Sens. One during 1700 and another during 1766. There can be a remote possibility that both are the same and one person but in my opinion that is next to impossible. Let me explain with facts.

The mention of first Nandaram Sen can be found in H.E.A. Cotton's handbook on Calcutta. After getting the Zamindari rights of village Sutanuti, Kolikata and Gobindapore in 1698, East India Company became able to collect revenue, determine and distribute land tenancies, deduce the taxes payable etc. For their administrative convenience they appointed a collector in 1700 to look after these matters. Ralph Sheldon was the first collector of Calcutta. To assist him, a native person was also appointed as his deputy. This person was used to be called as 'Black Deputy' or 'Black Collector' or 'General Supervisor'. In 1705, Nandaram Sen was appointed as Sheldon's deputy. Soon, Benjamin Bowcher succeeded Sheldon and accused Sen of embezzlement. Sen was dismissed and Jagatdas was appointed in his place. Again, Jagatdas too couldn't control his greed and got dismissed as well as imprisoned, by the Company. Nandaram, was again appointed. But once again, he committed the same crime and fled to Dutch Hooghly. Later on, Nandaram was submitted to the Company by the Dutch authority and released only after refunding all the dues. According to Cotton, Rathtollah Ghat of Calcutta was constructed under his sponsorship. 

The second Nandaram Sen can be found in a petition of 1766, submitted to the British Governor when Radhacharan Mitra, the grandson of Black Zamindar Gobindaram Mitra, was accused of forgery by the British and sentenced for capital punishment according to the English law. 95 notable people of the then Calcutta signed this petition requesting the Governor to revoke the death penalty. Nandaram Sen was one of them.

Now, the question is whether the both Sen are same person or not? Probably not, because if we take the age of the first Nandaram as about 30 in 1705 then his age in 1766 would be 91 which is not acceptable. But apparently, the first Nandaram Sen or the Black Deputy was the temple's founder because one of the plaque in the temple mentions Jayanti Chandra Sen as Nandaram's great great grandson and this very Jayanti Sen wrote the Biography of Black Deputy Nandaram in late 19th century, the excerpt of which can be found in Narayan Dutta's book 'John Company er Bangali Kormochari' (Bengali Staffs of John Company i.e. East India Co.)  

Let us now move on to the fallacy of the foundation year which is equally shrouded in mystery.

Temple founded in 1654 ??!!

There are four plaques on the facade. 

• first one (top left) states, it is the temple of Nandaram Sen and was founded in Bengali year 1061, which is equivalent to 1654 AD.
• second plaque (top right) too mentions the foundation year as 1061 Bengali year or 1654 AD and adds that the 'Tulsi Mancha' (the place for Basil Plant, considered sacred) was founded by his great grandson Jagat Chandra Sen in 1261 Bengali year or 1854 AD and it states about an auspicious occasion of 'Sita Navami' celebrated by Jayanti Chandra Sen, the great great grandson, in 1859.
• third plaque (bottom right) is about the foundation of Annapurna idol in Bengali year 1314 or 1907 AD in memory of wife of Sarat Chandra Sen, son of Jayanti Sen.
• fourth plaque (bottom left) is about the foundation of the Durga idol in Bengali year 1319 or 1912 AD, founded by Sarat Chandra Sen in memory of his parent, both of whom were died in 1909.

It can be safely said that either this temple was not founded by the Nandaram Sen we are discussing about, since in 1654 his presence is a bit surprising or the foundation year is a historical error being carried over for the last 300 years. Some researchers/historians possess a different opinion though. According to them, the first plaque was installed much later, which is clearly evident. The original plaque bore the year as 1661 Shaka era. Due to the illegibility of the second number, descendants thought it to be 1061 Bengali year. If this theory stands then the construction year would be 1739 CE (1661+78) which fits in the frame.  The temple architecture also suggests that it could be a work of 18th century which corresponds the time when Nandaram Sen was alive. 

Asking the temple officials about the mysterious foundation year didn't help either. It seems that they are pretty convinced that the temple was indeed founded in 1654 and it predates Job Charnock. (in their language - "Han, Han, ei mondir ta Charnock asar agei toiri").    

Why 'Rameshwar'?

Shiva and his consort Parvati are known by various names through the regions and temples of India. The word 'Rameshwar' literally means the God to the Ram (Ram + Iswar). According to mythological epic 'Ramayana', the protagonist i.e. Ram was a devotee of Lord Shiva. In fact, this is also the legend behind the Rameshwaram Temple of Tamilnadu, one of the 12 Jyotirlinga of India. 

Probably due to such naming, Jayanti Chandra Sen performed 'Sita Navami' here in 1859. 'Sita Navami' is the birth anniversary of Goddess Sita, wife of Ram.

Location -

Rameshwar Temple is also quite popular, just as Durgeshwar Temple, frequented by the devotees. Walk straight towards Bagbazar through Chitpore or Rabindra Sarani Tramline from Shovabazar Street-Chitpore crossing. The first lane on your left is Nandaram Sen Street. The temple will be on your left after 4-5 plots.

Nandaram Sen Street extends towards west, leading to Kumortuli, the famous traditional potters' quarter of North Calcutta where our third destination lies - Baneshwar Shiva Temple of Bonomali Sarkar Street, forming Part 3 or the last part of the trilogy. 

If you have missed the Part 1 of this trilogy then it's here - DURGESHWAR SHIVA TEMPLE.

Link to Part 3: Baneshwar Shiva Temple


Fast Fact - In Nandaram Sen Street, at a stone throwing distance from Rameshwar Temple, lies a typical North Calcutta two-storied house where Hemanta Kumar Basu was born in 1895. Hemanta Basu was a famous political leader and Chairman of leftist Forward Bloc party. He was killed on 21st February, 1971 in broad daylight at Shyampukur area of North Calcutta. His assassination was the most sensational political murder of that era as Sydney Morning Herald also covered the news. 





Special Thanks:

• My fellow blogger Deepanjan Ghosh for accompanying me on this trip and sharing with me various anecdotes. His articles on other heritage spots can be found in his blog here.
• My friend Abhijit Das for accompanying me in this trip.
• My facebook friend Sri Somnath Ghosh for sharing a few facts.

Acknowledgement:

• Temples in Calcutta by Piyush Kanti Roy.
• Kolikata - Sekaler O Ekaler by Harisadhan Mukhopadhyay.
• Calcutta - Old & New by H.E.A. Cotton.
• Blog of Santanu Roy - Astounding Bengal.
• Blog of Asim Kumar - Kolkata Blog
• www.aishee.org