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If you ask almost any foreign traveller who has just arrived by jet in
Delhi or Mumbai if a visit to Murshidabad is part of their itinerary, a
look of bewilderment crosses their face. Indeed, just a few even venture
east of the holy city of Benares on a whistle stop tour of Calcutta and
perhaps to the World Heritage site of Konarak before returning to the
beaches of Goa and the comforts of Rajasthan. Only the most intrepid
venture into Bengal itself to visit the once glorious capital of
Murshidabad. In contrast, many Indians visit the city but most are
either day-trippers from Calcutta on the briefest of visits or pilgrims for
the various religious festivals and they usually stay across the river in
Azimganj or further south in Berhampore. Part of the reason for this
neglect must lie with the paucity of material written about this historic
place. One can only hope that this splendid book, published by Marg,
will encourage its readers to spend time in this still beautiful, if
decaying, city situated on the banks of the Bhagirathi river. Even more
important, one hopes that an interest by travellers and others will lead
to the careful conservation of some of the fine palaces, rajbaris, and
other buildings, as a legacy for posterity. Such would hopefully
motivate local craftsmen to relearn and develop their ancient skills - for
without them a great part of Bengal's heritage will be lost.
As we have now come to expect from Marg, this book is exceptionally
well presented - carefully laid out with clear typescript and a wealth of
excellent illustrations - both of historic and contemporary images. It is
divided into three sections with carefully researched essays on the
people of Murshidabad, the buildings - both religious and secular - and
finally three chapters on the historic arts and crafts of the city and its
environs. Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, in her two chapters, gives an
intriguing and informative account of the rise and fall of the Muslim
rulers of the City and separately the buildings that were inspired by
their patronage and their successors. One learns fascinating details.
Who would have expected that the true founder of Murshidabad
- Murshid Quli Khan - was born a Hindu? He was then sold as a boy to
a Persian nobleman who converted him to Islam, and subsequently he
ascended in the service of the Mughals to become Diwan of Bengal - a
remarkable meteoric rise at a troubled time in India. It was he who
moved the provincial government from Dacca in the east to
Muxadabad, as the city was formerly known, in about 1703. Rajib
Doogar's essay on the Jains in eighteenth and nineteenth century
Murshidabad is an elegantly written narrative of this remarkable community. Manikchand, a Jain from Marwar, was not only an
immensely powerful and trusted banker (he was granted the title Jagat
Seth - 'Banker to the World' - by the Emperor Farrukh Siyar for his
services) but also, as deputy diwan, supervised the revenue collection
for Murshid Quli Khan and established a Mint in the city. It was from
the profits of the latter that much of his wealth derived. His successors,
through their influence and money, were the 'kingmakers' in the city,
facilitating the rise of Alivardi Khan and perhaps more importantly the
defeat of Siraj-ud-daula at Plassey in 1757 and his replacement by Mir
Jafar. Ironically, within a few years that event brought about their own
decline as the British rapidly assumed power in eastern India. The
second wave of Jains - the Sherwali Jains - arrived from Rajputana
(today Rajasthan) after 1765. They were initially bankers but gradually
expanded their power to become influential zamindars. They left a rich
legacy of late buildings in the city and across the river.
Neeta Das is an admirable architectural historian and her chapter on the
religious buildings is a model of its kind - concise, accurate and
informative - it hopefully will provide an impetus to restore some of
the crumbling buildings she describes with such care - how long will
the beautiful but deserted and overgrown Futi (Broken) Mosque survive
if not conserved? When I myself visited it last year, locals did their best
to dissuade me from venturing into the interior as they feared that, if
falling masonry didn't crush one, a snake bite might kill one!
The final three chapters on the historic arts and crafts of Murshidabad
are invaluable as a source for those interested in India's cultural
heritage. At its zenith, vast areas of land outside the city were given
over to mulberry cultivation for the production of silk. Tussar silk
embroideries and woven silk saris from Murshidabad were famous
throughout the sub-continent and rivalled some of those produced in
Benares. Even today there survives within the city a few weavers
producing striking dyed silk - an art that needs to be encouraged and
nurtured. Jerry Losty's impressive survey of Murshidabad painting
looks first at the sumptuous Mughal inspired paintings of the great
eighteenth century nawabs and then the gradual transformation of the
style to cater for European taste, following the ascendancy of the
British. To me, the Mughal-inspired paintings of the period up to 1765
are superior to any other provincial Mughal School paintings done
elsewhere in India in that period. Murshidabad also was home to
perhaps the greatest of all the Company School landscape painters -
Sita Ram. He worked for the Governor General, Lord Hastings for a
few years after 1814. His watercolours, with their vigorous colours, animated figures and clever atmospheric effects, recalls the work of
arguably the greatest European landscape painter to visit Bengal -
William Hodges. He painted at least one oil of the Katra Musjid on his
visit to the city in 1781.
The last chapter, by Pratapaditya Pal, looks at a subject that today is
highly contentious - ivory carving. It is uncertain when the craft was
introduced into Murshidabad and to nearby Cossimbazar and
Berhampore . It seems probable that it was revived by Murshid. Quli
Khan . Certainly by the second half of the eighteenth century, the ivory
furniture produced there is the finest that was made anywhere in the
world and much still survives - chiefly the superb suites of chairs and
settees sent by Mani Begum to Warren Hastings. The tradition of high
quality ivory carving continued long into the nineteenth century with
the production of both religious objects for Indians and carvings and
chess sets done for Muslims and Europeans. Perhaps one of the more
surprising facts is that most of the ivory is African - back then
elephants were in abundance! This is a craft that should and can never
be revived now that elephants are such an endangered species but the
formidable carving skills could be turned to wood or even stone. This
book is real a joy to read and to look at. Both Marg and the editors must
be congratulated for this groundbreaking survey of an almost forgotten ,
but captivating city.
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