Kolkata, centuries before Job Charnock: what newly excavated finds tell us | Explained News,The Indian Express

The excavations were carried out by the Kolkata Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at a mound outside Clive House in March-April.

Recent archaeological excavations in Dum Dum, some of them dating back as far as the first century CE, have provided further evidence of human habitation in Kolkata from centuries before the time British administrator Job Charnock was said to have founded the city. The excavations were carried out by the Kolkata Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at a mound outside Clive House in March-April.

Documented history

Charnock, who worked for the East India Company, has historically been credited with founding the city in 1690 when the Company was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. Calcutta comprised Kalikata, Gobindapur and Sutanuti villages, which the British bought from local landlords. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the area was under the rule of the Bengal Sultanate of the Mughals.

The view about Charnock being the founder was challenged, and in 2003, Calcutta High Court declared that Charnock ought not to be regarded as the founder. It ordered the government to purge his name from all textbooks and official documents containing the history of the city’s founding.

Based on a report from an academic committee, the court found that a “highly civilised society” and “an important trading centre” had existed on the site long before Charnock established his settlement. The committee found that a place called Kalikatah was an important religious centre adjacent to Kalighat village with its Kali temple. The site is mentioned in Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasa Mangala (1495) and Abul Fazl’s Ain-I-Akbari (1596). In 1608, Emperor Jehangir granted the jagirdari of Kalikatah to a zamindar family, known as the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/kolkata-centuries-before-job-charnock-what-newly-excavated-finds-tell-us-7957768/


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