Museum objects, artifacts, and archival items from the Sarmaya collection.
This picture shows a view of the famous vast-spreading Banyan tree at the Botanical Garden, situated on the west bank of the Hooghly river in Calcutta. The garden was established in 1787 as “Company Bagan” by Colonel Robert Kyd, a horticulture enthusiast, who worked as the secretary of the Military Board at Fort William. Botanist… Read more »
This is a decorative, mid-19th century map of Northern India drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin (vignettes by A. H. Wray & J. H. Kernot) and published in John Tallis’s Illustrated Atlas (London & New York: John Tallis & co, c.1851). The Illustrated Atlas, published from 1849 to 1853, was the last decorative world atlas.… Read more »
This map, Carte Du Bengale, is attributed to Arkstée & Merkus, but it is based on a map by French geographer Loui Brion de la Tour, who also made the Atlas Géneral, Civil et Ecclésiastique’, 1766, and ‘Atlas Général’, 1790-98. The eighteenth century was a time of conflict between the English and French in both… Read more »
The Kalighat area first finds its mention in the 15th century Bengali text, Manasā-Vijaya, written by poet Bipradas Pipilai. It is also mentioned in a 16th century literary work Chandimangala by Mukundaram Chakrabarti. Kalighat was also established as a pilgrimage centre after legend placed a fragment of Sati’s body here, near the Ganges and since… Read more »
This is an image of a bridge over Tolly Nullah at Kalighat in Calcutta by Samuel Bourne. Warren Hastings, the Governor General of India from 1773 – 1785, had acquired permission in 1763 to build a suspension bridge over Tolly Nullah which was to connect Kalighat to his garden house in Alipore. It was later… Read more »
This post-card work is by Jadupati Basu and is addressed to Nandalal Bose. Jadupati Basu portrays a close-up detailed painting of a jackfruit tree. The painting references hot weather and summertime, as it shows the fruits on the tree to be plump and ripe. The tree appears to be in full bloom with leaves, ripened… Read more »
This post-card work is by Jadupati Basu and is addressed to Nandalal Bose. Jadupati Basu has portrayed a scene of trees against the horizon at dusk. The painting is titled ‘The yews, Darjeeling’; there are faint amounts of light around the trees, suggesting that it could be around sunset. There are two taller trees that… Read more »
In the first of this series of ink on card work addressed to Nandalal Bose, Jadupati Basu has depicted a nighttime scene of crickets in a bush. He has titled this painting ‘jhijhirdak,’ which translates from Bengali to ‘the sound of the crickets.’ In this postcard artwork, Basu is conveying to the recipient, Bose, his… Read more »
The subject of this painting is the bust of a young man. The work is expressionist and connects with the viewer directly. The connection is achieved particularly through the soft but direct gaze of the subject. Artist Jogen Chowdhury has achieved mastery in creating figures using only black lines. These lines are almost always distorted… Read more »
The subject of this minimalist painting is a prostrated man. Artist Jogen Chowdhury’s signature style is in use here – fine, seemingly unbroken lines which create figures infused with feelings of social distress. This painting titled ‘man kneeling’ is a famous composition by Chowdhury first made in 2007. He recreates this image several times thereafter.… Read more »
This photograph shows the Tipu Sultan Mosque in Calcutta. For several years in the 18th century, Tipu Sultan fought the East India Company’s formidable imperial policies with the help of his French alliance. He died in 1799, during the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War that resulted in the fall of Seringapatam. After defeat in 1798,… Read more »
This picture shows the temple of Bansberia, also known as the Hangseswari temple, in the Hugli district of West Bengal. In 1792, Raja Nrisinhadeb Rai Mahasai of Bansberia came to Varanasi for retirement. Here, he approved a significant amount of money to raise a temple dedicated to Goddess Hamsesvari, an avatar of Goddess Kali, in Bansberia. He… Read more »
The Bengal Pattachitra is a visual and oral art tradition practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars of West Bengal. They earn their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu Mythology, local folklores, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes through paintings and songs. The unfolding or playing of the Pata is called ‘Pat Khelano’, and the song through… Read more »
This is a photograph shows the Government House in Calcutta which became the Raj Bhavan of West Bengal after Independence. The Government House was built between 1799 and 1803 as the official residence of the Governor of Fort William, the 1st Marquess Wellesley, and remained the residence of the British Governors-General till 1911. The building’s… Read more »
This picture shows a view of Kolkata’s Eden gardens with a pagoda in the background and a bridge over a stream. Overlooking the Hooghly River, Eden Gardens was formally opened to the public in 1840. It was Lord Auckland, the Governor-General (1836-42), and his sisters who conceived the idea of the gardens and assigned the… Read more »
This photo shows a view of the Bandstand and the Burmese Pagoda in Eden Gardens from across Strand Road in Kolkata. It was Lord Auckland, the Governor-General (1836-42), and his sisters who conceived the idea of Eden Gardens around the northern periphery of Fort William and assigned the responsibility of planning it to Civil Architect… Read more »
This gate is said to have been built in 1655 by Shah Shuja, and was noted by photographer John Henry Ravenshaw as being relatively more modern in architectural style than the rest of Gaur. The city itself was long deserted by then, its decline rooted in the sacking of Gaur by Sher Shah in 1539.… Read more »
Built by Sultan Nusrat Shah in 1513 to house a stone representation of the footprint of the Prophet Mohammed, the Qadam Rasul Mosque is a one-domed square building located within the fort enclosure of Gaur. The relic, believed to have been originally brought by a saint from Arabia, was housed in Pandua before being brought… Read more »
Tantipara, which means weavers quarters, is said to have been locally known as a mosque for Gaur’s weavers, a community essential to the city’s economy because of its location in a muslin-producing area. A brick building of uniform red and ornamented walls, the mosque is considered to have been erected in 1480. This photograph was… Read more »
Firoz Minar is a five-storey-high structure estimated to have been built in Gaur during the late 15th century by Saifuddin Firuz Shah, the most revered of the Habshi rulers of Bengal. Much like the Qutub Minar, to which it is often compared, the structure was built to be a victory tower. Firuz Shah, known as… Read more »