Alinagar, a Black Hole in Calcuttans’ memory
The ‘Black Hole’ incident has attained semi-mythical status, particularly in the western imagination. For the British today, two events loom large in that part of the collective psyche which remembers British India- the Black Hole of Calcutta and the Indian Mutiny at ‘Cawnpore’.
In popular literature ‘Black hole of Calcutta’ has become a short hand for describing a particularly unattractive geographical spot. It has even led to the naming of the most interesting physical phenomenon of our time. Yes, ‘Black Hole’ of space is named after a small prison cell located in eighteenth century Fort William, Calcutta[i].
The actual incident, though very unfortunate, normally, would not occupy more than a footnote in the history of victims of warfare; its prominence has more to do with the justifications of British Empire that started being propositioned in early twentieth century. But the wider context of the Black Hole incident is indeed significant for the history of the city. The ‘Siege of Calcutta’ marked a decisive turn for the British in Bengal; British India was formed in its aftermath
In 1756, Siraj ud Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, ran out of patience with the East India Company. The Company had been fortifying Fort William, mainly due to the fear of an attack from the French, who had their own settlement in Chandernagar, further up the Hughli River. The Nawab was also generally concerned with the growing clout of the Company and particularly disliked the farman of 1717 which exempted the firm from paying tax to the exchequer.
Siraj asked the Company to desist from fortifying its settlement. The Company did not pay heed. On 20th June 1756, the Nawab marched into the city after defeating ill-prepared soldiers of the Company in a short battle. The Black Hole incident occurred that night. Someone from the Nawab’s army put the prisoners (East India Company officials and soldiers) in the Fort’s small prison cell (it was colloquially referred to as ‘black hole’ by Fort inmates before the incident). The cell was hugely overcrowded, and many did not survive the night due to lack of water and air. Estimates of casualties vary between 60 and 120.
‘Siege of Calcutta’ lasted four months. Calcutta briefly became ‘Alinagar’. The move was a huge miscalculation on Siraj’s part. He did not realise that the organisation in Calcutta was, first, part of a network of East India Company settlements in India, including those in Surat and Madras, from which reinforcements could be summoned at a short notice, and second, the trade in Bengal was too valuable to the Company to give up without a fight. And fight they did. Reinforcements soon arrived in the form of Lord Clive commanding a strong army and the city was recaptured by the Company in January 1757. Alinagar became Calcutta again.
[i] See Siegfried, Tom, “50 years later, it’s hard to say who named black holes”, Science News, December 23, 2013
