An Ugly Brawl To A National Symbol

An Ugly Brawl To A National Symbol

“A man, whether he is a Hindu or a Muslim, who has Dharma along with other qualities, is superior. A man who with all his qualities, lacking in Dharma is inferior, no matter whether he is a Hindu or a Muslim” – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

 

Historian William Clinch visited different parts of Eastern India during the reign of Mughal emperor Jehangir. In his travelogues, he mentioned a particular place in Bengal – Brahmapur. Etymologically, the name was coined after the predominantly Brahmin families who used to live there. When Murshidabad was made the capital of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha in 1704, this place was popularly called Satpukuria Brahmapur. At that point of time, seven big ponds (pond is known as ‘pukur’ in Bengali) were located in that locality. After the Battle of Plassey in June 1757, the village was fortified by the East India Company. From that time onwards, the cantonment town became known as Berhampore.

Fortification at Berhampore

It was the afternoon of 15^th December, 1873. The cantonment town was buzzing for a completely different reason. Col. Duffin, the Commanding Officer of the Cantonment, organised a cricket match among the British soldiers at the Barrack Square Field.

Barrack Square Field (in the present time)

Several high ranking British officials and few influential local Indians were invited to see the match. Mr. Robert Hand – the Principal of Berhampore College, Reverend Barlow, Judge Benbridge, Durgacharan Bhattacharya and Raja Jogindra Narayan Roy of Lalgola were some of the luminaries, present on the ground.

On that day, the 35-year old Deputy Collector of the district was returning home after a pretty busy day at office. His palanquin bearers, unlike the other days, took a short-cut route that passed through the field. When the match was on a very interesting juncture, the palanquin suddenly entered the field. This led to a disruption in the match. Very passionate about his game, Col. Duffin got very angry and ordered the gentleman, sitting inside the coup, to come outside.

On the other hand, the Deputy Collector, a principled and upright Bengali gentleman, was unaware of the fact that the palanquin bearers would go across the field, instead of the road usually taken. For a few minutes, he couldn’t understand the commotion all around. In the meantime, an enraged Col. Duffin, after verbally abusing him, rained a few punches. Publicly humiliated, he filed a lawsuit against Duffin at Mr. Winter’s court, who was the District Magistrate of Murshidabad, on the very next morning.

District Court, Murshidabad

Considering the high-profileness of the case, the courtroom battle started almost immediately. The Magistrate summoned all the eyewitnesses for testimony. Quite predictably, most of them denied the tiff but Principal Hand admitted the unruly confrontation. Raja Jogindra Narayan Roy and Durgacharan Bhattacharya favoured the govt. officer. However, giving the excuse of his poor eyesight, Judge Benbridge contradicted his testimonial. As all the legal representatives of Murshidabad and nearby places supported the Bengali officer, Col. Duffin had no other option than to hire a lawyer from Krishnanagore, Nadia to defend him. After hearing lot of heated arguments from both the parties, Mr. Winter announced the next date of hearing - 12^th January, 1874.       

The tiff on the cricket ground between an upright Bengali officer and an arrogant British military personnel, became the talk of the town of Berhampore. The ongoing national movement added a lot of hue to this court case. The scene at the court on 12^th January morning was chock-a-block with great number of people. Not only from Murshidabad, thousands of curious impatient onlookers from faraway places, gathered to hear the verdict. Europeans, too, were also present in large numbers.

Finally the moment, everyone was waiting for, arrived. As instructed by the Judge Winter, Col. Duffin apologized to him in open court. According to eye-witnesses, when Duffin folded his hands for apology, the young brigade of Bengali diaspora present in the courtroom, began clapping, laughing and shouting nationalistic slogan. A report on that case, published in the Amrita Bazar Patrika few days later, stated - it appeared that both the parties 'were perfect strangers to each other and he (Col. Duffin) did not know who he (Deputy Collector) was, when affronted him. On being informed afterwards of the position of the Babu, Col. Duffin expressed this contrition and desire to apology. The apology was made in due form in open court where about the 1000 spectators, native and Europeans, were assembled.' 

The story didn’t end there. The courtroom-drama infuriated the Europeans greatly. They started to hatch a vicious plan to eliminate the officer clandestinely. Meanwhile, Raja Jogindra Narayan was alerted by his men about the conspiracy. To save him from the clutches of the vengeance-seeking sympathizers of Duffin, he invited him to Lalgola.  At that time, the Presidency of Bengal comprised the provinces of Bihar, Orissa and Assam in addition to Bengal proper. He, by then, was already posted in more than 10 districts and sub-divisional towns of the Presidency and earned a reputation for his honesty and integrity. He reluctantly took a leave from his duty and went there to stay with Raja’s family at Lalgola.

Lalgola Palace

Faraway from humdrum of all the controversies, he tried to focus on his inner self and spiritual belief. There were a few temples in Lalgola which he used to visit regularly. It was the idol of Goddess Kali that moved him and he could relate the deity wearing a garland of skulls to his motherland, suffering misery. As per some historians, on the auspicious night of ‘Maghi Purnima’ on 31^st January, 1874 (though few others debated about the date), he created a ‘mantra’ that has had enough fuel to boil the blood of the Indians as well as the British. 

A rare painting of Vande Mataram

Vande Mataram was thus written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.