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Abstract
Archaeological heritage is seldom fixed in time. Heritage-making is an ongoing process deeply entwined with social/cultural memory and identity formation. These processes are traced through an archaeological monument, located in the Sundarbans, in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. The monument, named ‘Jatar Deul’, is a brick tower, stylistically labelled as a rekha deul — a curvilinear tower with a cruciform ground plan —belonging to the Orissan architectural style. Its exact chronology is unknown, as is its creator, although it is stylistically dated to the thirteenth century ce. It has survived more in myths, legends, and local tradition than in historical sources. This paper explores how the monument becomes a site of memories and how multi-vocal identities are forged around the locus of the site, now revered as a sacred place of Shaiva worship. The Postcolonial State has only a marginalized presence and the main stakeholders remain non-professional archaeologists, local schoolteachers, and the local population living in close vicinity. Identity work at the site is no longer the archetypal Bengali/regional identity seen in the pre-independence context, but reflects sub-regional cultural/religious affiliations. This paper is the result of ethnographic research, particularly interviews, of select sections of the local community, focusing on the recent organization of an annual fair at the site, which has thrown up questions on archaeological tourism. On the whole, this study examines how an archaeological monument is shaped and formed in the present in contemporary South Asia.
Acknowledgements
I remember with gratitude Sanjay Ghosh, Debishankar Middya, local scholars, and all the interviewees for their enthusiastic participation in the fieldwork. A special word for Jamie Larkin for prodding me on to chisel and fine tune my arguments. I am very grateful to the anonymous referee for the interventions.
Notes on contributor
Bishnupriya Basak is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Calcutta University, Kolkata, India. Her areas of interest include Prehistory, History of Indian Archaeology, Heritage Studies, and Archaeological Theory.
Notes
1 The term rekha deul refers to a monolithic tower typical to the Orissan school of architecture.
2 Pashchim Jatardeul is a large village comprised of 1,239 families with a population of 5,797 residents. Out of the total population, 2,645 were described as being involved in ‘work activities’. 43.21% of the workers describe their work as Main Work (employment or earning for more than 6 months), while 56.79% were involved in marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. Of the 2,645 workers engaged in Main Work, 559 were cultivators (owner or co-owners of plots), while 357 were agricultural labourers (Indian Village Directory, Citation2019; see also District Census Handbook, Citation2011).
3 Lot designated an administrative unit by the British in Lower Bengal in the nineteenth century when this broad mass of land was being reclaimed for cultivation. Before reclamation this land was covered by forest.
4 Zamindars or the landed gentry were a class constituted through the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793 by Lord Cornwallis. As part of the zamindari system the zamindars were recognized as landowners and given the rights to collect rent from the peasants. Durgaprasad Choudhury and Digambar Mitra became landowners of Lot 116. Under their initiative forests were cleared from 1830 onwards. Twenty people belonging to the Munda tribe and hailing from the neighbouring Mayurbhanj district, Orissa, were entrusted with the responsibility of clearing the jungles. The tower was a chance discovery as part of this process (Middya, Citation2014). The settlement of the village in the near vicinity of Jatar Deul may be traced to this time.
5 The tower attracted the attention of early surveyors and colonial officials chiefly for the urgency of its conservation in 1902–03 (ASBC, Citation1903: 24–26) and again in 1916–17, as noted in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India Eastern Circle. Dissatisfaction was later voiced at its poor conservation: ‘The special repairs so far executed have been unsatisfactory, as modern table-mounded bricks had been used for repairs and as the shape of the sikhara had been altered’ (ASIAR, Citation1931: 37-38). Considerable improvements were effected in the same year, as stated in the Report. Twenty-five years later Jatar Deul was mentioned in the Indian Archaeological Review (Ghosh, Citation1957: 49) for repairs of its brickwork and eradication of vegetation growth. In the post-independent context Jater Deul again finds mention for ‘eradication of vegetation growth’, ‘rebuilding of damaged and self-affected brickwork with new bricks sized to match the original in outline’ along with ‘provision of expanded metal doors’. Ever since, a signboard of the Archaeological Survey of India has declared the site as one of national importance. However, apart from conservation the site was not considered worth excavation until 2012, when it was restricted to a single season’s work.
6 The Pala rule, commencing from the accession of its first ruler Gopala in the late eighth century ce, was considered by nationalist historians as a ‘golden age’ in the history of Bengal. Henceforth Bengal was supposed to have emerged as a single integrated political unit from a state of political and cultural chaos. Although this view has been strongly critiqued in recent years (e.g. Pal, Citation2008) it gained popularity in the early twentieth century when the nationalist temper was fired by Lord Curzon’s attempt to partition Bengal in 1905. Datta possibly believed in this notion of Bengali patriotism and went on to argue on the basis of the Munger and Nalanda copper-plates of Devapala that the Pala rule extended as far as Lower Bengal, thereby bringing the region as part of greater Bengal (Basak, Citation2011).
7 Bengal in the sixteenth century ce was in the throes of crisis facing the threat of Mughal aggression externally, and administrative chaos internally. In this situation there arose a group of landlords ruling over different parts of Bengal, commanding absolute control over their subjects in their territory and collecting revenue from them. Known in local history for their valour, they had regularly armed soldiers and they considered themselves no less in supremacy than the Mughal Emperor ruling in Delhi. According to legendary sources there were twelve Bhuiyans or landlords ruling in Banga or the southern part of Lower Bengal in the aftermath of the Moghul conquest.
8 Rarh is the name of the geographical tract in the western part of Bengal.
9 See Saha (2014) for an elaborate discussion of the legend and its implications.
10 Jogi refers to a wandering holy ascetic/mendicant. He was/is believed to inhere magical powers and they are sometimes known as tantriks. The nathajogis are a part of this community — possibly a sub-group — who were/are celibate monks with characteristic physical markers like ash-smeared bodies and matted hair.
11 The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are officially designated groups — recognized in the Constitution — of disadvantaged communities of India. The Scheduled Castes are clubbed under a generic term of Dalits. The Scheduled Tribes are indigenous groups, like the Santal, Munda, Gond, etc.
12 Nath is a surname common among the Schedule castes in Bengal.
13 See Basak (Citation2007) for a detailed discussion on a ‘Official’ Archaeology emerging in the Bengal presidency since 1900 with the formation of the Bengal/Eastern Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India. Other monuments/temples, for instance the Bishnupur complex of temples, attracted consistent attention of the colonial body. Comparatively, Jatar Deul and many others were relegated to the background, subject to cursory conservation and maintenance work.