Kolkata, centuries before Job Charnock: what newly excavated finds tell us

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.

What’s been excavated

The new finds include 12 cultural layers of habitations over virgin soil, various types of potteries belonging to various periods (Gupta, post-Gupta, Kushan, Islamic, early mediaeval, mediaeval ); coins including some with punch marks and some of copper; broken parts of terracotta figurines; copper antiquities such as hairpin and iron nail; fish hooks, stone beads etc. Soil samples, charcoal and pottery have been sent for scientific dating, and a report will arrive in 6 to 8 months.

“There is definitely a history of this place which predates the colonial era,” said Subha Majumdar, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI Kolkata Circle, who is heading the excavation. “Even before the zamindari of Sabarna Roy Choudhury and others, the place had settlements. After preliminary examination of the findings, we can say that there was human settlement in this area dating back to first and second centuries CE. Once we get the report, we will be able to say clearly when the first settlement took place,” Majumdar said.

The new finds include 12 cultural layers of habitations over virgin soil, various types of potteries, coins, broken parts of terracotta figurines etc.

Why Clive House

Majumdar said Clive House and the mound outside were selected for excavation for the site’s historical significance.

In 2001, an excavation by the ASI at Clive House had found some evidence indicating that the city could have had a history predating the colonial era. Those finds, however, were not scientifically dated. “In 2019, further excavation began. However, the work was suspended due to the pandemic. In March-April, the work resumed,” Majumdar said.

Soil samples, charcoal and pottery have been sent for scientific dating, and a report will arrive in six to eight months.

Clive House, which itself stands on a mound, is one of the oldest buildings in Kolkata. Some portions of it have been encroached. It is named after Robert Clive, the first British Governor of Bengal Presidency, who used it as a country house. Details are vague as to who built it and when: Some records mention a treaty between Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah and Robert Clive in this building on February 6 or 9, 1757.

It is close to a site called Chandraketugarh, where excavations in the 1950s and 1960s revealed an almost continuous sequence of habitations from six periods from the pre-Mauryan to the Pala periods. “The house was built at a strategic position given it stood en route to Chandraketugarh which once thrived with settlements. And the house was on a mound, which provided a strategic view of the area. After moving in, Clive modified the building,” Majumdar said.

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