Dutch tombs dying due to neglect

‘‘This cemetery has an important place in the city’s history. It bears testimony to Dutch settlements in the city during 1600 AD. At this time there was a sizeable Dutch population who had come to India for trade living in the city,’’ says Director of the State Archaeology Department Y.B. Rawat.

The tombs, grouped in four types— Domed tombs, pyramids, walled tombs and plain grave stones, now also bear witness to the shoddy restoration work on one of its cenotaphs by the State Archaeology Department.

Rawat was at a loss, when asked why the reconstructed cenotaph is pink in colour, while earlier pictures clearly show that the structure was brownish-black. He also could not explain why the monument was plastered. Another example of how lightly the State Archaeology Department has taken the conservation work is evident in the way a damaged tombstone has been reconstructed. Though the original tombstone was built using brick and mortar, the Department reconstructed the entire structure using cement.

Lalit Kumar, museum in-charge of L.D. Institute of Indology says: “The beauty of these monuments lie in the architectural style adopted by the Dutch at that time.’’

Some experts say the State Archaeology Department is callous towards the vandalism here and the cemetery is lying in a state of neglect for the last 15 years. Officials in the Department cannot explain why any conservation or restoration work on the monuments was not taken up earlier.

The cemetery came up here as there was a Dutch factory in Ahmedabad in the 17th century and there was a sizable presence of Dutch people in the city then. ‘‘The beauty of this cemetery is that it has a number of cenotaphs built in both Western and Indian styles and some of the graves bear inscriptions in Armenian dating from the 17th century onwards. One of the tombs has a Bengali style gable roof while three tombs have European style pyramidical structures,’’ said Rawat.

The presence of Mughal style tombs over the grave signify the level of integration of the Dutch with the Indian culture of the time.