Economy & Ecology in A Bengal District Burdwan 1880-1947

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Achintya Kumar Dutta (born 1961) M.Phil, Ph.D., is Reader & Head of the Department of History, The University of Burdwan. This book has grown out of his doctoral work. Besides contributing articles to various scholarly journals, he has edited Intellectual History A New Understanding (1999), and Ethnicity, Nations and Minorities The South Asian Scenario (2002). He is currently working on social history of kala-azar in North-east India for which he has been awarded post-doctoral Commonwealth Fellowship in U.K.

The present volume is a revised version of my doctoral work at Jadavpur University. I am deeply indebted to Professor Chittabrata Palit for his advice, care and affection in completing this work during and after the period of supervision. I have greatly benefited from his constructive critique and suggestions in revising this dissertation. He always inspired me to express my observations freely and represent them in a rational and objective manner. He had always urged me to get this work finished.

This work seeks to trace the course of change in the spheres of a district's economy and ecology during British rule keeping an eye on the changes in Bengal. I feel indebted to the celebrated historians on agrarian history of Bengal whose arguments have had a direct bearing on my interpretation. Most of these debts are acknowledged in the text of this work.

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Late Nani Gopal Dutta, and Ajit Haldar, formerly of the department of History, and that of Economics of Burdwan Raj College for the benefits I reaped from stimulating discussions with them. I am very much thankful to Professor Suchibrata Sen of the Visva- Bharati University for his valuable suggestions and stimulus in rewriting this work. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Professor Amit Kumar Mallik, Vice-Chancellor of our University for his encouragement to complete this work.

I would also wish to thank my friends and colleagues who have helped me in my research in many respects. I would especially like to mention Amalendu Banerjee, editor of the Pallibasi, Tarun Pine, a staff of the office of the State Gazetteer, Kolkata, and the editors of the Damodar and Bardhaman Bani. 1 also wish to record the help that I received from those persons who ungrudgingly spared much time in answering my questions while taking their interviews. They gave me a lot of precious information and it has been acknowledged in the text of the work.

In recent times, local history has grown as a subject of interest in historical research. A corpus of books and articles on it has come up in our country in the last few decades. Even subaltern school of historians have made careful investigations into local history from below. These researches tend to highlight the basic characteristics of local history and the problems of local-regional integration. District history more or less approximates that. The validity as well as the relevance of local history is beyond doubt. The study of local history illuminates the understanding of national history, Macro history cannot always throw light on local diversities. History is not a perceptual knowledge and like science it cannot be put into generalisation because this practice tends to obscure local diversities. Diversities have to be taken into account for a comprehensive knowledge of a wider region. There is a multitude of variables in a given historical situation and a knowledge about them evokes scientific historical consciousness. Local history greatly helps in fulfilling this process. In other words, a careful investigation and analysis of local history or micro history tends to constitute macro history.

Before stating the nature and scope of this work, it would be pertinent to indicate why I have chosen Burdwan district for my enquiry. Burdwan has a very rich heritage and glory of the past and it grips the attention of the scholars. Burdwan was one of the healthiest and prosperous places in Bengal. It was the highest revenue payer in Bengal Subah during the Mughal administration and also under the colonial rule. The zamindars of Burdwan thus greatly contributed to Bengal's treasury. Even the metropolis of Calcutta enjoyed the financial benefits from Burdwan through the liberal bounty of Burdwan raj family. What is more fascinating, it is from Burdwan that the English Company received the Badshalu Sanad from Azim-us-Shan for purchasing the zamindari of Calcutta, Sutanuti and Gobindapur. Burdwan district has been the original homeland of historical personalities like Rashbehari Bose, Rev. Lal Behari Day, Rashbehari Ghosh, Maharaj Manindra Chandra Nandi, Ramesh Chandra Dutta, Kaviraj Shyamadas Bachaspati and a host of other celebrities. These are some of the important features which have fascinated me in undertaking this study.