1 I want to thank many people at the conference who gave me excellent feedback and suggestions--particularly John McLane, Ralph Nicholas, Clinton Seely, and Hugh Urban. The essay as reprinted here is substantially the same as it was delivered.
2 Kathleen Erndl, Victory to the Mother: The Hindu Goddess of Northwest India in Myth, Ritual, and Symbol (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 80.
3 See, for instance, John R. McLane, Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 89.
4 The zamindar was Kamsanarayan, of the Tahebpur region of Rajshahi. See: Kaliprasanna Sinha, Hutom Pyancar Naksa, 2nd ed. (Calcutta, 1862), p. 235 n. 1; and "Puja Quiz," from "The Saturday Statesman," Calcutta, 12 October 1991.
5 See Bimalcandra Datta, Durga Puja: Sekal theke Ekal (Calcutta: Ramkrsna Bibekananda Institute of Research and Culture, 1988), p. 111.
6 This claim for Raja Krsnacandra Ray is made by the "Calcutta Journal," 7 October 1820, vol. 6, no. 285, pp. 366-367; the "Samacar Darpan" newspaper of 17 October 1829; and Kaliprasanna Sinha, Hutom Pyancar Naksa, p. 235 n. 1. It is possible that Kacandra saw himself in continuity with Kamsanarayan, as he had his own court paits make the Durga Puja ritual prescriptions, as originally devised by Rames Sastri, the court pandit of Udaynarayan, the grandson of Kamsanarayan, easier to follow. See Ibid. Bharatcandra, Krsnacandra's famous court poet, says of his patron in the introductory section to the first part of his Annadamangal poem, written in 1752-53, that "all the people call Krsnacandra "deviputra," or "the son of the goddess"; Bharatcandra's editor notes that this is because he used to celebrate the Pujas with such pomp. See Bharatcandrer Annadamangal, ed. Nirmalendu Mukhopadhyay (Calcutta: Modern Book Agency, 1986), p. 15 n. 2. William Ward, while not asserting that Krsnacandra was the first to initiate this Puja, as he claims he was in the case of Kali Puja, does note that his grandson, Raja Isvarcandra, offered 65,535 goats during the course of one three-day festival during the late 18th century [William Ward, The History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos, 4 vols., 3rd ed. (1817: Delhi: Low Price Publications, 1990) 3: 116 note.
7 One can find numerous references to the celebration of Durga Puja in the eighteenth century. Bimalcandra Datta, for example, devotes a whole chapter of his Durga Puja: Sekal theke Ekal to early Pujas in Calcutta (pp. 109-137), and quotes a travel report from James Mitchell, a British clerk to a sea captain, who describes the Pujas as he saw them in 1748 (pp. 261-262). J. Z. Holwell's travel account also testifies to the popularity of the festival in the 1760's; see ƒvŽnemens Historique InterŽssans, relatifs aux Provinces de Bengale, & ˆ l'Empire de l'Indostan, trans. from the English (ArkstŽe & Merkus, 1768), pp. 151-154.
8 It was the Treaty of Allahabad, concluded in 1765 between Clive and Emperor Shah Alam II, which gave the British power to introduce truly drastic changes in the administration of Bengal. Under this agreement the Emperor made the Company the dewan of Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar, in exchange for 2,600,000 rupees a year in tribute. The Muslim nawab was to retain the office of subadar, with responsibility for defense and law, but in actual fact the nawabs were chosen by the Company and were stripped of revenue and military power.
9 "Calcutta Journal," 7 October 1820, vol. 6, no. 285, pp. 366-367. Similar sentiments are echoed in a Bengali newspaper called "Samacar Darpan," from 17 October, 1829, quoted by Kaliprasanna Sinha in his Hutom Pyancar Naksa, p. 235 n. 1. A different twist on this argument is presented by other nineteenth century newspapers which blame Muslim religious feeling less than the conditions of lawlessness which pertained under their rule. For example, "in days when spoilation and plunder were practiced with impunity, when robbery and theft were committed in the broad daylight of the sun, or in other words, when the security of property was unprovided by any form of government, it was generally unsafe for the people to make a show of their wealth either by adopting a pleasant and comfortable mode of living, or laying it out in some commercial speculation." From "An Account of the Denajpoor Raj Family," 2 April 1857, from The Hindoo Patriot, cited in Benoy Ghosh, Selections from English Periodicals of 19th Century Bengal vol. 4: 1857 (Calcutta: Papyrus, 1979), p. 28.
10 Robert Orme, Historical Fragments of Mogul Empire (1781; London: F. Wingrave, 1805), pp. 450-451, quoted by Shirin Akhtar, in The Role of the Zamindars in Bengal 1707-1772 (Dacca: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1982), p. 33. He also gives corroborating evidence from John Shore and Luke Scrafton. Another indication that the zamindars feared to demonstrate to the nawabs the true degree of their resources comes from "The Territorial Aristocracy of Bengal Ñ The Nadiya Raj," in The Calcutta Review vol. 55, no. 109 (1872), pp. 93-94, which describes Krsnacandras grand-uncle, Raja Ramkrsna (ruled on and off from 1694-1715), who impressed Prince Asim-us-Shan as being the only zamindar who dared come to court at Mursidabad with a stately retinue. All the rest "came attended with only a few followers, not daring to show their wealth."
11 "Besides the thugs and robbers, Saktism also attracted the Hindu rajas and Dewans, who on one plea or another, whether it had been for non-payment of revenue in time or for any other fault, were being oppressed by their Muslim masters ... This phenomenon created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Hindu rajas and Dewans. To overcome their inferiority complex and to acquire power and glory, the Hindu rajas and Dewans took to the worship of Kali, an incarnation of Sakti. Large sums of money were sent for the making of the image and for its decoration." Aparna Bhattacharya, Religious Movements of Bengal (1800-1850) (Patna: Aparna Bhattacharya, 1981), pp. 98-99.
12 Records of Government, June 27, 1757, H.H.S. 193, 170-171, quoted in Shirin Akhtar, The Role of the Zamindars in Bengal 1707-1772, p. 107.
13 Mir Kasim imprisoned Raja Baidyanath of the Dinajpur Raj, Raja Ramna Raya, Raja Rajballabh, and the Hindu financier, Jagat Seh, in Moonghir Fort. He had Ramnarayan drowned with a sack tied around his neck, Jagat Seth was rolled down the river from the ramparts of the Fort, and Rajballabh was flayed alive. Baidyanath bribed the prison guard, however, and escaped. See "The Hindoo Patriot", 9 April 1857, cited in Benoy Ghosh, Selections from English Periodicals of 19th Century Bengal vol. 4: 1857 (Calcutta: Papyrus, 1979), p. 31.
14 Early accounts of the Pujas in Calcutta may be found in British travel memoirs, such as L. de Grandpre, A Voyage to the Indian Ocean and to Bengal, 2 vols. (Paris, 1801, and London, 1803), cited in P. T. Nair, ed., Calcutta in the 18th Century: Impressions of Travelers (Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1984), pp. 254-255, and newspapers, such as the "Calcutta Journal" and "Bengal Hurkaru." For a longer discussion of this issue, with many examples, see my unpublished paper, "The Changing Features of Durga Puja in Colonial Calcutta," presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Chicago, 1994.
15 Take the Burdwan and Nadia zamindars as an example. They patronized religious activity of all sorts, regardless of their own personal leanings, building temples for Siva, Krsna, and various forms of the Devi. They gave land and financial grants to a host of relations, followers, Brahmas, and respected holy people, as well as drawing gifted persons in medicine, arts, and literature, to their courts. Krishnanagar, the capital of Nadia under Raja Krsnacandra, was the greatest center of learning and culture in eighteenth century Bengal. Patronage also extended to non-Hindu institutions and personages; the zamindars made land grants to living pirs and donated funds to maintain the tombs of deceased ones.
16 Quoted from a letter written by the collector of Burdwan to the Board of Revenue, dated 16th May, 1786; reproduced in W. Hunter, The Annals of Rural Bengal, 6th ed. (1883; Calcutta: Indian Studies Past and Present, 1965), p. 37.
17 See A. B. Mahmood, The Revenue Administration of Northern Bengal 1765-1793 (Dacca: National Institute of Public Administration, 1970), p. 36.
18 Raja Baidyanath of Dinajpur [Board of Revenue Consultations, September 17 1773, R49/41, 3088-3089], in Shirin Akhtar, The Role of the Zamindars in Bengal 1707-1772, p. 188 n. 6. Baidyanath's adopted son, Radhanath, died at age 24, a virtual prisoner in his own house. The British at the time claimed that he was so profligate a spender that they had to sell off half his estates to meet his revenue arrears, but a later commentator writes that "it is probable that the increase of strictness with which the collections were made [after 1772] was the true cause of the decline in which the family had lived under its Mahomedan masters." See E. V. Westmacott, "The Territorial Aristocracy of Bengal--The Dinagepoor Raj," in The Calcutta Review, vol. 55, no. 109 (1872): 217. A similar letter of protest to the Company was received from the Raja of Jessore, who asked for an advance in his allowance to defray the expenses of Durga Puja and expressed anxiety for the preservation of the dignity of his family [S. Charter to Bengal Revenue Consultation, 13 September 1773, BRC September 17, 1773, R49/41, 3087], in Shirin Akhtar, The Role of the Zamindars in Bengal 1797-1772, p. 189 n. 1.
19 For more information on the Permanent Settlement, see: Sirajul Islam, Permanent Settlement in Bengal: A Study of its Operation 1790-1819 (Dacca: Bangla Academy, 1979); J. R. McLane, "Revenue Farming and the Zamindari System in Eighteenth Century Bengal," in Land Tenure and Peasant in South Asia, ed. R. E. Frykenberg (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1979); Ratnalekha Roy, Change in Bengal Agrarian Society c. 1760-1850 (Delhi: Manohar, 1979), chap. 4; N. K. Sinha, Economic History of Bengal, 2 vols. (Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1962), vol. 2, chap. 7; and N. K. Sinha, "Administrative, Economic and Social History, 1757-1793," in his ed., Economic History of Bengal (1757-1905) (Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1967), pp. 96-105.
20 Tejascand, zamindar of Burdwan from 1770 to 1832, wrote to the collector of Burdwan, S. Davis, whom he succeeded in winning over to his cause, the following: "It must have proceeded from the oversight, rather than from any just and avowed principle, that there should be established two methods of judicial process under the same government, the one summary and efficient for the satisfaction of its own claims, the other tardy and uncertain in regard to the satisfaction of claims due to its subjects, more especially in a case like the present, where ability to discharge the one demand necessarily depends on the other demand being previously realized." Quoted by S. Islam, Permanent Settlement in Bengal, p. 52. The rajas of Nadia and Bisnupur made similar objections. For a discussion of Tejascand's near refusal to comply with the Permanent Settlement agreement, see N. K. Sinha, Economic History of Bengal 2: 155-156. The situation was not righted until Regulation Eight, of 1819, which finally gave the zamindars the same powers over their tenants as the Company exercised over them. This was enacted after the previous Acts (Act Thirty-five of 1795, Act Seven of 1799, and Act Five of 1812) had failed, from the zamindars' perspective, to be sufficiently strong.
21 Bhaskara, the leader of the Marathas, attempted to celebrate the festival with the help of the local zamindars. He was routed by the nawab's army after the eighth day of the Puja, however. See Edward Dimock and Pratul Chandra Gupta, trans., The Maharastha Purna: An Eighteenth Century Historical Text (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), p. 40.
22 "The most amazing act of worship was performed by the East India Company itself: in 1765 it offered a thanksgiving Puja, no doubt as a politic act to appease its Hindu subjects, on obtaining the Diwani of Bengal (including Bihar and Orissa). The sum spent is cited variously as having been between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 30,000." See Sukanta Chaudhuri, ed., Calcutta, the Living City, vol. 1: The Past (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 25.
23 Brijen K. Gupta, Sirajuddaullah and the East India Company, 1756-1757: Background to the Foundation of British Power in India (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966), p. 30.
24 See my essay, "The Changing Features of Durga Puja in Colonial Calcutta."
25 To give just a few representative examples: Durga was imprinted on coins belonging to Candragupta I of the Gupta dynasty; the Mahabharata depicts both Yudhisthirra and Arjuna praying to Durga before battles (Vanaparva 6 and Bhismaparva 23); the Devi Purana 22.23 equates Durga's worship with a royal asvamedha; and popular stories associate the akal, or untimely, autumnal season of Durga Puja's celebration with the fact the Rama worshipped Durga before his battle with Ravana in Lanka.