DT e-Paper, Saturday, October 15, 2016

Heritage
13
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2016
DT
The ruins of palaces
around the city
district, even the
early 20th century
Oxford Mission
Church, the largest
such in Bangladesh,
bear their own
testimony to the
immense bounty
at the foundations
of such visible local
affluence
research and record such a rich and
colourful history.
Located effectively on one of
the main distributary waterways
of the great Ganges, it is probably
safe to assume that its history
dates back for millennia; indeed, a
location close to nearby Gopalganj
is postulated as the ancient
recorded capital of the Kingdom of
Gangaridai. That kingdom, we have
every reason to believe, existed in
these deltaic lands from at least
the 4th century BCE, the time of
Alexander the Great, to the 2nd
century CE/AD, when the Kingdom
is marked on Ptolemy’s famous
map.
It may very well prove, if the day
ever comes for serious exploration
of this heritage, that deep beneath
the alluvium of the area lies
evidence of a past that reaches back
thousands of years.
The apparently endless, flat,
swampy lands of these deltaic
plains have, for centuries, been
significant rice-producing areas,
certainly from the earliest times
when exports of rice to other parts
of the Indian sub-continent and
elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Without much doubt, those
cargoes shipped from the ancient
port of Barisal. No doubt, also,
perhaps, together with cargoes
of the jute that is also extensively
cropped in the region as that,
too, became a major cash export
crop from the 18th century. This
agricultural bounty accounts for at
least some of the wealth reflected
in the merchant mansions of the
city, and the zaminder palaces of
the district.
It is that wealth of architectural
heritage, in mosques, temples,
churches, public and private
buildings that provides the most
tangible clue to, not only that
commercial wealth of the area, but
also the significance of public and
religious activity.
Certainly, Barisal was amongst
the points of departure across the
waters of the delta for travellers
and traders on the Grand Trunk
Road, the millennia old route that,
eventually, reached from Kabul in
Afghanistan to Chittagong. That
Chandpur represented a hub for,
especially, such as rail travel to the
spread of Raj controlled territories
into what is now north east India,
there is no doubt, but whether
reached by water from the Hoogly,
or by land, there is little doubt
that Barisal played its own part in
such transit; as indeed it continues
to do so today, as a major station
on the water route, still plied by
the famous “ferry” craft to the
Sundarbans.
Such points of transit, of
course, also derive wealth from
such travellers. Even beyond the
tangible evidence of wealth, we
have environmental, historic, and
documentary evidence.
The famous Durga Sagar, the
largest artificial lake in southern
Bangladesh, of course, represents
late 18th century wealth and power
of the local zamindari, as do the
numerous zaminder palaces in
the area. But, one of the earliest
documentary descriptions of life
in Barisal, in the late 16th century,
firmly established both the
significance of the location, and the
evident affluence of its inhabitants.
It is clear that even lower social
classes displayed some of that
affluence.
Ralph Fitch, the English
merchant, a leatherworker of
London, who, in the mid 1580s, in
the course of extensive travels in
the region, visited “Bacola,” paints
a vivid word picture of the city.
He had, according to his
published journal, already been in
Cooch Bihar, and his description of
the “citie Bottia,” in today’s Bhutan,
stands as one of the clearest pieces
of evidence of the Southern Silk
Road trade route, with his mentions
of “merchants which come out of
China, and say out of Muscouia
and Tartarie ... Come to buy musk,
agates, silk, pepper, and saffron like
the saffron of Persia.”
Indeed, it has even been
suggested that he himself may
possibly even have penetrated
to Lhasa in Tibet. He was not,
therefore, liable to be easily
impressed by Barisal, which he so
evidently was.
“From Chatigan in Bengal, I
came to Bacola; the king whereof
(almost certainly the famous
Pratapaditya) is a Gentile (Hindu),
a man very well disposed and
delighted much to shoot in a gun.
His country is very great and
fruitful, and hath store of rice,
much cotton cloth, and cloth of
silk. The houses are very fair and
high built, the streets large, and
people naked, except a little cloth
about their waist. The women wear
a great store of silver hoops about
their necks and arms, and their legs
are ringed with silver and copper,
and rings made from elephants’
teeth.”
In Fitch’s commentary we may
accept that, quite apart from his
description of the tall buildings,
broad streets, and lavishly
decorated residents, which must
denote the wealth of a flourishing
centre of trade, his references also
support the view of a flourishing
agricultural and manufacturing
economy. Indeed, Pratpaditya’s
wealth was almost legendary!
Perhaps more interesting still, is
sufficient evidence, today, in those
early period mosques and temples,
and of both Buddhist and Christian
places of worship, too, that social
cohesion was also strong. As the
18th century French philosopher
observed: “Peace is the natural
consequence of trade!”
From Barisal, Fitch travelled
on, giving us a much more
comprehensive glimpse of
the wealth and trade of the
environment within which the
port city lay. Passing through
“Serrepore,” probably close to
Dhaka, he arrived in “Sinnergan”
(Sonargaon), and, even there, it
seems, he found little more than
had already so impressed him at
Barisal.
His travels, of course, resulted
in a report on his return to London
that was significantly responsible
for consolidating the chartering of
the East India Company; we can
have no doubt that his report must
have reflected the potential for
trading wealth in the region.
And there can, also, be little
doubt that the evident affluence of
Barisal was amongst the evidence
he provided to Queen Elizabeth
to justify the development of
the trade that was to prove, in
the ensuing two centuries, the
foundation of, still, the greatest
empire the world has seen: The
British Empire. •
Tim Steel is a communications, marketing
and tourism consultant.