Snapshots from History. The black hole of Calcutta.

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When I was a school-going kid in the sixties and seventies in India, we were taught about the black hole of Calcutta and how the cruel Nawab of Bengal Siraj Ud Daula imprisoned 146 Englishmen, both soldiers and civilians in a small room that could barely hold ten people.

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It was a poorly ventilated room with two small windows. There was oppressive heat and when the room was opened only 23 had survived the night and the rest had died of suffocation. This is what was taught to us in Independent India of the sixties.

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This, we children of Independent India were taught, led to the British military action and the subsequent conquest of India.

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This is what the British used to justify their over 200 years of imperial rule over India and Indians.

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And the rulers of free India allowed this to continue for years together. We, the children of newly free India, believed this and were thus taught a false history. The British were the victims and the Indians villains who deserve what the British did to us was the tale.

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Only later, much later did I start to question this. Were we Indians barbarians as we were taught. Did the British make us more civilized?

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Today, as I read and learn more, I find that modern historians doubt the tale spread by the British. The original story is based on the report of John Z Holwell, a survivor of the black hole. It is the only version that has been there for many, many years. There were no independent inquiries or reports. Holwell himself was a part of the British contingent at Fort William, in fact, he was the Commander of the British forces.

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Siraj the Nawab was a young man who had recently come to the throne of Bengal.

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The Nawab was a young man of 23 and beset by people envious of him. His maternal aunt Ghazeti Begum, his army paymaster Mir Jaffar, and Jagat Sheth, the richest man in the land, were against him. The British East India Company fanned these rebellions and plotted against the Nawab.

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Bengal Subah consisted of what is today West Bengal, Odissa, and Bihar in India and Bangladesh. It was one of the richest lands in the country, with trade around the world.

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Mir Jaffar wanted to become the Nawab, Jagat Sheth avoided paying taxes and knew the Nawab had an eye on him. The Aunt wanted to control the throne.

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The British were snug at fort William at Calcutta and did a lot of illegal trade and avoided paying the customs duty and tax due to the Nawab. The Nawabs frequent requests fell on deaf ears.

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There was rivalry between the British East India Company and the French East India Company. The British began fortifying Fort Williams at Calcutta, while the French began fortifying Chandranagore, where they had their outpost.

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Chandrnagore also lay on the Hoogly about 12 miles away from Calcutta. Both the outposts were in the Bengal Subah.

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The fortifications angered and alarmed the Nawab as the Europeans had not informed or taken his permission which was required as per the treaty. No ruler likes the idea of a fortified armed garrison of foreigners inside his territory. He ordered both the French and the British to stop the work.

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The French obeyed and stopped the work but the British, as usual, ignored the Nawab.

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The Nawab set forth against the British and, in short order, captured Fort Williams and Calcutta.

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Most of the British escaped, including the commandant of the British military.

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John Holwell with a few civilians and sundry wounded soldiers was left behind and captured by the Nawab’s forces.

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It was late evening and a weary Nawab ordered the British to be kept in custody till he decided their fate the next morning. At no time did he give any orders to put them in a small cell or torture or harm them. This was confirmed by Holwell himself.

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But the lower-level soldiers, the Jemadars, hated the British for their arrogance, their racial prejudice, and their cruelty. So they jammed the Englishmen in the small room.

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Now here is where it gets interesting, as per Holwell there were 146 persons stuffed into the room, 23 survived, 123 died . But most modern historians agree that this number is hyped. They peg the number to around 64 persons were put into that small room. The number of dead is believed to be between  18 to 43.

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Most question the veracity of Holwell’s report. Modern historians also believe that several mortally wounded persons were also in the group put in the room. This and the infighting among the British to drink water and get near the windows also caused deaths as they trampled on the wounded and the weak. There was no coordination and no leadership shown by Holwell or others. All this contributed to a high number of fatalities.

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The British went to town with the report. There was no independent inquiry, the report was shared and promoted in parts.

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Holwell was clear that the Nawab had no role to play in the episode and when he had the room opened and found the survivors, he treated them well and immediately set them free. But the British authorities never brought this out, they blamed the Nawab alone for the incident and were promoting war against a people, a war of conquest. The hidden goal was profits for the East India Company but this was camouflaged in nationalist jingoism.

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But the British set forth a fable. The Nawab was despotic, oriental despotic rule needed to be ended. There was no civilization in India and Hindus were barbarians who indulged in such horrors against their betters.

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Now the ruler was a Muslim but the British tagged Hindus as having no civilization, a barbaric race that needed to be converted and civilized for their own good and for the good of the world. The British believed themselves to be racially superior to the orientals and so it was their right to ignore orders given by local rulers and try and subdue the local population. To this end it was proper and justified to use all available means including violence, treachery and loot.

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Thus “the Black hole” became a common phrase in the English language, the Nawab was painted as a villain and the English successfully portrayed themselves as the victims and used it to bring untold misery and unparalleled violence to India and Asia under this pretext.

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Even today the Black Hole of Calcutta is used as a term to describe a horror and suffocating place.

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The aftermath of this dark chapter was to prove tragic to the Nawab, Bengal, India and to Asia as a whole. We will look at it later.

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Namaste till the next time.

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