In recent times, the Hormuz
crisis in West-Asia has dominated headlines and sparked intense debates / discussions
on social media platforms worldwide. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway
between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that controls the passage of a
significant portion of the world’s oil supply has become a flashpoint for
geopolitical tension. This echoes the importance of
controlling waterways seen centuries earlier in Bengal’s riverine struggles, albeit
on a smaller scale. My seventh ‘heritage walk’ with Crosswalks to explore the houses of Rani
Rashmoni gave me a rare insight into a curious parallel between the Hooghly River fishing crisis in 19th century Bengal to
the high-stakes crisis of the Strait of Hormuz vis-à-vis the control and
management of waterways.
Rani
Rashmoni, a visionary woman of 19th century Bengal, challenged prevalent
repressive norms of gender, caste, class and religion, to emerge as a
successful entrepreneur and powerful administrator committed to the welfare of
her people. She was loved for her compassion and admired for her courage in
Calcutta’s administrative circles. In the 1840s, the British East India Company declared
that small fishing boats were impeding the movement of ferries on the Hooghly River
and imposed a tax to generate revenue while reducing fishing activities on the
river. The worried fishermen travelled to Calcutta to approach the elite landlords for
help but they did not receive any. As a last resort, they appealed to Rani
Rashmoni. The Rani fearlessly challenged the British to safeguard the
interests of the fishing community. She acquired an ‘ijara’
(lease agreement) from the East India Company for a 10-km stretch of the River Hooghly
for Rs 10,000. Then she barricaded the area with two iron chains and asked the
fishermen to cast nets within this zone. This had an immediate impact as
riverine traffic came to a halt. When the British demanded an
explanation, Rani Rashmoni asserted her legal right to protect her ‘ijara’
as steamships were disrupting fishing in her leased area. The East India Company officials
had to come to an agreement with Rani Rashmoni - they abolished the fishing tax and
the fishermen had open access to the river once more. Rani Rashmoni’s leadership and the
present-day crisis in Hormuz … though very different, demonstrate how waterways
- whether in the form of rivers or straits - continue to shape human history,
connecting past regional challenges to contemporary global issues with enduring
significance.
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Throughout the history of India, remarkable women like Rani Rashmoni have been at the forefront of social-cultural and political movements, however, their profound impact, and even their life stories, has remained obscure or forgotten in mainstream history.
Rani Rashmoni was born into a Mahishya family in Halisahar (North 24
Parganas) in 1793 and was married at the age of eleven, to Rajchandra Marh, son
of Preetoram Marh, a wealthy landlord of Janbazar, Calcutta. The impressive
rise of the Marh family from rather humble beginnings to Zamindari glory remains
a testimony to the combination of a progressive mindset and mercantile success. The
family, originally from the Koley clan, migrated from Burdwan to Howrah and then to Janbazar in Calcutta, transforming from bamboo traders to wealthy
landlords. The family acquired the
name ‘Marh’ due to their ancestral profession as wood and bamboo
traders - ‘baash marh’ (rotten bamboo) was used in their commercial
activities. Among the prominent figures of this family were Babu Preetoram
Marh, a wealthy merchant of 18th-century Calcutta, his son and daughter-in-law,
Rajchandra Das and Rani Rashmoni. Babu Rajchandra was a man of progressive ideals;
who defied prevailing socio-cultural norms and encouraged his wife to work alongside
him in his business and philanthropic ventures. Together they amassed a fortune
and spent a significant amount for funding schools,
hospitals, shelters and built two of Calcutta’s oldest ‘ghats’ - the Ahiritola
Ghat and the Babu Rajchandra Das Ghat / Babughat. After he passed away in 1836,
Rani Rashmoni confidently took charge of the family’s business and continued
with the philanthropic, administrative and religious endeavours. This was quite
unusual in the then-prevailing patriarchal society that suppressed women in
general and stigmatized widows in particular. Rani Rashmoni had to thwart the
attempts of her husband’s acquaintances as well as adversaries who wanted to
manage her estate and ultimately entrusted the responsibility to her
son-in-law, Mathur Babu. Rani Rashmoni had four daughters: Padmamani, Kumari,
Karunamoyee and Jagadamba; and she accomplished much of her work through her
sons-in-law. Babu Mathur Mohan Biswas (Mathur Babu), the third son-in-law,
was her confidante and manager of the Janbazar family estate. He was initially
married to Karunamoyee, and after her untimely death, to Jagadamba. He was also
entrusted with the responsibility of building the Kali Temple of Dakshineswar. The
families of the other daughters Padmamani and Kumari continued through their
respective marriages, although their accounts are less prominent in historical records.
Rani
Rashmoni’s life and legacy are entwined with the iconic Dakshineswar Kali
Temple, a landmark in Bengal. It is believed that the Rani
was about to embark on a pilgrimage to Kashi, when she had a dream that inspired
her to build a temple in her own city. So, she purchased a tract of land on the
eastern bank of the Hooghly River that was owned by a European Christian, Englishman
named John Hastie, which was previously used as a Muslim burial ground. On this
land, Rani Rashmoni commissioned the construction of a temple for Goddess
Bhavatarini in Nava-Ratna architectural style of Bengal. Perhaps she was inspired
by ‘Shyama Sangeet’ of Ramprasad Sen who lived near her ancestral home in
Halisahar. The construction of the Dakshineswar Temple faced major challenges, as
Rani Rashmoni was a lower caste Mahishya widow, Brahmins priests declared the temple
patronage as inauspicious and refused to consecrate the deity. Zamindar
Ramratan Roy of Narail and Prananath Choudhury of Satkhira filed sixteen law-suits
to stop the construction of the temple. Rani Rashmoni solved this crisis by
formally dedicating the temple in the name of her Guru Ramsundar Chakraborty to
ensure its acceptance. Eventually, Ramakrishna Paramhansa arrived at
Dakshineswar in 1855 to assist his elder brother, Ramkumar Chattopadhyay,
the first priest at the newly-consecrated Kali Temple. Following his brother’s
death, Ramakrishna became the priest, beginning his journey of
intense spiritual devotion in this temple. Bhabatarini Kali temple remains
one of the most revered temples despite not being a Sati Peetha.
Rani Rashmoni protested against prevalent social ills against women - child marriage, polygamy and Sati - and extended her support to social reformers like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. Her progressive attitude and pioneering spirit resonate with feminist principles though the term ‘feminist’ was not known in her era. Rani Rashmoni’s legacy lies in her assertion of agency as a widow in a male-dominated society to re-define the possibilities for women’s leadership long before organized feminist movements took shape in the Western World. Her life and activities encourage one to acknowledge the historical depth and span of feminist thought in diverse cultural contexts. From fearlessly taking on the East India Company to establishing the iconic Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Rani Rashmoni left an indelible mark on the history of Calcutta. She remains a lady whose legacy defies titles - she was not a queen (‘Rani’) by birth / marriage, but a queen of her people who lovingly called her ‘Lokmata’.
