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Call Me Kal kataa...

The 'City of Joy','City of Palaces','Calcutta' or 'Kolkata' we might call the magnificent city by any name but it all started with "Kal kataa hoye chilo" meaning "I cut it yesterday" in 'Bengali'. There is no official documentation regarding the foundation or naming of Calcutta (Presently Kolkata). According to all the documented prooves the three villages of Kalikat, Gobindapur and Sutanuti along the banks of river Hooghly, later on turned to the present day Calcutta during the late 17th century. In 1698, the British East India Company bought the three villages of Kalikat, Gobindapur and Sutanuti from the local Zamindar (Landlord) family of Sabarna Roy Choudhury. Thus, the British set there foot in Calcutta and established their dominance eventually colonising the entire Indian sub-continent in the next 200 years.

Old  look of the City of Calcutta , Source- Pinterest

                  There are different theories regarding the naming of the city some of which are:
  • The City has been famous around India for its famous Hindu goddess Kali, It is believed that the place recieved its name fom the old name KaliKshetra i.e. the place of Kali. A lot of mythologists support this theory.
  • An another theory suggests, the place being situated beside a 'Khal'meaning 'Canal' in Bengali i.e. river Hooghly got its name from the origin of settlement.
  • According the old literatures, the place got its name from the word 'Kalika' meaning 'Flat Area' in Bengali.
  • The most famous of all the theories is that the city was named by Job Charnock. He was the offical of the British East India Company who came to the village of Sutanuti on August 24th 1686, in order to establish a factory at the village of Sutanuti which was a textile hub at that time. The name came into existance when Job Charnock asked a farmer the name of the area around river Hooghly. The farmer misunderstood the words of Charnock and thought Charnock was reffering to a bunch of Paddy harvest which was kept by the side of the road. So the farmer in excitement replied "Kal kataa hoye chilo" meaning "I cut it yesterday" in 'Bengali'. The misunderstanding made Job Charnock thought that the name of place was 'Calcutta'.

Dockyard of Calcutta in old days, Source- Camper

                    The theory of Job Charnock being the founder of Calcutta was widely spreaded and he was termed as the 'Father of Calcutta'. Till 2003 this theory was succesfully believed and 24th August was celibrated as the birthday of Calcutta. In 2003 the 'Calcutta High Court' ruled out the fact that Job Charnock was the founder of Calcutta. The court stated that the cities origin dates back to time much earlier than the origin of Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Portuguese, French or the British East India Company. There might be many controversies behind the naming of the city but certainly there are no controversies behind the fact that Calcutta remained as the land of art, culture, literature, buisness, festival and heritage for many decades. The 'City of Joy' remained the capital of British India till  1911 from the beggining of the British rule in India, after 1911 the city turned into the capital of the Province of Bengal of British India till the Indipendence of India in 15th August 1947. Post Indipendence the city of Calcutta became the capital of the state of West Bengal.
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