Kolkata, centuries before Job Charnock: What newly excavated finds tell us

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Recent excavations by the Kolkata Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) at a mound outside the Robert Clive House in Dum Dum have revealed evidence of settlements in Kolkata that can be almost 2,000 years old. 

These findings provided further evidence of human habitation in Kolkata from centuries before the time British administrator Job Charnock was said to have founded the city.

About Kolkata

Kolkata with its grand colonial structures like Victoria Memorial, Town Hall, Metcalfe Hall, and St. John’s Church is widely considered to be a colonial city. 

Job Charnock, an English administrator who landed in the city in the mid-17th Century is considered the founder of the city as he took control of three villages Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. 

However, a 2003 judgment of the Calcutta High Court ruled that the English administrator cannot be called the “founder” of Kolkata. 

Why did the court rule that Charnock was not the founder of Kolkata City?

The Court ruling is based on a report from an academic committee. The committee found that a “highly civilized society” and “an important trading centre” had existed on the site long before Charnock established his settlement. 

The committee also found that a place called Kalikatah was an important religious center adjacent to Kalighat village with its Kali temple. The site is mentioned in Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasa Mangala (1495) and Abul Fazl’s Ain-I-Akbari(1596).

Further, the excavations at Chandraketugarh about 25 km from the present demarcations of Kolkata had also provided some evidence in the 1950s and the 1960s. 

About Clive House

​​Clive House is one of the oldest buildings in Kolkata. It is named after Robert Clive, the first British Governor of Bengal Presidency who used it as a country house. 

Some records mention a treaty between Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah and Robert Clive in this building on February 6 or 9, 1757.

Source: The post is based on the article “Kolkata, centuries before Job Charnock: What newly excavated finds tell us” published in Indian Express on 8th June 2022.