Pataldanga

Anindita Mazumder

Pataldanga, a prominent neighbourhood in old Calcutta figured in the earliest maps of the colonial city. It was surrounded by Mechuabazar, Boubazar, Lalbazar and Baithakkhana and located south of Mirzapur with Thanthan-e at its north. It was named so, probably because of its fertile soil which allowed huge production of this particular vegetable. According to noted linguist, Sukumar Sen, ‘danga’ referred to uninhabited plot, barren or farmland.

Pataldanga was one of the 31 police stations whose jurisdiction was drawn up in 1785 to provide conservancy services and to maintain law and order. Pataldanga included many areas of Mirzapur mouza and streets like College Row as well as College Square. The Lottery Committee dug the pond and developed the area which was subsequently named as Vidyasagar Udyan. It was known as Pataldanga Square before the Sanskrit College came up. The street and the square adjoining the college came to be known as College Street and College Square.

Though it was a residential area it became a hub of educational institutions including Medical College followed by a hospital set up on recommendations of the Fever Committee. Hindu College for some time functioned from the wings of the building belonging to Sanskrit College. Pataldanga became the principal centre of education and scholarship by the middle of the 19th Century. The School Book Society started an outlet for books beside Hindu College in 1826 and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar opened a bookshop called Sanskrit Press Depository in 1847. And in popular parlance David Hare’s School was also called ‘Pataldanga School’ because of its location. A number of Derozians and other young men imbibed Western education in this historic school which later came to be known as Hare School. The printing trade also shifted base from Battala to Pataldanga and the book trade subsequently flourished in the area, with College Street earning the sobriquet, ‘boipara’.  Once Pataldanga became the bookman’s quarter other ancillary activities also flourished in the adjoining areas such as book binding and wholesale paper trade in Baithakkhana. Trade of old, yet priceless books flourished on the pavements.

The most famous among the residents of Pataldanga were the Basu Mullicks and two of the lanes in the area are named after the members of this illustrious family. Their actual surname was Basu but one of their ancestors, a dewan to the Nawab of Bengal was bestowed with the title ‘Mullick’. The most famous among the Basu Mullicks was Radhanath (1798-1844) who was born at his maternal uncle’s house at Panchanantala lane in Pataldanga. After completing his studies he was appointed as a benian to a European shipping company. Though initially he was only an employee with a noted shipping company, Beauchamps & Co., he was inducted as a partner due to his sheer hard work and enterprise. He along with his partners bought a ship called Sir William Walsh for a princely sum of Rs 12,000 in those days. Radhanath had noted that though large number of big ships regularly touched upon Calcutta, there were no provisions for their repair and hence decided to set up Hooghly Dock Yard on a plot of 1 bigha and 17 cottahs at Salkia along with Samuel Reed, a manager of the Beauchamps Company. He spent around a lakh of rupees on this venture. When Reed went back to England, the heirs of Radhanath became the sole owner. In 1825, Radhanath bought plots adjoining the residence of his maternal uncle to build his own house. Initially, the address was Panchanantala Lane, Goalpara, Arpuli village. The house is now spread on Radhanath Mullick Lane and Sreegopal Mullick Lane – named after the youngest, scholarly son of Radhanath. He was a scholar of Vedas and Hindu scriptures. He also donated Rs 1 lakh to Calcutta University for the spread of higher education. The university began a fellowship programme named after him. Raja Subodh Mullick was another noted personality of this family though he belonged to the Wellington branch.  The Basu Mullick family was also the centre of culture and tradition holding Durga Puja in their vast courtyard. Rabindranath Tagore had chaired a meeting at this house on Radhanath Mullick Lane where nearly 1,000 students had gathered on October 27, 1905, during protests against Partition of Bengal. Since it was a hub of education for native students Anushilan Samity had set up an akhara in Pataldanga apart from Darjipara and Grey Street. This area was the hotbed of the freedom movement particularly involving students and organisations like Defence Association, Anti-Circular Society and Bengal Theosophical Society which were housed in various buildings. Arobindo Ghosh too had lived here after being released from jail. Mahabodhi Society and Calcutta University institute are located in the same area.

Another influential family was the Ghoshals. It was Rupnarayan Ghoshal who had constructed their residential house at the crossing of Surya Sen Street and College Square and his son Ishwar Chandra Ghoshal was a Deputy Magistrate of repute. Pramod Kumar Ghoshal who was the President of the first students’ body formed in pre-independent India hailed from this family.

 Prankrishna Dutta in Kalkata-r Itibritta also mentioned about the Aich family who had settled in Pataldanga after being evicted from Govindapore and are thought to be the kins of the Basu Mullicks. Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das was born at a house in Pataldanga Street.

But Pataldanga has been immortalised in literature by Narayan Gangopadhyay through his unforgettable character – the indomitable Tenida with his penchant for tall tales and his three lieutenants. Tenida is said to have been inspired by a real life personality. Tagore in Chokher Bali chose Pataldanga to be the locality where Binodini would set up her own independent establishment after leaving home with Mahendra. The para had a thriving ‘mess culture’ (lodging for students and service holders) that attracted the youth, intellectuals and budding writers from all over the city. If adda sessions were a fixture, so were the little food joints dotting the entire stretch. Mouth-watering sweets and singaras at Putiram, tea-and-toast at Favourite cabin, or the famous sherbets at Paramount and Paragon also earned fame for Pataldanga. Though Pataldanga as a neighbourhood had been relegated to oblivion, Pataldanga Street off Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani still exists today.