The travels of Bengalis in the past
Sumana Dam
Swarnakumari Devi (1855–1932) was one of the first Bengali women poets, novelists, and composers. She was the first bengali woman editor of a magazine. She was the daughter of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore and the elder sister of Rabindranath Tagore. In 1877, her elder brother Jyotirindranath Tagore started a magazine named Bharati. After Jyotirindranath and Dwijendranath Tagore, Swarnakumari Devi was elected to the post of editor of this magazine in 1884. After that, she worked as the editor of the Bharati magazine in two phases for a total of 18 years, till 1914. She was also involved in political activities. She was the first woman to participate publicly in a session of the Indian National Congress. In 1896, she established the “Sakhi Samiti” to help orphans and widows. Her novels include Dipnirban, Chhinnamukul, Hugli'r Imambari, Phuler Mala, etc., and she also has many poetry books and plays. She composed more than 300 songs. She received the Jagattarini Gold Medal.
News of Swarnakumari Devi’s first travel episode is found in the 1883 journey to Karwar. She went to Karwar in the Bombay Presidency, the workplace of her second elder brother, ICS Satyendranath Tagore. Her companions were her brothers Satyendranath, Rabindranath, and sister Saudamini. Some information about this journey can be found from the writings of Swarnakumari Devi’s daughter Sarala Devi and Rabindranath Tagore. But no writing of Swarnakumari Devi herself has been found.
Then in the same year, 1883, Swarnakumari Devi went to Bolpur with her family. Jyotirindranath’s wife Kadambari Devi also went with her. Some information about this Bolpur journey is found in the writings of Swarnakumari Devi’s daughter Sarala Devi.
In 1887, Swarnakumari Devi went on a trip to Darjeeling. Her companions were Rabindranath, his wife Mrinalini Devi, their young daughter Bela, sister Saudamini Devi, and Swarnakumari Devi’s two daughters. In the Bharati magazine of 1295 (Bengali calendar), from the Baisakh to Bhadra and Kartik issues, this writing was published serially under the title Darjeeling Patra (Letters from Darjeeling). At first, she was ill and bedridden. Then every evening, a reading session was held, which she enjoyed. They stayed at Castleton House, the old residence of the Lieutenant Governor. To the south of this house was Mall Road, and a 500-feet-high hill called Observatory Hill surrounded the road next to the house. There is no better flat walking place than this road. There is no jungle of trees and plants here; instead, trees full of flowers line the road like the roads of Kolkata. On the western side of the road, on slightly steep grassy land, there are bushes of ferns and roses. Below this slope to the west, some way down the road, are the well-decorated shops of the English. On the green body of the mountain, beautiful white houses rise in layers. Sunlight falls and the houses shine like glass. At night, the lights of the houses shine like stars on the body of the mountain. The opposite side of Mall Road, which the writer calls “park,” has preserved some marks of how Darjeeling used to be a jungle before becoming a city. The old jungle is preserved on both sides of the wide road. One day, while going to the park, she lost her way and went elsewhere.
The beauty of Darjeeling starts from the way to reach it. Just after Jalpaiguri is Siliguri, which is the valley of Darjeeling. From there, one has to climb the hills by a train. This train is even smaller than the horse-drawn tram of Kolkata. While riding in the train, one can easily touch the plants on both sides of the road.
After becoming healthy, the writer always wanted to go outside and see the open views of Darjeeling. They went for 2–3 days to see Victoria Waterfalls or Kakjhora. They climbed up to Observatory Hill. From there, views can be seen beautifully in all directions. Also, the deity Durjay Ling resides there. Some say the word “Darjeeling” came from “Durjay Ling” or “Ling.” But Sarat Chandra Das (note: 'Expedition to Tibet'), who went to Tibet, said “Darjeeling” is a Tibetan word. It came from “Dorje.” “Dorje” means thunderbolt. In the Tibetan language, thunderbolt is used in the sense of supreme. That is, “Darjeeling” means the supreme place. Sarat Chandra Das said that the Raja of Burdwan came here and established the Durjay Ling deity. Before that, there was no such deity here. But according to the writer, in 1844, the father of barrister Manomohan Ghosh (Ramlochan Ghosh, who built the old palace of Pathuriaghata and who was the Dewan of Warren Hastings) came here. There were almost no roads then, yet he came and saw Durjay Ling.
After that, the writer saw a round-domed temple in the Bhutia Basti, the main settlement of the Bhutias, a little below Darjeeling town. Here, the teeth and nails of a lama have been kept in memory. And there is a gompha (monastery), where in the veranda there are large prayer wheels. The more the wheel spins, the more the mantra rotates and the more sins are destroyed. Inside the gompha, there are idols of Mahakal and Mahakali. As the main deity of the temple, there is an idol of Buddha and Kali. Even after asking several times, they couldn’t understand the name of the third main deity. The Buddhism here is mixed with Hinduism, like in Tibet. Non-violence is not the supreme religion here. Alcohol and meat are not forbidden for the lamas. Then she wrote about the play of clouds and sunshine in Darjeeling.
Sinchal is about ten thousand feet above Darjeeling. The British used to have a military camp here. But as the soldiers could not tolerate the cold here, their barracks were transferred to Jalapahar. With hundreds of chimneys and broken walls, Sinchal is now just the ruins of a city. Tiger Hill is 500 feet higher than Sinchal; from here, parts of Dhavalagiri (Mount Everest) can be seen. The road to Tiger Hill is very bad, palanquins can't go here. One has to walk very carefully on narrow paths. Reaching the top, the mind was filled with a wonderful view. That day, the peak of Dhavalagiri was not visible as that side was covered in clouds. The Kanchenjunga range was seen quite well.
The writer and her companions once went to Rangit. Rangit is a river in Sikkim. The surrounding area is also named after the river Rangit. It is 11 miles downhill from Darjeeling. Across the river is the independent state of Sikkim. They reached near the river, traveling through a forested path in palanquins while watching Kanchenjunga. The water of this river is green. Along the way, ferns, wildflowers, parasites, and big trees — things not seen in Darjeeling — were present. That evening, they returned home via Mall Road in palanquins. Mall Road was then filled with English men and women, music bands were playing, the whole place was lively. When the British, in exchange for taxes, took this place from the King of Sikkim to make a settlement for health purposes, Darjeeling was a jungle region. There were no roads from Bengal to come here. Recently, after Macaulay’s Tibet Mission, the British have completely stopped giving that tax to the King of Sikkim.
In 1888, Swarnakumari Devi went to Gazipur. Rabindranath Tagore also stayed there for a few days with his wife. In 1296 (Bengali calendar), Gazipur Patra was published in the magazine Bharati. It contains many details about the journey, including the train ride from Howrah. Along with that, the writer shares humorous and lively conversations with Rabindranath. From Gazipur, she also traveled to Kashi with him.
In 1891, Swarnakumari Devi visited Pune, Solapur and such places in Maharashtra. Here too, her elder brother Satyendranath Tagore was residing for work purposes. In 1298 (Bengali calendar), she wrote about this travel in the Bharati magazine under the title Patra (Letters). In Pune and Solapur, she wrote about visiting art galleries, exhibitions, British fancy dress balls, horse races, and various sports exhibitions. At this time, she also visited Pandharpur and Akkalkot by train.
On arriving at Akkalkot station, they were taken by a carriage sent by the local king to the royal palace. The queen was very tasteful and had decorated the house beautifully. The king himself showed them the palace, fort, court, school, royal market, treasury, and the hall where the highly valuable elephant throne was kept. This king was enthroned with British support and spent lakhs of rupees to please the British.
(To be continued)
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