Karatoya : North Bengal University journal of History, Vol. 12

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3948

Note from the Editorial Desk

On behalf of the Department of History, University of North Bengal, it is my privilege to present to the readers the Volume 12 (2019) of the Karatoya: North Bengal University Journal of History. The journal has incorporated the research papers from ancient Indian History, Medieval Indian History and Modern Indian History and contemporary as well. The Volume 12 is being published after all the articles having been refereed and peer reviewed with the ISSN 2229-4880. The Karatoya: North Bengal University Journal of History is a UGC Approved Journal of Arts and Humanities with Serial No. 42512

The editor of the journal does not judge for the facts stated, opinions expressed and conclusions reached is entirely that of the authors concern and the editor of the journal accepts no responsibility for the same.

It is my solemn duty to express my gratitude to our Honourable Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Finance Officer for their generous concern on “Academic Endeavour’. I am thankful to my colleagues of the Department of History for their warm encouragement and necessary cooperation for publishing this journal. Dr. Tahiti Sarkar associate editor of this volume deserved huge appreciation for her constant help in publishing this volume.

I am also grateful to all the contributors for providing valuable research papers. Last but not least, the Officials and the Staffs of the North Bengal University Press deserve heartiest thanks for their cooperation in printing the journal within limited span of time.

Dr. Dahlia Bhattacharya (Editor-in-Chief)

Dr. Tahiti Sarkar (Associate Editor)



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    Negotiated Physical Spaces and the Economic Landscapes in Early Colonial Bengal (C.1757-C.1857)
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Roy, Varun Kumar
    Bernier has vividly described the wealth of Bengal about a century before British conquest. According to him, Bengal mass-produced rice in such profusion that it not only supplied its neighbors but many remote places. Bengal’s excess rice was transported by sea to Masulipatam and the ports on the Coast of Coromandel, Maldives, and Ceylon. Its sugar was exported to Golkonda, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Of commodities of value, silk and cotton cloth exported as far as Lahore and Kabul but also for all the neighboring kingdoms and Europe.2Verelst ascribed the prosperity of Bengal before Plassey to the “cheapness and quality and the huge traffic of the products manufactured. Besides the huge investments of the many European nations, the Bengal raw silk, cloth, etc., to a vast amount was dispersed to the West and North inland as far as Gujarat, Lahore, and even Ispahan.” 3 This research article tries to address how Bengal which was once very developed in trade and commerce was total ruined.economic degeneration of Bengal began since the days of Alivardi (if not earlier, from MurshidQuli’s time) to hold that the oppression of the company’s servants and gomastas were alone responsible for the decline of Bengal manufacturers and industries and that this began closely after Plassey, is to see from only one side of a coin.
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    Developments in Tobacco in the Princely State of Cooch Behar
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Debnath, Tapas; Sarkar, Tahiti
    Tobacco was a very popular intoxication content in colonial Bengal. Though several countries imposed certain restrictions on the use of tobacco, the colonial period became a mark on the growth of tobacco consumption and trade. Due to the growing demands, there was a need to improve quality and quantity of tobacco in India. A number of scientific approaches were suggested and adopted for the improvement of quality and quantity of tobacco. Princely states of Cooch Behar took keen interest in this matter. The main aim was to make the tobacco trade of Cooch Behar a profitable one. The Commissioners of Cooch Behar and Maharaja Nripendra Narayan had taken various experimental measures for the improvement of tobacco. A modern farm was established for that purpose. Prince Gojendra Narayan was also interested in tobacco cultivation. Victor Nityendra Narayan, visited famous tobacco growing countries. Though the investment and efforts on these experiments were much, the success rate was not satisfactory. There was always a fluctuation in the quantity, quality and rate of the tobacco in Cooch Behar mainly owing to rainfall and hailstorms.
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    Was Academic Association a Student Movement or Resurgence of the Social Awakening? A Critical Assessment
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Pain, Swapan Kumar
    After the introduction of modern education system a fresh consciousness gradually brought the educated youth and students in contact with the modern events in various parts of the country and the world at large. They started to pay attention to the problems facing the country and the people and to look upon them in different light. At the outset of the 19thcentury the problems related with the social reforms were the focal point of students’ agitation. This consciousness of the students was one of the consequences of modern system of western education introduced by the colonial masters. This insisted the educated youth conscious about the social, economic and religious inequalities, discriminations and orthodoxies. These social evils led to the serious reaction among the educated middle class or the Bhadraloke class and it reflected comprehensibly in the ideas of Raja Rammohan Roy, Derozio and Young Bengal and several other streams. The primary reaction of the educated youth and students was not only political, but also social, humanistic and cultural. They began reacting to the needs of better and wider education, social change, discussions on various questions of mutual interests, to spread and share the newly acquired knowledge and consciousness and to protest against various kinds of injustices. This new intellectual segment or, group was originally influenced by the ingredients of freedom, fraternity and equality of the French Revolution. They were also influenced by the writings and compositions of the great philosopher and scholars like Mill, Bentham, Thomas Paine, David Ricardo, Adam Smith etc. This new wave of students was initiated with the inspiration of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, the young professor of Hindu College and with the movements of Young Bengal. In 1828, after a constructive discussion, the formation of Academic Association took shape in the House of Derozio. Derozio was its first president and Uma CharanBasu, student of Derozio, was its first secretary. The students of Derozio were the forerunner of this mission. It was the first student organisation in India functioning in an organised and regular manner.
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    A Critical Study of the Official Policies on Child Labour in India 1947-1979
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Rakshit, Samiparna
    This article essentially analyses the different constitutional provisions, all the laws and regulations, committee resolutions regarding child labour during the period from 1947(the year of India’s Independence) to 1979 (International Year of the Child) to tease out the actual official attitudes of the post-colonial Indian nation-state to the problem of child labour. We have also resorted to critical reading and deconstruction of texts as official policies are largely reflected in the drafts and final texts of the Five Year Plans, other policy documents and the wrings, speeches and comments of ministers, legislators and policy-makers. In order to situate the Plans, policies and official programmes discussed in this article in their appropriate economic and political context, we have also drawn upon the relevant gamut of social-scientific literature. The child labourers were obviously elided by the State’s policy makers as they were exposed to successive links in a chain of exploitation. The poorer sections were being systematically exploited because an unequal economic system was pinning the lower classes down to poverty.
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    Spaces of Protection, Regimes of Exception: Anthropologists, Administrators and the Framing of the Late Colonial Discourse on Tribal Regions (1920-1950)
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Tewari, Saagar
    In the decades leading to Indian independence, a number of anthropological works by figures like J.H. Hutton, J.P. Mills, Verrier Elwin, William Archer, Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf and, Wilfrid Vernon Grigson etc. were published at regular intervals from 1920s onwards. Taken together, there is a remarkable unity in the ideas of this ‘knot of men’2 whose writings played a crucial role in articulation of ideas and strategies designed for the protection of tribal communities in future India. These individuals were definitely not the founding fathers of this ‘tradition’ and their arguments built upon a much earlier lineage of similar anthropologically minded administrators. However, given that this period was also the twilight of the British Indian empire, their contributions were extremely significant. Without analyzing them, it is almost impossible to theorize the ‘bridge’ which connects the late colonial to the post-colonial period as far as the discourse on the Indian tribal population is concerned....
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    Feminism, Post-Colonial Discourse and Indian Liminality
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Sarkar, Prajnaparamita
    The ‘Women Question” was a central issue in the most controversial debates over social reform in early and mid-nineteenth century Bengal-the period of so-called renaissance. What has perplexed historians is the rather sudden disappearance of such issues from the agenda of public debate towards the close of the century. From then onward, questions regarding the position of women in society did not arouse the same degree of public passion and acrimony as they had only a few decades before. An attempt has been made through this article to interpret this change.
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    Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Nashya Sheikh Community of North Bengal: A Study on Some Agricultural Beliefs and Practices
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Md Nabiul Islam
    Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Cultural heritage is of two types: Tangible and Intangible. ‘Tangible Cultural Heritage’ refers to physical artifacts produced, maintained and transmitted intergenerational in a society. ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ indicates ‘the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their or a place’s Cultural Heritage’ Traditionally, the Nashya Sheikh Muslim community of North Bengal is believed in various Belief and Customs.. In this paper, an attempt will be made to we find out historical significance of some agricultural belief and practices of Nashya Sheikh community of North Bengal, prospect and problems facing this heritage and steps to be taken to preserve it.
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    Globalisation and Its Impact on Siliguri
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Kumari, Minakshee
    Globalisation is considered an amalgam of social-cultural and economic outcomes which resulted from the opening of the Indian economy. Globalisation is conceived to be an expansion of a neoliberal market economy where market entry becomes important players. In a simple manner, globalisation has been defined as changes in the density of International and global interaction related to local or national networks. Globalisation has a huge impact on the city of Siliguri. This paper discusses the impact of globalisation on Siliguri.
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    Caricature in Print Media: A Historical Study of Political Cartoons in Colonial India (1872-1947)
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Bhattacharya, Dahlia
    With the growth of print media in the nineteenth century there was development of national consciousness and social awareness among the middle class educated gentry of India. Thebeginning of cartoons started in India with the Colonial influence and gradually the visual culture became a significant part of the print media. The present paper intends to unfold a narration of the growth and development of political cartoons in India in the colonial period and to understand the representation of the then contemporary political situation with humour and caricature. The article tries to look into the racial arrogance, the colonial outlook towards Indians and a reaction of the Indians through the vernacular political cartoons.
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    Bengal Traditional Games And Sports Culture Around In Twentieth-Century North Bengal
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Roy, Badal; Lama, Sudash
    Games and Sports are an integral part ofthe culture.Traditional games and sportsform the backbone of a community, thus intangible heritage and a symbol ofthe cultural diversity of our societies. It also reflects different cultural expressions that create a bridge among the cultures.This article aims at exploring how children particularly in rural areas of NorthBengal contribute to sports despitethe economically poor but culturally richtradition of the country. They did so to enjoy their leisure with the limited resources available to them like broken bangles, tamarind seeds, and old clothes especially for those who cannot afford to buy expensive goods.