Maharaja Nandkumar
It is the place where Maharaja Nandkumar, the Nawab-appointed Diwan of Hoogly,Nadia and Burdwan, was hanged till death for his "audacity" of accusing the first Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings, of bribery and corruption.
Maharaja Nandkumar, who was conferred the title of Maharaja by Shah Alam ll in 1764, was appointed the collector of taxes in the same year by the East India Company in place of Warren Hastings.
In 1773 after Hastings was reinstated as the Governor-General of India, the Maharaja brought the charges of corruption against him. Strangely, as the governor general of India and the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, Hastings had the power of overruling the accusation which he did. He then brought charges of forgery against the Maharaja in 1775. Nandkumar was tried under British law even though he was an Indian. It seems that was the only way the Maharaja could be taught a lesson since conviction for forgery under British law meant capital punishment.
Maharaja was tried under Sir Elijah Impey, India's first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta and very conviniently,a school friend of Warren Hastings.
As is anybody's guess, the Maharaja was sentenced to death and was executed on 5th August,1775.
This is documented history.
However, the strangest thing is, no one knows for sure where he was hanged. Historians direct us towards a place in present day Hastings area, just opposite the Army Residential Complex near Khidderpore Bridge.
Out of curiosity and a sense of adventure, following old newspaper leads, I decided to visit the place which apparently the Maharaja,as a devout Hindu, had himself chosen so that he could face Adi Ganga when he was murdered.
What I saw was a shock that I am yet to recover from. Surrounded from all sides with tea shops, auto stands, curious bystanders with no work and a Ward office, the gallows has obvious popular political paint on it to match the outer wall and all the surrounding buildings.
The gallows looks like a deep well, filled with unimaginable filth since it seems to be a dumping ground for the localites who throw trash inside, answer their calls of nature inside giving rise to a horrible stench, dry their washed clothes and selectively,spend their nights.
But strangely, there is no epitaph, no claiming for sure that this is the gallows where the Maharaja was hanged. Although the well has a huge rotating iron lever whose presence is inexplicable other than being an object to be used to raise or remove a stage from under someone's feet to teach him a lesson.
On the 69th Anniversary of our Independence (although why we are celebrating it as the 70th is beyond me) I feel we have the right to know the truth and pay proper respect to the victim of India's first political murder under the British.
Jai Hind.
--Debjani Datta
