River Saraswati- Missing Link of Medieval Bengal

We learn from history that in the growth of any civilization, rivers have always played a pivotal role. Think about the Nile in Egyptian civilization, Indus in Harappan Civilization or Ganges in Vedic Civilization. In many countries, rivers have influenced the socio-economic growth. The Hudson River region is one of the America’s treasures. No one will be able to deny the importance of the Thames river in the history of England. Similarly the Ganges, which became known as the Hoogly River in south Bengal helped to develop this region. Kolkata, the City of Joy or the first capital of colonial India mainly gained its importance because of the presence of the Ganges.



Lets think about a scenario. Imagine what would happen if the lifeline of the south Bengal, Ganges, for some reason dried up. Think about the fate of dock area of Kolkata, how the economical growth will be upset and how Kolkata and Howrah would lose their importance - not only in the economical map of India but also with respect to political, social and strategic point of view. This is exactly what happened to the fate of Tamralipta and Saptagram port. We will discuss this here.



The fall of Tamralipta port, rise and decay of Saptagram port and uplifting of Kolkata as the capital of India was connected with the path changing of single river Saraswati which controlled the economy of medieval south Bengal just like river Ganges. It was a silent spectator of many incidents in history. Today we have almost forgotten the importance of Saraswati river which was the tributary of Hoogly, but in the 16th century, not only Howrah and Hoogly gained economical resources owing to this river but also it also served as an important route for maritime trade and connected some parts of Orissa. Drying up of the Saraswati River was one of the major reasons of flourishing of Kolkata as correctly stated by the H. E. A. Cotton - “Here then may be traced nucleus of the future city of Calcutta, and as time went on the silting up of the river opposite Satgaon still further favoured her fortunes.”

We find literary evidences today that have a reference to this river. Merchant Chand Saodagor , hero of Manasamangal, written by Bipradas Piplai, traveled through this river towards sea in his ship. In this riverbed one of the most prominent habitat of Howrah, Andul emerged. Many a pandit, physician, fisherman, merchant came this area and settled. Baishnavite Movement influenced this land. Many baishnab pandits came here through this river from Nabadwip and it was addressed as Dakshin Nabadwip. Andul rajbari was established beside this river. In one place Dattachowdhutrychronicles mentioned that “Mughal Prince Shah Jehan happened to be travelling by boat along the SaraswatiRiver while returning from an visit to Odisha in around the year 1624, when he was fighting with his own father Emperor Jehangir’s forces in order to stake his claim to the Mughal throne.” Vaishnabas visualized Saraswati as Bhagirathi and around 1563 Brindaban Das wrote that Chaitanya used to go to the temple of Udharan Datta which was located on the bank of Bhagirathi.

When Saraswati used to flow on the bed of the Rupnarayan river, the port Tamralipta (situated near Tamluk) was the busiest port in the eastern india for external trade. From Excavations at Moghalmari, writings of Chinese travelers Fa Hien and Xuanzang, we come to know that it was the main exit point of the Mauryan trade route for the south and south-east. But from the end of 7thcentury this port lost its importance because Saraswati had begun to move towards the present course of the Hughli river.



After that Saptagram (near bandel) became the major port and chief city and at one time even the capital of southern Bengal. This port was mainly fed by river saraswati. According to poets Biprodas & Krishnaram Das, this city was heavily populated at the end the end of the 15th century. During the first half of the 16th century the straight stream of Hoogli river was not navigable and the principal navigational channel was the Saraswati river, the westward channel. From 17th century this river started to dry up and navigation for the ships became impossible. By 1535, the Portuguese were well settled in Saptagram. The glory of the Saptagram port reflected in the Chaitanyabhagabat of Brindaban Das. Traveler Ibn Battuta visited Satgaon in 1350. Merchant from Arab, Persia and Turkish traders came to Saptagram for the purpose. From the account of Venetian traveler Caesar Frederick, we find that this port was regularly surrounded by around 30-35 loaded ships. Portuguese traveler Tomé Pires in his work Suma Oriental mentioned that, “It is a good city and rich where there are many merchants. It must have ten thousand inhabitants." English traveler and trader Ralph Fitch, mentioned “Satgaon is a fairy city of the Moors, and very plentiful of all things." After exploration in 1908, D.G.Crawford said that saraswati "is now a very small stream but has still on each side a belt of lowlands………..in south-east of the lowlands beside the saraswati, there is large quadrangular mass of high mound full of broken bricks”. According to him, it was the debris of a river wall where ships were anchored. Archaeologist Rakhal Das Bandyopadhyaya published his findings in 1909 about Saptagram and riverbed of Saraswati. According to him, the whole area, extending from Trishbigha to Triveni, was laid out with bricks, large anchors, chains, cables, ropes and coinsare found in the bed of this river.



The problem with the water flow in the river started to arise during the first half of the 16th century. It was evident from the inscription of the Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah of Bengal from 1505 which stated that he was building a bridge between Satgaon and Triveni. There was no archaeological evidence of the bridge but from this inscription, we get a clear indication of shortfall of water flow in the river. The Portuguese arrived at the coast of Bengal in 1517 AD. According to the traveler Caeser Federicci, due to scarcity of waterfall in Saraswati channel they used to take their big ships up to Betore and then transfer their goods to the smaller ships and boats towards Satgaon. In 1570 just after the conquest of Bengal by Akbar, Ralph Fitch or Vincent le Blanc visited Satgaon. According to renowned historian S.Jeyaseela Stephen (vide: The Indian Trade at The Asian Frontier) these foreign travelers reached Satgaon via Bhagirathi and Saraswati river by boat. Thus, it signifies that the flow of water was not totally withdrawn from the river Saraswati. Ralph Fitch who came to Bengal between 1582 and 1594, described the route from Satgaon to Hoogly as deserted and surrounded by jungle with the presence of wild animals and dacoits also.

The Atlas prepared by Irfan Habib and B.P.Ambasthaya showed that the connection between Saraswati channel and the Hoogly River was cut off with respect to the sketch of Van den Broeke in 1660. When silting of this river started, many traders compelled to set up alternate destinations for trade. They started to shift towards Hoogly. The Portuguese also changed their focus. The granting of Farman by the Emperor Akbar to the Portuguese in 1579 gave the Portuguese the permission to make a settlement at Hoogly. The Sheths and Basacks settled on the eastern bank of the river, and set up the village of Gobindapur. After so many year Job Charnock came at Sutanuti and rest is history.




Reference:


· Sudhir Kumar Mitra-Hugli Zelar Itihas O Banga Samaj
· Rakhal Das Bandyopadhyaya-“Saptagram or Satgaon”, The Journal of The Asiatic Society
· S.Jayseela Stephen- The Indian Trade at the Asian Frontier
· Nihar Ranjan Ray-Bangalir Itihas
· Dr. R.C.Majumdar-History of Ancient Bengal
· Aniruddha Ray and Md. Akhtaruzzaman-Satgaon, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

All feedback appreciated !

                                                                                                                                    Indrani Mazumdar