Time is ever flowing and vast is the earth. with time everlasting as the backdrop men come on and go off the stage of the earth. In the sound and fury of human efforts, his strutting and fretting, not that all human story is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing. In the tumult of human drama, some rise to Promethean height some acquire transient glory, some twinkle with tragic passion and the multitude go down unheard, unsung and unhonoured. The all erasing hand of time sweeps them all into the bottomless pit of history. But who are the fortunate one whom history churns f up and assigns a place? who can say ? History is the supreme judge. Sometimes some character shaking off the dust of history swims into the surprised gaze of a lone researcher from the ken of history. Perhaps he is not a player on the vast canvas of history. Perhaps he is a small man of a small territory tucked away to an outer frills of the main power game fighting an unequal fight to preserve his power and dignity.
Moyna Garh, East Medinipur. Photo: Arindam Bhowmik
Such a man is Jagadananda of the Bahubalindra dynasty of Moynachourah, who had many ups and downs in his life. At one time he was resplendent in a chaplet of glory, next he became the victim of dishonour. Fortune played with him cruelly. He swayed
tantalizing between royal honour and deposition. He enjoyed; he suffered. The pleasure and agony of his life beggar description. His life is a chiarascuro of desire and despair. Not that he was a coward but he was a wreck of helplessness by the machinations of circumstances. In losing his kingdom he did not lose his self respect in shattering the fulminations of the enemy. This was his triumph if we consider the opposing forces.
Dargha - Moyna Garh, East Medinipur. Photo: Arindam Bhowmik
Ratnalekha Roy finely delineates the history of the bahubalindras for the first fifty years after the East india Company assumed power (1757-1807). Chitta Panda brings into focus the decline of the Bhubalindras --- an accurate picture of that time. The English were aggressive propelled by seft interest and the Bahubalindras were made helpless and inactive by the non-cooperation and opposition of the compatriots. Ratnalekha Roy sheds brilliant light on this aspect of the bahubalindra dynasty. brajananda comes clear in her writing. Brajananda assumed the rule of Moynachaura at an early age under the tutelage of his mother Laksmipriya Devi by the dictat of the Company. uncle Rupchand came in aid of Brajananda, The ruler lost his independent role with the rein of the rein at the hand of the Company. The company's was the last word.
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Laksmipriya is the first name of a housewife which featured in the Bahubalindra genealogical table. In the four hundred year old history of the Bahubalindras no other name of woman came to light. And that too emerged from the relevant documents of the cruel foreign rulers. Long years after Radhashyamananda married a girl of the royal family of Tamluk. She died a premature death and her name also could not be found. Radhashyamananda married her sibling Apurbamoyee. Since then the reconds of the womenfolk of the Bahubalindra family were available. But who was this Rupchand ? His family name and other descriptions are missing. He definitely did not belong to Bahubalindra family as jagadananda, father of Brajananda had no brother according to family custom of the Bahubalindras.
Be that as it may, Brajananda grew up acquiring skill and wisdom through experience. He was held in high esteem in his own area. He was made the president of the great Brahmin Sammilani (Assembly of Brahmins). |
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It was an exceptional honour to the king of Moynachaurah. Brajananda had a rather different kind of struggle than his father Jagadananda. Brajananda also failed to meet increasing demand for revenue by the English but he did not go into direct confrontation with the English. But when he was made to abdicate, he was intelligent enough to prevent the proud entry of the new ruler by resorting to tricks and deceits which he did not consider to be dishonourable in the field of war. Narajole got the help of Bardhaman king but Brajananda did not get any help from the queen of Mahisadal. Perhaps she had a secret desire to bring Moynachaurah under her suzerainty. this bitterness between Brajananda and the queen of Mahisadal gave leverage to the English. Ratnalekha Roy finely discusses this psychological interplay.
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Though deft at portraying the dignified figure of Brajananda, she sadly lacks the penetration in the case of Jagadananda Roy. The portrait of Jagadananda Roy in the pre-plassey period was clear enough in the writing of Ratnalekha Roy but the spirited and courageous Jagadananda Roy was absent in the post-plassey period. In the anti-British struggle to protect the rights of self determination in Midnapore, the pride of place should have gone to Jagadananda. But neither Ratnalekha Roy nor any other historians of Midnapore have focussed sufficient light on this aspect of Jagadananda's character. With his struggle against the British getting fiercer and more disasters coming down upon him, his name got into history. On February 16, 1773 Governor (later Governor general) Hastings and the members of the Council sent orders : Take the Zamindar of Moynachaurah prisoner for his insolent and contemptuous behaviour and send him to Calcutta. A letter sent a month later was more vicious, Edward Baber kept sending volumes
of complaints. In reply the council directed : If it possible to locate the absconding Zamindar of Moynachaurah, made him a captive and send to Calcutta. Post guards to prevent his re-entry. As a punishment for his impudent and rebellious behaviour seize his estate. Scrap the heirs and put the estate on auction. what a travesty! In the charter of agreements ratified between the company and Mirkassem in 1760 it was settled that the Zamindars would not be displaced.
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