Context:

=> Recent archaeological excavations in Kolkata have provided further evidence of human habitation in the city from centuries before the time British administrator Job Charnock was said to have founded the city.

=> Charnock worked for the East India Company.

=> He was historically been credited with founding the city in 1690 when the Company was consolidating its trade business in Bengal.

=> Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the area was under the rule of the Bengal Sultanate of the Mughals.

What’s the issue?

=> The view about Charnock being the founder was challenged, and in 2003, Calcutta High Court declared that Charnock ought not to be regarded as the founder.

=> It ordered the government to purge his name from all textbooks and official documents containing the history of the city’s founding.

=> The court found that a “highly civilised society” and “an important trading centre” had existed on the site long before Charnock established his settlement.

Historical references:

The site is mentioned in Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasa Mangala (1495) and Abul Fazl’s Ain-I-Akbari (1596).

By: ASRAF UDDIN AHMED