THE TALE OF GUNGA RAM Charles Johnston. May 20 1889. When the lesser rains began to sputter in the dust, things had already gone far with Gunga Ram. The peaceful tenor of his life had given way to troublous days.[1] He might look back, but could no more go back, to the time when he was a happy Brahmin zemindar a landowner in the village of Belgaon, in the metropolitan district of Murshidabad. His wealth consisted of undivided quarters... Read more
LALA BAI Charles Johnston. Second Week Of May 1889. The change of setting on my grimy stage was delayed a few minutes by a cause profoundly Oriental. The noon hour struck, tolled by the rail-gong at the Treasury door, and in a moment all things came to a standstill. The Muhammadan lawyers, the village Muslims loitering about the Court, even Mozuffer Khan with his guardian policeman, all reverently withdrew. A moment later they reappeared on the wide concrete veranda... Read more
PROSTITUTION AND INTERMARRIAGE IN COLONIAL BENGAL Before we return to the courtroom, a little exposition is needed. The following two chapters deal with prostitution in Murshidabad, and some keywords and concepts will be of some use. The next chapter, “Lala Bai,” concerns a trial involving a young babu, and beautiful town prostitute named Lala Bai. While in Western India, the suffix “Bai” was a respectful address for a woman, in Bengal it meant prostitute.[1] It would seem that this... Read more
THE MURDER OF BUDDUN DAS Charles Johnston. Second Week Of May 1889. Wonderful Mother India! As I made my way through the blazing heat across the parched grass of the square at Berhampore that morning, I fear I did not love you. Yet it was to be a day of romance. It was in May, midway of the hot season. My shoulders and back were stinging with prickly heat, my ankles were swollen with mosquito bites. Altogether a morning... Read more
VEROCHKA’S LETTERS Vera Johnston April 14, May 4, May 11, 1889 In Verochka’s next letter, dated (Berhampore) April 14, 1889, she mentions a visit by Dinanath Ganguli, perhaps in connection with the recent “kidnapping” at the Treasury. A veteran vakil, and legal advisor of the Nawab, Dinanath had close ties with the prince.[1] This may also explain how Dinanath came to disclose that the Nawab was secretly a member of the Theosophical Society: Today is a particularly difficult... Read more
GOPAL BABA Charles Johnston April 1889. We first saw Gopal Baba on an early April morning, while the grass and trees of Berhampore Square were still white with dew, sparkling in the yellow radiance of the dawn. Verochka and I were wending homeward toward our barrack bungalow, from a walk along the high embankment of the Bhagirathi, replenished now by the first melting of Himalayan snows. I have a fancy that, crowned with huge helmets of white sola pith,... Read more
HOW THE NAWAB’S ARMY WAS KIDNAPPED Charles Johnston April 1, 1889. “Huzoor!” said the corporal of the Treasury guard in that ridiculously squeaky voice of his, as he saluted with an air of respectful apprehension; “the men of the Nizam Bahadur are at the door.” “Very good,” I answered. “Are we all ready for them, Babu?” “Quite ready, sir,” said Dinanath Babu, the Treasurer. We were seated at the table in the Treasury chamber, which was abominably hot and... Read more
SAINT APRIL It was just around the time that Johnston was studying for his Sanskrit examinations when he wrote “Sanskrit Study In The West.”[1] It is also possible that he met Harvard Sanskritist, Charles Rockwell Lanman.[2] Given Johnston’s theory of language, and the use of the term “Mussulmani-Bengali,” it is likely that he also discussed the theory of language with the Nawab’s private secretary, Khondkar Fazl Rubbee. A man of “exemplary fortitude,” Rubbee was a man well-regarded by his... Read more
SANSKRIT EXAMINATION Charles Johnston March 1889. In every case, the British Indian government has followed the principle of conservation. The religious code belonging to each community has been confirmed, and family affairs, questions of marriage and succession and so forth, are regulated for each community according to its own religious laws. Thus we dispense to Hindus the precepts of Manu; Muslims have their inheritance cases decided according to the doctrines of the Qur’an; for Parsis, the Zoroastrian regulations are... Read more
BERHAMPORE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY The ascendency of the Bhadra Lok created a social ecology in Bengal curious about Western scholarship, including Western occultism. Mriganka Mukhopadhay, the leading scholar in the Theosophical Movement in Bengal, who has written much on the subject, states that the first Bengali to become a member of the Theosophical Society was Peary Chandra Mitra (a prominent member of the Young Bengal movement) in 1877. Mitra, an entrepreneur, journalist, and founding member of British Indian Society,... Read more
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