Tarakeswar Affair

Last time we read about the temple of Tarakeshwar and its significance during the month of shravan. The temple of Tarakeshwar also has something very sinister associated with it, and that is an illicit relationship and a murder most gruesome.

At the onset, let me claim, that this has nothing to do with the temple, its presiding deity and mythology. I came across this, when I was researching for my last article and since not many outside Kolkata would know, I am writing about it today. Its importance will be dealt with later.

This refers to a famous court case by the name of “Tarakeshwar Affair”. The central characters are Nobin Chandra, a young Government employee, his wife, Elokeshi and the priest or the mahant of the Tarakeshwar temple which took place in the 19^th century under the British rule.

Elokeshi meets Mahant

Nobin used to work in Kolkata and his wife Elokeshi, stayed with her parents in the village of Tarakeshwar. The Tarakeshwar temple was known for curing barren women and so Elokeshi went to the mahant to seek his blessings. The mahant gave her a medicine which was drugged and then raped her. However, there blossomed an illicit relationship between the two and the whole village was soon discussing this. When Nobin returned to his village and learnt this, he was enraged and confronted his wife.

Elokeshi confessed to the relationship, but sought pardon from her husband. Nobin was deeply in love with Elokeshi and so he pardoned her and both decided to leave the village. However, the mahant came to know about it and sent his goons to stop both of them from leaving the village. In a fit of anger, Nobin severed the head of Elokeshi and then surrendered himself to the police.

The Fatal Blow

The matter reached the court and soon the locals started taking sides besides the English court having its own laws to cater to. The mahant was represented by an English lawyer and the whole city came to witness the court proceedings while the dailies carried every bit of the proceedings verbatim. The local population was of the opinion that Nobin was right in doing so and the fault lay with Elokeshi the seductress and the mahant for luring young women into relationships.

In 1873, the Indian jury of the local court acquitted Nobin on the grounds of insanity, but the British judge referred the case to Calcutta High Court which awarded life imprisonment to Nobin and three years to the mahant. However, Nobin was released after two years due to pressure from the locals, the intelligentsia and just about every section of the society.

This affair has been the basis of many a theatres and plays during the period following this incident. While many felt that Nobin was right and in doing so, some felt that Elokeshi was made to submit to the mahant due to the pressure from her father (an angle not worth pursuing). Many held the mahant solely responsible for everything as an aspect of increasing influence and power of the Brahmin class wherein they had started hiring goons, something which was considered to be very common in places like Benaras and other such akhada-oriented religious places. Many women of the nearby areas who visited for getting cured of infertility found themselves raped and dumped in the nearby red-light areas for a life of prostitution, but the matters never came out in the open.

There were social ramifications of this affair. The missionaries who saw this as a disillusionment of the masses with Hinduism and the Brahmin class, while the British saw in this a reason to monitor temple activities. The Bengali intelligentsia saw in this a cause for the upliftment of women and focus on their rights. Many saw Nobin’s love and pardon for Elokeshi as ‘an act of softness towards women, who needed to be controlled’ and his ultimate decapitating her as an act of manliness, albeit delayed. Such debates have raged from time immemorial and traditional way of thinking has not come a long way, though.

 

Mahant gives medicine to Elokeshi

The most important development of this affair was that this became a huge subject matter for the Kalighat painters. Kalighat school of painting was known for its unique style which had influenced the likes of Jamini Roy and even Picasso. While they generally depicted mythological characters and events, the painters took a break from that and depicted different aspects of the affair and created a different genre of the paintings, leaving behind a huge body of work.

 

The Tarakeshwar Affair

The case was discussed for many years to come and is referred to similar cases even today as a precedent. No other case had generated so much of debate in Bengal leading while giving a fillip to literature and art!

 NB - All the Kalighat paintings featured above have been taken from Wikipedia

Shravan and Baba Taraknath

The Hindu month of shravan, (July-Aug) is an important month for many a devout. The month arrives after the scorching heat unleashed by nature and rains come to soothe parched earth and bear fruits to agricultural efforts. Shravan is also the month of many festivities, like the birth of Lord Krishna, Raksha bandhan, Naag Panchami, etc. all signifying some aspect of the month. However, the deity that gets month long attention is Lord Shiva.

As someone who was born and brought up in Kolkata, West Bengal, one has been brought up by the ‘walkathon’ that many a devout undertake to the temple of Tarakeshwar, a Shiva temple at a distance of about 70kms from Kolkata. People walk the distance from far and further, balancing bamboo sticks on their shoulder, with earthen pots at two ends, filled with water from the Ganga. The walk is arduous especially due to the rainy season and fraught with danger from snakes, scorpions and other such inhabitants of the ground.

In the early days, only men used to walk the distance in groups. But after the release of a popular Bengali movie “Joy Baba Taraknath” in the late 70s, where the heroine of the movie is seen walking all the way, it has become quite popular among women to walk the distance along with men. Locals on the way to the temple arrange for rest and stands for the bamboo sticks, which cannot be placed on the ground till it reaches its destination, and offer refreshments to the pilgrims. Night long, people are heard walking the roads, chanting “bhole baba paar karega” (Bhole baba, or Shiva will show us the way) and “Dhalbo Kothay? Babar mathay” (Where will we pour? On Shiva’s head, of course!) on their way to Tarakeshwar.

Like all religious place, this one too has its origins in mythical tales. According to a legend, Vishnu Das, a resident of Oundh (Ayodhya) migrated to Bengal with his family in the early 18^th century. People did not take to him too well and were suspicious about him. To prove his innocence he is supposed to have held an iron rod in his hand, after which, he was accepted by the locals. Later his brother found a spot in the nearby jungle, where cows would ooze out milk all by themselves. On digging, they found a shiva-linga with a dent at the top. A dream to Vishnu Das is said to have revealed that this was a manifestation of Lord Shiva, or Baba Taraknath and that a temple should be built there. This is also referred to as one of the few swayambhu (self-manifested, or that which is created by itself) temples of Lord Shiva

The present structure of the temple was built by Raja Bharamalla, in 1729 AD. The temple is an example of a typical Bangla architecture, which has an aatchala structure (‘aat’ - eight and ‘chala’ - sloping roof of huts) with a natmandir (a place for offering prayers) in the front. The temple is considered to be one of the oldest temples in West Bengal which holds sway on people on all occasions related to Lord Shiva, especially Shivaratri and every Monday of the month of shravan. Many stories abound of how efforts to shift the temple elsewhere have been foiled by divine efforts, which goes on to reinforce the will of Baba to stay put at the designated spot of His choice.

The practice of carrying Ganga water or jal and pouring it on the shiva-linga also has mythological allusion. It is said that the amrit-manthan, or the churning of the ocean took place during the month of shravan and amongst many things that came out of the churning was halahal, or poison. When there were no takers for this, Lord Shiva decided to consume it and hold it in his throat, which made his throat blue due to the excessive heat generated by it (and thus he is also referred to as Neelkantha, the blue-necked). Seeing this, all the gods gathered and poured Ganga-jal on his head to cool the excessively heated body. The practice of carrying Ganga-jal and pouring it on shiva-linga is carried on till today during the months of shravan!

A similar pilgrimage is undertaken in the neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Odisha too. In Jharkhand, people carry Ganga-jal from the district of Sultanganj to pour at Babadham in Deogarh, a practice which owes it origin to Lord Ram when he undertook a similar journey on foot over the same route. People undertake this 105 kms journey to coincide with reaching their destination on Mondays. Similar journeys are undertaken from different districts of Odisha to reach the numerous Shiva temples of the state, like Lingaraj temple, etc.

During the month of shravan many people abstain from eating non-vegetarian diet and vices like alcohol and smoking. It is said that shravan is the first of the chaturmas (four months) of Dakshinayan, the Southward journey of the Sun, when the nights are longer than days (as against Uttarayana, the Northward journey of the Sun, when the days are longer). This is considered to be the months when the mind is most unstable and full of negative thoughts (nights symbolising dark and devious). Non-vegetarian food is considered to be ‘hot’ and with an unstable mind, the heat would only lead to more trouble! However, a more practical reason could be that this is also the month when the fish lay eggs. To allow them to breed and thrive would only lead to a larger catch next year. It is possible that abstaining from fish led to a general abstinence of all non-vegetarian diet.

Seasons and associated festivals and each having a mythical origin are an old association, which goes on to ensure that norms are laid down, followed and adhered to. Rains leading to remaining indoors, breeding by the fishes and leaving some animals out of the menu ensuring compassion towards them, only reinforce man’s need to coexist in an ecologically dependent system.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

A recent viewing of a very popular Hindi movie, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has set me thinking a bit and I am reproducing the thoughts here.

Every hero has a reason to achieve his heroic heights, both mortal and mythological. According to Greek mythology, Hercules had murdered his wife in a fit of anger, and so he set out to atone for them and thus goes the tales of his twelve heroic deeds. Perseus set out on an adventure to bring home the head of the Gorgon Medusa just to prove that he was not a good-for-nothing Greek, but was brave and could do what no mortal had even tried to.

In Ramayan, Ram wanted to get his kidnapped wife back and set a regime of rightful rule in Lanka and thus the battle in Ramayan, which saw his heroic best. Hanuman wanted to do anything and everything to please his idol Ram, and did whatever he was told to, in the process, achieving feats which were inhuman. Arjun in Mahabharat achieved his heroic deeds by the sheer dint of reaching a target which none could and become the best archer in the world then. Amba took the birth of a eunuch just to achieve her sole objective of being the cause of Bhishma’s death. Numerous examples abound in different mythologies, where heroes have reached the peak of their heroism, at some point of time for something or the other.

It was no different for the ordinary mortal Milkha Singh. As a child he ran to school to reach on time and avoid being caned by his teacher, and then during the partition, he ran to save his life. Later he ran fast to avoid getting caught by the railway guards. As an army jawan, he ran for a glass of milk and then for the Indian blazer. He continued to run for something or the other, till it became a habit to satiate a particular need. Does this mean that if you do not have a material cause or a need, you do not achieve heroic heights?

No, many have achieved great success out of passion too. Many actors have achieved stardom out of sheer passion for the art and not primarily for the money. Certain doctors have achieved near-god status, out of the sheer desire to cure. Environmentalists have pursued their mission-like objective just to provide a clean atmosphere for the future generation without any gain for themselves. But even here there is an underlying need, excellence.

So what is the underlying common factor among all the above, irrespective of the status of divinity or mortality that sets man, to achieve what is unachievable for many? The word is motivation. Nothing can be achieved without some motivation. Hercules was motivated by getting to wash of the sins of murder, Perseus wanted to prove that he was not a useless son citizen who could not afford a gift for the King on his wedding. Ram was motivated to get his wife back, Arjun wanted to be the best archer on earth and Amba wanted to avenge her insult. Even the mythical characters had an objective, just as Milkha had different motivations at different stages of life.

Without a motive, there is no motivation. Even altruism is a motivation behind donating huge chunks of personal wealth!

What is your motivation and what does it want to achieve? If all of us ask this basic question, we know what we want and where we have to reach. This objective and the motivation to achieve it, differentiates man from cattle, the leader from the herd.