[Reader-list] Crime pulp fiction in Bengal: Memoir of a police personnel, Girish Chandra Basu

[Debkamal Ganguly]

Hello,
This posting is about a memoir of a police officer
(Daroga), published way back in 1886. Girish Chandra
Basu served British administration as an in-charge of
police station (Thana) between 1853-1860. He wrote the
memoir in his ripe age and named the book as Sekaal-er
Darogar Kahini (The tale of Daroga in Those days). A
mere gap of 26 years between his resignation to the
police force and writing of the book created a
separation of two distinct ages for him, which is
noteworthy. More interestingly in introduction he said
that he had picked up pen for prime reason of
recording history. 

His inclination to a certain kind of archaeo-graphical
history, which he felt was not present as a general
cultural tendency even among the educated section was
illustrated in the very beginning. His first
appointment was in Nabadwip Thana. Nabadwip was famous
as the birth place of Sri Chaitanya, who brought
Vaishnavite Bhakti movement in Eastern India. Girish
Chandra lamented, that though there were thousands of
dedicated Chaitanya devotees, no body seemed to know,
where was the exact spot of birthplace of Chaitanya in
Nabadwip. He mentioned here with much respect that
Europeans know to preserve their heritage. Shakespeare
was there almost in the same time of Chaitanya, and
his home in Avon was being maintained with so much
care and devotion, while all the traces of Chaitanya
was lost. Girish Chandra was also fascinated to know
about the the routine archive work by the Europeans,
e. g. they kept with care the pen used Newton, or the
sword used by Napoleon. In the same manner, Girish
Chandra asked his readers to collect and preserve the
artifacts related to say Rammohan Roy and other famous
Bengali persons. Today possibly we might be tempted to
position Girish Chandra's sense of historicity as an
amateur's enthusiasm derived from the archaeologically
scrutinised, museum based, Eurocentric linear epochal
notion of history, practised in India by the colonial
historians, to frame the past of the colony to be
reduced or deciphered to known co-ordinates; but
considering the year of his writing, which was almost
synchronous with the formation of authorities like
Indian Museum (1875), merely a century after Asiatic
Society (1784) being established, it can be said, the
historically reproduced image of 'past of India' got a
certain grip on the people like Girish Chandra. Bankim
Chandra (writer of national anthem Vande Mataram) also
mentioned in his essays that average countrymen had no
concern for history. Like the perspectivisation of
narrative as done through the form of novel, as an
extension of Florentine perspective in visual field, a
perspectival yet ambivalent approach towards the
continuity of time and collective and personal memory
was characterised to have a definite division for
'past', 'present' and 'future', which can be traced in
the new genre of historical consciousness of say
Girish Chandra or Bankim Chandra. Girish Chandra was
sort of aware of this paramount change of relative
consciousness in different layers of society, he
commented in his introduction, that time was running
too fast, like a horse in full gallop, to grasp the
changes that happened in that complicated period.   

In his recollection Girish Chandra mentioned about
some kinds of crimes, which he had to encounter as a
police official. He talked about Dakaat, the ferocious
robbers, who often used to rob sending prior
information to the respective wealthy household. He
specially mentioned about the physical violence
created by these robbers, which was much terrifying
thing for the villagers. He mentioned about some
castes, Goalas (milkmen) of Nadia district were
infamous for this. According to him these robbers used
to live a double life, normally they had a socially
acceptable profession, but during festival time, when
there used to be a flourish of wealth for the
villagers, they used to attack, and ruin the families.
At times they used to keep a watch on the river, as
river was the main course of journey in those days.
Here also they used to attack unwarranted passengers.
Interestingly in the locality everybody knew about
their identity, but nobody dared to touch them. Girish
Chandra took over the responsibility of Nabadwip, he
came to know about a deadly robber, Vishwanath, he
even met him once in a crowded street, but he waited
to catch him red handed. Suddenly a news of robbery
came to him, he even checked on Viswanath, but
couldn't arrest Viswanath because nobody would give a
testimony against him in the court. So Girish Chandra
tried to trace the goods and finally found the secret
connection betwen the robber and a trader. The trader
used to sale the goods from robbery and shared the
profit with Viswanath. Then he could arrest Viswanath
and subsequently Viswanath was sentenced for
deportation. The strength and spirit of Viswanath was
so indomitable that during the course of journey from
mainland through the sea, he with his few companions
revolted and captured the ship. His ill luck, the ship
had to confront a ship full of soldiers. Finally he
and his mates had to sallow defeat and he was brought
back arrested and finally hanged. 

The episode of tracing the goods on behalf of Girish
Chandra shows a kind of enthusiastic common-sensical
detection, but it was done in a time, where the police
officials were not believed by the villagers to have a
power to challenge the robbers. The official authority
was like an intruding appendix into the power
relationship of rural Bengal. It is more evidently
clear, as Girish Chandra talked about the indigo
planters. The authority of the planters were so
strong, that within their area of operation, even the
British administration virtually had no existence.
Whatever might be the inside arrangement between the
planters and the British government, Girish Chandra
mentioned about his British superiors who were not
happy with the immense power the planters used to
enjoy, and wished to curb that as well. According to
Girish Chandra, these planters were like powerful
indigenous zamindars, who hated to allow any other
authority within their territory. In Indigo
Commission, Girish Chandra produced material evidence
related to the physical tortures by planters, which
was acknowledged by the newspaper Hindu Patriot. But
he wrote in his account that the characters of these
planters were shown in an inflated way in the shade of
bad and evil, and he mentioned that there were
positive side as well in them. He remembered in a tone
of gratitude, that once a Daroga was tipped by a
planter a thousand rupee note erroneously, and when he
was communicated by that Daroga, the planter
maintained that it had been the luck of the  Daroga 
and he should keep it. In today's moral code, one can
place this as an act of bribery, but for Girish
Chandra it was not so bad of an act. It was like a tip
or reward by the more powerful planter, to an
insignificant Desi Daroga. Now we are in a position to
trace the changing code of morality (e. g. the
sensitivity to the act of bribery) in a transitional
time, when centralised colonial governmental bodies of
authority were still negotiating with the ruins of
feudal power structure and a time later, when the
centralisation was achieved to a colonised state
structure. As Girish Chandra mentioned about the
indigo planters, it seemed that, in his service period
he rarely thought of a centralised state system, and
to him the local power conscious planters were a day
to day reality. We can position the various forceful
acts of the planters on the farmers as 'crime', if
only we have a picture of centralised authority in the
mind. Otherwise, those forceful acts might be seen as
aberrations of a power system. In this way, we might
be prompted to find a relationship of the definition
of 'crime' vis a vis the authority to act on it. The
definition would change if the sovereignty and the
penetration of the authority changes. A simple
question can be asked here, whether the urban
intelligentsia asked for greater centrality and
authority of British rule in India, when they asked to
eradicate the tyranny of the indigo planters? 

Girish Chandra also mentioned about a zamindar, who
was notorious for numerous small scale wars and
violent acts, as he maintained a hateful relationship
with another zamindar from the same family. People
used to call the zamindar as Ravan Rajaa. Girish
Chandra described that while he tried to gather
witnesses of violence, once he and his constables were
cornered and almost faced death in the hands of
private army of the zamindar. He only could take
refuge inside the inner house where the maidens of
that zamindar family used to live. He was assured by
the mother of that zamindar and thus his life was
spared.    

One of the curious piece in his books about the
Bedias,  the travelling gypsies who used to have a
profession of stealing. He got hold of one Bedia, 
earned his confidence and got to know the elaborate
process and detailed rituals associated with stealing.
So in 'those days' of Girish Chandra, it was not so
much a matter to know the criminal (because in most
cases the criminals are caste based or at least known
to local knowledge), the crucial workmanship of police
personnel was called for to position and penetrate the
authority of police as an agent of centralising
colonial government in an unforthcoming society.  

Till next posting,
Debkamal

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404 Vimla Vihar 
8-49 Gautamnagar St no. 1 
Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad - 500060 India 
Phone - 9246363517



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