History of DumDum

                                                Dum Dum, Kolkata


Dumdum is a city in the state of West Bengal. It is a neighborhood in North-west Kolkata and the location of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, formerly known as Dum Dum Airport. It is a major commercial center located at the outskirts of Kolkata. Dum Dum region is important, as it constitutes main entry points of the city. The area being provided with a domestic and international airport is the landing base for the foreigners visiting the city.

Dum Dum region is about 10 kms from the city center which is taken to be Chandni Chowk. The nearby localities include Salt Lake,Jhilbagan, Ghughu Danga and Jawpur.

History of Dum Dum
During the 19th century, Dum Dum was home to a British Royal Artillery Armoury. In the early 1890s, Captain Bertie Clay developed a bullet with the jacket cut away at the tip to reveal its soft lead core known as a dum dum.

Demographics of Dum Dum
As per 2001census, DumDum had a population of 102,319. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Dumdum has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85% and, female literacy is 78%.

Transportation of Dum Dum
Dum Dum is connected to other major regions by means of train air and busses. The major means of transportation is through the subway, K

The Netaji Subhash Chander Bose International Airport or Dum Dum Airport is located within the township premises. There is also a domestic airport that is located 22 kms from Dum Dum. Other means of conveyance at Dum Dum are buses and taxis. 


     Origin behind naming Dum Dum:

There is a saying mere name bears no meaning. But, to the learners of history a name carry much importance. A name of a certain place, street or alike hides several ancient historical hidden treasures within it. Accordingly, very often it brings contradicting opinions, angles of thinking being different, to find out origin of a name. Alike Kokata, there are many opinions behind the origin of naming ‘Dum Dum’. Dr. Sukumar Sen in his writings ‘Bangla Sthan Nam’ expresses his opinion behind the origin of naming ‘Dum Dum’ as where sounds arise out of firing of Cannons. Rajsekhar Basu, author of dictionary ‘Chalantika’ explains in it that the term Dum Dum comes from the Arabic term ‘Damdamh’- Meaning a high mound made of clay for targeting firing. The dictionary edited by ‘Samsad’ also holds the same view.

There are certain other opinions about origin of naming ‘Dum Dum’ –

1. In the Cantonment set up by Lord Clive the solders were being awakened from their sleep by striking drums, which sounds dumdum and as such the general public used to identify the Cantonment as Dumdum Cantonment. But, such argument cannot be accepted since historically there was an existence of name Dumdum of this place before Lord Clive arrived at.     
2. There were so many Zamindars residing in this region of Dumdum for a pretty long time. The Zamindars spent their maximum time in their Baganbaris (pleasure-houses) of this region of Dumdum with gaudy funs and playing with firecrackers. A lot of people drew inference that the sounds that came out of such playing with fire crackers was behind the naming this region as Dumdum. Since the system of introducing such Zaminders was developed only after the English had arrived at in this land inference drawn by these people cannot be accepted. The existence of this place having name as Dumdum was of as before as the battle of plassy.
3. The high mounds raised by clay for practicing archery or firing guns were called dumdum - was the belief of Sailendra Biswas. To an extent Chandidas Bandyopadhyay also was of the same belief. He wrote, dumdum means ‘a raised mound of battery’ i.e., to place a series of cannons on high land Dum Duma was the origin of naming the region as Dum Dum. Perhaps, Chandidas Babu was influenced by the views of HEA Cotton.
4. H. I. S. Kanwar advanced quite on a different angle of thinking to find out origin of naming the region as Dum Dum. He was of opinion that the region was shrouded under water and dense forest providing shelters to the dacoits to take rest or to take ‘Dum’ (to take rest for a short time). The dacoits used this region as place of sharing their booty among them that were looted by them from the pilgrims and as such this region was called as Dum Dum.
5. Haripada Bhowmick believed that the origin of naming the region as Dum Dum was of ancient dialect. By quoting the writings of Dr. Amalendu Mitra he stressed that the term ‘dumdum’ means ‘Ghana’ i.e., dense. It was an ancient dialect. It was used to mean bamboo bush or hair. Probably, at that time, there were plenty of bamboo-bush rather than the trees of Sundry in this region and that was the aphoristic to naming Dum Dum. To establish this opinion he put forward Krisnapada Goswamy. Because, Krisnapada Goswami believed that the origin of name Dum Dum was the result of the influence of Ostrich language.
6. The opinions as explained by the persons in the way to quest of the origin of naming the region as Dum Dum as above totally voided by Parth Ghosh in an interview. His was a concept that there was a reference of a village naming ‘Uddyamee’ in  ‘Mangalkabya’ written by Manik Ganguly. In course of evolution the degenerated form of the same came to Dumdum. The basic shortcoming of the concept is that Parth Babu had not mentioned any clear and specific name of the said Mangalkabya and also the year and date when it was published.   
   
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   ‘Dumdum’- Origin behind the name
   - an analysis
   My view.
   Originally the term is taken from the Persian Language – pronunciation being dumdum. To translate it in Bengali, the meaning would be ‘high mound’. This area once was under the Mughal Emperor and in that regime Persian language was used as court language. Having many high mounds within it, this area was called Dumdum ; the degenerated form of the word comes to Dumduma and thereafter to Dum Dum – I argue.
   Within the boundary line of Dum Dum there are more than one high mounds. Their locations are as follows :-
   1. Dum Dum House or Clive House –within Mouza Dum Dum House.
   2. Rajbari (King’s House) of Saatkshira at Barahnagar.
   3. The water tank naming ‘Talah Tank’ - the high mound on which it is erected. To point out, here the term ‘Talah’ is also of Persian Language which also means high mound.
   4. One at Deulpota or Dakshineswar.
   An area having so many high mounds within it normally have such a name – dumdum> dumduma> damdama> Dum Dum. In Bengal, baring this area there are certain other places which are also have the same name, e.g. at Khidirpore, at Bankura, at Howrah-Hoghly-Barasat-Berachapa – having high mounds total number being ten and are being called as ‘Dumdumi’ or ‘Damdama’ or  ‘Damdam’. Besides, there is an area in Assam having its name ‘Dumduma’. In all the areas there is a high mound in each of the area. Observed closely, we will find resemblance with the high mounds as they are within Dum Dum.    
    
   Some persons are of belief that when English came and sat up Army quarters or army camps/cantonment – the roaring sound that came out of firing guns and/or of blasting of cannon-balls there from is the reason behind naming this area as Dum Dum or the high mounds raised by clay for practicing firing guns or cannons in those camps – which is called by English BATTERY, were called in Bengli Damdama and thus this area comes to be known as Dum Dum.
   I differ with the belief for various reasons. Firstly, once the English will come here and then they will set up Army camps and thereafter they will form practice ground and the roaring sounds will come out of firing guns and/or of blasting of cannon-balls there from and then and only than an area-name could be formed. But, historically it is not a fact. At time when in the first battle with Nawab Siraz-Ud-Doulah Clive was defeated he expressed his wish to remain imprisoned at Dumdum house. From this it bears, therefore, that (one) the British Empire was not at all established at that time and (two) Clive was well acquainted with the name of Dumdum house. Secondly, at time when solders were practicing firing guns or cannons in those camps at Damdam two Brahmins of a high lineage residing at Uttar Kolkata having temple came there and demanded that the land belong to them. The English on verifying the deed observed and accepted the originality of the deed and proposed them to agree to accept another area of similar nature. The Brahmins were shown the lands at Salt Lake City. The Brahmins in turn on showing deeds demanded that those lands at Salt Lake City were also belong to them and disclosed that they were the owners of all lands within the area of Damdam. Now, the English requested them to sell the area at Dum Dum Cantonment to them. The Brahmins accepted the request. In the deed prepared for this purpose it was written beside the name of sellers ‘all the lands at dum dum’. Thus, this establishes the concept that long before the English came here this area was known as Dumdum or Damdama. This corroborates the facts that were written by Robert Orme in his writings ‘Hindusthan’ and the records that were preserved in the Kolkata High Court.
                                   By     MRIDUL NANDY

Language Movement in Barak Valley, 19 May 1961: An Era of Brave Bengali Revolution

  Language Movement in Barak Valley, 19 May 1961      

Bhasha Shahid Smarok, Karimganj  of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Geographically, linguistically, culturally and socially, the Barak Valley is an extension of the eastern Bengal. In 1874, when Assam was organised as a province by the British, two Bengali speaking districts of Sylhet and Cachar was carved out of the Bengal Presidency and incorporated in Assam to meet the revenue deficit of the newly formed province. The twin districts were then placed under a Commissionership and came to be known as Surma Valley division. In 1947, the major part of the Sylhet district was transferred to erstwhile East Pakistan. The remaining part of the Surma Valley division is now known as the Barak Valley which has since been organised into three districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi within the state of Assam. But, for all practical purpose, the Surma Barak Valley (i.e. the pre-independence districts of Sylhet and Cachar) forms a single cultural unit since time immemorial.’ This is how Dr. Sujit Choudhury, an eminent social scientist and activist from Barak Valley introduces the dichotomy between political boundary of present day and socio cultural legacy of the past. All kind of activities, from creative to historiography thus earns the status of activism in the context of above. While the forces in the power apparatus of the state of Assam till date seek to undermine and distort the linguistic character of Barak Valley, people in general and the activists in academics and performing art in particular, endeavour to uphold the cultural uniqueness of the land. Though Assamese-speaking people in Barak Valley form a microscopic section of the population and again the major section of them are basically temporary residents on postings in government jobs, the website of Government of Assam declares Assamese as the major language of Barak Valley despite Bengali being the official language of these districts. 

Hailakandi-Sahid Bedi-stands for Coward Act of Assamesse in  19th May, 1961 struggle

A study of history of Barak Valley, both of ancient and modern times, thus acquires importance in the light of the never ending saga of linguistic aggression.Barak Valley in Assam, consisting three districts, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, a geographical area of about 6922 sq., k.m., (according to the census of 2001) is situated between Longitude 92°15" and 93°15" East and Latitude 24°8" and 25°8" North. The valley constitutes 8.9 per cent of the geographical area of of Assam; contains 11.22 percent of the population (2001 census). The North Cachar Hills district and the state of Meghalaya in its north, Mizoram in the south, Manipur in the east, and the state of Tripura and the Sylhet district of Bangladesh in the west of the valley The valley has an undulating topography characterized by hills, hillocks, wide plains, and low-lying water bodies, locally known as beels, some of which, however, dry up in the winter, termed as howers. Most of the hills have a north-south spread interspersed by the strips of plains. The land is alluvial, and is naturally fertile.The principal river, Barak origins from Angami Naga Hills in Manipur, and travels in curved route cutting through the heart of Cachar district, reaches Haritikar in Kathigora revenue circle to be divided into two branches, Surma and Kushira to flow in Bangladesh in separate streams. Kushira, however, flows in Karimganj and forms the natural border of India and Bangladesh. Jiri, Chri, Madhura, Jatinga, Dhalesweri, Ghagra, Katakhal, Longai, Shingla, Sonai are the major rivers in Barak Valley.Barail, Bhuban, Panchgram, Chatacherra, Mohonpur, Saraspur are the major hills with numerous hillocks in their vicinities.

The climate of Barak valley is sub-tropical, warm and humid. The average rainfall is 3180 mm with average rainy days of 146 per annum (data furnished by the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Karimganj). The rainfall is caused by the South-west monsoon, which begins in the early June to continue up to October. The valley, however experience pre-monsoon rainfall in the month of March and April This plain track of Barak valley is a geographical extension of Gangetic Bengal. The valley is predominantly inhabited by the Indo-Aryan population, and the demography is formed in early times by integrating the Indo-Mongoloid, Austric and other non-Aryan ethnic groups in a long historical process.The Geo-political map of the valley has been subjected to changes at the whims of the colonial British. Prior to its annexation to the British territory (1832, 14 August), however, Cachar was an independent kingdom ruled by the royal family of the Dimasa (from 1745). Having the kingdom annexed the colonists had placed Cachar under Dacca Division of Bengal Presidency (1836). Initially Cachar (the core area of the present Barak Valley) emerged as a ‘province’ to be degraded to the status of a district under Bengal presidency. When Assam was constituted into a separate state in 1874 Cachar was transferred to it (along with Sylhet), although geographically, historically and culturally it represented a distinct region. At the dawn of independence the Sylhet portion was transferred to East Pakistan, and Cachar formed a part of the state of Assam separated form the mainland by the Barail Hill range. With the formation of two more districts truncating Cachar, the area in the south of Assam is collectively termed as Barak valley.

My Sylheti Bengali ,My People Uproated from Their  Native Land, still is the only race or

 community in India to  “Fight for Their Own Mother Tounge”. Barak Valley is a rather newish christening for erstwhile Cachar district. This tract of land in the southern periphery of Assam is home to around 4 million populations a massive eighty percent of whom are Bengali speaking spread over the three districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.Language, it is a known fact, is the Achilles’ Hill in the whole of the North-East India where the process of building sub-nationality has, for the last one hundred years or so, veered around language apart from ethnicity. The historical sequence started with the assertion of Assamese nationalism during the dawn of the twentieth century which was pitted against the Bengali speaking community out of paranoia. The British colonial design was the mastermind behind sowing the seeds of anti-Bengali sentiments among the Assamese middle class. Economic factors further aggravated the deprivation theory which continued through out the remaining part of the pre-colonial and also well into the post-colonial Assam.

The fear psychosis that the Bengali domination would not only close the avenues of employment for the Assamese youth, but, more than that, would surely destroy the Assamese language and culture drove the political rulers of Assam to take anti-Bengali steps on numerous occasions. And the worst of it happened in 1960 when the Assam Government passed the nefarious Official Language Act making Assamese the only official State language other than English. The people of the then Cachar district went all out in protest against this Act the provisions of which they rightly felt would deprive them of their legitimate linguistic right. It was a mass upsurge and the chauvinist Assam Government came down heavily on the democratic movement in a violent way. Situation went to a grave pass when on 19 May 1961 police resorted to firing on unarmed Satyagrahis in Silchar Railway Station that left eleven people dead one among them being a woman, Kamala Bhattacharjee. Incidentally, she was the first woman language martyr of the world. In the face of more intensified democratic agitation aided by popular support from all over the country the Assam Government finally yielded. In that year itself suitable amendment was brought in to the Official Language Act 1960 accommodating Bengali as the official language for the whole of Cachar district.

But, unfortunately, the xenophobic mindset of the State Government did not change and, as a result, clandestine designs of infringing on the linguistic right of the Bengali of Assam have remained unabated in the State. On 17 August 1972, one more language activist laid down life in Karimganj in protest against the circular of Gauhati University which sought to make Assamese the only medium of instruction in the State colleges.On 21 July 1986 two more brave souls sacrificed their lives in Karimganj during an agitation programme protesting against the draconian Board of Secondary Education of Assam circular which struck down Bengali as one of the media of instruction in the State school education.On 16 March 1996, one woman activist embraced martyrdom in the Valley for the cause of her mother tongue, Bishnupriya Manipuri.This holy territory of Barak Valley thus has a glorious tradition of language movement spanning a half-a-century period. This protest culture is perhaps the only way to cherish the plural and multi-cultural fabric of the State of Assam.

The martyrs of 19th May, 1961 First Ever Language struggle in India-Shoot Dead on Spot:

Birendra Sutadhar-Great Martyard in Language Movement in Barak Valley, 19 May 1961

Chadicharan Sutradhar-a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Heetesh Biswas -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Hijom Irabot Singh, a Nationalist turned Communist -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Kamala Bhattacharjee-Great Martyard in Language Movement in Barak Valley, 19 May 1961

Kanailal Neogi -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Kumud Ranjan Das -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Sachinrda Paul -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Sattenrda Deb -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Sukomol Purkayastha, a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

Sunil Sarkar -a martyr of 19th May, 1961 struggle

-by  MRIDUL NANDY