Christian cemetery, Dhaka: Difference between revisions

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The cemetery is the oldest Christian burial ground in Bangladesh and dates back to early 17th century.<ref name="chowkidar">{{cite journal|last =Llewellyn-Jones | first =Dr. Rosie | author-link = | title =The Narina Cemetery, Dhaka| journal =Chowkidar| volume =13| issue =2 | pages =34-35| publisher =British Association For Cemeteries In South Asia (BACSA)| location =London| date =Autumn 2012| language =English| url =https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/chowkidar/pdf/chowkidar_13_02.pdf| issn =01416588| access-date = 10 Apr 2024 }}</ref>There are reports of an engraved inscription on a stone at the entrance, that claims that it was founded in the 16th century, but little evidence of such engraving exists today.<ref name="chowkidar"/> There are also reports that Dhaka's first church for the Christian community was established on the site of the cemetery and that priest Sebastian Manrique came to Dhaka between 1624 and 1629 and recorded that there was a church at the location of the cemetery.<ref name="Pieal">{{cite web|url=https://roar.media/bangla/main/bangladesh/narinda-cemetery-columbo-sahib|website=Roarmedia|title=The Tomb of Narinda and the Mysteries of Colombo|author=Jannatul Naym Pieal|access-date=18 November 2022|date=26 December 2018 |language=Bengali}}</ref> There are further references to a church being located at this location, including French gem merchant and traveller [[Jean Baptiste Tavernier]] who visited Dhaka in 1666, and Niccolò Menucci soon after, both referring to a church at this location. It is assumed that [[Augustinians|Portuguese Augustinians]] built the church, and that the present burial ground was originally the burial ground adjacent to the church, commonly referred to as the "church graveyard."<ref name="Pieal"/>

The cemetery originally occupied a narrow strip of land beyond the northern edge of the old [[Mughal]] city of [[Dacca]]. On the eastern edge, the cemetery was bounded by a tributary of the [[Buriganga River]] [refer the painting by [[Johann Zoffany]] below] and the its western side was bordered by gardens and jungle. From the date of establishment, the cemetery seems to have been used by Christians of a wide variety of denominations - Catholics , Armenians and various Protestants.<ref name="chowkidar"/>

The largest structure in the cemetery is a mausoleum containing three graves, all without any inscription.<ref name="Herber"/> The lower part of the mausoleum resembles a [[Mughal architecture|Mughal mosque]] with four evenly spaced, arched doorways – one on each side of the structure. The next level is constructed with prominent gothic features while the cupola is based on baroque style architecture.<ref name="DailyStar2020"/> A painting of the mausoleum was completed by the German artist [[Johann Zoffany]] in 1786, titled "Nagaphon Ghat"<ref name="Dawn">{{cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1286497|website=Dawn|title=The Dhaka Masterpiece Paintings

|author=Waqar A. Khan|access-date=18 November 2022|date=28 September 2016}}</ref> (translated from Bengali it means the Nagaphon mooring or dock), depicting the structure on the Dolai Khal or creek, that has since been filled back and no longer reaches as far as the cemetery.<ref name="Steel"/> [[File:Nagaphon Ghat.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Painting titled ''Nagaphon Ghat'': The Columbo Sahib mausoleum located in the Christian Cemetery as painted by German artist [[Johann Zoffany]] in 1786<ref name="Steel">{{cite web|url=https://archive.dhakatribune.com/uncategorized/2015/04/17/dhaka-before-the-fall|website=Dhaka Tribune|title=Dhaka, Before the Fall|author=Tim Steel|access-date=17 November 2022|date=17 April 2015}}</ref>]]The structure was first referred to as the [[Columbo Sahib mausoleum]] by [[Reginald Heber]], the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta|Bishop of Calcutta]]<ref name="Herber">{{Cite book |last=Herber|first=Reginald, Rev |title=Narrative of a journey through the upper provinces of India|publisher=Carey, Lea & Carey|location=Philadelphia|date=1829 |url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeofjourn01hebe/page/152/mode/2up|pages=152| access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>in an 1824 account of his visit to Dacca. Heber had consecrated the Narinda cemetery in 1824 and recorded the presence of the large imposing tomb as "''....Some of the tombs are very handsome; one more particularly, resembling the buildings raised over the graves of Mussulman saints, has a high octagon gothic tower, with a cupola in the same style, and eight windows with elaborate tracer.''.<ref name="Herber"/> Similarly, [[Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt]] records the Columbo Sahib structre as: ''A high octagonal Gothic tower with eight windows, the whole surmounted by a cupola in the same style, it stands nameless, dominating the whole cemetery and jealously keeping watch over the three graves that lie within. .....Silent and impressive, the towering mausoleum keeps well the secret that it holds.''.<ref name="Birt"/> A 1950 photograph shows that the Mausoleum has declined more disastrously in the last 50 years as compared to the previous 160 years when it was painted by Johann Zoffany in 1786 as the British Royal Court artist.<ref name="Steel"/>

Herber enquired of the gatekeeper <!-- durwan / chowkidar -->as to who it belonged to and was told ''"It's the tomb of Columbo Sahib, an employee of the East India Company."'' Herber recorded that he could not find any inscription and doubted that the name was that of an Englishman.<ref name="Herber"/> Today there is no mention of Columbo Sahib in any preserved early Persian, Urdu, Bengali or English chronicles.<ref name="DailyStar2020"/> Archaeologist Tim Steel recorded Columbo Sahib as a merchant who came to Dhaka from [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]], to trade and subsequently prospered and became famously known in Dhaka as Columbo Sahib. There is also an opinion that Columbo could have been a Portuguese or Sri Lankan [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] Christian who came to Dhaka from Colombo. He could also have been a local [[Luso-Indian|Luso-Portuguese]] gentleman from the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese connection is also reinforced by Charles Greig<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charles Greig, a Leading Historian of the Art of British India, Discusses 'Forgotten Masters' at the Wallace Collection |url=https://www.bacsa.org.uk/charles-greig-a-leading-historian-of-the-art-of-british-india-discusses-forgotten-masters-at-the-wallace-collection/ |access-date=17 November 2022 |website=BACSA}}</ref> speculating that Columbo was Portuguese. Grieg speculates that the Columbo mausoleum was built circa 1670–80 during the time of a very strong presence of Portuguese traders in Dhaka.<ref name="DailyStar2020"/> The identify of Columbo Sahib remains unknown.

The mausoleum isacompositeof different architectural styles with the bottom structure resembling a [[Mughal architecture|Mughal mosque]], with four openings, one on each side. The elaborate upper section displays [[Gothic architecture|gothic features]], and the top cupola displays a [[Baroque architecture|baroque flavour]], all different styles blending seamlessly into one structure.<ref name="AtlasObscura"/> The mausoleum is further enhanced by the overgrown vegetation that has become an integral part of the structure. Although this interplay produces a romantic sense of decay and slow disintegration, the tomb is now structurally unstable.<ref name="AtlasObscura">{{Cite web |title=Columbo Sahib’s Tomb: Dhaka Christian Cemetery, Dhaka, Bangladesh |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/columbo-sahib-s-tomb |website=AtlasObscura|access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref>

The cemetery also contains a mass-grave, demarcated by a low stone fence surrounding a square area, containing the remains of Christians who succumbed to the [[Bengal famine of 1943]]. There is no plaque or reference to those interned in this grave.<ref name="DailyStar"/>

A large number of the tombstones have been removed from their original sites, some have been erected on the interior walls of Colombo Sahib's tomb. Only a few of the early tombs survive. A lack of stone in Dacca and its surrounds required the early builders to construct the tombs from small bricks and lime, making them susceptible to the decay from climate and the destructive creepers of the [[Ficus religiosa|Peepul trees]].<ref name="chowkidar"/><ref name="Herber"/>The original road layout of the cemetery has faded away with time, but it can be understood that a couple of straight roads intersected to make a path system within the network with the tombs jumbled into a group to form one or two clusters, while making it hardly visible to visitors.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}.

By 1870, the river had substantially changed course leaving only a long channel of water on the cemetery's eastern side. The cemetery had expanded its borders in the early 20th century and now covers about three acres (1.2ha), a much larger area than the original burial ground. The course of the narrow river channel has long since been filled in and the cemetery is now surrounded by a high walls on all sides, large apartment buildings overlooking the eastern side and a narrow gateway entrance on the western side.<ref name="chowkidar"/>

The [[Department of Archaeology (Bangladesh)|Dhaka Department of Archaeology]] has declared the early-18th-century mausoleum of Columbo Sahib and the 1724 tomb of Reverend Joseph Paget as two of the city's 22 heritage sites.<ref name="MissMe">{{cite web|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news/miss-me-not|website=The Daily Star|title=Miss Me Not|author=M. H. Haider|access-date=18 November 2022|date=26 November 2013}}</ref> This has however not stopped the decay and crumbling of the structures.<ref name="Apathy">{{Cite web |last=Faisal Mahmud |date=7 August 2019 |title=Colonial-era Structures Crumble Due to Apathy |url=https://m.theindependentbd.com/printversion/details/210482 |access-date=18 November 2022 |website=The Independent}}</ref> The cemetery is still in use and burials take place on a regular basis. The cemetery is maintained and managed by the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dhaka|Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dhaka]] on behalf of numerous Christian denominations.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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* ''[[History of aviation in Bangladesh#First manned flight|Jennette Rummary (1892)]]'', (also known as "Jennette Van Tassell").<ref name="Brisbane">{{Cite news |last=Susan Prior |date=9 May 2017 |title=The first flight ever taken in Brisbane was by a scantily clad daredevil balloonist |work=Brisbane Times |url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-first-flight-ever-taken-in-brisbane-was-by-a-scantily-clad-daredevil-balloonist-20170509-gw0lb5.html|access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref> She made the first manned balloon flight and subsequent parachute jump in Bangladesh's history on 16 March 1892 as a member of a travelling American aerial exhibition troop led by [[Park Van Tassel]]. The flying troupe was invited to perform in Dhaka by [[Nawab of Dhaka]], advertising that the female pilot would ascend in a balloon and fly over the [[Ahsan Manzil]] adjacent to the Buriganga river, and would descend via a parachute<ref name="GlobalVoices">{{Cite news |last=Rezwan |date=17 September 2021 |title=Forgotten history: American aeronaut Jeanette Van Tassel lies buried in Dhaka Christian Cemetery |work=Global Voices |url=https://globalvoices.org/2021/09/17/forgotten-history-american-aeronaut-jeanette-van-tassel-lies-buried-in-dhaka-christian-cemetery/|access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref> She started the balloon flight from the southern bank of the [[Buriganga]] but encountered difficulties and strong winds causing her to jump from the balloon. Her parachute became ensnared in a tree in what is today [[Ramna Park]] and she was severely injured while being rescued. She died in hospital three days later and was buried in the cemetery.<ref name="SilentWitness">{{Cite news |last=Dipan Nandy |date=12 August 2023 |title=A silent witness to Dhaka’s history |work=Daily Star |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/weekend-read/news/silent-witness-dhakas-history-3392206|access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref> Her grave is unmarked.<ref name="GlobalVoices"/><ref name="DailyStar">{{cite AV media| people = | title = From the arrival of the Dutch to the Second World War: Narinda Cemetery in History (In Bengali)| medium = YouTube News Channel| publisher = Daily Star Live News| location = Dhaka Christian Cemetery| date = 11 August 2023| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3bzC9aEGtA }}</ref>

>1. need much more detail as to understand which publication is being referenced (pg. 58 of which document)? There are many - see https://asiaticsociety.org.bd/publications/