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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}} |
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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[[File:Dhaka Christian Cemetery 202211-8.jpg|thumb|center| |
[[File:Dhaka Christian Cemetery 202211-8.jpg|thumb|center|upright=5|Portions of the cemetery that are still in use]] |
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==Notable interments== |
==Notable interments== |
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| Dhaka Christian cemetery | |
|---|---|
Entrance to the cemetery on Narinda Road, Wari, Dhaka
| |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Christian |
| Location | |
| Location | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Geographic coordinates | 23°42′56″N 90°25′11″E / 23.715566°N 90.419783°E / 23.715566; 90.419783 |
| Architecture | |
| Date established | est. 1720[1] |
300m
330yds
Christian Cemetery
The Dhaka Christian Cemetery (also known as the Narinda Cemetery) is a graveyard situated in Wari, a district of the old towninDhaka, Bangladesh. It was established by Portuguese traders in the 17th century and is still in use by members of the Dhaka Christian community. It contains two designated archaeological sites, the Columbo Sahib mausoleum and the tomb of Reverend Joseph Paget. Many of the oldest graves and mausoleums are in a state of disrepair and are being overtaken by unchecked vegetation growth and lack of maintenance, while other parts of the cemetery still see new burials taking place at regular intervals. It is open to visitors on daily.
Dhaka's first church for the Christian community was established on this site. It is recorded that priest Sebastian Manrique came to Dhaka between 1624 and 1629 and recorded a church at the location of the cemetery.[2] There are further references to a church being located at this location and this is mentioned in the accounts of many other priests and tourists. French gem merchant and traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier visited Dhaka in 1666 and Niccolò Menucci soon after, with both referring to a church at this location. It is assumed that 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."[2]
At the time when the church was established, other European ethnic groups started living in Dhaka. In 1632 ethnic conflict peaked between the Portuguese and other nationalities and most Portuguese settlers, traders and priests were ousted on the orders of Emperor Shah Jahan and they fled to Hooghly. Dhaka locals declared solidarity with the emperor and beat the parish priest, Father Bernardo, to death. It is believed that he is also buried in the cemetery.[2]
A list of Augustinian churches established in Bengal was drawn up in 1789 but the Narinda church was not listed. It is assumed that the church was destroyed sometime between 1713 and 1789, but the cemetery remained in use.[2]
The cemetery has several distinct architectural forms related to mausoleums, grave embellishments and tombstones:
The Moorish-type gateway was built during the Mughal period using thin 'jafri bricks' (these are clearly visible where the plaster has fallen off in parts).[3] The gate would previously have led into a specific section of the graveyard, but today its location and purpose are more obscure.[4] Its position also reveals that no formal layout was maintained in the expansion of the cemetery.[2]
The obelisk and urn resemble the contemporary best-known English cemeteries in Calcutta; the Baroque character of the older and provincial cemeteries. The Indian version of the pyramid stands on a podium where the inscriptions are laid, has a less broad base, which is smoothly uplifted to an acute angled apex.[2]
The largest structure in the cemetery is a mausoleum containing three graves, all without any inscription.[5] The lower part of the mausoleum resembles a 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.[1] A painting of the mausoleum was completed by the German artist Johann Zoffany in 1786, titled "Nagaphon Ghat"[6] (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.[7].
The structure was first referred to as the Columbo Sahib mausoleumbyReginald Heber, the Bishop of Calcutta[5]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..[5] Herber enquired of the gatekeeper 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.[5] Today there is no mention of Columbo Sahib in any preserved early Persian, Urdu, Bengali or English chronicles.[1]
Archaeologist Tim Steel later recorded Columbo Sahib as a merchant who came to Dhaka from Colombo, 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 Christian who came to Dhaka from Colombo. He could also have been a local Luso-Portuguese gentleman from the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese connection is also reinforced by Charles Greig[8] 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.[1] 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.[9]
The 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.[4] This has however not stopped the decay and crumbling of the structures.[10]
The old section of the cemetery had been in a declining state since the early 1800s as noticed by both Reginald Heber and F. B. Bradley-Birt, although the decay had a more emotional romantic appeal to them. 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].
The cemetery is still in use and burials take place on a regular basis. The cemetery is maintained and managed by the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dhaka on behalf of numerous Christian denominations.[citation needed]
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