Bengal by River - Calcutta and a week’s cruise along the Hooghly

• Four days in Calcutta, Bengal’s capital, and a week visiting places along the River Hooghly on an exclusively chartered cruiser.
• Bengal, an outpost of the Mughal Empire and the first region to come under the control of the East India Company.
• Islamic architecture in Murshidabad and Gaur, Hindu temples in Baranagar and Kalna, Georgian and Victorian buildings of the Raj.
• Sailing along the banks of the Hooghly gives a unique insight into unspoilt village life.
• Led by Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, an authority on colonial India.

INTRO

ITINERARY

DETAILS

GALLERY

PRE & POST

INTRODUCTION

Calcutta

When George V announced in 1911 that the capital of British India was to be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi, there was disbelief and horror in Bengal. It seemed to overturn the natural order of things. Founded by Job Charnock in 1690 on the banks of the mighty Hooghly River, Calcutta (now Kolkata) had been the headquarters of British rule in India ever since. Today the city is home to over fifteen million, but the central district remains largely as it was during the Raj.

Buildings of all sorts – political, economic, educational, religious, residential – formed the British city. Their styles, Classical and Gothic, are bizarrely familiar, and their size is startling, often exceeding their equivalents in Britain. A walk through the South Park Street Cemetery shows the high price that many Britons paid for coming to Calcutta in search of wealth. ‘Power on silt!’ wrote Kipling of the city. ‘Death in my hands, but Gold!’

West Bengal is the land of lost capitals and fading grandeur. Calcutta was only the latest city whose power was snatched away by changing political events. Hindus, Muslims, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish and French all founded settlements on the dreamy, fertile banks of the Hooghly.

For a time Bengal was the richest province in India, not only because everything seemed to grow in its lush soil but from the industry of its people too. Indigo, opium and rice were cash crops, but textiles first attracted European traders in the seventeenth century. Beautiful silk and muslin fabrics were known as ‘woven wind’ because they were so fine. The river was a natural highway. Apart from the Grand Trunk Road of the Mughals, there was no other way to travel.

Steeped in history but still very much off the conventional tourist route, this tour adds a new dimension to India for those who already know it, and for those who are yet to encounter it.

Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, and Christianity are all practised in Bengal and each faith has built buildings to its gods and goddesses. The town of Kalna is named after a manifestation of the dreaded goddess Kali, the destroyer who lives in cremation grounds and wears a necklace of skulls. By contrast the Jain temples in the village of Baranagar are a peaceful anthem in carved brick to non-violence and harmony. Bengal contains the largest imambaras in India, buildings associated with the Shi’a strand of Islam, not quite mausolea, although burials are frequently found in them, more gathering places for the devout. Serampore, the Danish settlement, is known for its eighteenth-century church.

Had the British under Clive not defeated the Nawab Siraj-ud-daula at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the history of India would have been very different. The French, established at Chandernagore and allies of the Nawab, would have seized their opportunity, supported by Francophone rulers elsewhere in India who wanted to counterbalance the pervasive British presence. But it was from their base in Bengal that the British steadily extended their rule through the subcontinent.

The cruiser chartered for this tour is fairly new (built in Calcutta in 2006), on board it feels far removed from modern India and quite close to the India of the Raj. By the standards of vessels on European rivers it is not luxurious, but it is comfortable, has great charm and the crew are welcoming and efficient.

Lounging on the top deck after a fulfilling day of sightseeing with a gin & tonic (of which a quota is included in the price), watching rural life on the banks as dusk falls, comes pretty close to a perfect Indian experience.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

Days 1 & 2: London to Calcutta (Kolkata), via Dubai. Fly at c. 1.30pm from London Heathrow to Calcutta via Dubai (Emirates) where there is a 2-hour stop. Reach the hotel c. 9.00am (time difference from UK is 5½ hours.) The rest of the morning is free. In the afternoon visit the South Park Street Cemetery, where tombs of the early British settlers are of a monumental classicism without parallel in Britain. First of four nights in Calcutta.

DAY 2

As above.

DAY 3

Calcutta. The Anglican cathedral of St Paul, completed in 1847 in Gothic style, has many fine memorials and a window by Burne-Jones, one of his best. Completed in 1921, the Victoria Memorial is the most imposing building in Calcutta. It houses a collection of European paintings and a display on the history of the city. The Indian Museum, built by Granville to house the collection from the Asiatic Society, is India’s most important collection of sculpture. Overnight Calcutta.

DAY 4

Calcutta. This morning’s walk provides a survey of the civic buildings from the late 18th century. St John’s Church, which dates back to 1784, is loosely modelled on St Martin-in-the-Fields in London (like hundreds throughout the globe). In the grounds, the mausoleum of Job Charnock, the founder of Calcutta, is the earliest British building in India. We also visit the antiquarian collections of the Marble Palace (by special arrangement). Overnight Calcutta.

DAY 5

Calcutta. The Maghen David Synagogue (1884) and the Armenian Church (1707) are reminders of the variety of religions which thrived in Calcutta prior to Independence. The Home of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet and philosopher who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, provides an insight into the Bengali Intellectual Renaissance which in turn led to the Independentist movement. Overnight Calcutta.

DAY 6

Barrackpore, Serampore. Board the MV Sukapha in Calcutta. Sail to the former British garrison town of Barrackpore. Many 19th-cent. buildings remain, including the riverside Government House (1813) with its Semaphore Tower, part of a river signalling system, and the elegant neo-Greek Temple of Fame. The gardens of Flagstaff House now serve as repository for colonial statuary removed from Calcutta. The Danish colony of Serampore is across the river. First of seven nights on board the RV Sukapha.

DAY 7

Chandernagore, Chinsura, Hooghly. In the morning, sail upstream to the former French colony of Chandernagore, established in 1673. Visit the remaining churches and cemeteries as well as Governor Joseph François Dupleix’s House. Sail to Chinsura to visit the 17th-cent. Dutch cemetery before continuing by cycle-rickshaw to Hooghly where the 19th-cent. Shi’a Imambara of Hazi Mohammed Mohasin contains fine marble inlay. Overnight RV Sukapha.

DAY 8

Kalna, Nabadwip, Mayapur. At Kalna, visit the series of fine 18th-cent. terracotta temples and the unique Shiva temple with concentric rings comprising 108 double-vaulted shrines. Sail to the pilgrimage centre of Nabadwip, where the river ghats are lined with active temples. The skyline of Mayapur on the opposite bank is dominated by a vast new temple. Overnight RV Sukapha.

DAY 9

Matiari, Plassey. Visit the village of Matiari where brass is worked using traditional methods. After sailing further, there is an excursion to the site of the battle of Plassey, where Robert Clive’s 1757 victory over the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah was the prelude to consolidation and extension of the East India Company’s power in Bengal and beyond. Overnight RV Sukapha at Murshidabad.

DAY 10

Murshidabad. The Mughal Khushbagh is a peaceful walled pleasure-garden containing the Tomb of Siraj-ud-Daulah and family. A magnificent example of Greek Revival architecture, the Hazarduari Palace was built by Duncan McLeod in 1837 as a guest house for the Nawab. The museum holds a respectable collection of European paintings, sculpture and arms. The imposing Katra Mosque (1724) is modelled on the great mosque at Mecca. Visit the Nashipara and Katgola palaces, 18th-cent. homes of rich Jain merchants in classical Georgian style. Overnight RV Sukapha.

DAY 11

Baranagar. Sail to the village of Baranagar and walk through fields to visit three miniature carved-brick Jain temples. Sail in the afternoon through a stretch of charming waterway that weaves past banks lush with mango groves and mustard crops. Overnight RV Sukapha at Jangipur.

DAY 12

Gaur, Farakka. Drive from Jangipur to the quiet city of Gaur, the ancient capital of Bengal. Situated within easy reach of the black basalt Rajmahal hills, Gaur is filled with elegant Muslim ruins. The many mosques, palaces and gateways stand as testament to a prosperous past and gifted stonemasons. Overnight RV Sukapha.

DAY 13

Disembark Farakka. Calcutta. At Farakka, disembark the RV Sukupha in the early morning and transfer to the station to board a train for Calcutta (a journey of c. 4 hours). The rest of the day is at leisure. One more night in Calcutta.

DAY 14

Calcutta. After a 2-hour stopover in Dubai, the flight arrives Heathrow c. 6.00pm.

Changes to the itinerary: circumstances might arise which prevent us operating the tour as advertised. On the river, circumstances such as the ebb and flow of the tide and shifting silt levels might necessitate omission of one or more ports of call. We would try and devise a satisfactory alternative.