The following essay tries to touch upon the varied aspects of sporting ethos of Colonial Bengal. South Asian sports history will be enriched to a great extent if these microcosmic aspects get some attention within the broader fields of social and intellectual history.
PART I
HOT AIR BALLOONING
BY
SARBAJIT MITRA
Hot-air Balloon developed by the Montgolfier Brothers in December,1783 helped
to realize man’s long cherished dream of flying like birds.[i]
The balloons immediately aroused the passions of scientists, adventurers
and acrobats alike. Such flights were taken in Calcutta as well during the last
two decades of the 19th Century. In the nascent phase of the
nationalist movement those Balloon flights constituted an important phase in
the physical culture movement of Bengal.
The physical culture
movement formed an interesting cultural response to the age old colonial
stereotyping of the Bengalis as “low-lying people in low-lying land”. Since the beginning of the 19th
Century, the British masters rebuked their colonial subjects for their “grit of
a rabbit” and their inherent physical feebleness. Thus, it became imperative for
the Bengalis to devise an effective way to counter the colonial charges.[ii]
The then intellectuals of Bengal took it upon themselves; the need to take
effective steps in this regard, leading to the foundation of a number of
organizations devoted for the cultivation of physical training and
activities.
However, the balloon flights by Indian gymnasts have mostly escaped
the attention of the historians. Abhijit Gupta, though recognized the
importance of the Balloon-flights in the history of the physical culture
movement in his recently published article on Gobor Guha, the wrestler.[iii]
The only work that singularly dealt with this forgotten chapter was
Amitabha (aka Siddhartha) Ghosh’s article which came out in 1992.[iv] Amitabha Ghosh, a scientist by profession,
excavated interesting accounts of the achievements of the Bengalis in various
aspects of modern science and technology in Colonial Bengal and wrote about the
balloon flight as one of the interesting accomplishment of the period.
Ballooning took a divergent
path in Britain than in France. Instead of being a medium of scientific
experiments in Britain, Ballooning became a way of showcasing daring skills
for the acrobats and trapeze artists.[v]
These acrobats were leaders of a new profession and some of them soon emerged
as great showmen, touring across the country; even abroad including Calcutta, the
second city of the British Empire, entertaining audiences with their spell
bounding feats. D. Robertson, P. Maigret, Fitzherbert Kight were some of the
early aeronauts who exhibited their skills before the people of Calcutta.
However, it was during the aeronaut Perceval Spencer’s tour of Calcutta in 1889
that the physical culture movement was in full swing and the Bengalis realized
that it was possible to make a statement before the colonial masters by
emulating their own feats.
Spencer made his first
flight in the city on 19th March, 1889 and his success was greeted
back with great pomp by the British officials and Bengali babus alike.
Spencer’s stunning success also inspired a number of young Bengalis, who realized that with the same old routine of physical training reaching a stagnation
point, Ballooning may provide a perfect avenue to showcase their mettle.
Abatarchandra Laha, a gymnast met and requested Spencer to accept him as his
student so that he can make Balloon ascents and Parachute descents as well.
Besides Laha, another Bengali, Anil Chandra Banerjee also approached Spencer
with similar requests through an open letter in the newspaper. The letter shows
how the contemporary Bengali youth considered such daring acts to be important
for making a statement before the colonial masters. Banerjee wrote,
“Sir, If you kindly publish the following few lines in your widely circulated paper
for Mr P.Spencer’s information I shall be heartily thankful to you.
To convince the world
that there are natives of India, who are no less daring than other people, in the
world. I wish to undertake the task of ascending to a Balloon and descending with
the Parachute.
With this intention I propose to Mr. Spencer
that
if he allows me to take my flight by his Balloon, I shall be highly obliged and the flight will be
very interesting as well as matter of glory for the Indians that a Bengali young
man who has not yet numbered 20 years will play such an adventurous part. In conclusion I wish
to say I will perform the feat without any
pecuniary
consideration.”[vi]
Unfortunately
neither Laha’s nor Banerjee’s dream materialized. Banerjee’s letter found no
response from Spencer. As for Laha, his sponsors backed out at the last moment
since it deemed to them such acts are too dangerous for a Bengali to undertake.[vii]
However, it was Laha who introduced Ram
Chandra Chatterjee, who would eventually become the first Indian Aeronaut. Laha insisted
to Chatterjee that Balloon ascent will be a more daring act than trapeze and
introduced him to Spencer; Ram Chandra Chatterjee was already well-known for
gymnastic achievement and trapeze acts, as he began his career as an acrobat in the
National Circus Company founded by Nabagopal Mitra. Ram Chandra was successful
in securing the necessary sponsor for the Balloon ascent from Gopal Chandra
Mukherjee of Pathuriaghata, and the date of the historic event was fixed at 10th
April 1889.[viii]
The first flight that Ram
Chandra took was a joint effort with Spencer. The Balloon ascended from the
grounds of Oriental Gas Company at Narkeldanga and after an hour’s journey; the
Balloon finally descended at a village near Barasat. The historic incident was
widely reported in the contemporary newspapers. The Evening Mail commended the
pluck of the athletic built man. While,“The Hindoo Patriot” praised the
well-known athlete for showing cool courage and indomitable spirit.
Ram Chandra
thereafter readied himself for his first solo flight which was scheduled for 4th
May, 1889. He purchased Spencer’s balloon “Viceroy” and rechristened it to
“City of Calcutta”. On 4th May, at the presence of around eight
thousand spectators including the Commissioner of Police and a few “Scientific
gentlemen”, the “City of Calcutta” ascended successfully. After taking off at
5.10 p.m. the Balloon moved in a northerly direction, landing safely near Sodepur
around 5.50 p.m. Nebutala Youngmen’s Club congratulated Ram Chandra by saying
that even a European would feel proud at his achievement.[ix]
Both the European and Bengali newspapers lauded Ram Chandra’s spectacular
success. The Bengalee provided a detailed account of the journey in Ram
Chandra’s own words, reflecting the way he had mastered art of Ballooning.[x]
The Bengali Times proudly pointed out that Ram Chandra had not only silenced all
who doubted his success but also those who ridiculed the Bengali race; even the
Englishmen were obliged to sink at the foot of this “Babu-Balloonist.[xi]
It was on this
occasion that Ram Chandra launched his “Calcutta Balloonists Company” along
with his sponsors announcing his intention of touring the northern provinces
of the country. Under the colonial set up where entrepreneurship was
discouraged by policy, this was a move indeed worth noting. The daringness that
Ram Chandra displayed during his ascent in Allahabad found special mention in
newspapers round the country.The other
contemporary newspapers; Hindoo Patriot, Indian Daily News, Pioneer and Morning
Post also expressed their acclamation of Ram Chandra’s accomplishment.[xii]
It was during this period a detailed interview of Ram Chandra was published at
Lahore’s “Civil and Military Gazette.[xiii]
At a time when sports reports were few and far between, an interview dedicated
to an acrobat that also an Indian was remarkable indeed. Moreover, this
interview provided the only platform where one could get a glimpse of Ram
Chandra’s own views.
In the interview,
Ram Chandra did not hide his pride being the first in India to achieve such a
daring feat and announced his desire to do a parachute descent in near future.
The dream of making a parachute jump realized on 22nd March, 1890 in Calcutta
before a number of important guests. The Chinese Ambassador was present at the
occasion with his followers.[xiv] Two noted Bengali personalities were also
present to remain witness to this historic event, Abanindranath Tagore[xv],
the painter and Jogindranath Sarkar[xvi],
the educationist and author. Both left behind a vivid eye-witness account of the
event. Jogindranath expressed astonishment regarding the huge congregation of
spectators.[xvii]
The Balloon finally took off at 5.30 pm at a north-easterly direction and the jump was made within five minutes of the
ascent. Abanindranath in his inimitable
style wrote about the anxious moments the spectators had to go
through till the opening of the Parachute and the wild celebrations of the
Bengalis that took place after the completion of the landing process.[xviii] The newspaper reports also mentioned about
the enthusiastic response of the spectators. The event was rounded off with an
elaborate public felicitation of Spencer and Ram Chandra.[xix]
Ram Chandra then went
ahead with his plan of touring India. On November, 1890 he made a Parachute
descent at Tis Hazari in Delhi, Ram Chandra’s valiant show was highly
appreciated by the elites of Delhi.[xx]
From Delhi he traveled westwards and performed in Lahore and Rawalpindi. On
November 1891, Ram Chandra was invited by the Maharaja of Indore to put up a
show before the Viceroy.[xxi] From Indore he travelled to Agra and Benaras
where he enthralled the crowd for the last time with his skills. He was
seriously hurt in his next parachute descent in a native state before a native
state. Ram Chandra never recovered from the injuries sustained and breathed his
last after he was brought back to Calcutta on 9th August, 1892.
Another fellow Bengali,
Prabodh Chandra Laha also became impressed with Spencer’s Balloon ascent and
parachute descent and became the latter’s student in 1890. Laha, like his
predecessor Ram Chandra also was a gymnast and trapeze artist at Harimohan
Ray’s Circus.[xxii]
On 15th February, 1890 along with Spencer and three other
co-passengers, P.C. Laha became the second Indian to make balloon ascent from the
grounds of the Tivoli Garden. Laha made
his solo ascent successfully from the same ground within a couple of weeks from
the same grounds with financial help from Lalbehari Saha.[xxiii]
Saha’s first solo flight is also important, since this was the first instance
of Indian women acrobats taking part in a Balloon ascent. These female acrobats whose names history
has not recorded, were not part of the main Balloon ascent, they were brought
to exhibit acrobat skills from mid-air before the main event. However the
contemporary Press applauded the efforts of Saha and his female assistants. The
Bengalee wrote,
“ It is quite clear that the
character of the Bengali is undergoing a formation. They have began to show pluck and dare
with which they are not ordinarily credited. Even Bengali women have come to
the front in this respect…..”[xxiv]
After
Ram Chandra’s death P.C. Laha carried forward his legacy and did over twenty
Balloon ascents and Parachute descents all over the country before retiring.[xxv]
This brings us to the end of the episode of Ballooning in Bengal.
This brief account has tried
to highlight on a lesser known chapter in the physical culture movement that
was closely involved with the rise of nationalist consciousness in Bengal. The Balloon ascents helped in questioning the
myth regarding the physical prowess of the colonizers. Ram Chandra and others
made it clear that the Bengalis can acquire enough skills to take such daring
feats. Such sentiment was evident in the contemporary newspaper reports as well. As
the Bengalee rightly observed that the Balloon ascents did successfully initiate
a transformation in the character of the Bengalis.
Footnotes:
[i] Ghosh, Amitabha, “The First Indian
Aeronaut”, in Indian Journal of History of Science, 27:3(1992). p-291
[ii] Bandopadhyay, Kaushik, “Scoring off the
Field: Football Culture in Bengal 1911-1980”, (New Delhi: Routledge, 2011),
p-26
[iii] Gupta, Abhijit, “Cultures of the Body in Colonial Bengal: The Career of Gobor Guha” in The
International Journal of the History of Sport, 29:12(2013), pp-1687-1700
[iv] Ghosh, Amitabha, “The First Indian
Aeronaut”, in Indian Journal of History of Science, 27:3(1992).
[v] Rolt, L.T.C., “The Aeronauts: A History of
Ballooning 1783-1903, (London:1966)
[vi] Bengalee,
13th April, 1889
[vii] Guin, Ramesh Chandra, “Biman Bihar-er
Kotha” in Tantu o Tantri (Ashwin:
1336)
[viii]
Guin, Ramesh Chandra, “Biman Bihar-er Kotha” in Tantu o Tantri (Ashwin: 1336)
[ix] Ghosh, Siddhartha and Basu, Swapan, “Urlo
Baloon Gorer Mathe” in Desh Binodon,
1989, p-180
[x] Bengalee, 11th May, 1889
[xi] The Bengal Times, 11th May,
1889
[xii] Ghosh, Siddhartha and Basu, Swapan, “Urlo
Baloon Gorer Mathe” in Desh Binodon,
1989, p-181
[xiii] Bengalee, 1st June, 1889
[xiv] Bengalee, 29th March, 1890
[xv] Tagore, Abanindranath, “Gharoa” in
Abanindranath Tagore Rochonaboli Vol.1 (Calcutta: Prakash Bhavan, 1973), p-111
[xvi] Sarkar, Jogindranath, “Chabi o Galpa”,
(Calcutta: City Book Society, 1897), p- 72
[xvii] Sarkar, Jogindranath, “Chabi o Galpa”,
(Calcutta: City Book Society, 1897), p- 73
[xviii] Tagore, Abanindranath, “Gharoa” in
Abanindranath Tagore Rochonaboli Vol.1 (Calcutta: Prakash Bhavan, 1973), p-111
[xix] Bengalee, 29th March, 1890
[xx] Ghosh, Amitabha, “The First Indian Aeronaut”,
in Indian Journal of History of Science, 27:3(1992). p-301
[xxi] Bengalee, 29th March, 1890
[xxii] Dey, Goshtobehari, “Bimanbihari Prabodh
Chandra Laha” in Tantu o Tantri
(Ashar, 1336)
[xxiii] Guin, Ramesh Chandra, “Biman Bihar-er Kotha”
in Tantu o Tantri (Ashwin: 1336)
[xxiv] Bengalee, 15th March, 1890
[xxv] Dey, Goshtobehari, “Bimanbihari Prabodh
Chandra Laha” in Tantu o Tantri
(Ashar, 1336)
Author’s Bio-
Note:
Sarbajit Mitra is a Research Fellow at the Jadavpur University. Sarbajit
did his graduation and post-graduation from Department of History, Jadavpur University. His topic of dissertation for M.Phil. was "Drive for
Masculinity in Colonial Bengal 1870-1910". Currently he is working as a
Research Fellow in a joint collaborative project between Jadavpur University
and University of Exeter.
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