Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-19
CITY OF CALCUTTA
Site of East India Company
Headquarters.
THE TEMPLE OF KALI
NoTABLEs THAT ARE TO BE SEEN
ON TILE MADAM.
Winter Social Season Very Gay One
Best Marriage Market in
the World.
BY WILLIAM ID. CURTIS.

CALCUTTA, March 10, 1904
Calcutta is a modern city compared with
the rest of India. It has been built around
old Fort William, which was the head
quarters Of the East India Company two
hundred years ago, and is situated upon the
banks Of the river Hoogly, one Of the many
mouths Of the Gauges. The city is about
ninety miles from the Bay Of Bengal. The
current is so swift and the channel changes
so frequently that the river cannot be
navigated at night, nor without a pilot.
The native pilots are remarkably skillful
n&vigators, and seem to know by instinct
how the shoals shift. For several miles
below the city the banks of the river are
lined with factories of all kinds, which
have added great wealth to the empire.
Old Fort William disappeared many years
ago. and new fort was erected mile or
two farther down the river. where 1t could
command the approaches to the city, but
that also is now old-fashioned, and could
not do much execution If Calcutta were
attacked The Notifications near the mouth
OF the river are supposed to be quite for
mtdable. but Calcutta is not a citadel. and
In case Of war must be defended by battle
ships and other floating fortresses. 1t is
one of the cities Of India which shows
rapid growth of population, the gain dur
ing the last ten years having been 1919
making the total population, by the census
Of 1901, 1,O28,9S7.
The Temple Of Kali.
The city takes it's name from village
which stood in the neighborhood at the
time the East India Company located here,
and there was temple erected in honor
of Kali. the fearful wife Of the god Silva,
the most cruel. vindictive and relentless OF
all the heather dieties. The temple still
stands, being more than four hundred years
old. and Kali the Black One" still sits
upon her altar, hideous in appearance, gor-
gon-headed wearing necklace of human
skulls and dripping with fresh blood from
the morning sacrifice Of sheep and goats.
She brings pestilence, famine, war and sor-
rows and suffering of all kinds, and can
only be propitiated by the sacrifice Of life.
Formerly nothing but human blood would
So tisfy her. and thousands. some claim tens
of thousands, of victims have been slain
before her image in this ancient temple.
Human offerings were forbidden by the
English many years ago, but 1t is believed
that they are occasionally made even now
when famine and plague are affecting the
people. During the late famine 1t is sus-
pected that appeal for mercy was sealed
with the sacrifice Of infants. Residents of
the neighborhood assert that human heads
dripping with blood and decorated with flow
ers have been seen in the temple OCCASION
ally since 1870 1t is the only notable
temple in Calcutta, and is visited by tour
lists, but they are allowed to go only SO far
and no farther, for fear that Kali might
be provoked by the intrusion. 1t is a
CHASTITY, filthy, repulsive place, and was
formerly the southern headquarters of that
organized caste of religious assassins know
as Thugs
A little beyond the Temple of Kali is the
burning CHAT of Calcutta. Here the Hindus
bring the bodies of their dead and burn
them on funeral pyres. The crematfons
may be witnessed every morning by any one
to o1y he rfy out
there They take place In an open area
surrounded by tempes and shrines on one
side and large piles of firewood and the
palm cottages Of the attendants on the
other The river, which flows by the burn
ing ground. is covered with all kinds Of
native craft, carrying on commerce between
the city and the country, and the ashes
of the dead are cast between them upon
the sacred waters from fight of stone
steps which leads to the rivers brink. There
is no more objection to a stranger attend
ing the burning ceremonies than would be
offered to his presence at a funeral in the
United States. Indeed, friends who fire.
quently accompany the bodies of the dead
feel fiattered for the attention and often
take punches OF flowers from the bier and
present them to bystanders.
The Black Hole.
The Black Hole of Calcutta, of which you
have read so much, no longer exists. Its
former site is now partially built over, but
Lord CurZon has had 1t marked, and that
portion which is now uncovered he has had
paved with marble, SO that a visitor can see
just how large an area was occupied by it.
He has also reproduced after the original
plan monument that was erected to the
dead by Governor ]. z. Howell one of the
sufferers. You will remember that the en-
ployes of the East India Company, with
their families, were residing within the
walls of Fort William when an uprising of
the natives occurred June 20, 1856. The
survivors, 156 In number, were made pris-
oners and pressed into an apartment eight
cen feet long, eighteen feet wide and four
ten feet ten inches high, where they were
kept overnight.
1t was sort Of vault in the walls of the
fortress. which had been used for storage
purposes and at one time for a prison The
company consisted of men, women, children
and even infants. Several of them were
crushed to death and trampled during the
efforts of the native soldiers to crowd them
into this place, and all but thirty-three of
the 158 died of suffocation.
The next morning, when the leader of the
mutiny ordered the living prisoners brought
before him, the bodies of the dead were cast
into pit outside the walls and allowed to
rot there. The monument to which I have
alluded stands upon the site of the pit.
To preserve history Lord Curzon has had
a model of the old fort made in wood. and
1t will be placed in the museum.
A Fine City.
Calcutta is a fine city. The government
buildings. che court houses, the business
blocks and residences, the churches and
clubs are nearly all of pretentious archi-
lecture and imposing appearance Most of
the buildings are up to date The banks of
the river are lined for a long distance with
mammoth warehouses, and the stream lie
crowded with steamers from all parts of
the world. There is a regular line between
Calcutta and New York, which, I am told.
is doing good business Beyond the
warehouses, the business section and the
government buildings. along the bank of
the river for several miles, is an open space
or common, called the MADAM, the amuse-
ment and recreation ground of the public.
who show their appreciation by putting it
to good use. There are several thousand
acres. including the military reservation,
bisected with drives and ornamented with
monuments and groves of trees 1t belongs
to the public, is intended for their benefit.
and thousands of natives may be found en-
joying this privilege night and day An
American circus has its tent pitched in the
center opposite a group of hotels; a little
further along is roller skating rink which
seems to be popular. and scattered here and
there, usually beside clumps of shade trees,