Park Road South Cemetery

A great treasure lies at the end of up-market Park Street, just before the Park Street Circus, in old Calcutta, namely the Park Street South Cemetery, the burial ground used by the British East India Company up until the mid 1800s. Once completely overgrown and subject to scandalous neglect in post-colonial India, it has now been cleaned up, guided by the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, and is open to the public. It is an oasis of calm and cool green beauty, with its monolithic tombs covered in emerald moss, an escape from the mad bustle of the modern streets. Here are some of the present author's photographs from two visits there:

Although ostensibly a Christian graveyard, it is noticeable that there are very few overtly Christian graves. There is not, for example, a single crucifix to be seen. (These, presumably, were regarded as excessively "papish" at the time.) But even the grave inscriptions rarely make reference to Christian piety. The inscription speak of the virtues of the deceased, their service, their commitment to duty, their dedication to their families, but only rarely is there a mention of their Christian beliefs or quotations from the Christian scriptures. All that is sacred is the memory of the departed. Here are a few sample inscriptions to illustrate the point:

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Two tombs in this remarkable graveyard stand out for special comment; that of Charles Stuart and that of Elizabeth Barwell, two of the more notable and extraordinary characters from British Calcutta in that era. 

CHARLES STUART

Charles Stuart, who travelled to India as a teenager, is better known as Hindoo Stuart and is commemorated under that appellation on his plaque. He lived in Calcutta for over fifty years. During that time he increasingly took on local customs and eventually identified himself as a Hindoo. He bathed in the Ganges every day, adopted Hindoo dress and practiced the devotions of the Hindoo religion. This in no way prevented his advancement in the army; he rose to the office of Major-General. Nor did he entirely reject the Christian faith; rather he seems to have understood Christ as an incarnation of deity alongside Krishna. He often exhorted his fellow Britishers to embrace Hindoo customs and, famously, wrote a pamphlet urging British ladies to shun European vestments and to take up comfortable Hindoo apparel. Its full title was: The Ladies Monitor, Being A Series of Letters First published in Bengal on the Subject of Female Apparel Tending to Favour a regulated adoption of Indian Costume And a rejection of Superfluous Vesture By the Ladies of this country With Incidental remarks on Hindoo Beauty, Whale-Bone Stays, Iron Busks, Indian Corsets, Man-Milliners, Idle Bachelors, Hair-Powder, Waiting Maids, And Footmen.

Stuart was buried, not cremated with his ashes cast into the Ganges according to Hindoo practice, but his grave is marked by the small Hindoo-style temple (mandir) that is one of the outstanding eccentricities of the Park Street burial ground. As a point of interest, British atheists in Calcutta, such as David Hare, were denied a tomb in "Christian ground", but this sensitivity did not extend to the "heathenism" of Hindoo Stuart.

(The present author, let it be noted, currently resides in Stuart Lane, just off Sudder Street, in central Calcutta.)

              

The Mandir-Style tomb of Hindoo Stuart

ELIZABETH BARWELL (Nee Sanderson)

It is reported that when young Elizabeth Sanderson arrived in Calcutta every bachelor in the city fell in love with her. She is famous for her great beauty, the Helen of British India. Young British officers and officials of the East India Company lined up for her hand. In one famous incident, she informed her suitors of her intention to attend a certain ball and let it be known what dress she would be wearing so that the young men could attire themselves in concert with her. On the occasion, no less than a dozen young men turned up at the ball all dressed in the same pea-green clothing. Eventually, she married the womaniser and gambler Richard Barwell, but tragically died of "fever" (malaria?) shortly afterwards. The tomb of Elizabeth Barwell - a huge stone pyramid - is the largest in the cemetery. 

              

Yours,

Harper McAlpine Black