As Kolkata is assessing the staggering devastation and tragedy caused by the cyclone Amphan, references are being
made repeatedly to another super-storm that had destroyed the city three centuries ago, on 11th October, 1737.
The “Hooghly River Cyclone of 1737”, or the Calcutta Cyclone as it is known in the history of natural calamities of the world, had caused a storm surge of 40 ft in the Ganges, reportedly triggered an earthquake and 381 mm of rain in six hours, flattening the whole town.
Eight British and three Dutch ships were lost in the storm, with many of their men and cargo. The death toll, as per the records of East India Company which was then effectively ruling the city, was around 3,000 (in some records and reports, it is noted as three lakh, which, historians agree, cannot be correct).
The cyclone had also brought down the “sikharas" of the sky-high nine-spired Nabaratna temple in Chitpore Road. The magnificent temple, called “black pagoda” by the English, was built in 1731 by Babu Gobindram Mitra, the wealthy Deputy Collector of Calcutta. Its loftiest pinnacle was said to have been 165 ft high. Old photos show that its architectural design was a bit like the Dakshineswar Kali temple, which, of course, was constructed much later.
(Source: Purono Kolkatar Kothachitra by Shri Purnendu Patri and hurricanescience. org website; pics from internet, don’t know who are the copyright holders)
The “Hooghly River Cyclone of 1737”, or the Calcutta Cyclone as it is known in the history of natural calamities of the world, had caused a storm surge of 40 ft in the Ganges, reportedly triggered an earthquake and 381 mm of rain in six hours, flattening the whole town.
Eight British and three Dutch ships were lost in the storm, with many of their men and cargo. The death toll, as per the records of East India Company which was then effectively ruling the city, was around 3,000 (in some records and reports, it is noted as three lakh, which, historians agree, cannot be correct).
The cyclone had also brought down the “sikharas" of the sky-high nine-spired Nabaratna temple in Chitpore Road. The magnificent temple, called “black pagoda” by the English, was built in 1731 by Babu Gobindram Mitra, the wealthy Deputy Collector of Calcutta. Its loftiest pinnacle was said to have been 165 ft high. Old photos show that its architectural design was a bit like the Dakshineswar Kali temple, which, of course, was constructed much later.
(Source: Purono Kolkatar Kothachitra by Shri Purnendu Patri and hurricanescience. org website; pics from internet, don’t know who are the copyright holders)
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