Roy Letter to the Collector Draft

Content

Physical description: Single sheet, good quality paper. Roy’s handwriting is clean and regular. A Company filing stamp in the corner reads “RECD 14 FEB 1812.” Below it, in a clerk’s hand: “Filed. No action required. — J.P.”

Calcutta, the 12th of February, 1812

To the Collector of Revenue, Baranagar District

Sir,

I write to bring to your attention a matter which, though it may appear to fall outside the ordinary concerns of your office, touches upon the safety and good order of the district under your administration.

I have received, in the course of recent months, reports from several residents of Baranagar and the surrounding villages concerning unusual activity at the temple known as Mandir Mahakali, situated on the riverbank north of the Baranagar ghat. These reports describe nocturnal gatherings of a character inconsistent with the established festivals of the Hindu calendar. The gatherings occur with increasing frequency, most commonly on nights of the new moon, and involve numbers of persons substantially exceeding the temple’s ordinary congregation. Drumming and chanting have been heard continuing until the hours before dawn. Boats have been observed at the ghat at unusual hours, arriving from and departing to locations downstream.

I am informed by fishermen of the district that the river in the vicinity of the temple exhibits, on the mornings following such gatherings, a quality they describe as “wrong,” though they are unable to specify the nature of their objection beyond a general reluctance to cast nets in that stretch until the afternoon. I record this observation not as evidence of wrongdoing but as an indication of the disturbance these nocturnal activities cause to the ordinary commerce of the river.

I have previously published concerns regarding the administration of Mandir Mahakali (see my tract of 1811, a copy of which I enclose). The disappearance of three persons connected to the temple remains uninvestigated. I respectfully submit that the combination of unexplained disappearances and irregular nocturnal activity warrants, at minimum, a visit of enquiry by the district magistrate or his representative.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

RAM MOHAN ROY

Encl.: “On the Corruption of Priestly Authority at Baranagar” (1811)

Context

Roy’s escalation from public pamphlet to official complaint. Filed, stamped, dismissed. The clerk’s “No action required” is the colonial machinery doing exactly what Ghosh relies on it to do: treating a Hindu temple as beneath serious investigation.

Clues Embedded

• Nocturnal gatherings, new moon timing (ritual calendar)
• Numbers exceeding ordinary congregation (people arriving from elsewhere)
• Drumming and chanting until dawn (ritual activity)
• Boats at unusual hours (river transport, connects to the river channel)
• Fishermen describing the river as “wrong” after gatherings (dissolution affecting the water)
• The filing clerk’s dismissal: “No action required”

The river detail is critical. This is one of five independent paths to discovering the Hooghly’s role as the ritual’s transmission medium. Fishermen refuse to cast nets after a gathering. The water is “wrong.” They cannot say why. The investigators, knowing what dissolution does, will understand before Roy does.

Prop Notes

Handwritten style or clean manuscript font. The Company filing stamp is a nice touch (draw one or use a rubber stamp: “RECD 14 FEB 1812”). The clerk’s dismissal should be in a different, messier hand below the stamp.

Relationships

• Authored by Ram Mohan Roy — Roy's official complaint to the colonial administration
• Reports on Mandir Mahakali — Reports nocturnal gatherings, boats at unusual hours, and river anomalies near the temple