PremiumFrom an ancient pilgrimage site to a landmark of colonial Calcutta, Kalighat's journey reflects the relationship between religion, urbanisation, and cultural identity.What these Bengali historians of the early 20th century were doing was framing the story of Calcutta as a story of sacred soil, with Kali at its centre. (Wikimedia Commons/ edited by Abhishek Mitra)10 min readNew DelhiNov 6, 2026 11:59 AM IST First published on: Nov 6, 2026 at 11:57 AM ISTSeveral histories of Calcutta (now Kolkata) were written in the 1890s and early 1900s. Among their authors was A K Ray, a colonial civil servant who, at the request of the British government, prepared a report on the 1901 Census of Calcutta. Published in 1902, the report included a text titled ‘A Short History of Calcutta’. Interestingly, Ray departed from the established colonial account of the city’s origins, describing Calcutta as being situated in Kalikshetra, or the land of Kali.AdvertisementRay believed that the name Calcutta was a corruption of Kalikshetra. “The derivation of the word ‘Calcutta’ from the name of the goddess Kali, whose present location is in Kalighat, in the southern section of the town, is accepted by many writers of repute,” he wrote.Kalighat, in South Calcutta, is home to the famed temple of the Goddess Kali. It featured prominently in many of the histories produced by a group of English-educated Bengali intellectuals at the turn of the 20th century. Their accounts challenged the British historical narrative, which traced the city’s beginnings to 1690, when Job Charnock, an East India Company administrator, established a factory in Sutanuti, one of the three villages that would later form Calcutta.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdAdrija Roychowdhury leads the research section at Indianexpress.com. She writes long features on his... Read More ShareWhatsapptwitterFacebook