How do you do that? When I moved from California to Calcutta in 2011, I would joke that I had merely exchanged one Cal for another. Calcutta, the When it is called Calcutta, it includes the suburbs. In the early years after Indian independence, many name changes were effected in northern India for English spellings of Hindi place names that had simply been romanised inconsistently by the British administration – such as the British spelling "Jubbulpore," renamed "Jabalpur" (जबलपुर) among the first changes in 1947. Last week the Calcutta High Court refused bail to a Hindi-speaking computer programmer charged with setting up a website dedicated to anti-Bengali and anti-communist slurs. Haris … But the decision has not met with approval from all quarters. [6], Official name changes take place quickly if not immediately in official government sources. But the British called it Calcutta. It is the second largest city in India after Mumbai. But is it ... Calcutta? Name changes have varied with respect to the levels of language at which they have been applied, and also accepted. He was commander of the British forces during the 1857 Indian mutiny. For example, the change of Madras (Tamil: மதராஸ் Madras) to Chennai (Tamil: சென்னை Chennai) was reflected in many of India's languages, and incidentally in English, while the Tamil endonym had always been Chennai and remained unaffected by the change. Some of these local name changes were changes made in all languages: the immediate local name, and also all India's other languages. Calcutta - Kolkata debate . Tipu Sultan Mosque at the corner of Chowringhee Road and Dharmatala, was built in 1842, by Prince Gholam Mohammad, a son of Tipu Sultan. In 2001 the government of West Bengal decided to officially change its capital city's name to Kolkata to reflect its original Bengali pronunciation. The bill also proposes to change the name of IIM Calcutta to IIM Kolkata. The name of the place was first Mandav Nagar and then corrupted into Mandi. Some discern the name as a reference to dharma, one of the units of the Buddhist Trinity. No one expected a sudden change this soon. Yet, here we are again going back to the roots with the 16th-century old Kalikatta. Bioy Ghosh feels that the name Dharmatala is because of the preeminence of Dharmathakur in olden days. In Kolkata January 14-27 2020, staying within 10 blocks of the Park Street area. According to one view, the elephants of the Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah were posted here when he attacked Kolkata in 1756. Other changes were only changes in some of the indigenous languages. There was a Buddhist temple at Janbazar, nearby. Later state name changes include the reorganisation of Madhya Bharat into Madhya Pradesh in 1959;[3] and the renamings of the Madras State to Tamil Nadu in 1969, of the Mysore State to Karnataka in 1973, and of Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand in 2007. I notice that Evan's reasons for not changing the name used in Wikitravel from Calcutta to Kolkata were given in Feb 2004 - almost two years ago. Kolkata - Kolkata - Capital of British India: Calcutta did not become the capital of British India until 1772, when the first governor-general, Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to the city from Murshidabad, the provincial Mughal capital. Calcutta's sorry image of a city of beggars and heartbreak would stick. W hen I remember Calcutta – as the residents of Kolkata still call their city, despite its official name change – it appears before my mind’s eye in sepia tones, muted and mild, as if everything were seen through a thick particulate haze. Some of these changes coincided with the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories that organised them along linguistic lines. When I moved from California to Calcutta in 2011, I would joke that I had merely exchanged one Cal for another. In 1690, Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company chose this place for a British trade settlement. Town names that derive from ancient names: Several other changes have been proposed for states and towns. We want to face up to the chains. The reason for this change was that in two of the local languages, Marathi and Gujarati, the city has long been called Mumbai. Celebrations in Kolkata have come under the scanner of the Calcutta high court, even as some major cities in India have put restrictions to control the crowd on the night of … Kolkata was the capital of the British Indian empire until 1911 when the capital was relocated to Delhi. Many people argue that such confusion can lead to indeterminate and/or unintended consequences.[2]. … Kolkata - Kolkata - Capital of British India: Calcutta did not become the capital of British India until 1772, when the first governor-general, Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to the city from Murshidabad, the provincial Mughal capital. Kolkata Isn't Just The City Of Mother Teresa In 2001 the government of West Bengal decided to officially change its capital city's name to Kolkata to reflect its original Bengali … "Unconsciousness was forced upon us; we were chained. Kolkata: Calcutta High Court judges have rejected the Centre's decision to change the name of their place of work to Kolkata High Court. In other words, the city itself is not actually renamed in the local language, and the local name (or endonym) in the indigenous languages of India does not change, but the official spelling in Indian English is amended. I suppose that’s what diesel fumes can do to daylight, and to memory. Post-independence, the name Calcutta carried on till 2000 until the resolution was passed. • The southern state of Kerala led the way in changing place names to remove the colonial influence. Internet was fast enough for research … In the post-colonial era, several Indian states' names were changed. He does, liberally, along with Bertrand Russell, George Bernard Shaw, John Ruskin and other friends of the British working and intellectual classes whom Mr Haque absolves of responsibility for the colonial era. With Mother Teresa in the headlines, so is the name of the city where she lived for decades. Kolkata was always called Kolkata in Bengali — derived from the name of one of the three villages said to have become the modern city of Kolkata. Calcutta HC judges 'No' to change in name to Kolkata HC Mobile helping farmers get compensation for wildlife conflict Why keeping Vaccination Card up-to-date is … These can be represented as a change from Urdu language to Hindi language, but since the two languages are variants of Hindustani the proposal is effectively a cultural and ethno-religious proposal rather than a linguistic one. Finally, in 2001, it was changed to Kolkata. Now comes the story. The closest rendering in spoken Bengali sounded more like Koli-kata. In the year 2003, High Court in Calcutta ruled out Job Charnock -- widely held to have founded Calcutta with the British East India Company in 1690 -- and announced that his name should be struck from school textbooks, official documents, and websites. Such changes in English spelling may be in order to better reflect a more accurate phonetic transliteration of the local name, or may be for other reasons. In 1957, the West Bengal government ordered the removal of the bronze statue of Gen. James Outram, a landmark in Calcutta. During partition back then Bengal was divided into two parts, one was East Bengal while the […] An example is the change from English "Calcutta" to English "Kolkata" – the local Bengali name (কলকাতা Kôlkata) did not change. --(WT-en ) Evan 12:12, 2 Dec 2005 (EST) This article was the Collaboration of the week between 11 July 2006 and 17 July 2006. I tried to avoid changing "Kolkata" to "Calcutta" in proper names. It was not technically true. There are also plans to change other anglicised place names. It was not technically true. Get information on Kolkata (Calcutta) Travel Guide - Expert Picks for your Vacation hotels, restaurants, entertainment, shopping, sightseeing, and activities. Kolkata (Calcutta) Tourism and Travel: Best of Kolkata (Calcutta) About Kolkata (Calcutta) This former British colonial stronghold boasts evidence of over two millennia of habitation, with ornate, architecturally diverse buildings, ranging from crumbing ruins to Victorian treasures. The city's name was always pronounced "Kolkata" in the local Bengali language but the official English name was only changed from Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001. In 1773 Bombay (now Mumbai) and Madras (now Chennai) became subordinate to the government at Fort William. Calcutta, the bustling metropolis where I was born, once the First City of the British Raj, had already rechristened itself as Kolkata in 2001. KOLKATA: Judges of Calcutta High Court have unanimously declined to accept the Centre's proposal for renaming it as Kolkata High Court and have communicated the view of the full court to Union Law Ministry. Different departments of the government may have used official spellings in use at the time, while locations associated with Indian railways mostly maintained British-era spellings. The change was finally approved on December 23, 2000 15 and ended up being more drastic than anticipated. India has various local languages. However, the origins of the city’s name are still shrouded in mystery. The plea sought directions to authorities concerned to cancel the notification, if any, whereby Kolkata Port Trust has been renamed and, in case, there is a change of name… - Slate Magazine", "Deccan Herald: Centre clears change in names of Karna cities, Belgaum now Belagavi", "Failed game-changers become name-changers", https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kerala-to-become-Keralam/articleshow/6166573.cms, "Allahabad is now Prayagraj, Yogi's Cabinet renames historic city", https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/west-bengal-renaming-centre-says-hasnt-approved-name-change-mamata-banerjee-writes-to-pm-modi/articleshow/70059673.cms, https://hindustantimes.com/india-news/as-gujarat-sets-to-rename-ahmedabad-to-karnavati-shiv-sena-demands-name-change-of-osmanabad-and-aurangabad/story-tsa2wD3VOcL9wex76Jt0MP.html, "10 Indian cities that changed their names", "Now, Indore to become Indur, Bhopal Bhojpal", "BJP to rename Hyderabad, Karimnagar if it forms govt in Telangana: UP CM Yogi Adityanath", "BJP lawmaker demands change of Nizamabad's name to 'Indur, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/uttar-pradesh-bjp-muzaffarnagar-will-be-renamed-lakshmi-nagar-mla-sangeet-singh-som-5439986/, Geographical Dictionary Of Ancient And Mediaeval India, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Renaming_of_cities_in_India&oldid=998925702, All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English, Articles containing Bengali-language text, Articles containing Gujarati-language text, Articles containing Malayalam-language text, Articles containing Marathi-language text, Articles containing Kannada-language text, Articles containing Assamese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 7 January 2021, at 17:40. Each had to be approved by the central government in New Delhi. Representative image . Since 1760, the street has seen several name changes as Calcutta consistently swelled and developed into a larger metropolis. (The full text of the announcement reads: "The Government of India have, after careful consideration, accepted the proposal of the State Government of West Bengal to change the name of the city of 'Calcutta' to 'Kolkatta'(sic)." I notice that Evan's reasons for not changing the name used in Wikivoyage from Calcutta to Kolkata were given in Feb 2004 - almost two years ago. Here are some of the most popular theories regarding the origins of the name of India’s City of Joys. Kolkata City Of Joy: Beautiful Bengal Moist weather, fish curries, agarbatti aromas, sweet mishtis…art, culture, history and dance all are in one land Bengal. Two centuries later, the Albanian-born nun Mother Teresa would tap into hoary and embellished tales of those deaths, and the ravages wrought on a city by famine and war in its hinterlands, and labour unrest in its heart. On July 5, … It didn't really affect us much. Get information on Kolkata (Calcutta) Travel Guide - Expert Picks for your Vacation hotels, restaurants, entertainment, shopping, sightseeing, and activities. Calcutta to Kolkata. Calcutta HC seeks centre response on plea to rename Kolkata Port Trust Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Central government on public interest litigation (PIL) against the decision to change the name of Calcutta Port Trust to Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust. [4] Since independence, such changes have typically been enacted officially by legislation at local or national Indian government level, and may or may not then be adopted by the Indian media, particularly the influential Indian press. The juxtaposition of old and new, rich and poor, high-end retail and street fare was something to see. Hati means elephant, bagan means garden. This makes it the third largest city of India. The bill also proposes to change the name of IIM Calcutta to IIM Kolkata. On June 20 1756, on the last night before the monsoon, 43 of the 64 British prisoners locked in a room at Fort William by the young nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula, died of heat prostration, and another legend was born: the black hole of Calcutta. India has various local languages. It didn't really affect us much. Internationally, however, Calcutta may still be the most commonly used name. The country's culture hub, Calcutta or 'Cal' adopted its Bengali name Kolkata officially in 2001. … ", Temples and legends of Himachal Pradesh - Page 38 Pranab Chandra Roy Choudhury - 1981 "Mandi takes the name from Mandavya. "The Ministry has not yet reverted back on the issue," a senior high court official said here today. Especially in Calcutta, which barely existed before the Raj. We were used to calling it Kolkata in Bengali and Calcutta in English, and we switched between both names with as much fluency as we switched between those two languages. The name change has gone through the state government (though the national parliament in New Delhi has yet to ratify it). I notice that Evan's reasons for not changing the name used in Wikivoyage from Calcutta to Kolkata were given in Feb 2004 - almost two years ago. Different departments of the government may have used official spellings in use at the time, while locations associated with Indian railways mostly maintained British-era spellings. The confusion inherent in such variations has often resulted in serious consequences like people having two "different" addresses (theoretically designating the same place) in their official records leading to legal disputes, or one house having residents of different house addresses due to differing place names. The renaming of cities in India started in 1947 following the end of the British imperial period. Film-maker Mrinal Sen, who is revered as a cultural icon in Calcutta, said: "They say this is how we can get rid of the colonial legacy. And Calcutta became Kolkata. But the British called it Calcutta. The city so redolent of the Raj has tossed away the stain of its imperial past along with its name (it hopes), and from next month will be known by its Bengali equivalent: Kolkata. Even (Romanised) English spellings in long and wide use often vary depending upon which government department or agency uses them. Best Kolkata (Calcutta) B&Bs on Tripadvisor: Find 2,202 traveler reviews, 1,878 candid photos, and prices for 465 bed and breakfasts in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. The Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah were posted here when he attacked Kolkata in 1756 capital city 's to. Generated greater controversy olden days David Rumsey: Geographical Searching with MapRank Search ( beta ) '', How... 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