Borgi Elo Deshe

When I was a child my mother used to sing a song to put me into bed. I was very charmed by her singing and the way of singing. The song she used was ' খোকা ঘুমালো পাড়া জুড়ালো বরগি এল দেশে'. Well at that time I didn't know the what is the meaning of the song. But, after sometime i wondered who are these বরগি ? Did they come here ? Well, I am going to tell you the most fascinating story about our Bengal and the city of joy. For that we have to take a ride in a time machine and go back to 1550. In the African continent there is a country name Ethiopia. In that country in a small village near Harar a son was born to a very poor family. His parents were so poor that they sold their son as a slave. That son , after serving a lot of masters for many years finally came to Baghdad. In Baghdad , his new master Mir Kasim Al Baghdadi noticed that this boy is not like the others. He named that boy Ambar and educated him. Ambar after serving in Baghdad came to our India. In India Ambar was very Surprised to see that his new master is not an Indian, he is like him an African. Well, at that time it was pretty common here in our country slave to master and master to King. Ambar gathered some great fighters and started fighting for several Kings. By doing that he became a King maker. At that time Mughals were become a headache for the King of Ahmed nagar. Samrat Akbar was flourishing his kingdom. While fighting with the Mughals Ambar realized that in a combat in an open field it is very difficult to beat this Mughals. So , he invented a new tactics of war. Very few men riding in their horses will come like a thunder bolt and attack all the tents of Mughals, burn and loot them and before anybody realize what is happening they will vanish. Ambar named this new tactics of war as Bargirgiri. Ambar, where he was fighting is today's Maharashtra. So, some martha leaders also fight with him. Among them one Maratha sardar learned this tactics very minutely and then passed it to his son. The name of this Maratha leader was Sahuji Bhosle and his son is known as Chatrapatti Shivaji.

In, 1741 , in Bengal the grand father of Siraj-Ud-Doulah, Ali bardhi Kha was the Nawab. Well, he came into power not in good way. He killed his previous king Sarfaraz Khan and became Nawab. The brother-in- law of Sarfaraz Khan was Rustam Jang , who was the Nayeb of Orissa at that time. Ali Bardhi Kha defeated him as well and captured Orissa. Now, this Rustam Jang went to Nagpur and complained to the Marathas. Maratha Army general Raghuji Bhosle sent an army under Bhaskar Pandit. If they only give the Orissa back to Rustam Jang, then there will be no problem. But when they saw the Sonar Bangla they couldn't ressist themselves. 1741, this Martha Army , trained by Sahuji Bhosle used the tactics of Ambar which is called Bargirgiri. The people of Bengal named them বরগি . From 1741 to 1751 they looted, killed, demolished this Sonar Bangla. Around 4 lakh bengalees died. With these constant attacks East India Company was very worried aboout their Calcutta. To save a city you can only do two things - Go up or Go down. Go up means to build a wall all over Calcutta, but in order to do so the company will become penniless .So, they decided to dig up a ditch. Which is called the Maratha Ditch. The ditch was to long on paper. Syambazar, Entally, Camak st, Park st evertything came under this. But as I said it was on paper. In first 6 monthes only 3miles of the 6 miles ditch was digged up. Ali Bardhi Kha then made a peace tretty with the Marathas and the attack was stopped. As a result it left a 3miles long ditch. The people of Calcutta started to throw their garbages there and the ditch became dirty and started to spread obnoxoius smell. Seeing there is no way out Lord Wellesley ordered to close it immedietly. Do you know what that ditch has became today. Lower and Upper Circular Road. Yes, AJC and APC . Only in BagBazar there is road is named as Maratha Ditch Lane. The memory of that attack is still remembered in our songs and as landmarks in this City of Joy.