The Nandy Bari of Jaamgram

Aditya
Oct 31, 2020
4 min read

Updated: Apr 6, 2022

"Monuments are the grappling-irons that bind one generation to another."

-Joseph Joubert

The Nandy Bari or the Nandy household is a place from where I got to know the history of the maternal part of my family. The things about which I’m going to talk about are all that I’ve seen at Jaamgram or heard from my maternal grandfather and his relatives. The name ‘Jaamgram’ is derived from ‘jaam’ (Jamun or Indian black plum) and ‘gram’ (village). This name was given because once, there used to be many Jamun trees in the area.

The Nandy Bari is located in the village of Jaamgram in the suburbs of Panduah, West Bengal. My maternal grandfather claims that 14 generations have lived in the Nandy Bari. His ancestors were zamindars or feudal landlords. The household and the village were probably set up in the late 16th century. According to a legend, probably during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar (who ruled in the latter half of the 16th century), a Jain monk in Bengal arrived at the hut of two poor brothers, Shankar and Kuber, who had suffered immense hardships and always hoped for a better future from God. The monk presented them with a ‘Narayan Shila' or Shaligram, which is a fossilized black shell or stone used to be worshiped as Lord Vishnu by Vaishnavites. The monk asked them to start a business of selling betel nuts and dried chilies so that they could earn enough profits to build a temple for the Shaligram. The brothers readily agreed. After many years, these businesses earned them huge profits that they were as wealthy as a feudal landlord.

Also, there is another legend. It is said that, during the late 18th or early 19th century, the zamindar 'rani' of this estate refused to surrender to Company rule. So the British sought help from the rich Nandy family. Soon thereafter, the rani was defeated, and the Nandys were gifted this household by the Company for their help. Alas! we were such traitors!

The Nandy household was built along with the Lakshmi Janardan Mandir (Temple) for housing the Shaligram, which is also called the Janardan Shila. The same generations of Brahmin priests have been worshiping the Shaligram for centuries. The Nandy Bari inhabitants are Vaishnavites or worshippers of Vishnu. The Shaligram is worshipped twice a day. Also, a Satyanarayan Puja (Worship) is held every full moon day. Weddings take place in the courtyard in front of the Lakshmi Janardan Mandir.

The Shaligram inside the shrine of the Lakshmi Janardan Mandir

Another temple called the Raash Mandir, dedicated to Lord Krishna, was built adjacent to the Nandy household. It served as a cultural hub for the entire village. Many cultural programs were held in the closed courtyard inside the temple, which included plays, dances, and song performances. It had been renovated recently.

A Durga Mandir or Durga Temple was also set up for the worship of Durga, the warrior form of the Mother Goddess. This is the biggest festival in the village. Now, here comes the interesting part. The Durga idol is made from the remains after immersion in the same manner by the same generation of sculptors, decorated with the same ornaments and weapons every single year since the time of the establishment of the temple.

Even today, the community kitchen of Jaamgram serves food to the entire village in the public dining hall. This hall is completely cemented and has been renovated several times. The dishes cooked during the festival are khichdi (flavored porridge), vegetable curry, tomato chutney, and sweets. The community kitchen and the adjacent public dining hall are also used for marriage functions, annaprashans (a Hindu ritual marking an infant’s first intake of rice), and shradhs (a Hindu ritual for paying homage to one’s late ancestors).

Durga Puja in Jaamgram (Source: Facebook)

The festival of Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival) is also celebrated in Jaamgram. During this festival, a public procession of pulling a chariot housing the deities- Jagannath (Lord Krishna), Subhadra (Krishna’s sister), and Balabhadra (Krishna’s brother Balaram) takes place. This chariot is always pulled by members of the Nandy household. Every year, the Yatra arrives from Kolkata, decorated with flowers. Only the festival of Diwali is not celebrated in the village. Instead, decorations and fireworks are done on the tenth day of the Navaratri (Dashami of Durga Puja).

Rath Yatra in Jaamgram (Source: Facebook)

The zamindars of the Nandy Bari household had personal guards called ‘lathials’ or fighters with ‘lathis’ or bamboo staffs to protect their household and treasury. This village had been paying taxes to the Mughal Empire and the British colonial Government, and still do the same for the current Indian government.

To reach the Jaamgram village, one must take a train to Panduah station from Howrah via the Burdwan mainline. From there, one must take an auto, e-rickshaw, or a bus available near the station. It is a short but beautiful half an hour journey, with greenery and paddy fields on both sides of the road. Jaamgram is also famous for mangoes, Jamuns, and other fruits. A great variety of fish are found in the ponds in the village. The inhabitants have been known to do vegetable farming in their respective courtyards in their houses. Date trees are used to extract juices from the tree trunks. My grandfather recalled that during his childhood in the winters, a cut was left on the trunk from which the juice would trickle into an earthen pot tied to the trunk with a rope beneath the cut part and left like this the entire night. At dawn, he and his friends would drink that juice, which would keep their bodies warm.