3-day int'l history and heritage exhibition to be inaugurated on Feb 2

Kolkata: The three-day international history and heritage exhibition will be inaugurated by Virginie Corteval on February 2. The 15th edition of the exhibition at Sabarna Sangrahasala at Barisha will have France as the theme country, said Debarshi Roy Chowdhury, secretary Sabarna Roy Chowdhury Paribar Parishad.

The Indo-French history will be put up through models and posters. There will be books and photographs highlighting the cultural exchange between the two countries. Many artefacts sent by the French government will be put up at the French gallery.

French culture for long has been an integral part of the history of Bengal. Chandannagore was a French colony over a century ago besides Sri Aurobindo on his way to Puducherry stayed at Chandannagore which till today houses a French institute.

Swami Vivekananda could speak French fluently and had delivered two lectures at the World Parliament of Religions in Paris in 1900. Jagadish Chandra Bose had also addressed the Paris Science Congress in 1900, and his lecture on the wireless system had received international recognition.

The showcase theme of the exhibition will be the 450 years of Kalighat temple and Ma Sarada. The temple was consecrated in 1570 by Padmabati Devi. It is considered to be one of the sati piths and the cloth which was used at the consecration ceremony will be displayed. The cloth which was used to wash Ma Sarada's feet after her death will also be on display along with a sari that she had worn.

An interesting part of the exhibition will be the evolution of the container used for drinking water (ghoti) during the past 400 years.

In the retrospective section, there will be a section on well known Bengali film director Aurobindo Mukherjee whose centenary is being celebrated. An audio drama on the history of Kolkata titled "Kolkata has no birthday" will also be held.

It may be recalled that there was an agreement between the descendants of Sabarna Roy Chowdhury and Charles Ayre, son in law of Job Charnock in November 1698, four years after Job Charnock's death over the lease of three villages, namely, Sutanuti, Govindapur and Kolikata.

The 31st edition of a handwritten magazine will be published on the occasion.