The Tarakeswar affair (also known as the Tarakeswar scandal) refers to a public scandal in 19th-century Bengal during the British Raj. It resulted from a forceful sexual relation between Elokeshi, the teenage wife of a government employee Nobin Chandra, and Maharaj Madhab Chandra Giri, the scandalous Brahmin head priest (or mahant) of the Tarakeswar Shiva temple. Nobin subsequently decapitated his wife Elokeshi because he was not able to save her from the salacious mahant. A highly publicised trial followed, dubbed the Tarakeswar murder case of 1873, in which both the husband and the mahant were found guilty to varying degrees. Bengali society considered the mahant's actions as punishable and criminal, while justifying Nobin's action of killing an unchaste wife. The resulting public outrage forced authorities to release Nobin after two years. The scandal became the subject of Kalighat paintings and several popular Bengali plays, which often portrayed Nobin as a devoted husband. The mahant was generally presented as a womaniser, who took advantage of young women. The murder victim Elokeshi was sometimes blamed as a seductress and the root cause of the affair. In other plays, she was absolved of all guilt and was portrayed to have been tricked and raped by the mahant.
Event
Elokeshi, the fifteen-year-old wife of the Bengali government employee Nobin Chandra (Nobinchandra/Nabinchandra) Banerjee, lived in Kumrul, a village of Tarakeswar, with her parents, while Nobin was away for work in a military press in Calcutta. Elokeshi was the eldest daughter of a poor priest Nilkamal Mukhopadhyay, who struggled to meet ends for his family. She also had a half-sister Muktokeshi, from her step-mother Mandakini. Mahant Madhab Chandra Giri was the lewd head priest of Tarakeswar temple. He was well known in the village for his randy character. Mandakini was one of the endeared women of Madhab Giri. She used to get food and clothing from Madhab, in exchange. Nilkamal was aware of it. They married off their daughter, Elokeshi, in 1867 at the age of 8. Nabin immensely loved his wife but couldn't afford to take her to Calcutta city where he lived in a tiny rented house and worked in a government press for a minimal salary. He often visited Elokeshi and also used to give some expenses to her step-mother. When Elokeshi turned 15, one day lascivious mahant Madhab Giri spotted her bathing in the village pond and followed her to her home. He understood that she was the step-daughter of Mandakini, immediately after reaching the house, she entered. That night Mandakini was summoned to the temple and was offered to hand over her step daughter to mahant Giri, in exchange of money and gold. Nilkamal upon learning this was shocked at first, but later agreed to the plan, for the financial benefits they'd get in return. She was taken to Madhab Chandra Giri, the "powerful" mahant of the popular and prosperous Tarakeswar temple, by her step mother, seeking fertility medication; however the mahant allegedly seduced and raped her. A shameful chapter began with the "connivance" of Elokeshi's parents. Starting from then, the poor girl was compelled to live with that "powerful" mahant to fulfil his libido. When Nobin eventually learned about the affair from village gossip, he was publicly humiliated by the villagers. He confronted Elokeshi, who confessed and begged him for forgiveness. Not only did Nobin forgive her but he decided to run away with her from Tarakeswar. However, the mahant did not allow the couple to escape; his goons blocked their way. Overwhelmed with anger, Nobin slit his wife's throat with a fish knife, decapitating her, on 27 May 1873. Full of remorse, Nobin surrendered to the local police station and confessed his crime. The Tarakeswar murder case of 1873 (Queen vs Nobin Chandra Banerjee) first stood in the Hoogly Sessions Court at Serampore in south-west Bengal. The Indian jury acquitted Nobin, accepting his plea of insanity, but the British judge Field overruled the jury's decision and forwarded the matter to the Calcutta High Court. However, Judge Field accepted that there was an adulterous relationship between Elokeshi and the mahant, with whom she was seen "joking and flirting". Judge Markby, who presided over the case in the High Court, also accepted the evidence proving adultery. The High Court convicted both Nobin and the mahant. Nobin was sentenced to life imprisonment; the mahant got 3 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹2000.
Public reaction The newspaper Bengalee remarked: "People flock to the Sessions Court as they would flock to the Lewis Theatre to watch Othello being performed". The courtroom drama became a public spectacle. Authorities had to charge an entrance fee to control the crowds at the Hoogly Sessions Court. The right of admission was also restricted to those literate in English, citing that the mahant's British lawyer and the judge only spoke in English. The overruling of the Indian jury's decision by the Sessions Court judge was heavily debated. According to Swati Chattopadhyay (author of Representing Calcutta: Modernity, Nationalism and the Colonial Uncanny), the court proceedings were seen as an interference by the British in local matters. The court represented a conflict between village and city, the priest and bhadralok (Bengali gentleman class) and the colonial state and nationalist subjects. The court proceedings were disturbed several times by crowds demanding clemency for Nobin or stringency for the mahant. The mahant and his English lawyer were often attacked outside the court. The mahant's punishment was termed lenient by the Bengali public. Nobin was released in 1875, following several public petitions for pardon. Such pleas came from members of the Calcutta elite and district town notables, local royals and "acknowledged leaders of native society", as well as from the "lower middle class"—from whom a 10,000-signature mercy plea was received.
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