Bipradas pipilai, writing in 1493-94, gave the first account of the city of Satgaon (Saptagram). There were rows of well-decorated houses in which the Hindus worshipped idols with musical accompaniment. There were several groups of Muslims including the Mughals and the Pathans. But Bipradas did not refer to the port. By the early sixteenth century, tome pires, the Portuguese writer from Malacca, had referred to the port of Satgaon as a good one with good entrance. He mentioned ten thousand inhabitants. The two Bengali poets, Vrndaban Das and Jayananda, referred to the prosperity of Saptagram. They mentioned the existence of many rich merchants. Some of their houses had enclosing walls, lofty doorways and the windows were decorated with glass. Basudev Ghos, a contemporary of Chaitanya, mentioned different professional people at Saptagram. Among the merchants, there were Subarna Baniks (gold merchants), Gandha Baniks (perfume merchants) and Kansa Baniks (metal merchants).
In the Kulaji book of the Subarna Banik, generally of doubtful validity, the Karjana Samaj of Saptagram has been mentioned. It was stated that Sultan Alauddin. HUSAIN SHAH had oppressed the merchants of the Samaj. A statement of Tome Pires supported this. A little later the Karjana Samaj was split, possibly after the arrival of the portuguese in Bengal, on the question of association with them. In 1535, Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah had given permission to the Portuguese to establish factories at Satgaon and Chittagong. They established the factories around 1555. Despite the political anarchy created by the invasions of sher shah and humayun, in 1567 caesar frederick saw thirty to thirty-five ships in front of Satgaon.
But the big ships of the Portuguese were unloading the goods at Bettore and transferring these by smaller boats to Satgaon. This seemed to have continued for some time. Around 1575, the French traveller Vincent Le Blanc found the prices to be low at the market of Satgaon. He saw the worship in the temples, with music playing. Even around 1583, ralph fitch found Satgaon a prosperous city, by which time the Portuguese had established the port of Hughli. But Satgaon was still functioning as a port. In 1622 the English factors at Patna reported the arrival of Portuguese boats from Satgaon with goods from Southeast Asia. After the Mughal conquest of Hughli in 1632, the customs office was transferred from Satgaon to Hughli, which signified the fall of the port of Satgaon. The comment of the Bengali poet mukundaram chakravarti around 1594 would show that the Bengali merchants of Saptagram were not going overseas.
rakhaldas bandyopadhyay divided the city into several wards between Trisbigha and Bansberia on the basis of profession. From the ruins, it seems that the nobles occupied the southern bank of the Saraswati. The French traveller was staying in the house of such a noble not far from the market. The Vaisnavas appeared to have settled their monasteries in the west on the southern bank. It seems plausible that the later immigrants began to occupy the northern bank of the river. Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah had built a bridge for their convenience in 1505. From the sketches of the Portuguese, it seems clear that the city, after moving towards the east on the southern bank, began to take a sharp turn towards the south parallel to the river and then suddenly veered towards the east to the Bhagirathi. From the account of the French traveller it seems that the city was able to reach the Bhagirathi, thus creating an octagonal shape. One therefore sees three movements of the city. The earlier one was running parallel to the river towards the west, hugging the southern bank. The second, perhaps occurring immediately afterwards, was the movement towards the south running parallel to the river. The last one was the movement towards the east, when the city had left the river to move towards the Bhagirathi. This may suggest the gradual silting of the Saraswati, particularly in its lower reaches, and the greater flow of traffic in the Bhagirathi.
The second half of the sixteenth century saw the crisis gradually enveloping the city. The transfer of the capital of gaur towards tandah and then to rajmahal on the other bank followed by the grueling Mughal-Afghan contest had robbed the port of Satgaon of its rich hinterland and the consumption centres. By that time the Portuguese pirates, in association with those of Arakan, were almost controlling the Bhagirathi river mouth, and this affected trade and the city. The silting of the Saraswati must have been pronounced by this time, when the Portuguese decided to found Hughli directly on the Bhagirathi. After 1632, trade had shifted to Hughli, leaving the port fairly deserted.
The city of Saptagram however continued to linger as a centre for the production of paper and other crafts till the early nineteenth century. The Dutch traveller Stavornius had mentioned the city in 1769-70, while the Dutch officials had found the city deserted enough at the end of the eighteenth century to have their outings there from the nearby town of Chinsurah. After the desertion of the city, some parts like Bansberia began to rise, sponsored by semi-independent zamindars.
Historians had generally attributed the decline of Saptagram to the silting of the Saraswati. It seems that the decline was caused more by the invasions of Sher Shah and Humayun in 1538 and the Mughal-Afghan contest beginning in 1575 that dislocated the trade nexus. The silting of the Saraswati was a long process, lasting perhaps several centuries, starting from the second half of the fifteenth century, the high-water mark of the prosperity of the city. The decline however took place at a quicker pace, caused more by the growing political anarchy.
The rise of Saptagram had not occurred under court patronage. The cosmopolitan character of the city, even under the crisis, would show the city to be without a distinct communal, religious or racial character. It had emerged due to the conjunction of the market forces of the times and it died more due to political exigencies that had coalesced to sponsor the rise of another nearby port city, Hughli, on the principal flow of the Bhagirathi. With the end of the Sultanate in Bengal, Satgaon gradually lost its moorings. [Aniruddha Ray and Md Akhtaruzzaman]
Bibliography DG Crawford, 'Satgaon or Triveni', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, III, 1909; RD Banerji, 'Saptagram or Satgaon', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, V, 7, 1909; Aniruddha Ray, 'Morphology of Medieval Saptagram or Satgaon', Journal of Bengal Art, 4, Dhaka, 1999. (2nd of 2nd Part)
In the Kulaji book of the Subarna Banik, generally of doubtful validity, the Karjana Samaj of Saptagram has been mentioned. It was stated that Sultan Alauddin. HUSAIN SHAH had oppressed the merchants of the Samaj. A statement of Tome Pires supported this. A little later the Karjana Samaj was split, possibly after the arrival of the portuguese in Bengal, on the question of association with them. In 1535, Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah had given permission to the Portuguese to establish factories at Satgaon and Chittagong. They established the factories around 1555. Despite the political anarchy created by the invasions of sher shah and humayun, in 1567 caesar frederick saw thirty to thirty-five ships in front of Satgaon.
But the big ships of the Portuguese were unloading the goods at Bettore and transferring these by smaller boats to Satgaon. This seemed to have continued for some time. Around 1575, the French traveller Vincent Le Blanc found the prices to be low at the market of Satgaon. He saw the worship in the temples, with music playing. Even around 1583, ralph fitch found Satgaon a prosperous city, by which time the Portuguese had established the port of Hughli. But Satgaon was still functioning as a port. In 1622 the English factors at Patna reported the arrival of Portuguese boats from Satgaon with goods from Southeast Asia. After the Mughal conquest of Hughli in 1632, the customs office was transferred from Satgaon to Hughli, which signified the fall of the port of Satgaon. The comment of the Bengali poet mukundaram chakravarti around 1594 would show that the Bengali merchants of Saptagram were not going overseas.
rakhaldas bandyopadhyay divided the city into several wards between Trisbigha and Bansberia on the basis of profession. From the ruins, it seems that the nobles occupied the southern bank of the Saraswati. The French traveller was staying in the house of such a noble not far from the market. The Vaisnavas appeared to have settled their monasteries in the west on the southern bank. It seems plausible that the later immigrants began to occupy the northern bank of the river. Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah had built a bridge for their convenience in 1505. From the sketches of the Portuguese, it seems clear that the city, after moving towards the east on the southern bank, began to take a sharp turn towards the south parallel to the river and then suddenly veered towards the east to the Bhagirathi. From the account of the French traveller it seems that the city was able to reach the Bhagirathi, thus creating an octagonal shape. One therefore sees three movements of the city. The earlier one was running parallel to the river towards the west, hugging the southern bank. The second, perhaps occurring immediately afterwards, was the movement towards the south running parallel to the river. The last one was the movement towards the east, when the city had left the river to move towards the Bhagirathi. This may suggest the gradual silting of the Saraswati, particularly in its lower reaches, and the greater flow of traffic in the Bhagirathi.
The second half of the sixteenth century saw the crisis gradually enveloping the city. The transfer of the capital of gaur towards tandah and then to rajmahal on the other bank followed by the grueling Mughal-Afghan contest had robbed the port of Satgaon of its rich hinterland and the consumption centres. By that time the Portuguese pirates, in association with those of Arakan, were almost controlling the Bhagirathi river mouth, and this affected trade and the city. The silting of the Saraswati must have been pronounced by this time, when the Portuguese decided to found Hughli directly on the Bhagirathi. After 1632, trade had shifted to Hughli, leaving the port fairly deserted.
The city of Saptagram however continued to linger as a centre for the production of paper and other crafts till the early nineteenth century. The Dutch traveller Stavornius had mentioned the city in 1769-70, while the Dutch officials had found the city deserted enough at the end of the eighteenth century to have their outings there from the nearby town of Chinsurah. After the desertion of the city, some parts like Bansberia began to rise, sponsored by semi-independent zamindars.
Historians had generally attributed the decline of Saptagram to the silting of the Saraswati. It seems that the decline was caused more by the invasions of Sher Shah and Humayun in 1538 and the Mughal-Afghan contest beginning in 1575 that dislocated the trade nexus. The silting of the Saraswati was a long process, lasting perhaps several centuries, starting from the second half of the fifteenth century, the high-water mark of the prosperity of the city. The decline however took place at a quicker pace, caused more by the growing political anarchy.
The rise of Saptagram had not occurred under court patronage. The cosmopolitan character of the city, even under the crisis, would show the city to be without a distinct communal, religious or racial character. It had emerged due to the conjunction of the market forces of the times and it died more due to political exigencies that had coalesced to sponsor the rise of another nearby port city, Hughli, on the principal flow of the Bhagirathi. With the end of the Sultanate in Bengal, Satgaon gradually lost its moorings. [Aniruddha Ray and Md Akhtaruzzaman]
Bibliography DG Crawford, 'Satgaon or Triveni', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, III, 1909; RD Banerji, 'Saptagram or Satgaon', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, V, 7, 1909; Aniruddha Ray, 'Morphology of Medieval Saptagram or Satgaon', Journal of Bengal Art, 4, Dhaka, 1999. (2nd of 2nd Part)
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