The Armenian College in Kolkata is the last bastion of a once thriving community.
It is a busy time for 16-year-old Hovsep, a class VII student of the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy in Kolkata. Apart from his regular classes, he is busy rehearsing for a cultural programme to mark 190 years of his school on April 2.
The Armenian College was formed by the Armenian community in Kolkata in 1821 to give free education to children of the community in their native language, literature, history and music. This makes it far older than the University of Calcutta (founded in 1857) and only five years younger than the Hindoo College (which became the Presidency College in 1855).
Today, the Armenian College remains one of the few remaining markers of the once thriving community of Armenians who settled in these parts, primarily around Serampore and Kolkata, in the early 17th century. Armenia, of course, has had trade relations with India since ancient times, when Armenian merchants would follow the overland trade route along central Asia to come to India. Some settled in Akbar’s court, and came to be called the “Merchant Princes of India”. But Calcutta seems to have been a major centre for the Armenians who had dug in their heels long before the British formally founded the city. The gravestones of 1630s to 1646 inscribed in Armenian testify to this.
In fact, one version has it that the British employed an Armenian merchant, Khoja Sarhad, to help get the firman from the Mughal emperor to establish a settlement in the three villages of Gobindapur, Sutanuti and Kolikata, which became the nucleus of the city of Calcutta. “The gravestone inscriptions even suggest that one of the three villages was Armenian,” says Khoren Hovhannisyan, Pastor, Armenians in India, and manager, Armenian College.
Despite the presence of the British, Armenian merchants continued to thrive, running trading companies, hotels, shipping lines, and so on. Lacking the evangelical zeal of the British, they assimilated far more with the local community, starting various philanthropic and educational missions, while also keeping a connection with their traditions and roots.
The Armenians were also great patrons of architecture, building three prominent churches in the city —the Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth (built in 1707 near BBD Bag), St Gregory the Illuminator (1906, near Park Circus) and the Holy Trinity (near Tangra, 1867). Stephen Court on Park Street, which was the scene of a major fire last year, was built by a prominent Armenian goldsmith, Stephen Aratoon or Harytyun Stephanian, who also owned the Grand Hotel on Esplanade. The Armenian College, too, had two merchants as benefactors — Astvatsatur Muradkhanian and Mnatsakan Smbat Vardanian, both from Julfa (Iran).
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The scenario today is very different. There are barely 200 Armenians living in the city now. Also, as Father Hovhannisyan points out, “due to the prevelance of inter-community marriages, there are hardly any pure Armenians left in Kolkata”. Never a particularly large community, the number of Armenians fell sharply after Independence, when many of the younger generation left seeking a better livelihood in developed countries such as Australia, England, and the US. Arthur, a 20-year-old hotel management graduate and a former student of the Armenian College, says, “I like Kolkata, but don’t wish to settle here. I am looking for options abroad, especially in Australia.”
The Armenian community in Kolkata congregates every week for Sunday Mass. The Armenians, incidentally, were the first to adopt Christianity, much before the other parts of Europe, and thus their traditions are somewhat different from those of Christianity as they are followed in the rest of the world. Christ’s birthday, for instance, is celebrated on January 6, and not December 25. “We observe the original date of Jesus’s birth according to the Armenian tradition,” says Hovhannisyan. The community also celebrates festivals such as the Armenian Independence Day on September 21 and the Armenian Genocide day on April 24.
The Armenian College is, however, one of the last bastions of Armenian culture in the city. Supported by the Armenian Church, around 90 per cent of its students today come from Iraq, Iran and Armenia. Hovsep, for instance, has come from Iraq. These students are allowed to visit their parents in their native country only once in three years. They live in the hostel within the college premises and when they are homesick or lonely, go out to have ‘phuchka’ (pani puri) on Esplanade street. Sometimes, Father Hovhannisyan, a father figure to the children, cooks them dolma, a traditional Armenian dish. “Being away from parents at such a young age demands greater care,” says Hovhannisyan.
A section of the Armenian College’s faculty comes from Armenia, but there are also Indian, especially Bengali, teachers. “Our Bengali faculty participates in Armenian traditional feasts and celebrations and in turn our students also celebrate Durga Puja with them,” says Hovhannisyan, pointing to the cultural assimilation that has been characteristic of the prolonged Indo-Armenian relations. The school is affiliated to the ICSE board with English as the first language, followed by Armenian, along with Hindi.
The students and teachers share an informal relationship. “We ensure that our students get all-round education by giving special attention to games and sports,” says Father Hovhannisyan. There are excursions and recreation trips arranged for students too.