| The confluence
in those days used to be full of sharks and alligators that would immediately devour the
innocent babies thrown into the sea. It is said that in 1801 about 23 persons had
immolated themselves in one month but next year this practice was suppressed by statutory
law by the Marquees of Wellesly. Large propaganda had to be done before this step
was taken. The services of many Pundits had to be requisitioned to publicize
throughout Bengal that this practice of throwing away the first born child to the great
sea in the hope that she would secure a number of progeny was simply inhuman. The Ganga Sagar islands have an interesting history. "In 1811,
Mr. Beaumont applied for permission to hold a hundred acres of land in the island for the
purpose of establishing a manufactory of buff leather, and asked that all tiger-skins
brought to the Collector's office might be made over to him for this purpose. His
application for land was granted by the Board of Revenue in November 1811; and in the
following year, in consequence of a Government resolution offering favorable terms for the
cultivation of Sagar Island, Mr. Beaumont applied for a grant of land on a cultivating
tenure.
This application was rejected on the ground that Government
had decided not to grant leases to Europeans forcultivation. Leases of the island were
offered to Indians only, and many proposals were received from them, but this scheme of
colonization was a complete failure. The island was subsequently leased to an
association composed of Europeans as well as Indians, free of rent, for thirty years, and
to pay only four annas per
bigha ever after. |
