Biswanath Dutta Collection: Introduction and Notes

Project submitted towards fulfilment of the requirements of

the Digital Humanities and Cultural Informatics Post-Graduate Diploma Course under
the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University

Sujaan Mukherjee

INTRODUCTION
Sri Biswanath Dutta would not mind in the least if he were to be remembered only as
a disciple of Jatindra Charan (Gobar) Goho (1892-1972), a legendary wrestler from
Calcutta. There is not much of interest that I can add to the work that has been done on the
subject by Abhijit Gupta on the life and career of Gobar Goho. The Physical Cultures of
Bengal Project that started under the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur
University, guided by Professor Supriya Chaudhuri and Abhijit Gupta, benefitted greatly
from the association the latter had formed with one of Gobars disciples, the aforementioned
Biswanath Dutta. The meeting took place fortuitously. In a column titled Brief Lives
published by The Telegraph, Gupta had written about Gobar, little knowing that it would lead
him straight to one of Gobars most devoted students and even more astonishingly, one who
practices his art to this day. The akhara is functioning under the able guidance of Biswanath
babu and Sri Jayanta Goho. The association grew stronger with time. As part of the Physical
Cultures of Bengal Project, an extensive interview with Biswanath babu and Sri Jayanta
Goho was shot at the akhara itself by Kalpan Mitra and Dipankar Lahiri, students of the
Department of English, Jadavpur University. The interviewers included Deeptanil Ray,
Nikhilesh Bhattacharya, and myself. A practice session was also documented. A documentary
titled Gobar Goho o tar Uttaridhikar: Banglar Shorir Chorchar Itihashe Ek Bishesh Odhyay
(Gobar Goho and his Legacy: a Remarkable Chapter in the History of Physical Cultures in
Bengal) was compiled and screened at the Physical Cultures: Bengal and Beyond
conference held in February 2014, organized by the School of Cultural Texts and Records, as
part of the Physical Cultures of Bengal project.
To get back to where we started Biswanath babu would not indeed mind if he is
remembered only as such. What better way, one may wonder, to uphold ones teachers
legacy than by embodying it? This, as the documentary will make amply clear, he does. He

is, so to speak, an archive himself a man who stores in his physical form a memory of the
lessons that his master had imparted to him, a man who recollects first-hand incidents
surrounding his teacher, his Ostad-ji. But apart from all of this Biswanath babu springs a
surprise on us from time to time by revealing, say, a series of newspaper clippings about the
akhara that he had forgotten all about, or a photograph album that showcases neatly
photographs from the golden age of Gobar Gohos akhara an archive as we understand it
more literally. Understandably therefore the life and career of Sri Biswanath Dutta too has
become a subject of great interest to the Project, and while the Biswanath Dutta Archive
will offer a great deal of information on his teacher and on the contemporary wrestling scene
in the akhara, it can also be seen as an archive about Biswanath babu himself.
The present collection has approximately 165 images of various visual and textual
documents, including newspaper clippings, photographic negatives, loose photographs, and a
photograph album. Metadata has been prepared to reflect the contents of the folders. There
are a few items that are yet to be processed and catalogued, which are part of the collection
and will be filled in over time, such as a few magazines and a commemorative volume about
Gobar Goho. They have been digitized photographically. One draw-back of the metadata as it
stands right now is the fact that the physical dimensions are not entered. This is because the
circumstances under which the images were captured did not permit such measurement,
largely because shortage of time. Biswanath babu, understandably reluctant to let his archive
out of the house for too long, has agreed however to let someone visit him to collect any
further data that we may require, but this has not been possible thus far owing to a bout of
bad health that he has unfortunately been going through. Sri Debdipra Dutta, Biswanath
babus grandson has also offered to cooperate in this matter, and hopefully any missing data
will be collected at their earliest convenience.

THE COLLECTION
Along with the akhara, Sri Biswanath Dutta parallelly runs a museum in the rooms that
surround the wrestling ring in their Goabagan premises. Previously he had given us kind
permission to photograph a few of the newspaper clippings that he had carefully preserved in
his museum, along with a few photographs that hang from the walls in wooden frames. The
light there is hardly suitable for archive-acceptable photographs, and our visit was made at a
time when none of us had any training in archival photography. As a result, the format was
not up to the mark, even though these images were used in the documentary that was
prepared subsequently. Following the video shoot on the first day a second visit was made by
Nikhilesh Bhattacharya, Deeptanil Ray and Kalpan Mitra to Biswanath babus residence.
During this visit, Biswanath babu had further given us a commentary on the fighting
techniques that were being shown in the video shot on the first day. On that day he had also
introduced us to Sri Debdipra Dutta, who has cooperated greatly with us subsequently in
conveying the images back and forth. We would like to extend our gratitude to Debdipra for
his help. I must also extend my thanks to Sri Kawshik Ananda Kirtaniya and Smt Debapriya
Basu, who offered ready advice in the matter of digitizing, and Nikhilesh Bhattacharya with
whom I worked on the first of the three days of archiving.
On 17 April 2014 Debdipra brought to Jadavpur University a collection of his
grandfathers holdings. These included:
a) Loose photographs
b) Newspaper clippings
c) A photograph album
d) Negatives of photographs

There were also a few magazines and a commemorative volume that were digitized, but have
not been catalogued or processed yet, as mentioned earlier. As it was impossible to leave
behind the physical data, owing to time constraints, images were shot while Debdipra waited.
A second session followed a week or so from the first day, and subsequently, when even after
two sessions the images could not be digitized completely, Debdipra agreed to leave behind a
few photographs that were returned to him in perfect condition shortly afterwards. As a result
of the constraints, perhaps some temporary limitations of the collection may be forgiven. If
there are mistakes, they may be attributed to the fact that this is the first visual archive project
that I have undertaken, and there is much that I need to learn yet. As mentioned earlier, I will
be happy to fill in any gaps that may have remained even so.
The collection is organized into four folders, as of now. With the addition of the
magazines there may be an increase. The folders, as they stand now, are as follow:
a) GG_001_loose_photographs
b) GG_002_newspaper_clippings
c) GG_003_photograph_album
d) GG_004_negatives
Among the 24 images contained in the first folder, GG_001_loose_photographs a few
images, GG_001, GG_002, GG_005, GG_008, GG_009, GG_013, GG_014, for example,
were in fact part of the photograph album. Because they had come loose, it was seen fit to
digitize them separately. For a higher quality of reproduction, these photographs along with
the other loose photographs that were offered by Biswanath babu were scanned rather than
photographed. The scanner used was an EPSON, Perfection V700/V750, available at the
Bichitra office of the School of Cultural Texts and Records. The images were cropped and
processed using SilverFast 8.0.1. The images reappear as part of the photograph album, and
this will be explained subsequently.

The second folder, i.e. GG_002_newspaper_clippings, contains 15 items. Clippings

of newspaper articles that touch upon the achievements either of Gobar Goho, or of his
akhara or of Biswanath babu, or all three and more, have been preserved carefully by his
family. The articles are cut out neatly and pasted on white paper. The newspaper heading for
the day, bearing the name of the newspaper, the date and the name of the supplement (if such
is the case) are cut out separately and pasted along with the relevant article. The paper,
however, did not seem to be of an acid-free nature, and as such may cause damage to the
articles over time. It is impractical to try and transfer the newspaper clippings on to acid-free
paper as, being newspaper clippings, they are not printed on high-quality paper and are likely
to be damaged much more easily during such a transfer process. While Debdipra has been
alerted to the danger of using chart paper, there is little that can be done to the ones already
collected it may be useful for future reference. The newspaper articles are in both Bengali
and in English and range between 1995 and 2012. The large pages are bordered in several
cases with a thin red line, probably the work of a felt-pen. These were photographed using a
Canon EOS 60D and processed subsequently in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The
contraption for photography is the standard one that is kept at the Bichitra office of the
SCTR. A colour-strip/scale was used, placed carefully beside the captured image so that the
white balance could be restored to normal later on.
The third folder, GG_003_photograph_album, contains 116 items. Of these 14
images are of the photograph album pages, taken whole using a Canon EOS 60D camera. The
rest of the 112 items were photographed using a Nikon D800E, placed on the contraption
available at the aforementioned office. The reason why a different camera was used for the
individual photographs is that since we decided on photographing the photographs as they
were on the pages of the photograph album, we needed a more powerful lens to override the
possible effects of the glossy paper. The photographs in the album are accompanied in many

cases with captions written on white labels. A detailed description of how the album was
digitized may be of interest.
Given the nature of the photographs as they were pasted on the album it was
impossible to keep the camera at a certain distance that would have allowed for us to include
the colour-strip/scale within the same frame. In many cases the captions too have been
clipped in order to preserve the highest quality reproduction of the photographs. This too
shall be explained later. As a result, we were forced to take two shots of each photograph in
the album. For example, GG_040 and GG_041 are the same image, taken twice. The first is
without the colour-strip/scale, the second is with the colour-strip/scale, lying right across the
image. Both images have been retained for the purpose of the collection as the latter serves as
authentication of the former in many instances. During the processing in Adobe Photoshop
Lightroom 5.3 (Macintosh) the method followed was this: two images, say GG_040 and
GG_041 were imported in order. While correcting the White Balance the second image was
considered first. The dropper tool was placed on the white to select the Neutral Sample.
When the sample was identified the new values were noted in the White Balance menu.
These, then, were copied and pasted on to the White Balance settings of GG_040. The result
was that GG_040 would then be readjusted to the original light settings of the room. This, of
course, is not a full-proof technique since the camera is bound to make certain adjustments in
the image containing the colour-strip/scale because of its presence, even if these adjustments
are minute and barely noticeable. Yet, in the interest of preserving the highest quality of the
photographic images, this was the method that was followed. In cases where the photographs
came with captions, two or more images were taken to represent each of the artifacts on the
album page separately. The metadata will reflect the texts that were incorporated within the
album. A few of the images, as mentioned earlier, have been incorporated within the category

of loose photographs. These images find place, however, as they appear to have been placed
in the pages of the photograph album.
Images GG_143 to GG_156 are images of the entire pages of the photograph album.
This gives a sense of the kind of photograph album that was used to store these images. There
is clearly a fair amount of foxing that has taken place and the photographs, being pasted with
some kind of wet adhesive on to paper that is far from being acid-free, have undergone
discoloration to a certain extent, but are physically in decent shape. The conditions, should
they be exceptional, are indicated in the metadata. The decision to photograph entire pages
even after photographing each individual image with great care was taken so that any attempt
at narrativization that may have taken place while creating the album is not lost in the process
of digitization. A clear, linear narrative does indeed emerge. Images of Gobar Goho smoking
his cheroot wearing the Nehru cap or of him standing in a masterly posture dominate the first
few pages of the photograph album. On page 7 of the album we are met with the inevitable
the demise of Gobar Goho. Photographs of the great wrestler and philosopher covered in
flowers, surrounded by loved ones follow over the next three pages, until they fade gradually
into the family life of the Duttas. The album created presumably by Biswanath Duttas
daughter carries captions that are of a personal nature. The label right below the image of
Gobar Gohos body covered in flower quote a few lines from Tagore (found in the metadata).
Gobar Gohos death is marked by a quotation from Tagore, something that may be read as an
attempt at universalizing ones sorrow in a custom of coming to terms with loss. The
quotation itself speaks of the inevitability and the universality of passing away of near and
dear ones. These are borrowed words an expansion of the individual.
The captions that follow incidents and images that are closer to the creator of the
album are remarkable personal in nature. At times the captions are so easy to identify with
they strike personal chords with the reader and can be rather moving. Say for an image like

GG_110, which is the portrait of the compilers father in his Customs Office uniform, the
caption reads, My Dad though very strict is very jolly; or GG_146 the image of an entire
page, where the words My Dad when he was an [sic] young wreslter runs through the
middle in large pink characters; or GG_147, in which we find the caption, My Dad a
GREAT CHAMPION. Later on there are captions that are written with a thick-nibbed pen in
pink ink on the pages of the album itself. They are broad declarations offering description of
the photographs that are there on that same page. Many of them are illegible. Those that can
be read have been inserted into the metadata sheet in the relevant field.
The fourth and final folder, GG_004_negatives, contains digitized images of six
negatives that Sri Biswanath Dutta has given the archive. The contents of this folder too were
scanned using the abovementioned EPSON scanner with its special negative scanning
adapter. This is a unique folder because it is hard to guess at the provenance of these images.
There is one, GG_159.tif which is an oft-reproduced black and white sketch of young Gobar
Goho with arms folded. This is probably hand-drawn and stands out from the rest. The rest of
the images are probably of photographs or image reproductions of some other kind. The
images seem to have been pasted on card or some stiff paper, and stuck on to some surface
using nails (GG_157 and GG_162 are examples). The second one shows an elaborately
dressed person of some noble stature presumably seated in full apparel. There are writings on
the top and bottom of the image. However, the two images that are most remarkable in this
folder, and indeed two of the most remarkable in the entire collection are GG_161 and
GG_162. Using these two images one may enter upon a more general discussion of
photographing the male wrestler/pehlwan that may be supported by the archive that has been
built in the course of the Physical Cultures of Bengal project.

GG_161 is of a wrestler standing in a green-house of some sort, surrounded by plants.

One is reminded of the description Walter Benjamin offers of a portrait of Franz Kafka as a
young man standing in one of the studios that would place the subject in some absurd
context, which would in turn, make it look almost surrealist in the absence of context for each
of the discrete objects in the frame. To begin discussing
we may take a look at an advertisement that appeared in
one of the books in the archive, Barbell Exercise and
Muscle Control by K. C. Sen Gupta and B. C. Ghosh,
printed in Calcutta and published by the authors from
Gurpur Road. If one takes a look at the images in the
book, the claim that they were shot in Open Air and
Neither in a Studio Nor by Artifical Light seems
unlikely. However, they may well have been shot
outdoors with only a black background, or perhaps even
cut out after shooting and pasted onto dark background. The physical form in its best-toned
state has often been compared with figures of western art. It can be said to have come full
circle because to begin with, especially if one thinks of the Olympic games in ancient Rome,
the sculptors sought to represent in stone and bronze the figures of men engaged in various
kinds of sports. Models (living or dead, especially during the Renaissance) were used by
painters and sculptors as subjects of study. Interestingly, with time and with the arrival of
photography body-builders started posing sometimes as and occasionally with statues. One

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immediately thinks of Jatayu in Satyajit Rays Jai Baba Felunath (The Elephant God)
(1979) engaging in a failed attempt at striking a pose similar to Angelos David. This
comes at a point when Gunomoy Bagchi is giving him a lecture where he is pointing out how
body-building is similar to art. The examples he draws upon (with the exception of David)
are Indian temple sculpture. Two images from the book may serve to illustrate the point. The
first image is titled The Panther on a Lion, shows S. Bose posing with the marble statue of
a lion. The second,
The

Living

Statue

the

same

shows

gentleman posing with

a marble statue of a
woman. The style of
both the lion and of the
woman are distinctively
imitative of the neo-classical Western mode of sculpting, reminiscent of articles found either
in British owned mansions in Calcutta or inside buildings like the Marble Palace on
Muktaram Babu Street.
On the other hand, in the same folder in the archive, we have an image of a wrestler
bearing a mace in his hand (GG_162). The moustache is similar to the one the Great Gama
used to sport, and the posture is quite like one of the more common representations of
Hanuman, the Monkey God, in popular visual art. Hanuman, as is commonly known, is the
resident deity in most, if not all, Hindu akharas and Gobar Gohos akhara is no exception in
this regard. Dara Singh, of course, would play the role of Hanuman on celluloid.

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Wrestling has a very long tradition in India. Among the few scholars who have
worked on this is Joseph Alter who has written extensively on the tradition along the banks of
the Ganges, especially in Benares and Uttar Pradesh. Without attempting to rewrite history
favouring Hindu lines of thought, one can easily retrace similar practices in the Mahabharata
and in the Ramayana. It is no surprise therefore that when wrestlers or pehlwans intended to
strike poses for the camera (or painters), they would often go back to Hindu traditions to
Bheema, or to Bajrangbali. Interestingly, India does not seem to have a recorded history of
displays of the male body not in the sense of an organized sport or spectacle. Even if it has
some lost tradition, the one we are witnessing in Sengupta and Ghoshs book is one that has
been probably brought in by Western influence. The reason why, perhaps, a body builder
needed to be flown in all the way from Calcutta in Rays Jai Baba Felunath is that it is a
different kind of show from the ones that can be witnessed on the ghat-s of Benares. This
latter tradition usually alludes to Western forms and postures when photographing or being
represented in the visual arts.

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CONCLUSION
Although the archive is by no means in a complete state, it can provide a very useful
resource to researchers who may wish to work on the history of wrestling and body-building
in Bengal. It is most definitely the most comprehensive archive on Gobar Goho and on Sri
Biswanath Dutta that is available. The Project itself is a valuable step towards reaching an
understanding and writing a history of the physical cultures in Bengal and this archive will
undoubtedly be one of its richest resources.