Maratha Ditch - The Ditch

The Ditch

When the Bargis started plundering the Bengal countryside, the Nawab was still powerful, and the British were in the process of developing their trading outpost at Kolkata. It was fear of the Maratha attack that made them dig the Maratha Ditch, cutting across the only pathway, north of Kolkata, through which invasions by land were possible.

According to H. E. A. Cotton, the country was laid waste from Balasore to Rajmahal. The Mukwah Tannah Fort, which stood near the later day Indian Botanical Gardens in Shibpur, was captured and crowds of inhabitants of the country on the western side of the river came and implored the protection of the English, who in consequence of the general alarm, obtained permission from the Nawab Alivardi to build an entrenchment round their territory.

The original plan of the ditch extended for seven miles but in six months three miles of it were finished. When it was found that the Bargis did not approach Kolkata, further excavation stopped. Except for a detour on the north-east at Halsibagan, to enclose the garden houses of Gobindram Mitter and Umichand, it followed the later day Circular Road (Upper Circular Road has been renamed Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, and Lower Circular Road has been renamed Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road) from Perin’s Point at the north-west extremity of Sutanuti (in present day Bagbazar), where the Chitpur Creek met the river, down to a spot near the present Entally corner. It was planned to excavate it to the south of Gobindapur, but that was stalled.

Although the Maratha Ditch was thought of as a protection against the possible plunder of the Kolkata by the Bargis, the "natives" had to pay for the construction of the Maratha Ditch to protect the British seat of power, Fort William.

Siraj ud-Daulah succeeded Alivadi Khan as the Nawab of Bengal. Till 1756, the legal status of the English was that of zamindar. In 1756, Siraj decided to attack Kolkata. On 16 June 1756, the Nawab reached the outskirts of Kolkata with some 30,000 troops and heavy artillery. The major part of Siraj’s troops crossed the Maratha Ditch near Sealdah on 18 June and the Battle of Lal Dighi was fought.

Subsequent to the Battle of Plassey, the British settled down as rulers. For about forty years, the Maratha Ditch was the receptacle of all the filth and garbage in Kolkata. The Marquess of Wellesley, as Governor-General of India, ordered that it be filled up.

The Maratha Ditch was filled up in 1799 to create the Circular Road. Whatever was left of it was filled up in 1892–93 with the earth and rubble from the construction of Harrison Road (renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road).

While the Maratha Ditch has become part of history, in the north Kolkata neighbourhood of Bagbazar, there still is a Maratha Ditch Lane, connecting Nandalal Bose Lane and Akhoy Bose Lane. It runs parallel to Bagbazar Street and Galiff Street/ Mahatma Sisir Kumar Sarani.