IIEST rejuvenates cemetery with solar lights, grave restoration
Times of India | 28 February 2025
Kolkata: The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, has started rejuvenating the graveyard in the heart of the sprawling campus. It is a reminder of BESU's early days when Bishop's College, a missionary educational establishment, stood there in the early 19th century.
The institute has installed 16 solar lights on the epitaphs and has cleaned and restored the grave of Reverend Krishna Mohan Banerjea, an apostle of the Bengal Renaissance, who was a student and a teacher and priest of Bishop's College. Bishop's College attracted people like Rev. Banerjea, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and several members of the Pathuriaghata branch of the Tagore family who converted to Christianity. Dutt was baptised at the Bishop's College. Banerjee was a close associate of Dutt and Alexander Duff.
IIEST director VMSR Murthy said, "It is part of our campus maintenance, keeping in mind the history and legacy of this institute."
According to IIEST public relations officer Nirmalya Bhattacharyya, the historical graveyard is being rejuvenated under the guidance of the director. Apart from the sustainable way of lighting on the epitaphs, overgrown weeds, which had hidden some gravestones, have been cleaned. "It is a way of paying respect to departed souls," he said.
Bhattacharyya said: "Rev. Banerjea was also the country's first Bengali priest. We knew for a long time that we had the grave of Banerjea but it was during a clean-up in 2012 that we first came across it and found out he was laid to rest in the same grave as his wife."
There are 62 graves, including those of children. The first burial was of a child on March 17, 1826, and the last was that of Walter Baukloh, professor of metallurgy at the then BE College. Baukloh was buried on July 22, 1951. The graveyard has a connection with the Pathuriaghata branch of the Tagore family, as Gnanendramohan Tagore, son of Prasanna Coomar Tagore, was a disciple of Rev. Banerjea.
"Gnanendramohan was ousted by his father after he converted to Christianity. He moved out of his Pathuriaghata home and started staying at Rev. Banerjea's residence, which was attached to the Bishop's College in Shibpur. Later, he married Banerjea's daughter Kamalmoni, and the couple had two children — Barendra Mohan Tagore (Jan 18, 1867-Aug 29, 1867) and Nityendra Bala Tagore (Sept 25, 1857-April 6, 1858). Both died young and were buried in this graveyard," Bhattacharyya said.
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