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Location TSC (Teacher-Student Centre) of University of Dhaka Similar Idrakpur Fort, Curzon Hall, Suhrawardy Udyan | ||
Greeks were the late comers to the area of Bangladesh among foreigners. They came to Bangladesh around the 18th century. They constructed a memorial in Dhaka. It was constructed for the memory of the Greek merchants who died while in Dhaka. The Greek memorial was built around AD 1900, and appears like an ancient Greek temple; it is a small yellow structure on land owned by the Greek Community, which flourished in Dhaka in the 19th century. It is inside the Teachers and Students Training Centre (TSC) of the University of Dhaka and stands alone on the main Shahbagh Avenue and faces Ramna Race Course. To its southern side is the Atomic Research Centre and to its north a Student's Centre. It is considered to be the only such structure extant outside Greece.
Contents
History
The earliest record of a 'Modern', commercial Greek presence in India is to be found in the Latin Memorial tablets of two Greek merchants in the Catholic Cathedral of Calcutta- the dates of their deaths in this city are given as 1713 and 1728. Some Greeks arrived overland through Persia and Afghanistan but many more chose the sea route via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. They came from the Greek Diaspora- from Asia Minor, from the Aegean and Ionian Islands, from mainland Greece but especially from the Thracian city of Philippopolis (now called Plovdiv and lying within Bulgaria). They settled chiefly in Dhaka and in Calcutta. It is difficult to be precise about their numbers but between 1770 and 1800 there were probably about two hundred or more Greeks in Dhaka and Narayanganj and somewhat less in Calcutta. Most of the Bengal Greeks were engaged in trade. Mainly they used to trade jute and salt. Somewhere around the mid 19th century their business broke down and in the last quarter of the 19th century the London-based Greek firm of Ralli Brothers constructed a memorial at Ramna in Dhaka to the memory of their early merchants 1820-1860. Many historians believed in 1815, it was built at the initiative of priest JM MacDonald of the St Thomas Church. Among the foreigners the Greeks were the last to settle as a community in Dhaka.
Architecture value
The monument is square shaped, which, with its projecting bay, one on each of the four sides, makes a cross plan. The bay is formed by two fluted pillars of Doric order, on which rests the entablature and a triangular pediment. Over the top of the eastern face there is an inscription “MAKARIOI OYS EPHELEPHOY KAI PROSELABOY.” One entrance from the east leads into the memorial.
On the walls within are fixed nine inscriptions carved on black stones, and another lies broken on the floor stone is of Sultana Alexander, who died on February 6, 1800. A stone bears the names of the three Ellias brothers. John Demetrius Ellias (d 1836), one of the brothers, was killed by a tiger while he was hunting at Mirpur, 25 miles off what is now the Dhaka University campus. Basil Demetrius, the Greek clerk at St Thomas' Church, was also buried at the place. Besides being a church clerk, he was also a writing master and a teacher at the Dhaka College for 10 years. He died in 1860.
Gravestone inscription
Few of the Inscriptions are listed below, The information was collected from the transcription done by Dr Helen Abadzi, a Greek staff member of the World Bank.
The ancient Greek inscription on the front frieze reads: "Blessed are those whom you (God) have chosen and have taken with you." Counter clockwise, the gravestone inscription reads:
Gravestone 1
Here lies Sulatana, Wife of Alexander (son of) Kyinakos Philippou Politou: 1800; January 25 [by the julian calendar] paid the common debt in Dacca.
Under this stone are deposited the mortal remains of Mrs. Sultana Alexander, who departed the life Tuesday the 6th of February 1800: aged 34 years.
Gravestone 2
Here lies the late Theodosia, wife of Theodore [son of] George Philippou Politou, 1805, April 10, paid common debt in Dacca may her memory be everlasting.
Gravestone 3
To the memory: Mrs. Madalene and Sohia Jordan: also to that their husband, Mr. Joseph Jordan of Cesareah: merchant of Narayangonj. The latter departed this life the 10th of February 1819; aged about 60 years. This monument is created as a tribute of affection to their memory by their afflicted orphan children.
Gravestone 4 (English poem in Urdu with Latin characters)
Present condition
The building was renovated in 1997 at the expenses of the Government of Greece through the initiative of Ambassador Constabtinos Ailianos and the active collaboration of former Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor, A. K. Azad Chowdhury. But since then it is left out.