Long ago, during our school days, when asked what's history, this is what one of my old school chums had to say: "It's the story of ordinary people making extraordinary achievement" (I remember this coz I love history and anything distantly associated with it)...
What then could be the story of Susanna Ann Maria whose Memorial we chanced upon on our way to an obscure place in Bengal called Chinsurah/Chichurah, once a Dutch colony. Well not actually as dramatic as "chancing upon" since I had made up my mind to v
isit this place, forearmed with the knowledge of this place from numerous internet searches.
A roadside glimpse through the shrubs and trees
The baroque memorial
Located on a sprawling spread of unadulterated greenery this white baroque structure stands out... Plod across a small wooden bridge and voila you find yourself reading the plaque adorning the entry..
The structure, built in 1809, minimalist in design, stands on a high plinth. A flight of high-stepped stairs leads one to the memorial - the two storied structure with arched gateways in four directions and plain columns on which the dome rests.
There's no epitaph to greet you. That's what shrouds the place with mystery. An internet search would reveal that the locals had referred to it as "Saat Saheber Bibir Kobor" or "Memsaheber Kobor".
Susanna Ann Maria Vervek was married to Pieter Brueys, her first husband and also the director of Dutch administration. They had 3 children, two daughters and a son - Maria Ann de Brueys, Susanna Jacoba and Louis Adrian de Brueys. After the death of her husband she married Thomas Yeats, an Englishman of colonial Bengal.
In 1805, a few years before her death, she bequeathed all her possessions to her son. Being married twice to two affluent men made her the owner of huge properties. She died in 1809 and was buried in Ayesh Baag which had sixty bighaas of land attached to it. Unfortunately, during the British rule this property was sold off in 1833 leaving this Memorial as the solitary structure.
The tomb of her first husband is housed in the Dutch cemetery which definitely needs a visit from me!
Well, upto this part its history... However, not contented with history, the locals have embellished her life and story with the spice that she was married seven times...now it's a part of the modern folklore and urban legend.
An inside view of the dome
ASI protected structure
The proclamation at the entry
Ruskin Bond has supposedly based his story Susana's Seven Husbands on this mysterious woman, thus adding further colour and spice to the already masaledar scandal. The protagonist in the story quite skillfully bumps off all her seven husbands in a serial succession, thus coming in possession of their accumulated wealth.The story in due course found itself being adapted into a successful hindi movie - Saath Khoon Maaf with Piggy Chops donning the role of the protagonist.
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