How Susanna Anna Maria inspired Ruskin Bond and Vishal Bhardwaj

Susanna Anna Maria Yeats Memorial

A random internet search one day led me down a rabbit hole and I ended up learning how a famous story by Ruskin Bond, Susanna's Seven Husbands, was inspired by a mausoleum on the Grand Trunk Road ageing back to the 19th century. The principal character of that particular story has an uncanny resemblance to a Dutch lady by the name of Susanna in the erstwhile Dutch colony of Chinsurah in West Bengal.

The Dutch East India Company or the Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) which was set up to facilitate trade between the Netherlands and the rest of the world gradually reached the shores of Bengal and set up its business in the town of Chinsurah, transforming it into a prosperous trading port by 1615. Chinsurah remained a Dutch colony from 1615 to 1824 after which the administration changed hands from the Dutch to the British and it remained that way till India's independence. Today, Chinsurah or Chuchura is like any other town in the suburbs of Kolkata with its chaos and narrow streets but there are some remnants of the Dutch heritage which can be visited even though a lot of it has been demolished or couldn't stand the test of time. One of them is the tomb of Susanna Anna Maria located just a little outside the town, on the Grand Trunk Road.

Constructed in 1809, this solitary white tomb with its octagonal structure can be cited as the best example of Indo-Dutch architecture. It is perched on a raised platform amid a small garden.

The steps leading to the mausoleum

The two-storeyed monument has Corinthian columns and gateways along with a dome on top making it a hybrid of Neo-Classical and Baroque style of architecture. The inscription on the mausoleum reads "Susanna Anna Maria Yeats, nee Verkerk OBIT 12 May anno 1809".
   

The Corinthian columns

Not much is known about the story of Susanna, at least in the official records. Susanna Anna Maria Verkerk was a Dutch lady in the eighteenth century who had officially married twice. Her first husband was Pieter Duerys, a popular merchant and the Dutch administrator of Bengal. After his death, she married an affluent Englishman by the name of Thomas Yeats and came to be known as Susanna Anna Maria Yeats. Susanna had inherited a lot of wealth from her two marriages. She was quite fond of horses and owned "six mares and an old fashioned coach". Interestingly, the character of Susanna in Saat Khoon Maaf seemed to adore horses as well. Carrying on with the story, Suzanna had made a will before her death where she bequeathed Rs. 4000 as a trust- the interest of which would be applied to repair her tomb and those of her two husbands while the surplus funds would go to "Chinsurah Poor Fund". She also bequeathed 60-bighas of land on Taldanga Road called Ayesh Bagh which was to be used as a burying ground for the Dutch and English residents. While she is buried in this garden, the extra land that was earmarked to be a cemetery was handed over to the Government because the existing Dutch Cemetery seemed to serve the purpose.

                                         

The locals, however, have a different, more interesting story to share about Susanna, which was passed down to them from generation to generation. The folklore posits that she had married seven times and each time her husband had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Therefore, it is locally known as Saat Saheber Bibir Kobor (Tomb of the Wife of Seven Europeans) or Memsaheber Kobor (Tomb of the European Woman). There is no evidence to support the fact that she had seven husbands but in any case, it served as an inspiration for Ruskin Bond's short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. Although in Bond's story, the protagonist is from Old Delhi, the basic essence remains the same. Here is an excerpt from his story.

"Locally the tomb was known as ‘the grave of the seven times married one’  You’d be forgiven for thinking it was Bluebeard’s grave; he was reputed to have killed several wives in turn because they showed undue curiosity about a locked room. But this was the tomb of Susanna Anna-Maria Yeates, and the inscription (most of it in Latin) stated that she was mourned by all  who had benefited from her generosity, her beneficiaries having included various schools, orphanages, and the church across the road. There was no sign of any other graves in the vicinity and presumably her husbands had been interred in the old Rajpur graveyard, below the Delhi ridge."

Vishal Bhardwaj had chanced upon this five-page story and requested Bond to expand it into a novella, and this was later developed into a screenplay with Matthew Robbins. The resulting movie, Saat Khoon Maaf,  has Priyanka Chopra Jonas essaying the role of Susanna Anna Maria Yeats.

Reading Ruskin Bond's story while taking in the charm of the place.

Whether you believe in the story or not, you should definitely visit this impressive tomb on your way to Chandannagar or the Hooghly Imambara.

GETTING THERE
By Train: Chuchura can be easily reached by train from Kolkata or Sealdah. Take any Bandel or Bardhaman (Main Line) local and you can easily reach Chuchura in an hour. You can check the timetable here.
From the railway station, you can get to the tomb via a toto, auto or a rickshaw. Just tell them that you want to go to the Memsaheber Kobor or the white temple-like structure on the GT Road.
By Car: You could also go there by car from Kolkata. I've attached the Google Maps coordinates here.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- The tomb is open at all times and there is no entry restriction.
- The tomb can be covered in an hour and you can visit the other places in Chuchura including the     Dutch Cemetery, the Hooghly Madrasa and the Sandeshwar Jiu Temple.
- There are a few eateries near the tomb but you can get more options in the main town.

REFERENCES
1. http://dutchcemeterybengal.com/voc.php
2.  Ancient Dutch Colony Chinsurah - A Neglected Destination with Tourist Potential & Great Archaeological Value by Subrata Pal (International Journal of Scientific Progress and Research)
3. Blog post by Soham Chandra

A big thank you to my friend, Sneha Mallik, for taking me to this place.