The Tarakeswar Murder: Elokeshi Offers a Betel Leaf to the Seated Mahant

Image credit: Wellcome Collection

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Notes

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The Tarakeswar murder, 1873, involved three people. A husband and wife, Nabin Chandra Banerjee, a young Brahmin who lived in Calcutta; his wife Elokeshi, who lived with her father in Kumrul, a village in the Hooghly district close to Calcutta; and the Mahant or chief priest of the Shiva temple at Tarakeswar. In 1872 while on a visit to the temple, Elokeshi caught the eye of the Mahant, who subsequently seduced her and carried on an affair for a year after in his quarters. All of Elokeshi's family were privy to the affair and helped her. Nabin never suspected his wife's infidelity until May 1873, during a visit to her. He learnt of the intrigue and questioned his wife and her family, but all denied the facts and Nabin was pacified. However, Nabin decided to remove Elokeshi to her grandmother's house and later to Calcutta to be with him.

Wellcome Collection

London

Title

The Tarakeswar Murder: Elokeshi Offers a Betel Leaf to the Seated Mahant

Medium

watercolour & silver on paper (?)

Measurements

H 45.8 x W 27.6 cm

Accession number

26882i

Acquisition method

presumed to be part of the collection formed by Henry S. Wellcome

Work type

Watercolour

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Wellcome Collection

183 Euston Road, London, Greater London NW1 2BE England

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