STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE
pp 124
How Periodic invasions, bloodsheds and genocides for more than thousand years in Armenian homeland from Arabs, Russians, Turks, Persians, Kurds and Tartar-Mongols made it a necessity for Armenians to leave their south Caucasus motherland and settle in foreign lands? How their dominance in the long-distance overland trade in the Eurasian continent helped them to build a stateless business empire spanning over continents from West to far East? How they collaborated with Mughals, Bengal Nawabs and British, French and Dutch East India Companies to continue their presence in India? How Kolkata played a role for the survival of Armenian language, religion, culture and nationalism? This book has tried to capture these socio-economic-cultural fabrics of Armenian existence in the city of Kolkata, India.
Arunava Patra, born in 1978 at Midnapur town of West Bengal, is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. After completing engineering, he took journalism as profession and worked in Television, Print and Digital news medium for more than 15 years with special interest in Bengal’s history and culture. He has also worked for Anandabazar Digital as Chief Sub Editor and contributed as a columnist for Anandabazar Patrika too. He has also worked with Mr. P. Sainath for his journal People’s Archive of Rural India. His other interests include farming, travel and nature study.
Foreword
Radharaman Chakrabarti, Chairman, Executive Council, MAKAIAS.......................3
Acknowledgements …….….…..............5
Preface ...……………………….…............9
1. Armenians — The Merchant Princes of the East ............................13
2. India and the Armenians……....…....19
3. Armenians in Bengal ……….....….....25
4. Kolkata — ‘Home in Abroad’ for Armnians .…..................................45
5. Cohesion within the Community ….…................................107
Afterword ...............….…................…117
Notes ………………….…........….....…119