South Park Street Cemetery
Coexistence of life and death – a historical and ecological perspective Sometime around 1840s there happened to be a dense forest infested by tigers and dacoits. This area was selected for shifting the Christian burial ground from the heart of the city. The first cemetery for East India Company was near the present-day Kiran Shankar Roy Road and this was closed down in 1767. The perpetual stench, belief in the Miasma theory, devastating sight of dead body processions, lack of knowledge about tropical diseases and unavailability of antibiotics were the reason for shifting the cemetery to the outskirts of the Kolkata. As many as four cemeteries were constructed in this forest land. It’s bewildering that this forest was none other than the Park Street; the bustling metropolitan hub that we know today. The area later on came to be known as badamtala due to many almond trees planted here. The four cemeteries as seen in a city map of 1847, were North Park Street, So...