Canticle of the End

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Reference

Renwick Located at Baranagar

Date October 9, 1814 Location Fort William, Calcutta
Outcome: Renwick is stationed eight miles north of Calcutta at Baranagar, overseeing an embankment project on the Hooghly. He is not yet posted to the Gurkha campaign, but the window before reassignment is narrow. The party registered that Renwick's post and the Mandir Mahakali temple are the same village.

Participants

Summary

On the afternoon of 9 October 1814, on Freddy Cavendish’s commission, Havildar Pratap Singh crossed The Maidan to Fort William and found Major Edward Renwick in the records.

What Happened

The fort was crowded — troops staging for the coming invasion of Nepal. Pratap’s rank as a havildar of the 67th carried him through the gates, the Engineers Park and the orderly room without a question asked. The records placed Renwick eight miles north of Calcutta at Baranagar, supervising an embankment project on the Hooghly. He has not been posted to the Gurkha fight yet. Once the embankment is finished, he almost certainly will be.

Pratap carried the finding back. The party noted, with some unease, that Renwick’s post and the Mandir Mahakali temple stand in the same village — and that Chandernagore lies twenty miles further upriver, past it.

Outcome & Consequences

  • The party has a name, a place and a clock. Renwick is reachable, willing, and on a timer that the Anglo Nepalese War is winding.
  • Baranagar has converged. The engineer, the temple and the ritual site are one village, and the party now knows it. Every reason to go north is now also a reason to be seen going north.
  • The commission went through the cult’s man. Everything Pratap found, Ghosh now has.

Relationships

  • Located at Fort William — The Engineers Park and the 67th orderly room, where the records were cross-referenced
  • Discovered Edward Renwick — Located by record search; posted to the Baranagar embankment works
  • Located at Baranagar — Renwick's post and the Mandir Mahakali temple are the same village