The Gas-lamp: An old tale of two Cities

The first Gas-lamp of India: 

 The first gas lamp of India, which was not used to illuminate the street side of a city, instead illuminated the home of Ardeseer Cursetjee, a member of the city‟s Parsi‟s elite and scion of the wealthy Wadia family of shipbuilders of Bombay in 1834. It took more than thirty-one years of time for the Gas-lamp to make a place on the roadside of Bombay (1865) for city illumination but eight years before that, Calcutta had witnessed this Gas-lamp installation on her roadside in 1857. Starting from 1857 till today in the era of LED, lighting, and the illumination of these two cities, witnessed a drastic change through several types of lamps and their illuminations. Today, we can still find some ornamented and decorated old Gaslamp structures, which try to say their colourful bright history, which kindled the light in the lives of the citizens once. Some local history, stories of some personality had been carried by that piece of structure, which not only illuminated our past days but also acts as a memorial of those days in front of us.

Heritage Gas-lamp of Bombay: 

The Gas lamps of Bombay city were a pride for the citizen once. After Calcutta, there are 133 lamps illuminated in Esplanade, Church-gate Street, and the Bhendi Bazar area of Bombay. After observing the newly installed gas lamps, many businessmen, patrons, and city lovers people donated large ornamented and decorated pieces of gas lamps to the city to install. Some of the gas lamps are still visible in the cityscape, and some are working with electricity. Earlier gas lamps were imported from England, they were made of cast iron and design and ornamentation is Victorian style. After that, many Indian companies started to produce their own. Many gas lamps are also in the art deco style which was installed later. 

  Kennedy Lamp and Queen Necklace: 

Near Girgaum Chowpati on the sea-facing side, a century-old gas lamp structure can be visible in the crowd. If we noticed it closely, on the base, we can see an engraved title written  "KENNEDY SEA FACE‟ and two dates showing-  December 18, 1915 - which was the date of commenced and 1920 - the date of completion. This Heritage iron lamp conceives a history from the past related to the queen‟s necklace. The lamp was named after Sir Micheal Kennedy, the head of the Public work department (PWD) at that time. The lamp was erected at the point from where the construction wall of the sea face started. The area is also known as back bay- a name attributed to it, as the port area is considered the entry point of the city. The queen‟s necklace or marine drive starts with this point and ends at Nariman point. This sea face construction was built in four phases. The queen necklace is also ornamented with gas lamp posts at that time and it was truly the beauty of the city in the evening after sunset. 

Architectural characteristics: The iron gas lamp was erected on a stone cylindrical base, which had the engraved title and date. The stone cylindrical base contains Triglyphs and Metopes like elements curved on the top of the base, which can be seen in Greek architecture. The erected iron pillar has four numbers of lamps. Pillar structure is Corinthian in style from Greece. The base of the iron pillar has a lotus petal-like motif on it which is truly Indian (See Figure 1). The other gas lamp of the queen necklace is replaced with a new electrical light post today but this piece of gas lamp structure still exists at its position and reminds the citizen about its story. Today it is semi-functional and illuminates with electricity. 

Figure no. 1. A sketch of Kennedy Lamp, near Girgaum Chowpati, Mumbai (Digital Sketch by Anirban Majumder)                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Khada Parsee Statue Lamp:  

"Khada Parsi" statue may contain ornamented gas lamps and fountains in its base for a utilitarian purpose, but, actually, it had been made for commemoration for which the statue was installed on the top of the structure. This iconic 150 years old, 40 feet high, Grade I heritage which is popularly known as the  "Khada Parsi" statue in Bombay, was installed in the Nagpada Junction in 1860, for the commemoration of a Parsi Seth Khurshedji Manokji aka Manakji Khurshedji Shroff, a former Judge, reformer and Parsi businessman, which was commissioned by Cursetjee‟s son youngest Manockjee Cursetjee. This Heritage structure costs 1 lakh in those days and probably the first cast-iron statue in India. The present-day location of this memorial is not in Nagpada junction, it was shifted to Byculla junction to avoid the extra crowd in Nagpada junction. Apart from these iconic heritage lamps, there are many other lamp structures that can be found all over the city. Near Gateway of India and Taj Mahal Palace Hotel Mumbai, some of the gaslight structure is still visible in working condition with electric connection. Horniman point circle gates have a pair of gas lamp structures with figurative ornamentation, which is carrying those days glories.  

Figure 2 : A sketch of Khada Parsee Statue Lamp, Mumbai (Digital Sketch by Anirban Majumder)  

Architectural characteristics: The Basic structure has four parts - The statue at the top, the Corinthian pillar as a shaft, ornamented four numbers of gas lamps in the lower part, and four mermaid sculptures at the base. The entire body was made in cast iron. Pedestal made in black basalt. Foliage and dragon-like animal is holding the lamp as its bracket whereas original gas lamps were stolen in 1970. A replica was installed during the renovation in 2014. Four sculptures of mermaids with ornamentation acted as spout from where the water splashed (See Figure 2). Many pieces and parts are either damaged or stolen of the heritage but BMC conducted restoration work in 2014 and fixed this glorious heritage once again but unfortunately, lamps and the fountain is not working yet. 

Heritage Gas lamps of Calcutta: 

It was July 1857, the citizen of the first city of British colonial India, witnessed the beauty of the glorious lamp all over the city (before that oil lamp did not have this brightness at all). Yes, it was Calcutta, 163 years before today, where the first gas light was installed at Chowrangee road and after that all over the country. Before 1857, according to Calcutta Gazette, published on 28th March 1822, a fully equipped gas light machine came to Calcutta and a recent order was placed for providing gas lights to Chowrangee Theatre in those days. The ornamented gas lamp structures and brackets were imported from England primarily. Some of the old iron cast pillars having “MESSENGER & COMPANY. BIRMINGHAM. 1856” *written on its body, can still be seen. After a few days, the production was from India only. Now a day, few gas lamps can be found on the roads of Calcutta (now Kolkata), they seem like an old fossil of the past. Foliage is the main popular design shown in the brackets and the body. Sometimes figurative sculptures act as a holder for those lamps. Unfortunately, none of these gas lamps are preserved and functional today. 

The oriental Gas Company and Bombay Gas company: 

Oriental Gas Company is the first Gas Company in India established by the British in 1854. The first plant was constructed in then Halidey street now Mohammad Ali Park. This company shifted to Wellington square later, and finally shifted to Canal Road East, Narkeldanga in 1870. Coal is the source of gas at that time. One Gas-lamp's illumination was equivalent to 13 oil lamp's illumination- stated in Sulav Samachar, a popular Bengali newspaper in those times. This plant of Narkeldanga can still be visible today but its structure has been changed over time. A Shaft and a Circular Disk like object were seen in those days from a distance, which collected the gas into the chamber. 

Bombay Gas Company, which was formed in 1962 in Lalbaug. In those days, coal gas was produced in that plant. The name also named after Gas company lane. A stone slab inscription can also be found there, where the following words are carved as - „B.G. Co. Ltd. B. 1912‟. the vapour and carbon dust of burned coal create an unhealthy environment for which the local people suffered. After coming off the electricity in 1901, these Gas companies still produced gas for light and other usages. It was finally shut down by BMC in 1981 and the license was canceled, as the preference for the cleaner natural gas grew. The Bombay Gas Company once produces gas for the whole city to illuminate through a 400 km pipeline network.