User:BengaliHindu/Great Bengal Circus

The Great Bengal Circus was an Indian owned circus based in Kolkata during colonial era. Founded by Professor Priyanath Bose in 1887, it became popular in India and South East Asia in the late 19th and early 20th century for its daring on stage acts, performed by Indian performers. It earned the accolade of being the national circus of India.

Origins
The origins of the Great Bengal Circus lay in the ideas of Hindu Mela. In the spring of 1867, Nabagopal Mitra, inspired by Rajnarayan Basu and patronized by Debendranth Tagore among others, organized the first Hindu Mela as a national fair for the spreading national consciousness among the youth. Since then, the Hindu Mela was held annually till 1880. At the fair, the leadership put a great emphasis on the physical strength of the nation. Inspired by this, Nabagopal Mitra and Manomohan Bose founded the National Gymanastic Club in 1868, where an English instructor was hired to train the Hindu boys.

During that time, an European gymnast named Peter came to Kolkata. He used to display his gymnastic prowess in the schools. In 1873-74, the Wilson's Great World Circus arrived in Kolkata on a tour. Later Chiarini's Italian Circus too arrived in Kolkata on a tour. Both of the circuses arrived together in Kolkata on their second tour. From that tour they began to exhibit acts with wild animals in their shows. Taking an inspiration from the European circuses, Nabagopal Mitra too decided to start a circus. He brought two horses to the National Gymnastic Club and formed a team with the boys from his gymnasium. He even trained his daughter Kusum to ride a horse. Later he shifted his team to the field behind the Training Academy in Thanthania and started the National Circus. At that time two bar players from Champatala joined their team. They brought a pony along with them. Ram Chandra Chatterjee, who taught himself how to fly on the trapeze after seeing the trapeze acts of Gregory brothers at the Wilson's Great World Circus, too joined the team. Nabagopal appointed Bihari Lal Mitra as the manager of National Circus. After making significant losses, Nabagopal Mitra shifted the National Circus to his Shankar Ghosh Lane residence. Later he used to hire boys from the Priyanath Bose's akhada at Shimla. Some time later, around 1883, Rajendra Lal Sinha founded the Great Indian Circus by employing some European and American performers.

Foundation
In 1887, Priyanath Bose, an equestrian and a juggler ventured into entrepreneurship and founded the Great Bengal Circus. The acts consisted of gymnastics, performances with wild animals, trapeze and magic shows. The performers were all Bengali Hindu men and women, some of whom were recruited from the village fairs. The circus party toured the towns and villages of Bengal and by the end of 19th century became very popular in Bengal.

Tours
The Great Bengal Circus toured many places in India. It performed in distant places like Lahore and in native states like Kashmir. In 1903, the Great Bengal Circus toured Singapore.

Acts
The circus earned its fame through the acts of daredevilry performed by the Indian men and women with wild beasts. Sushila Sundari and Bir Badal Chand, the two star performers would put up a show of wresting with a Royal Bengal Tiger. Another Bengali Hindu maiden named Mrinmayi would sit on the top of a tiger, perched on the back of an elephant and move around the stage.