The old name of an area in present Kolkata (Calcutta) is found as Kálikātā, pronounced kalkattā in northern India, in the Ā-īn-i Akbarī and the contemporary Chaṇḍīmangal of Mukundaram. Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasāmaṅgal makes mention the famous temple of Kālī at Kālīghāṭ in south Calcutta. The present name Kolkata is a direct descendant of the above mentioned Kálikātā, and Calcutta - an anglicized form of kalkattā. The region meant by the name was the western part of present Central Calcutta. The northern and southern parts had different names.

There are many opinions on the origin of the name, the most prominent ones being 1.kali-gada‘heaps of lime’ (S.K.Chatterji) referring to the trade in that community on the bank of the Ganga in the late medieval period; 2. Calicut which grew a temporary relation with this city. 3. Kālīghāṭ.

The most authentic literature on the subject includes

1. Kolikata śaharer itivṛtta (A history of Calcutta) in two volumes, Binay Ghosh with extensive information on Bengali and English sources, Kolkata 2004 (5^th ed.) and 1997(3^rd ed.)

2. Kolikata darpaṇ (A mirror of Calcutta) in two vol.s, Radharamaṇ Mitra Vol.1 1997(4^th reprint) Vol.2 2004. Vol.2 pages 167 – 249 are devoted to the history of the name.

3. There are other works too. The nineteenth century speculations, mostly British, are dated and may be ignored.

The history of the name of Bombay is less debated. There is a universal belief, I cannot specify the sources, that the name Bombay is an anglicized form of Mumbai supposed to be derived from Mumba Bai, the presiding deity of the region (mother-goddess taken for ‘Virgin Mary’ by the early European settlers). Even before the name was officially changed, all local people called it Mumbai while those coming from outside uttered the name as Bombaï. Literature is amply available.

While ‘Madras’ is supposed to have originated among the British from the abundance of Madrasas in the region, ‘Chennai’, like Mumbai, is supposed to have derived its name from the presiding deity of the region. But this is based on oral information from knowledgeable sources. I can refer to the persons but not to literature, nor to any authority.

Best

From: Elena Bashir <ebashir@UCHICAGO.EDU>
To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk
Sent: Friday, 20 May 2011 7:59 PM
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Query from Hal Schiffman

I am posting this query on behalf of Hal Schiffman. Please send responses directly to him: haroldfs@GMAIL.COM

-------
"I've been asked by a colleague in another (non-South Asian) area of the world
what is the history of colonial city naming in India, and whether it is possible to
reconstruct what the "original" names for Bombay/Mumbai, Madras/Chennai, and
Calcutta/Kolkata.

Two questions in particular I have is whether (1) Bombay was ever called Mumbai by
speakers of other languages of India, other than Marathi, and (2) when exactly did the
call for renaming Bombay as Mumbai began? I'd be interested to know how recently
this phenomenon is.

I know that in the case of Madras/Chennai, I never heard of "Chennai" when I first went
to Tamilnadu (then called Madras State) in 1965 and only later was there a push to rename the
city.

I keep in mind an incident from when I was involved in SEASSI and went to Hanoi to
recruit teachers of Vietnamese. We noticed that when speaking Vietnamese, people
referred to Saigon as Saigon, but when speaking English, they called it Ho Chi Minh City.
So I'm wondering whether this practice is all current in referring to Indian city names.

Hal Schiffman

---------

Thanks,

-- 
E. Bashir, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Urdu
Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations
The University of Chicago, Foster 212
1130 E. 59th St.
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone:  773-702-8632
Fax:    773-834-3254