New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) From a clock adorning the turret of a Portuguese-era church in West Bengal to an over 160-year-old iconic clocktower in Mumbai, these historic landmarks for over a century have stood as India’s public time-keepers and as a symbol of its timeless heritage.
Raised with pride and embellished with architectural ornamentation, many of these ticking sentinels of time have witnessed the fall of empires, the dawn of India’s independence from colonial rule and the country’s rise as a republic.
A new coffee-table book presents stories of 150 such landmarks in a “chronological order” of their provenance.
Titled “Clock Towers of India: Sentinels of Time”, the 300-odd page volume documents a collection of clocks embedded on public buildings, including churches, temples, railway stations, post offices and municipal town halls, as well as colonial-era standalone clocktowers, many of which represent the cities, whose skylines they continue to grace, spanning a period of over 300 years.
The book also talks about how a system of a ‘master’ clock and secondary ‘slave’ dials physically at some distance operated in tandem with author Debasish Das quoting this interesting information from a journal note titled, “Delhi’s 900 ‘Slaves'”.
Das said his work is a result of a five-year journey that began around 2020 and it was born out of a desire to study monuments that made time visible to entire cities – clocktowers.
“Like many people, I had assumed that public clocks arrived with the British Raj and were largely confined to a handful of famous monuments. But the evidence revealed a much richer story — of churches, synagogues, temples, markets, railway stations, universities, princely states and even maritime structures,” Das told PTI.
He said each clocktower opened a door into an “unexpected piece of history”.
“A search for a clocktower could lead to the origin of a town’s name, the story of institutions established for the sons of Indian princes, or forgotten episodes preserved only in local memories and old newspapers. Again and again, I found myself verifying dates, consulting archives and cross-checking facts,” he said.
The Gurugram-based technology professional, who calls himself an “avowed horologist” and a “clocktower admirer”, said while researching for the book, he had stumbled upon what he described as a “neglected chapter” of India’s social and cultural history.
The book chronicles the little recorded facets of a diverse range of clock towers, including Mumbai’s David Sassoon Clocktower (1865), Surat Clocktower (1871), a three-faced clock tower, part of P Orr & Sons Building in Chennai (1866); Mayo College Clocktower (1885), New Palace Clocktower in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur (1884), Mandvi Clocktower in Gujarat’s Jamnagar (1884).
Also, Harrison Clocktower in Aligarh (1894), Hussainabad Clocktower in Lucknow (1881), Town Hall Clocktower in Mirzapur (1891), Chowk Clocktower in Prayagraj (1913) in Uttar Pradesh are featured in the book.
Mehboob Chowk Clocktower in Hyderabad (1892); Chinsurah Clocktower in West Bengal (1914); Silver Jubilee Clocktower in Mysuru (1927) and Shri Vishwanath Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya Clocktower (1946) in Delhi also find mention in it.
According to the description for David Sassoon Clocktower, the clocktower at Rani Baug in Byculla rises up to 75 ft, and is built in Italian style with a profusion of typical round arches.
“The clock was designed to chime Cambridge Quarters, that is to say, at each quarter hour, the bells chime certain melodies which were originally composed at Cambridge University.
“These are also called Westminster Quarters, because they were employed first at the clocktower of Westminster, namely Big Ben,” it reads.
Das said he is a member of the London-based Antiquarian Horological Society (AHS), and the Society was an important resource for his research.
The book, published by Niyogi Books, also carries a list of UK-based clockmakers who had “supplied” clocks to India.
In a segment related to electric clocks, the author mentions how a system of a ‘master’ clock and secondary ‘slave’ dials which are physically at a distance can operate in tandem, in establishments such as railways stations or post offices, so that all the dials show exactly the same time.
Das reproduces an interesting note, titled, “Delhi’s 900 ‘Slaves'”, published in ‘Horological Journal’ in March 1951, which speaks of “such a system installed in Delhi that year”.
“There is little excuse for being late for an appointment in Delhi now — for in the capital 900 clocks distributed throughout the city keep the same time. Electrically operated from the clock control room in the Central Secretariat, a five-feet-high master clock controls them on the relay system.
“It transmits impulses every half minute to the 900 clocks. More than 100 clocks tick in the Parliament, 100 in All India Radio offices, 45 in Government House and 400 in the north and south blocks of the Secretariat,” reads the note.
In his book, the author has conjectured that this sizeable installation was mostly executed by Gent & Co. of Leicester, England.
Besides freestanding clock towers, Das has also documented many historic buildings which either have a clocktower attached to them or a clock embedded on the facade.
These include the Portuguese-era (17th century) Basilica of the Holy Rosary in Bandel, West Bengal; Methan Mani clocktower located in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple complex in Thiruvananthapuram; and Christ Church clocktower in Shimla (1844).
Das said that the number of clock towers in India is far greater than the ones listed in the book, adding in some cases, he was “aware of a clocktower, but could not find sufficient reliable information or photographs to document it meaningfully” for his work.
