Bagbazar

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Bagbazar
—  Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)  —
Bagbazar Ghat on Hooghly River
Bagbazar Ghat on Hooghly River
Coordinates: 23°48′N 88°15′E / 23.8, 88.25
Country Flag of India India
State West Bengal
City Kolkata
Ward # 7
Metro Station Shyambazar
Elevation 36 ft (11 m)
Population (2001)
 - Total 20,012
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 700 003
Area code(s) +91 33

Bagbazar (also spelt Baghbazar) (Bengali: বাগবাজার) is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police[1], has been, along with neighbouring Shyambazar, the citadel of the Bengali aristocracy.[2] Bagbazar has played an active role in growth and development of Kolkata.

Contents

[edit] Origin of name

The name, Bagbazar, is derieved from two words put together from old bengali literature"bagh" meaning flower garden and " bazaar" meaning Market.So it refers to a place where flowers are abundant.

[edit] History

As Kalikata became settled, Sutanuti was gradually abandoned by the English as a place of residence. There remained, near its northernmost corner, Perin’s Garden, a pleasure resort, where once it was the height of gentility for the company’s covenanted servants to take their ladies for an evening stroll or moonlight fete. However, it was little frequented from around 1746 and by 1752 was sold for Rs. 25,000. Captain Perin was owner of several ships.[3]In 1754, Colonel C.F. Scott began manufacturing gunpowder at the garden.[2]

||Haralal Mitra Street || This street is one of the most old and famous streets of Baghbazaar, where the main Baghbazaar Post Office is also located. The annual Saraswati puja of "Haralal Athletic Club " is one of the most famous pujas in baghbazar. Some of the most popular and vintage buildings here are The No4 Ghosh residence., a 100 yrs old building still standing strong with its heavy Iron pillers and big front entrance. Then there is the very old "savitri girls school".


||Bosepara|| Bosepara, which now forms part of Bagbazar, was set up by the Boses and Pals migrating from Hooghly district. Nidhuram Bose is believed to have arrived before the British came to Sutanuti.[2]

[edit] Bagbazar Ghat

Bagbazar Ghat, on the Hooghly River is an old one. It was once called Rogo Meeter’s Ghat after Raghu Mitra, son of Gobindram Mitra, the black zemindar, and once one of the wealthiest and most influential natives of Kolkata, in the early days of the British East India Company. [4]

There is steamer jetty next to Baghbazar Ghat, ghat in Bengali is a paved staircase. Steamers carry passengers to the opposite bank of the river, as also the office localities around B.B.D. Bagh and Esplanade. The old ghat is used by bathers, people collecting Ganges water for religious ceremonies, for performance of religious ceremonies, and for such mundane tasks as unloading country boats carrying various materials.

[edit] Battle with Siraj

Bagabzar has also seen battle - on 16 June 1756, a small force under Ensign Piccard repulsed an advance guard of Siraj ud-Daulah from the north, but two days later Kalikata fell in the Battle of Lal Dighi.[5]

[edit] Association with Sri Ramakrishna

Possibly the first visit to a house in north Kolkata by Sri Ramakrishna was in 1877. He visited the ancestral house of Kalinath Bose, then numbered 40 Bosepara Lane (presently 47B, Ma Saradamani Sarani). It was here that he first met Harinath Chaterjee (later Swami Turiyananda), Gangadhar Ghatak (Gangopadhyay) (later Swami Akhandananda) and Girish Chandra Ghosh, the noted playwright.[6]

Sister Nivedita came and lived in Bosepara Lane. “Bagbazar in the northern part of Calcutta had its own fascination for Sri Ramakrishna’s devotees. On one side stood Balaram Bose’s house, the ‘Calcutta Citadel’ of Sri Ramakrishna, where his disciples repaired for rest. On its north-east is the huge family mansion of Girish Chandra Ghosh. A little to its north was the Holy Mother’s house. All these houses were encircled by the Ramkanto Bose Street and Bosepara Lane, whose very dust was trod upon by Sri Ramakrishna.”[7] She opened her school formally on 13 November 1898 at 16, Bosepara Lane, in the presence of Sarada Ma, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Saradananda, and others.[8]The school (renamed Sister Nivedita Girls School) is now located at 5, Nivedita Lane in Bagbazar. Such illustrious personalities as Sister Christine and Sudhira Bose were associated with the school.

The name of the road in front of the Mother's house was changed from Mukherjee Lane to Udbodhan Lane. Her three-storey house was the tallest in the neighbourhood. The Maharatta Ditch could be seen meeting the Ganga at a distance of less than a kilometer. Kashi Mitra Crematorium and the Shmashaneswar Shiva Temple, was situated to the south of the house.[9]The office of Udbodhan, the magazine founded by Swami Vivekananda, is also located in Bagbazar.

[edit] Geography

The old Chitpur Road (renamed Rabindra Sarani) was for many years the life line of Bagbazar. It followed the same track as the old pilgrim path built by Sabarna Roy Choudhury from Halisahar to Barisha.[10] Tram tracks along Rabindra Sarani came to Bagbazar in 1904[11] and are being renewed in 2007. While Rabindra Sarani cuts across Bagabazar from north to south, Bagbazar Street cuts across from Bagbazar Ghat in the west to Bidhan Sarani in the east. Girish Avenue is an extension of Chittaranjan Avenue.[12]When it was built in the 1930s, a portion of the house of Girish Chandra Ghosh was spared and stands in the middle with the two flanges of the road on both sides of the house. There are numerous lanes and by lanes in Bagbazar.

Bagbazar is on the Kolkata Circular Railway. Shyambazar station of Kolkata Metro is within walking distance of most parts of Bagbazar.

[edit] Demographics

Ward No. 7 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation [13] under Shyampukur police station, which broadly covers Bagabazar, had a population of 20,012, as per 2001 census. Out of this 10,518 were males and 9,494 were females.[14]

[edit] Culture

Alaler Gharer Dulal (The Rich Man’s Spoilt Child) (1857) by Peary Chand Mitra has an interesting piece of women's conversation centred on Bagbazar, possibly when they went for a bath in the Hooghly River:

“Some are speaking of their oppressive sisters-in-law, some are cursing their tyrannical mothers-in-law, some are tired of life because of the kicks they receive from their daughters-in-law, particularly when their sons are too timid to intervene; some complain of the intolerable behaviour of the wives of their husband’s brothers and some say how keen they are to get their ten-year-old sons married.”[15]

Bagbazar has been home to many a creative person.

Nagendranath Basu (1866 – 1938) took twenty years to edit the 22 volume Biswakosh, Bengali encyclopaedia. He lived and worked at 8 Kantapukur Bylane in Bagbazar. Kolkata Municipal Corporation renamed it Biswakosh Lane. This is possibly the only road in the world named after a book.[16]

Mohanchand Basu, who lived in Bagbazar in the 19th century and was a disciple of Nidhu Babu, introduced kheur in Bengali akhrai songs.[17]

Bhola Maira (18th-19th century), the renowned Kabiyal (verse-contestant) had a sweet-meat shop on Bagbazar Street.[18]

Two auditoriums, side by side on Bagbazar Street, still testifies to active cultural life of Bagbazar. Girish Mancha, opened in 1986 has over 900 seats. .[19]The auditorium of Paschim Banga Jatra Akademi is next door.

However, the 125 year-old Bagbazar Reading Library is not in good shape because of paucity of funds. [20]

Bagbazar Durga Puja continues to a major crowd puller with its deity of traditional design and innovative decoration.

[edit] Gallery

Girish Mancha

Auditorium of Paschim Banga Jatra Akademi

House where Sister Nivedita started her school in 1898

Girish Avenue. At the time of the construction of the road, a portion of the house of Girish Ghosh was left in the middle.

House of Balaram Bose, now Ramakrishna Math

Bosepara Lane in Bagbazar

The steamer jetty as seen from Bagbazar Ghat

Exterior decoration and lighting for Durga Puja 2006 - one of the earliest barowari pujas in Kolkata

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shyapukur Police Station. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  2. ^ a b c Nair, P. Thankappan in The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, p. 17, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-563696-3.
  3. ^ Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909/1980, p. 34, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  4. ^ Cotton, H.R.A., pp. 281,290
  5. ^ Cotton, H.E.A., p290
  6. ^ The stone tablet outside the house records this in detail. The visit has been described by Swami Turiyananda and Girish Chandra Ghosh, and quoted by Christopher Isherwood in his Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Advaita Ashram, pp 228-229, 249. However, Christopher Isherwood does not mention any name. These are given in the stone tablet.
  7. ^ Pravrajika Atmaprana, Sister-Nivedita of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, pp. 4-5, Sister Nivedita Girls’ School.
  8. ^ Pravrajika Atmaprana, p.69.
  9. ^ Udbodhan. A brief history of the area around. Ramakrishna Math, 1 Udbodhan Lane, Kolkata - 700003. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  10. ^ Nair, P.Thankappan, Civic and Public Services in Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol I, p. 228.
  11. ^ Nair, P.Thankappan, Civic and Public Services in Old Calcutta, p.235.
  12. ^ Map no. 5, Detail Maps of 141 Wards of Kolkata, D.R.Publication and Sales Concern, 66 College Street, Kolkata – 700073
  13. ^ Municipla Wards. Calcutta. Clcutta Yellow Pages. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  14. ^ Census of India 2001. Provisional Population Totals, West Bengal, Table 4. Census Commission, Government of India. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  15. ^ Dasgupta, Rabindra Kumar, Old Calcutta as Presented in Literature, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, p. 130
  16. ^ Majumdar, Swapan, Literature and Literary Life in Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, p. 111
  17. ^ Mitra, Rajyeshwar, Music in Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, p. 182
  18. ^ Banerjee, Sumanta, The World of Ramjan Ostagar, the Common Man of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, p. 82
  19. ^ Places of Interest In and Around Kolkata. Girish Mancha. West Bengal Government. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  20. ^ Sarkar, Sebanti. Reading landmark in the doldrums. The Telegraph, 20 June 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.