Chinsurah

Chinsurah Chuchura
Urban agglomeration/city
Ghorir More
Chinsurah
Coordinates: 22°54′N 88°23′E / 22.90°N 88.39°E / 22.90; 88.39Coordinates: 22°54′N 88°23′E / 22.90°N 88.39°E / 22.90; 88.39
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Hooghly
Government
• Type	Representative Democracy
• Body	Hooghly Chinsurah Municipality
Population (2001)
• Total	170,201
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	712101 712102 712103 712105 712106
Telephone code	033
Lok Sabha constituency	Hooghly
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Chunchura
Website	hooghly.nic.in

Chinsurah (also known as Hooghly-Chinsura or Hooghly) is a city in the state of West Bengal, India. It lies on the Hooghly River, 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Kolkata (Calcutta).^[1] It is in the district of Hooghly and is home to the district headquarters. Chuchura houses the commissioner of the Burdwan Range. It forms a part of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) region.^[2] The District Court building of Chinsurah is the longest building in West Bengal. Chinsurah is the home to the new state-of-the-art 1000 KW DrM transmitter of Prasar Bharti which enables 'Akashvaani Maitree' to be broadcast across Bangladesh. This Special Bangla Service of All India Radio was launched in the wake of the Bangladesh Liberation Movement and played a key role during the war, broadcasting Indian news bulletins in Bangladesh. It continued till April 2010, but was discontinued thereafter due to decommissioning of the Super Power Transmitter at Chinsurah.^[3] Chinsurah is also the home of the oldest Armenian church in India.

Etymology

Hooghly-Chuchura was a municipality formed by the merging of two towns, Hugli and Chinsura, in 1865. The names are spelled in other ways including Hooghly, Hugli, Hughli, Ugulim (in Portuguese), Chinsura, Chunchura, Chuchro and Chinsurah.

The Grand Trunk Road (G.T.Road) passes through the town. Chuchura and Hugli are historic stations on the Howrah-Burdwan main line of the Eastern Railway. Ferry services on the River Hugli serves as a link with the district of North 24 Parganas.

Geography

Hooghly-Chuchura is at 22°54′N 88°23′E / 22.90°N 88.39°E / 22.90; 88.39.^[4] This city is on the flood plain on the right bank of river Bhagirathi-Hooghly.

History

A view of Chinsura, the Dutch settlement in Bengal

The Portuguese founded the town of Ugulim (Hooghly), in 1579, but the district has thousands of years of heritage in the form of the great kingdom of Bhurshut. The city flourished as a trading port and some religious structures were built. One such structure is a church dedicated to a charismatic statue of the Mother Mary brought by the Portuguese.

In the 17th century, political disorder struck the town and the Mughal governor of Bengal expelled the Portuguese. The fleeing Portuguese lost the statue in the river, but local people later found it on the river bank. The arrested Portuguese were taken to Delhi where a death sentence of trampling by elephants was decreed. When the emperor Shah Jahan heard this he ordered the priests released and granted a piece of land on the bank of the river Hoogly at Bandel, where the statue of the Mother Mary was reestablished. There the Portuguese constructed a church to house the statue, which still receives pilgrims today. The church was renovated in 1980s and has been declared as a basilica by the authority of Rome.

In 1656 the Dutch erected a factory on the site of the town of Chinsurah, used as a base for the Dutch intra-Asian trade in commodities such as saltpetre, spices, cotton and indigo.^[1][5]

In 1759 the garrison of Chinsurah, on its march to Chandernagore, attacked a British force under Colonel Forde.^[1] The Battle of Chinsurah lasted less than half an hour and ended with the rout of the Dutch attackers.^[1] In 1795, during the Napoleonic wars, a British garrison occupied the settlement.^[1] The peace of 1814 restored Hughli to the Dutch.^[1] However, in 1825, the Dutch ceded many of their possession in India to the British, in exchange for the British possessions in Sumatra.^[1]

Chinsurah and Hooghly played a role in the Bengal renaissance and the Indian independence movement. "Vande Mataram", India's national song, was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay at Joraghat in Chinsurah; he had been an alumnus of the Hooghly Collegiate School. Nazrul Islam's revolutionary songs were penned while he was imprisoned by the British in Hooghly Jail.

Chinsurah N.S. Road

Transportation

Chinsurah has three railway stations: Chinsurah (CNS) and Hooghly on the Howrah line and Hooghly Ghat (HYG) on the Sealdah line. The Chinsurah railway station is well connected to Howrah, Bandel, Burdwan, and other cities. A few passenger and express trains stop at the Chinsurah station. The Hooghly Ghat station is beside the Jubilee bridge, which is a connector between the eastern and the western side of the Ganges.

Transportation in Chinsurah is mainly by bus, auto, rickshaw and toto. Buses from the stand go to towns such as Memari, Tarakeswar, Serampore, Chandannagar, Arambagh, Bankura, Digha, Kalna, Jirat. Apart from being connected by railway services, Chinsurah is well-connected to Naihati by ferry services, which is a delightful experience.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,^[6] Hugli-Chinsurah had a population of 5,520,389. Males constitute 51.06% of the population and females 48.94%. Hugli-Chinsurah has an average literacy rate of 82.55%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 87.93%, and female literacy is 76.95%.

Police stations

Chinsurah police station has jurisdiction over Hugli-Chuchura and Bansberia municipal areas and a part of Chinsurah Mogra CD Block. Chinsurah (Women) police station has jurisdiction over Hugli-Chuchura municipal area,^[7][8]

Temples, churches, and attractions

Hooghly Imambara

Dutch cemetery

Mosque of Chinsura

The basilica of the Holy Rosary, Bandel

Jubilee Bridge on the Hooghly River between Naihati and Bandel

Susana Anna Maria Tomb, Chinsurah, Hooghly

Schools

Chinsurah Deshbandhu Memorial High School boys Bengali language 1926

• Garbati High School, Chinsurah
• Around 66 junior schools

Engineering Colleges

• Academy of Technology (Established in 2003)
• Bengal School of Technology and Management
• Chandannagar Institute of Management and Technology
• Hooghly Engineering and Technology College
• Hooghly Institute of Technology
• Modern Institute of Engineering and Technology
• Techno India College (established 2005)

General Degree Colleges

• Hooghly Mohsin College (established 1836)
• Hooghly Women's College

Polytechnique Colleges

• Technique Polytechnic Institute
• West Bengal Survey Institute

• Industrial Training Institute-Chuchurah
• Industrial Training Institute-Sahagunj
• Hooghly Govt. Teachers' Training College
• Hooghly Women's Physical Education College
• Rice Research Center
• Banana Research Center

The famous Chinsurah Court building is the longest building in West Bengal.

Festivals

Durga Puja, Eid, Jagadhatri Puja, Maharam, Kartick Puja, Kali Puja & Deepawali, Saraswati Puja, Lakshmi Puja, Navabarsho (Bengali New Year), Basanti Puja, Manasa Puja, Christmas, etc. are the main festivals celebrated here.

Banks

State Bank Of India, State Bank of India Agricultural Divisional Branch (ADB), Bank of India, Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank, Punjab National Bank, United Bank of India, Uco Bank, Syndicate Bank, Bank of Boroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, The Hooghly Cooperative Credit Bank Ltd., Hooghly District Central Cooperative Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Corporation Bank.

Notable residents

The town was home to Jyotish Chandra Ghosh (Mastar mashay), hailed as a guru by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Notable figures associated with the town include Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Bhudev Mukhopadhyay.Also, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the national song of India in Joraghat (in Chinsurah), which is a precious heritage for all the residents of Chinsurah, Freedom fighter Bhupati Majumder, Bijoy Modak, Mathematician Narayan Chandra Ghosh. William Carey, one of the earliest European missionaries in India, also stayed at Chinsurah for a while, at the hotel of Joachim Spiegel.^[12]

See also

• Hooghly Chinsurah Municipality
• Colonial India
• European colonies in India
• Dutch India

Footnotes

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chinsura". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 235. 
• Dey, S.C., "Hooghly Past and Present", The Calcutta Review, Vol.96, No.191, (January 1893), pp.22-42; No.192, (April 1893), 276-288; Vol.97, No.193, (July 1893), pp.71-81; No.194, (October 1893), 340-366;Vol.98, No.195, (January 1894), pp.152-170; Vol.99, No.197, (July 1894), pp.153-164; Vol.104, No.208, (April 1897), pp.355-373.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hugli-Chuchura.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Hugli (town).

• Chinsurah.com
• Akhtaruzzaman, Md (2012). "Hughli, City". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. 
• Chakrabarti, Prafulla (2012). "Chinsura". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. 
• Hooghly-Chinsurah Information
• Dutch in Chinsurah
• Dutch Cemetery Bengal, Chinsurah

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