MURSHIDABAD, West Bengal

Main Attraction: HAZARDUARY

Murshidabad, the first capital of British India, had been a land of BengalNawbabs. Once upon a time this had been a land of palaces, most of which nowremain as relics. Among those that still prosper, HAZARDUARY stands out.

Situated at the east bank of river Bhagirathi at Lalbagh, this palace was builtduring the reign of NawabNazimHumayun Shah at a cost of Rs. 16.50 lakhs. Designedby Colonel Duncan Mcleod of the Bengal Corps of Engineers, it took 17 years forcompletion (completed in 1837), and was inaugurated during the administration of thethen Governor General Lord Auckland.

Reminiscent of Italian style, as seen in its huge flight of stairs and colossalpillars, this palace has about thousand real and false doors, and hence the nameHAZARDUARY. The palace was used for holding DURBAR and other official work ofthe Nawabs as also for the residence of high ranking British officials. It now houses a museum displaying the stupendous and rare collection of books, manuscripts, statues,arms, paintings and furniture of the Nawabs of Bengal.

Brief History

The history of Murshidabad district can be traced back to ancient times. The geographical area of Murshidabad district can be broadly divided into two parts: the eastern part and the western part. The eastern part of the district which lies to the east of the river Bhagirathi is known as Bagri derived from perhaps Bakradwip and the western part of the district which lies to the west of Bhagirathi is known as Radh. During the 5th century AD some portion of the modern Murshidabad district i.e. Northern Radh and Bagri belonged to the Territory of Gupta Empire. In the 7th century AD King Sasanka ruled over the whole of Radh including some portions of Vanga like Bagri. 

The capital city of King Sasanka’s empireKarnasubarna is now connected throughKarnasubarna (formerly Chiruti) railway station which is the part ofKandi Sub-Division of the district and located at the Katwa-Azimganj Railway line under the Eastern Railway. Yuan Chwang (Hiuen Tsang), the legendary Chinese pilgrim had given a detailed account about this old city alongwith that of the entire kingdom. After the death of Sasanka a state of anarchy (Matsyanaya) prevailed in Bengal which lasted for almost a hundred years.Elevation of Gopal as the King of subjects ended the reign of anarchyprevailing in Bengaltherebylaying the foundation stone of the Pal dynasty.

Dharmapal succeeded his father Gopal in around 770 AD. According to theKhalimpur copperplate-inscription, one of the mandals,Vyaghratatimandal, was included in Pundravardhana-bhukti. Vyagharatati-mandal has been identified with the Bagri portion of Murshidabad, Nadia and North Twenty FourParganas by Alexander Cunningham. The decline of the Pal dynasty begun duringthe reign of Madanpal who ascended the throne in 1144A.D..TheKarnat ruler of Mithila along with his ally Vijaysenwere instrumental in ending the rule of the Pal dynasty. The father of Vijaysen was a feudatory chief or a vassal of the Pals in northern Radh (Birbhum district of the present day). Madanpal was defeated on the banks of river Kalindi in Maldah by the joint army of the Karnats of Mithila and Karnat-Kshatriya - Sens of Bengal. From the several historical evidences it can be found that Vijaysen took hold of the Pal territories in whole of Radh (western Murshidabad) and Bagri (eastern Murshidabad)and had subsequently extended his territory to the whole of the central and southern Bengal. Vijaysen ruled over the entire district of the present day Murshidabad till the invansion of BakhtiyarKhilji.

Invansion of BakhtiyarKhilji laid the foundation stone of Sultanate rule in Bengal.BakhtiyarKhilji on his way from Bihar-Sharif to Nadiya went through the Radh portion of Murshidabad, though he left Nadia to conquer Goud-Lakhnauti and consolidate his conquest in Barendi (North Bengal) and North Bihar. The Radh portion of modern Murshidabad district was brought under the domination of BakhtiyarKhilji in 1206 ADunder the command of Muhammad Sheran and Ahmad Sheran, but it is not clear from the available records whether the whole of Northern Radh was under the jurisdiction of the Sultanate at that juncture. The whole of Northern Radh was under control of the next Sultan GihyasuddinIwazKhalji (circa AD 1213-27) who wrested the last citadel of Hindu rule in Northern Radh. Bagri portion of the modern Murshidabad district was brought under Delhi Sultanate after Lakhnauti in 1259 AD was captured by an official of the Delhi Sultan. Bengal witnessed several types of political upheavals during the next three hundred years.

The rulers were replaced in a very quick succession. Sometimes Bengal was centrally controlled by the Delhi Sultanate, sometimes the Governorsappointed on behalf of the Sultanate declared themselves independent and waged wars with the Sultanate. Sometimes the Governors of different provinces were found to be at loggerheads with each other. Often a de-facto independent Sultan took possession of different Governorships under one command. After the culmination of the Sultanate rule there was a brief era of rule by the Shahi dynasties accompanied by a brief Hindu interregnum (Raja Ganesh). Two most famous dynasties of this period are the dynasties of IllyasShahi and Hussain Shahi. Thereafter Bengal witnessed a brief reign of Sher Shah Suri. Mughal rule in Bengal began afterEmperor Akbar’s General Munim Khan’s move from Bihar towards Bengal and the capture of Bengal’s capital Tanda (near Goud) without a fight in 1574. However, under Akbar the Mughal rule in Bengal was more like an armed occupation that lacked a settled administration. It was only during the reign of Jehangir that the Mughal administration assumed a concrete shape and covered almost the entire Bengal.

The political history of Makhsudabad city alongwith that of the whole of the modern district of Murshidabad witnessed a phenomenal change in 1700 AD with the appointment of Kartalib Khan, alias Jaffar Khan alias MurshidKuli Khan, as the Faujdarof Makhsudabad and the Diwanof Subah Bangla by Emperor Aurangzeb. The name of Murshidabad, where the provincial revenue headquarters was shifted from Dhaka in 1704 by MurshidKuli Khan, the Diwan of Bengal was derived at that juncture. The present name of Murshidabad had been derived from the nomenclature coined by the erstwhileDiwan as Mukhsusabador its similar variant Makhsudabad, meaning the selected city.

After death of MurshidKuli Khan his son-in-law Shuja-ud-daulla (1725-39) succeeded him as the Subedar of Bengal and Orissa. There were more changes in administrative set-up in his tenure. Shuja-ud-daullawas killed during the battle with Alibardi Khan atGiria. After Shuja-ud-daulla, Alibardi became the Subedar and Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orrisa and his tenure lasted between 1739 and 1756.During his reign an era of good administration had prevailed. He had to encounter the invasion of the Bargi or Marhatta. Although there were initial setbacks,he ultimately succeeded to hold his ground and eventually forced the Marhatha to retreat from Bengal due to his able administration. After Alivardi died in 1756, his grandson Siraj-ud-daulla succeeded him asNawab of Bengal and Bihar. Siraj-ud-daulla became the victim ofthe joint conspiracy between Mirjafar and Mr. Watts of the British East India Company. With the assistance fromMirjafar, East India Company won the battle of Plassey on 23rd June, 1757.

Siraj was captured near Rajmahal and was murdered by Miran, the son of Mirjafar on 2nd July, 1757. The battle of Plassey (Palashi) in 1757 ushered in phennomenal changes in the administrative set up of Bengal including changes in jurisdiction of several districts. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, Mirjafar became the Nawab of Bengal in the form of a puppet in the hands of the East India Company. In 1761, Mirkasim bribed his way to the ‘Masnad’ and then shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Monghyr. Mir Turab Ali Khan was appointed as the NaibNizam (Deputy Governor) of Murshidabad while Mirkasim took away all the elephants, horses and treasures including gold and silver decorations of the Imambara to Monghyr. Mirkasim's revolt against the Company and his subsequent defeat in the battle of Buxar in 1764 resulted in the anointment of a series of puppet Nawabs to the “Masnad”

With the grant of the Diwani in 1765, the revenue management of the whole of Bengal was handed over to the East India Company. In 1765, the Council of the Company in Calcutta became the supreme revenue management authority and the centre of power in Bengal shifted from Murshidabad to Calcutta. This event led to the relegation of thestatus of erstwhile capital city of Bengal since the reign of the Mughal Subah, Murshidabad into thatof a district town. The famine of 1770 coupled with the transfer of Diwani office to Calcutta in 1772 marked the beginning of an era of rapid decline of Murshidabad.

In 1770, the controlling council of Revenue was set up in Murshidabad, which was subsequently superseded by the Board of Revenue in 1772 resulting in the shifting of the centre of revenue administration from Murshidabad to Calcutta. In 1781, all provincial councils were abolished and Presidents of provincial councils were redesignated as Collectors, who were vested with powers of Civil Judge and Executive Magistrate.

The modern district of Murshidabad came into existence in 1787 following certain jurisdictional interchanges with the Birbhum district though the units in the district were finalised in 1879. Since 1879, the present set up of the district remained same alongwith the boundaries.

As per "3 June Plan" or "Mountbatten Plan", after the partition of India in August, 1947, by mistake Murshidabad was supposed to come under the jurisdiction of East Pakistan. However after the declaration of Radcliff award the district became a part of West Bengal. It is remarkable to note that for 3 days Murshidabad unofficially remained a part of East Pakistan although it was officially a part of West Bengal.

BARDDHAMAN, West Bengal

Main Attraction: The Curzon Gate

The Curzon Gate is the most prominent landmark of the Burdwan town, the head quarter of district Barddhaman. This memorial gate is located at the heart of the town at the crossing of the Bijoy Chand Road and the Grand Trunk Road. The Gate wasconstructed sometime in 1902/1903, by the then Maharaja ofBarddhaman, Bijoy Chand Mahatab, to celebrate his coronation. Laterit provided a convenient excuse for Lord Curzon to visit Barddhaman in1904 and the pomp and grandeur of that visit established the name ofthe Gate as Curzon Gate. The Gate is supported by two circularcoloumns (each) on the right and left, on both the east and west sides.The eight pillars support an arch. Three female figurines appear on thetop centre panel, with swords, boats, and sheaves of corn in their hands,signifying progress in agriculture and commerce. Also, there are twentyonecircles at the top, having twenty one illustrations. The words,“Heaven’s light-our guide”, are written at the head of the edifice. Thestructure was constructed by masons brought over from Italy. Becauseof its overwhelming similarity to the Gateway of India in Mumbai, it wasalso known as the Star of India. After Independence, the name BijoyToron is used to refer to the building, though the colloquial name still isCurzon Gate, being pronounced as ‘Korjon Gate’ in the vernacular. Thehistorical monument was defaced by posters and notices until 1974,when the then Public Works Minister of the Government of West Bengalarranged for a facelift. Thereafter the Gate is being maintained by the State Public Works Department.

Brief History

Barddhaman district is geographically a transition zone between the Jharkhand plateau which forms a shield in the west and the Ganga–Brahmaputra alluvial plains in the north and east. Towards south the alluvial plains merge with Damodar–Kasain-Subarnarekha deltaic plains. Owing to its position and natural advantages the region is believed to be the seat of settled civilization from pre-historic times. As noted in the ‘Burdwan District Gazetteer’ by C. K. Patterson (1905), the country with its ever changing courses of the rivers Damodar, Ajay and Ganga, is recorded in British chronicles as the richest tract in Bengal and the area of its oldest and most settled cultivation.

The name of the district is attributed by some historians to the 24th Jain Tirthankar ‘Vardhaman Swami’ Mahaveer who came to preach Jainism in the area. Alternatively its name came from the word ‘Bardhaman’ which means a prosperous and growing centre and the district was the frontier zone in the way of progress of Aryanisation from the upper Gangetic valley. The first epigraphic reference to its name is found in a 6th century AD copper plate found in the village of Mallasarul under Galsi Police Station.

The history of Barddhaman is traced to about the ‘Late Stone Age’or Mesolithic Age in the excavations of 1954 and 1957. The excavations at ‘Pandu Rajar Dhibi’ revealed that the people lived in planned towns with houses built of unfired clay and reinforced with reeds and having plastered walls. They knew the use of copper and their principal occupation were agriculture and trade. In early historical times, epigraphic evidence show Barddhaman as a famous bhukti or revenue tract and a part of ‘Radh’ ruled successively by the Magadhas, Mauryas, Kushanas and the Guptas. In the initial 6th century while Sasanka was ruler, this region was included in the empire of ‘Gour’.

The history of the district is blank from the middle of the 7th century till the rise of the ‘Pala’ dynasty. The Khalimpur copper plate of Dharampal, the son of Gopala-I - the first ‘Pala’ ruler, states that Gopala-I was elected king by the people of the country to save themselves from state of anarchy and invaders. After thedeath of Rampal, the last great ruler of the ‘Palas’at around 1130 A.D., the ‘Sena’ dynasty came to power. Vijaysena was the first Sena king according to the Deopar inscriptions. The Govindapur copper plate inscriptions clearly indicate ‘Bardhamanbhukti’ as under the control of Lakshmansena. Before the beginning of Muslim invasion the Sadgop dynasty of Gopbhum was a powerful community and this time provideda glimpse of a prominent settlement. The name of one ruler of this dynasty Mahendranath or locally known Mahindi Raja still survives. However it was the Khetri Maharajas(kings) who ruled Barddhaman for a long time and provided a resistance to the Muslims as far as possible.

The history of this region during the medieval period is distinct following the invasion by Muslim rulers. The first Muslim invasion took place during the reign of Lakshmansena by the Pathan ruler Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1199 AD. He captured northern and eastern side of Barddhaman. Subsequently the greater part of Bengal gradually came under the control of Muslim Governors who ruled at Gaur or Laknauti. During this period a splendid military road was built from Gaur and Rajmahal to Medinipur and Cuttack. The celebrated poet Ruparam who composed Dhramamangal lived at this time. In 1567, Suleman Karnani captured the western part of the district. His son Daud came to war with Todarmal, the Diwan(Prime Minister) of Bengal appointed by the Mughal ruler in Delhi. This war made the area famous in the history of Bengal.

After several such engagements over the years with Daud and his son Kuttu, finally in 1590, we find the mention of Barddhaman in the Ain-i-Akbari as a mahal or pargana of Sarcar Sharifabad assessed at 1,876,142 dams. In 1606 the famous Sher Afghan, the superintendent of district under Mughal Subedar of Bengal was attacked and slain just outside the town of Barddhaman under order of Jehangir who wanted to marry Sher Afghan’s wife, the beautiful Mehrunnessa. After Sher Afghan’s death Mehrunnessa was taken by Jehangir as his consort and named Noor Jehan or ‘Light of the World’. The unmerited misfortune of Sher Afghan, a Turkish gentleman of noble origin, his lofty character and courage and the beauty and exalted destiny of his wife render their story perhaps one of the most romantic in the history of Mughal Emperors.

In 1622 when Jehangir’s son Khurram, later Shah Jahan rebelled against his father, he acquired the fort of Barddhaman by force. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire became weak and Murshid Quli Khan became the Nawab(King) of Bengal. Although he owed suzerainty to the Mughals, he was an independent ruler for all practical purposes. Under him, Barddhaman was referred to as chakla instead of parganaas used by the Mughals. Shortly afterwards the great Burdwan (anglicised version of Barddhaman) House rose to power and henceforth its history became identical with that of the district. Raja Krishnarama Rai was the founder of the Raj family. He obtained a farman (royal decree) from Aurangzeb in 1689 AD by which he was made the Zamindar(land lord) and Chowdhury of Bardhaman. Even today, the large water tanks excavated by him viz. Krishnasayar (Krishna Sagar) and that excavated by his father Ghanshyam Rai viz. Shyamsayar (Shyam Sagar) stand in the heart of Barddhaman town. Raja Chitrasen Rai was the most powerful king of the Raj family. He built the famous Siddheswari temple at Kalna.

By 1740 Bengal saw the first onslaught of the Maratha invader or bargis who arrived to plunder the region. Time and again they had skirmishes with Alivardi Khan the Nawab of Bengal–Bihar–Orissa. They briefly held a certain part of the country especially the part near the Bhagirathi river at Katwa and proceeded to lootthe country and destroy crops. They committed unspeakable atrocities on the people which are documented in the literature of that period. Finally in 1751 Alivardi Khan conceded to pay a chauth(tribute) of 12 lakh rupees annually as a truce. Alivardi Khan died in 1756 and his successor was the weak and dissolute Siraj-ud-Daulah. Nevertheless, Siraj-ud-Daulah confronted the British led by Robert Clive in the Battle of Plassey in 1756. He lost the battle made famous as the first decisive victory of the British in its conquest of India and also by the treachery of Siraj-ud-Daulah’s army General Mir-Jafar. Mir-Jafar was made the Nawab by the British only to be ousted again and replaced by his nephew Mir-Qasim, again a British stooge. By 1760 the fertile district of Barddhaman alongwith Medinipur and Chittagong was ceded to the East India Company. The Rajas of Barddhaman did not take this down very well and British accounts are full of various ‘rebellions’ and ‘acts of insolence’ on their part.

‘The Famine of 1770’ remains one of the greatest horrors that the region experienced. One-third population of the country was wiped out. A graphic account of the conditions is given in Hunter’s ‘Annals of Rural Bengal’. Under the Permanent Settlement of 1793,Raja Tejchand entered into an agreement to pay a revenue of Rs. 40,15,109/- and in addition pulbandi(tank repairing charges) of Rs. 1,93,721/-. But like other zamindari estates of Bengal, dismemberment of the Barddhaman estate started soon and in 1797 the British Board of Revenue ordered sale of portions of the zamindari for realisation of arrears of revenue. Finally it led to the near ruin of the once powerful and influential authority of the Rajas of Barddhaman.

In 1857, the British Crown took over the administration of the country from the East India Company. During India’s freedom struggle the people of Bardshaman were actively involved. They reacted sharply to the Partition of Bengal in 1905. A number of Bandhs(strike) were observed. Students were expelled for chanting ‘Bande Mataram’. A national school was opened in Kalna in 1908. The Khilafat Movement also spread among the Muslims of the region. A hartal(strike) was observed throughout the district on 18th March 1923. National leader like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose paid a visit to Barddhaman in December 1931 and addressed a meeting. The conditions were such that Bengal Public Security Act 1932 was promulgated in the Asansol Sub-division. Kazi Nazrul Islam, the noted Bengali poet, was born in Churulia in Raniganj. Political agitation continued in various forms till the eve of Independence.

SOUTH 24 PARGANAS, West Bengal

Main Attractions:

Kapil Muni’s Ashrama

Holy Dip at Ganga Sagar

The Royal Bengal Tiger

Where man and nature have formed from time immemorial a dialectical balance of unity. Jungles - the Sundarbans - skirt the waves of the sea _ _the Bay of Bengal. A unique habitat of animals this district also provides one of the best sites where nature’s botanical excellence could flourish. Archaeologists found Diamond Harbour, Baruipur, Mathurapur, Kultali etc. as areas where relics of ancient culture are available in plenty. Kakdwip immortalized by Tebhaga peasant uprisings overlooks Sagar where the Ganga Sagar Mela takes place every year. Housing Kapil Muni’s Ashram it is one of the first ten pilgrimage sites of Hinduism. Shady trees, lush green paddy fields, ancient monuments, varieties of temples, masjids and churches and a population-mix of the most wide range this district is struggling to life from the sublimity of its culture of the vivacity of modernism, from a secular integration of national purposes to the best specimen of unity in diversity that West Bengal and at large India cerie.

Brief History

The district of South Twenty Four Parganas derives its name from the number of parganas comprised in the Zamindari (Land Lordship) of Calcutta(modern Kolkata), which was ceded to East India Company in 1757 by the then Nawab (King) of Bengal Mir Jafar. On the 20th December 1757, Nawab Mir Jafar, made an agreement with the East India Company regarding the Zamindari or landholder’s right over a tract of country known as the Zamindari of Calcutta or as the Twenty Four Parganas Zamindari from the number of parganas including in it. The names of such parganas were : 

(1) Akbarpur 

(2) Amirpur 

(3) Azimabad 

(4) Balia 

(5) Baridhati 

(6) Basandhair 

(7) Calcutta 

(8) Dokhin Sagar 

(9) Garh 

(10) Hathiagarh 

(11) Ikhtiarpur 

(12) Kharijuri 

(13) Khaspur 

(14) Maidanmal (or Mednimall) 

(15) Magura 

(16) Manpur 

(17) Mayda 

(18) Munragacha 

(19) Paikan 

(20) Pechakuli 

(21) Satal

(22) Shahnagar 

(23) Shahpur, and 

(24) Uttar Pargana. 

The tract lay chiefly to the south of Calcutta and comprised an area of 882 square miles. On 1st March 1986, Twenty Four Parganas district has been bifurcated into two districts and North Twenty Four Parganas and South Twenty Four Parganas districts have been commissioned.

References to this portion of the Gangetic delta have been found in the great epic of Mahabharata and some of the Puranas (Hindu holy book) which shows the importance of the landmass even at the dawn of the history. At the time of Raghuvansa, the Pillars of Victory on the isles in the midst of the Ganges was established by Raghu, in all probability, these islands represented the present area of the Twenty Four Parganas. A part of the country of people variously called Gangaridae, Gangaridai, Gangarides etc. were the main habitant in this landmass but till date very little is known about these people. References to this country is also found in the writings of Greek navigators, geographers, chroniclers and historians writing between the first century B.C. and the third century A.D. Accounts taken together of Diodorus Siculus, the B.C. first century historian, Pliny, the first century A.D. historian, Ptolemy, the famous second century geographer and Q. Curtius Rufus, the first century A.D. writer, it seems that the whole of deltaic Bengal lies between the Bhagirathi-Hugli rivers in the west, the Padma-Meghnarivers in the east and the Ganga-Padma rivers in the north and was the land of the Gangaridai people and the present day district of South Twenty Four Parganas occupies the southern part of this tract. 

Ptolemy’s map of the second century A.D. shows the south of the delta as cut up by rivers and estuaries to such an extent that it was practically a collection of islands. In the seventh century, A.D., the district may have formed part of the land referred as ‘Samatata’ as described by the Chinese pilgrim Heuen Tsiang (Yuan Chwang). It was a low-lying country bordering of the sea and rich with crops, flowers and fruits. Its climate was soft and its inhabitants were of small stature,hardyand with black complexion. He also mentioned that Buddhism was represented by a large number of Monasteries (Bihar) and Priests but the numbers of Hindu Temples were far greater. Samatata is also mentioned as a tributary frontier kingdom of the Gupta Empire in an inscription of the great Gupta King Samudragupta. 

In the opinion of General Alexander Cunningham, often referred as the father of the Archaeological Survey of Indiaduring the nineteenth century, the whole of the delta was between the Bhagirathiriver and the main stream of the Ganges river with its Capital as Jessore in present day Bangladeshwhich was included in the Samatata. But the distances given by Heuen Tsiang seems to indicate that the site of this city must be identified either with Decca (present day Dhaka in Bangladesh) or with some places in the Bikrampur Pargana in the same district. However, there is also a possibility that Samatata appears to be merely another name applied to Vanga on account of its flat and low coast line. A few details of the district may also be granted from a Bengali poem of Bipradasa, dated 1495 and from ‘Ain-i-Akbari’, the sixteenth century book of on the account of the administration and socio-political events during the rule of Mughal Emperor Akbar. 

The poem of Bipradasa, which describes the voyage of a merchant named Chand Saudagar from Barddhaman district to the sea, mentions several river-side villages i.e. Bhatpara, Baruipur, Ariadaha and Ghusuri. From ‘Ain-i-Akbari’, we find that the district formed part of the Sarkar or revenue division of Satgaon, which extended from near Sagar Island on the south of a little above Plassey on the north and from the Kabadakriver of the east to beyond the Hugli river on the west. Modern day Kolkata (Kalikata) is mentioned with two other mahals (area) and several of the present Parganas are found in the list of mahals. It is found that the actual ruler of the Sundarbans have been a Hindu Chieftainnamed Pratapaditya, who ruled from 1561 to 1611 A.D., who really enjoyed independence in the south and south-east of the Gangetic delta. 

There weretwelve or more kingdomswhichpaid no tribute or displayed royal splendour. They did not call themselves kings but Bhuiyas (Chiefs). Pratapaditya was one of the famous Baro-Bhuiyans (literally meaning Twelve Chieftains) of Bengal and established an independent Hindu rule in Bengal. Pratapaditya fought against the Mughal imperial army during its inroad into Bengal in the early 17th century. His father Shrihari (Shridhar), a Kayastha (a Hindu caste), was an influential officer in the service of Muslim ruler Daud Khan Karrani, the last independent Sultan (Emperor) of Bengal. On the fall of Daud, he fled away and set up a kingdom for himself in the marshy land to the extreme south of Khulna district (presently at Bangladesh) and took the title of Maharaja. 

Pratapaditya succeeded to the kingship in 1574. The travel diary of Abdul Latif and the contemporary European writers, all testify to the personal ability of Pratapaditya, his political pre-eminence, material resources and martial strength, particularly in war-boats. His territories covered the greater part of what is now included in the greater Jessore, Khulna, Barisal of present day Bangladesh and large portions of present day South Twenty Four Parganas districts. He established his capital at Dhumghat, a strategic position at the confluence of the Jamuna and Ichhamati rivers. He built Jashoreshwari Kali Temple, two big and four small domed Hammankhana which have a great archeological value.

It is known from the history of the district that during the Muslim rule in Bengal, the area covered by the district at present was included in Satgram Kingdom in Bengal. The civic, criminal and revenue jurisdiction of the district underwent some changes during the period from 1757 to 1800 A.D. In order to overcome administrative inconvenience, the district was divided into parts in 1814 and 1834 A.D. respectively. The jurisdiction of the Sub-divisions was changed as and when required. But afterwards, for administrative exigency the district remained intact for a pretty long time.

During the Wahabi Movement in Bengal under the leadership of Titu Mir (Titu Miyan), a resident of undivided Twenty Four Parganas, against the British Government, the district got highlighted. Another most notable event in the history of the district was the mutiny which broke out among the Sepoys (soldiers) stationed at Barrackpur during the Burmese War (1824). The Sepoys had not enlisted to serve beyond the seas but only in counties to which they could march. Later, again in 1857,the Mutiny broke out in Barrackpur town of the Twenty Four Parganas district. At that time Barrackpur was the Head Quarters of the Presidency Division of the Army, under the command of General John Hearsey. The Sepoys refused in a great extent to use the cartridge greased with fat of cows or swine which the Sepoys had to bite before loading. The mutiny had a great impact not only in the army but also in the civic body. This area achieved its aristocracy through all these events.

In 19th Century, some police stations of Nadia and Jessore districts were amalgamated with the district. In 1861, the district was formed with 8 Sub-divisions viz. (1) Alipur (2) Diamond Harbour (3) Barasat (4) Barrackpore (5) Dum Dum (6) Baruipur (7) Basirhat, and (8) Satkhira. The physical features of the district Twenty Four Parganas are those common to deltaic land within the limits of the Gangetic delta and it is little raised above flood level. Lastly, on 1st March 1986, Twenty Four Parganas district has been bifurcated into two districts and North Twenty Four Parganas and South Twenty Four Parganas districts have been commissioned.

NORTH 24 PARGANAS, West Bengal

Main Attraction: ANCESTRAL HOUSE OF RISHI BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTOPADHAYA

On March l, 1986, as a result of bifurcation of erstwhile 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas emerged as a separate district having the name of all the 5 Sub-Divisions - curious enough - starting with the letter “B”. A survey of this district is even more curious.

Bankim Chandra Gabesana Kendra is located in the ancestral house of the ‘Emperor of Bengali Literature’ at Kantalpara, Naihati. It has (i) a museum containing documents and keepsakes on him (ii) a library containing his family collection of books and journals (Rishi Bankim Chandra Granthagar-OSangrahashala). The house is the birth-place not only of Bankim Chandra but also of some of his masterpieces, his epoch-making Bengali Periodical ‘Bangadarshan’ and his famous song ‘Bande Mataram’ which afterwards became an incantation with the revolutionaries in the Country’s struggle for independence against British Raj and is regarded as the Second National Anthem (Stotra) of Free India.

Here in this district are several other house of the 19th & 20th Century grates in different walks of life - that of - Surendra Nath, Keshab Chandra, Dinabandhu Mitra, Titumir, Haraprasad Shastri, Rakhaldas Bandapadhaya, Satyendra Nath Dutta, Bibhutibhusan Bandapadhaya and so on. The district has to its credit the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar, the ‘Shahi Masjid’ at Basirhat, Ramprasha's seat of worship at Halisahar and the Dargah of Pir Gora Chand at Haroa. The district can glory in its having the site of the ‘Dhibi’ of Khana-Mihir and Chandraketugarh at Berachampa which widen the scope of our civilization far back to remote past. Clive House at Dum Dum, Hestings House at Barasat, Sepay Mongal Pandey’s memorial column and Gandhi Ghat at Barrackpore also are places of historical interest.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Dum Dum, Yuba Bharati Krirangan at Salt Lake, works of Man’s highest technology, stand well within the territory of this district and the Sundarbans, the world’s largest Delta, falls partially within this district and is a triumph of Nature in both its beauty and fierceness.

Brief History:

Before going into the discussion about the district of North Twenty Four Parganas, it may be mentioned that there were no existence of a district named North Twenty Four Parganas that we hear now. The district was named Twenty Four Parganas only. It was only in the year 1986 this district was carved out from the erstwhile Twenty Four Parganas district.

Existence of the land form is evidence from the 2nd century A.D. writing of Ptolemy’s Treatise where it is said that the ancient land of Gangaridi was stretched between the rivers Bhagirathi-Hoogly (lower Ganges) and Padma-Meghna. What we know today as Twenty Four Parganas (undivided) was the south and the south-eastern part of the Gangaridi kingdom. Through archaeological excavation at Berachampa village under Deganga P.S., it was known that the area was directly not attached to the Gupta rules but could not avoid their cultural influence. Even when Xuanzang (c. 629-685) visited India, he found 30 Buddhist Bihar (monastery) and 100 Hindu temples throughout India of which some of those were in this region. The district was also not a part of Emperor Shashanka’s unified Bengali Empire i.e. Gauda, but it is assumed that the district which was the south-west frontier territory of ancient Bengal, was comprised in under the rule of Dharmapala (estimated c. 770-810).

During the middle half of the 16th century A.D., the region was invaded by the Portuguese pirates who used to invade and plunder many of the waterways and loot the prosperous human settlements. People left these places out of fear of being murdered, robbed, raped or captured to be sold as slaves. In the early years of the 17th century, Maharaja (King) Pratapaditya fought and resisted the Portuguese. Maharaja Pratapaditya was a Bhuian (feudal lord of Bengal who declared their sovereignty from the Mughal Empire along with another 11 Bhuians together referred as the Baro Bhuians means twelve chieftains) of Jessor, Khulna, Barisal and Greater Twenty Four Parganas. Maharaja Pratapaditya was defeated and captured in the battles of Salka and Magrahat by the Mughals. He died in prison on the way to Delhi probably in Benaras.

In the mean time, slowly but steadily the British East India Company was strengthening their position in Bengal. The small rulers of Bengal got their biggest blow when the last independent Nawab (King) of Bengal Siraj-ud-Dullah faced defeat in the battle of Plassey (1757). After the battle, the Company assigned it to Lord Clive as a personal Jaghir (zamindari) and after his death it again came under the direct authority of the Company. Thus the British rule under the mask of a trader started. In 1793, during the rule of Lord Cornwallis, entire Sunderbans were under Twenty Four Parganas. In 1802, some more parganas were attached with the district from Nadia. For administrative purpose, a separate collectorate was established in 1814. Later, Falta and Baranagar was included in the district in 1817, some potions of Nadia’s Balanda and Anwarpur in 1820 and in 1824, portion of Barasat, Khulna and Bakhargunge (now in Bangladesh) were also included to it. In 1824, the district headquarters was shifted from Kolkata to Baruipur, but in 1828, it was removed to Alipore. In 1834, the district was split into two districts – Alipore and Barasat, but later these were united again.

In the year 1824, the district got focus when the sepoys (soldiers) deployed at Barrackpur declared that they will not take part in the Burma war as crossing the sea was forbidden as per Hindu belief. The European troop opened fire on the mutineers after all negotiations failed on 2nd November. Many of them were killed, some fled and leading mutineers were hanged and the regiment (47th Bengal Infantry Battalion) was struck out of the Army list.

In the year 1857, the second mutiny by the sepoys broke out at the then headquarters of the Presidency Division of Bengal, Barrackpore. This mutiny is often referred as the First War of Independence. The mutiny is known to have been triggered by the introduction of the Enfield rifle in place of Musket among the native regiments. The cartridges of the new weapon, being manufactured at the arsenal of the Fort William, contained greased paper. The sepoys suspected, and later found true, that the grease was made of the fat of cow or pig, or both, which were highly tabooed among the Indians. In fact the greased paper was required to be torn off by teeth before loading. The rebellion was ignited with Mangal Pandey, a Sepoy of the 34th Regiment, stationed at Barrackpore on 20th March, 1857.

After the mutiny, the Queen of England took charge of India from the East India Company and India came under the direct rule of the British Emperor.

A special mention about the Neel Revolt or the Indigo Cultivators’ Revolt is a must while depicting the history of the district. The cultivation of indigo, an exotic species producing blue colour, was introduced in Bengal in 1777 by a Frenchman named Louis Bounard in two small farms near the French settlement of Chandannagar. In 1788 the Director of the East India Company urged for large scale cultivation under Company's domains with cheap native labour, to reduce the impact of high priced indigo into Great Britain from countries not under English control and to increase the export earning of the company. Consequent upon a big escalation of demand of indigo, used as dying agent in textile industry in Europe gave an impetus to some zamindars who started cultivation in lands hitherto kept fallow. Soon after the company’s servants began to take lease of lands from zamindars on pattani. The Company favoured them by enacting the Regulation VIII of 1891 which legalised the pattani and recognized the right of pattani taluqdars as landholders. Annoyed by such developments some of the leading zamindars of Bengal including Raja Rammohan Roy and Prince Dwarkanath Tagore lent the whole hearted support to the fighters for ‘free trade’ in England to end the Company’s monopoly over export business in India. There were two types of organization for indigo cultivation. Nij Chash meant cultivation under the direct supervision of Nil Kuthi with hired landless labourers whereas the raiyati chash was a system in which the planters used to give loans to the raiyats or tenants for cultivation of indigo. The Company gave powers to zamindars and pattanidars to hold any one in custody for breach of contract by exacting Regulation V of 1830.

In 1830-31 both the zamindars and British Planters jointly opposed the peasants who revolted against the cultivation system spread over Barasat, Basirhat and Bangaon Subdivisions. With the abolition of Company’s monopoly and influx of private European traders relation between the two groups became strained. For many reasons internal contradictions among the local landowning class thus increased.

Ultimately during 1859-61 the poor and exploited peasant rose in spontaneous revolt against indigo planters in the Blue Mutiny with at least some passive support from Bengali landlords. In retaliation any failure by a cultivator to act according to the wish of a planter had landed him in the inevitable dungeon of the nil kuthi (place where the indigo company’s representatives live) and subject to torture.

In Twenty Four Parganas (including areas later added) there were twelve plantations or factories spread over Barasat, Basirhat and Bangaon subdivisions. In fact the material bases of Dinabandhu Mitra’s famous play Nildarpan (Ducca, 1860) was the Bengal Indigo Company’s kuthi at Mollahati of Jessore district (presently in Bangladesh) and the main factory at Rudrapur village in the district.

The first notable resistance was led by a farmer of the village of Chaugachha of Nadia district, named Biswanath Sardar (nicknamed ‘Bishu-dakat’ by zamindars) whose area of operation included present day Barasat and Bangaon Sub-divisions of this district. A small taluqdar of indigo plantation named Sivnath Ghosh of the village Srirampur in Twenty Four Parganas, also put resistance against an oppressive planter Renny and was supported largely by the peasants.

“Such sporadic struggle and opposition wide spread mainly over the northern part of the district finally found support from the British Government in 1859. Ashley Eden, then Magistrate of Barasat (later Lt. Governor of Bengal) gave his judgment against forcible eviction of raiyats for having taken an advance for indigo cultivation without actually doing so. In the same year Herschell, the District Magistrate and Collector, observed that to plant or not to plant indigo could not be a contractual obligation of a raiyat and that contractual obligation of loan could only be the repayment of same with interest.

Consequent upon these two judgments, as reported by Herschell, hundreds of village headmen or morols (mondol) rose spontaneously to ask peasants not to cultivate indigo. These developments prompted the government to set up the Indigo Commission in March 1860 and its Report was published in August same year. This Report and further investigation convinced the Lt. Governor of Bengal John Peter Grant to declare that no contract to cultivate indigo should be forced on an unwilling peasant. Thereafter, the indigo cultivation under European Enterprises dwindled sharply in Bengal. In 1892 a chemist named Bayer invented the process of manufacturing synthetic blue which reduced the demand of organic indigo in European market, resulting the final withdrawal of indigo cultivation from India.” (re-printed from the District Census Handbook, North Twenty Four Parganas, 2001)

In the year 1905, some portion of the district around the Sundarbans was detached and linked with neighbouring Khulna and Barishal districts. These portions, till today, are under the main land of neighbouring country Bangladesh.

After India’s Independence, an administrative reform committee in the year 1983 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Ashok Mitra suggested to split the district into two. As per their recommendation, the district was bifurcated into two parts in the year 1986 i.e. North Twenty Four Parganas and South Twenty Four Parganas. It may be noted that the satellite township of Kolkata i.e. Bidhannagar or Salt Lake City is included in this district.