Chowringhee: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Neighborhood of Kolkata, West Bengal, India}}
{{other uses}}
{{other uses}}
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{{Infobox settlement
{{Infobox settlement
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| nickname              =  
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| settlement_type        = Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta) <!-- e.g. Town, Village, City, etc.-->
| settlement_type        = [[Neighbourhoods in Kolkata Metropolitan Area|Neighborhood of Kolkata]] <!-- e.g. Town, Village, City, etc.-->
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| image_skyline          =Metropolitan Building, Esplanade Kolkata (Edited).jpg
| image_skyline          = Metropolitan Building, Esplanade Kolkata (Edited).jpg
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| image_caption          = Metropolitan Building near Chowringhee, Kolkata
| image_caption          = Metropolitan Building near Chowringhee  
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| subdivision_name5      = [[Esplanade metro station|Esplanade]], [[Park Street metro station (Kolkata)|Park Street]], [[Maidan metro station|Maidan]] and [[Rabindra Sadan metro station|Rabindra Sadan]]
| subdivision_name5      = [[Esplanade metro station|Esplanade]], [[Park Street metro station (Kolkata)|Park Street]], [[Maidan metro station|Maidan]] and [[Rabindra Sadan metro station|Rabindra Sadan]]
| subdivision_type6      = [[Kolkata Suburban Railway]]
| subdivision_type6      = [[Kolkata Suburban Railway]]
| subdivision_name6      = [[Eden Gardens railway station|Eden Gardens]], [[Sealdah Station|Sealdah]], [[Park Circus railway station|Park Circus]]
| subdivision_name6      = [[Sealdah Station|Sealdah]], [[Princep Ghat Railway Station|Princep Ghat]], [[Eden Gardens Railway Station|Eden Gardens]] and [[B.B.D. Bagh Railway Station|B.B.D. Bagh]]
<!-- Smaller parts (e.g. boroughs of a city) and seat of government -->
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| blank1_info_sec1      = [[Kolkata Uttar (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Uttar]] and [[Kolkata Dakshin (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Dakshin]]
| blank1_info_sec1      = [[Kolkata Uttar (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Uttar]] and [[Kolkata Dakshin (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Dakshin]]
| blank2_name_sec1      = [[Vidhan Sabha]] constituency
| blank2_name_sec1      = [[Vidhan Sabha]] constituency
| blank2_info_sec1      = [[Chowranghee (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Chowranghee]] and [[Bhabanipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Bhabanipur]]
| blank2_info_sec1      = [[Chowranghee (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Chowranghee]] and [[Bhabanipur, West Bengal Assembly constituency|Bhabanipur]]
| website                =  
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'''Chowringhee''' (also spelt Chourangi) is a neighbourhood of Central [[Kolkata]], in [[Kolkata district]] in the Indian [[States and territories of India|state]] of [[West Bengal]]. [[Chowringhee Road]] (officially Jawaharlal Nehru Road) runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/18/stories/2006021803341900.htm
'''Chowringhee''' (also '''Chourangi''') is a neighbourhood of Central [[Kolkata]], in [[Kolkata district]] in the Indian [[States and territories of India|state]] of [[West Bengal]]. [[Chowringhee Road]] (officially Jawaharlal Nehru Road) runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/18/stories/2006021803341900.htm
   | title = Tax lawyer is CPM candidate for Chowringhee seat  | access-date = 2008-01-16 | publisher = The Hindu Business Line, 18 February 2006}}</ref> as well as a shopper's destination and entertainment-hotel centre.
   | title = Tax lawyer is CPM candidate for Chowringhee seat  | access-date = 16 January 2008 | publisher = The Hindu Business Line, 18 February 2006}}</ref> as well as a shopper's destination and entertainment-hotel centre. The area lies exactly at the centre of the city.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
The name ‘Chowringhee’ has defied etymologists. There is, however, the legend of a [[Nath]] yogi, Chouranginath, who discovered an image of the goddess Kali's face and built the first [[Kalighat Kali Temple|Kalighat temple]].<ref name = "Nair">Nair, P. Thankappan in ''The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, edited by [[Sukanta Chaudhuri]], pp. 14-15, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-563696-3}}.</ref>
The name 'Chowringhee' has defied etymologists. There is, however, the legend of a [[Nath]] yogi, Chouranginath, who discovered an image of the goddess Kali's face and built the first [[Kalighat Kali Temple|Kalighat temple]].<ref name = "Nair">Nair, P. Thankappan in ''The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, edited by [[Sukanta Chaudhuri]], pp. 14–15, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-563696-3}}.</ref>


==History==
==History==
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===The village===
===The village===
[[Image:Kolkata Chowringhee.jpg|thumb|left|Chowringhee in 1798]]
[[Image:Kolkata Chowringhee.jpg|thumb|left|Chowringhee in 1798]]
In the seventeenth century or prior to it, the area now occupied by the [[Maidan (Kolkata)|Maidan]] and [[Esplanade, Calcutta|Esplanade]]  was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the [[Sabarna Roy Choudhury]] family from [[Barisha, India|Barisha]] to [[Halisahar]]. Beyond it there were “pools, swamps and rice-fields, dotted here and there with the straggling huts of fishermen, falconers, wood-cutters, weavers and cultivators. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.<ref name = "Cotton1">[[H. E. A. Cotton|Cotton, H.E.A.]], ''Calcutta Old and New'', 1909/1980, p. 19, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.</ref>
In the seventeenth century or prior to it, the area now occupied by the [[Maidan (Kolkata)|Maidan]] and [[Esplanade, Calcutta|Esplanade]]  was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the [[Sabarna Roy Choudhury]] family from [[Barisha, India|Barisha]] to [[Halisahar]]. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.<ref name = "Cotton1">[[H. E. A. Cotton|Cotton, H.E.A.]], ''Calcutta Old and New'', 1909–1980, p. 19, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.</ref>
 
In 1717, Chowringhee was a hamlet of isolated hovels, surrounded by water-logged paddy-fields and bamboo-groves separated from [[Gobindapur, Kolkata|Gobindapur]] by the jungle.<ref name= "Cotton1"/> Tradition has it that [[Warren Hastings]], hunted with elephants in the jungle.<ref name= "Cotton2">Cotton, H.E.A., pp. 230-236.</ref> Birjee occupied the south-eastern end of later day Maidan, [[Victoria Memorial (India)|Victoria Memorial]] and [[Rabindra Sadan]] area. Colimba took its name from the Bengali word for musk melon.<ref name = "Nair"/>


===Urbanisation===
===Urbanisation===
The strengthening of British power, subsequent to their victory in the [[Battle of Plassey]] was followed by the construction of the new [[Fort William, India|Fort William]], in 1758. The European inhabitants of [[Kalikata]] gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan.<ref>Cotton, H.E.A., p. 72.</ref> In the mid eighteenth century Englishmen began to build magnificent houses on the Chowringhee that earned Kolkata the title of ‘City of Palaces’.<ref name = "Nair2">Nair, P.Thankappan, ''Civic and Public Services'' in Old Calcutta, in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, p. 224</ref>
The strengthening of British power, subsequent to their victory in the [[Battle of Plassey]] was followed by the construction of the new [[Fort William, India|Fort William]], in 1758. The European inhabitants of [[Kalikata]] gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan.<ref>Cotton, H.E.A., p. 72.</ref>
 
The first road in Kolkata to be macadamised was Chitpur Road in 1839. In the evening of 6 July 1857 Chowringhee was lit up with gas lights provided by the Oriental Gas Company. Building of pavements started in 1858, first in Chowringhee and then elsewhere. The pavements were built to facilitate the erection of gas lamps. The traders objected as their customers were forced to park their carriages some distance from the shops.<ref name = "Nair2"/>


===The neighbourhood===
===The neighbourhood===
The ‘road to Chowringhee’ ran from [[Lower Circular Road]] (renamed Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road) in the south to [[Dharmatala]] in the north. According to old maps, Chowringhee is a locality, not a road. In Colonel Mark Wood's map of 1784 while the road is marked ‘Road to Chowringhee’, the name ‘Chowringhee’ is given to the locality immediately south of Park Street. However, in Upjohn's map of 1794, this district is marked Dhee Birjee and boundaries of Chowringhee appear as Circular Road on the east, Park Street on the south, Colinga on the north and a portion of ‘Road to Chowringhee’ on the west.<ref name= "Cotton2"/>
[[File:Chowringhee looking south.jpg|thumb|left|Chowringhee looking south, 1905]]
[[File:Chowringhee looking south.jpg|thumb|Chowringhee looking south]]
[[Camac Street]] (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]] to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]] and [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Wellesley]]. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed [[Mirza Ghalib Street]]), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.<ref name= "Cotton2">Cotton, H.E.A., pp. 230–236.</ref>
 
{{quote box|width=280px|quote=Fame and fortune have attended Chowringhee Road for nearly three centuries. One of Kolkata's principal arteries, throughout the length of its history it has carried an aura of prestige and importance. Fashionableness and colour have always been its handmaidens. To countless Indians, and for most people familiar with India, the singularly unique name Chowringhee immediately identifies with Kolkata.
 
It represents the nearest equation in India to what Piccadilly is to London, Fifth Avenue to New York and the Champs Elysees to Paris. Nostalgic Londoners like to regard their Circus as the centre of the universe. Kolkatans are more reserved in their acclaim, although the fervour they display for their city is perhaps unmatched.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.astrainfotech.org/kolkatainformation/calhert/chowringhee.htm| title =Now and Then| access-date =2008-01-16| work =Choweinghee| publisher =kolkatainformation| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080420184014/http://www.astrainfotech.org/kolkatainformation/calhert/chowringhee.htm| archive-date =20 April 2008| df =dmy-all}}</ref>|source='''David William Martin''' <br/>
in  ''The changing face of Kolkata''}}
 
Travelling along the ‘Road to Chowringhee’ from south to north, the first crossing was with Theatre Road (renamed [[Shakespeare Sarani]]). At that corner was the Theatre of Calcutta from 1813 to 1839. It was destroyed in a fire. The next turning is that of Harrington Street (renamed Ho Chi Minh Sarani) named after John Herbert Harrington, a judge of the Sadar Adalat. The next crossing Middleton Street was named after Dr. Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, the first Bishop of Kolkata (1814–1822). Right before Middleton Street merges with Chowringhee road, along [[Chowringhee Road]] on the right comes [[The 42 (Kolkata)|The 42]], the newest addition to this area. It is the tallest residential building in Kolkata and Eastern India.<ref name = "Subhro Saha">''Tallest in town - 250m tower in heart of the city'', by ''Subhro Saha'', ''The Telegraph, Kolkata''.</ref> Further down the road was Bengal Club (it is still there). The building was once the residence of [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Thomas Babington Macaulay]]. Behind Bengal Club ran Russel Street (renamed Anandi Lal Poddar Sarani), named after Sir Henry Russel, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1806 to 1813.<ref name= "Cotton2"/>
 
[[File:Tata Centre - 43 Chowringhee Road - Kolkata 2013-01-05 2424.JPG|thumb|left|250px|[[Tata Centre]] on [[Chowringhee Road]] - The main stretch of Chowringhee]]
At the next crossing with [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]] (renamed Mother Teresa Sarani), is the [[Asiatic Society]]. Park Street is not shown in any map earlier than 1760. In Upjohn's map of 1794 it is called ‘Burial-ground Road’, which means it led to the burial ground on Circular Road. The site of [[Elijah Impey|Sir Elijah Impey's]] residence on Middleton Row now houses [[Loreto Schools, Kolkata|Loreto House]] and [[Loreto College, Kolkata|Loreto College]]. [[St. Xavier's College, Calcutta|St. Xavier's College]], the great institution of [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] Fathers, was once [[Sans Souci Theatre (Calcutta)|Sans Souci Theatre]]. It was formally opened in 1841 and was sold in 1844 to Arch Bishop Carew.<ref name= "Cotton2"/>
 
[[Camac Street]] (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from Park Street to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]] and [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Wellesley]]. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed [[Mirza Ghalib Street]]), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.<ref name= "Cotton2"/>
 
The next crossing is that with Kyd Street, named after Lt. Col. Robert Kyd, Military Secretary to the Government of Bengal, who lived on that road. The road was earlier named Chowringhee Tank Street, after the tank that is still there opposite to the crossing with Park Street.<ref name = "Cotton3">Cotton, H.E.A., pp. 244-247</ref>
 
{{quote box|width=280px|quote=The first of the many English play houses, the [[Calcutta Theatre]], had been built as early as 1775 in what is now Lyons Range… A series of English theatres opened and closed over the next eighty years. Among them was the famous [[Chowringhee Theatre]] (1813-1839) which gave its name to Theatre Road (now Shakespeare Sarani), and the [[Sans Souci Theatre (Calcutta)|Sans Souci]] set up in 1839 and moved in 1841 to the present site of St. Xavier’s College on Park Street. These companies enjoyed a steady inflow of experienced even renowned actors and actresses, sometimes from the London stage:[[Emma Bristow (actress)|Emma Bristow]], [[Esther Leach]], James Vining, Mrs. Deacle, Miss Cowley. At first the audience was exclusively European – even the ushers and door keepers at the Calcutta Theatre were Englishmen – but Indians gained entry from the early nineteenth century and the English theatre became a haunt and sometimes a source of serious interest, of the emerging English-educated Bengalis. A minor landmark was set up when [[Dwarkanath Tagore|‘Prince’ Dwarkanath Thakur]] became one of the founders of Chowringhee Theatre; a more memorable one in August 1848 when a ‘Native Gentleman’, Baishnabcharan Adhya, played Othello at the Sans Souci. Yet the ''Calcutta Star’s'' notice of ‘a real unpainted nigger Othello’ suggests ambiguous and even offensive nature of such accommodation.<ref>Raha, Kironmoy, ''Calcutta Theatre 1835-1944'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, pp. 186-187</ref> |source='''Kironmay Raha'''}}
 
[[Sudder Street]], north of the [[Indian Museum]] once housed the Sudder Court. The area beyond it is Colinga (from Colimba) and tank in the Maidan was called Colinga Tank. Lindsay Street leading to the municipal market, was named after [[Robert Lindsay (Sylhet)|Robert Lindsay]], who had a colourful career with East India Company and once owned a house on the street. The Opera House, a wooden building, was once located on [[Lindsay Street]].<ref name = "Cotton3"/> [[Grand Hotel (Calcutta)|Grand Hotel]] is an important landmark on Chowringhee Road.


===New names===
===New names===
Indian independence saw a rush to rename streets. The process has slowed as few streets are left to be renamed. Chowringhee Road was renamed after [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after [[Mother Teresa]]. Theatre Road was renamed after [[William Shakespeare]]. There was no street named after the poet during the long years of British rule in India. Harrington Street was renamed after the leader of the [[Vietnam]] independence movement, [[Ho Chi Minh]]. Camac Street has been renamed after the great artist [[Abanindranath Tagore]]. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed  after the Urdu/ Persian poet [[Mirza Ghalib]]. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after [[Nellie Sengupta]].
[[File:Tata Centre - 43 Chowringhee Road - Kolkata 2013-01-05 2424.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Tata Centre]] on [[Chowringhee Road]] - The main stretch of Chowringhee]]
Indian independence saw a rush to rename streets. The process has slowed as few streets are left to be renamed. Chowringhee Road was renamed after [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after [[Mother Teresa]]; Theatre Road after [[William Shakespeare]]; and Harrington Street after the leader of the [[Vietnam]] independence movement, [[Ho Chi Minh]]. Camac Street has been renamed after the artist [[Abanindranath Tagore]]. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed  after the Urdu/Persian poet [[Mirza Ghalib]]. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after [[Nellie Sengupta]].


==Geography==
==Geography==
Chowringhee is located in Central Kolkata. It has [[Janbazar]] on the north, [[Taltala]] and certain areas under [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]] Police Station on the east, [[Bhawanipore]] on the south and the [[Maidan (Kolkata)|Maidan]] on the west. The neighbourhood is spread over areas under [[New Market, Kolkata|New Market]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.kolkatapolice.org/section.asp?PSID=13&Typ=PS | title = New Market Police Station| access-date = 2008-01-16 | publisher = Kolkata Police |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201341/http://www.kolkatapolice.org/section.asp?PSID=13&Typ=PS |archive-date = 27 September 2007}}</ref> Park Street<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.kolkatapolice.org/section.asp?PSID=14&Typ=PS| title =Park Street Police Station| access-date =2008-01-16| publisher =Kolkata Police| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070416004419/http://www.kolkatapolice.org/section.asp?PSID=14&Typ=PS| archive-date =16 April 2007| df =dmy-all}}</ref> and [[Shakespeare Sarani]] police stations.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.kolkatapolice.org/section.asp?PSID=15&Typ=PS| title =Shakespeare Sarani Police Station| access-date =2008-01-16| publisher =Kolkata Police| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070608205955/http://www.kolkatapolice.org/section.asp?PSID=15&Typ=PS| archive-date =8 June 2007| df =dmy-all}}</ref>
Park Street Flyover was inaugurated on 19 February 2005. The {{convert|1.3|km|adj=on}} long flyover above [[Chowringhee Road]] helps in reduce the traffic jam between [[Lindsay Street]] and Middleton Street.<ref>{{cite web|title=Park Street Flyover|url=https://www.projectstoday.com/News/Park-Street-Flyover-to-be-inaugurated-on-19-Feb}}</ref>
Park Street Flyover was inaugurated on 19 February 2005. The {{convert|1.3|km|adj=on}} long flyover above [[Chowringhee Road]] helps in reduce the traffic jam between [[Lindsay Street]] and Middleton Street.<ref>{{cite web|title=Park Street Flyover|url=https://www.projectstoday.com/News/Park-Street-Flyover-to-be-inaugurated-on-19-Feb}}</ref>


==Creative inspiration==
==Creative inspiration==
Life in the neighbourhood has inspired creative efforts.
In 1981, [[Aparna Sen]] wrote and directed a film, ''[[36 Chowringhee Lane]]'', about an aged [[Anglo-Indian]] school teacher who lives a lonely life in a single-room flat in the neighbourhood.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081968/  | title = 36 Chowringhee Lane  (1981) | access-date = 16 January 2008 | website = imdb.com}}</ref>
 
The Bengali novelist [[Mani Shankar Mukherjee|Sankar]] wrote a novel named ''[[Chowringhee (novel)|Chowringhee]]'' in 1962 (three years before [[Arthur Hailey]]'s ''[[Hotel (Hailey novel)|Hotel]]''). It became an instant hit. Set in Kolkata of the 1950s, it is the saga of the intimate lives of the staff and the guests at the Shahjahan, one of the largest city hotels located in the neighbourhood, which is the title of the novel. Some of its larger-than-life characters, as for example the enigmatic manager Marco Polo, the debonair receptionist Sata Bose, and the tragic hostess Karabi Guha, attained cult status. It has been translated into English by Arunava Sinha and is available as a [[Penguin Books|Penguin]] paper-back. It has also been translated into several Indian languages.<ref>{{cite web  | url =http://shopping.indiatimes.com/ism/faces/tiles/product.jsp?productID=1436445&catalogueID=20375432&toi_chowri_0805  | title =Details of Chwringhee  | access-date =2008-01-16  | publisher =Indiatimes Shopping  | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070604150402/http://shopping.indiatimes.com/ism/faces/tiles/product.jsp?productID=1436445&catalogueID=20375432&toi_chowri_0805  | archive-date =4 June 2007  | url-status =dead  }}</ref> Film director, Pinaki Bhusan Mikherjee made it into a successful [[Chowringhee (film)|film]] in 1968. It was also made into a play by [[BBC Four]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244460/ | title = Chwringhee (1968) | access-date = 2008-01-16 | website = imdb.com}}</ref>
 
In 1981, [[Aparna Sen]] wrote and directed a film, ''[[36 Chowringhee Lane]]'', about an aged [[Anglo-Indian]] school teacher who lives a lonely life in a single-room flat in the neighbourhood.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081968/  | title = 36 Chowringhee Lane  (1981) | access-date = 2008-01-16 | website = imdb.com}}</ref>


==Gallery==
==Gallery==

Latest revision as of 11:08, 30 April 2025


For other uses, see Chowringhee (disambiguation).
Chowringhee
Neighborhood of Kolkata
Metropolitan Building near Chowringhee
Metropolitan Building near Chowringhee
Location of Chowringhee in Kolkata
Location of Chowringhee in Kolkata
Coordinates: 23°48′N 88°15′E / 23.8°N 88.25°E / 23.8; 88.25
Country India
StateWest Bengal
CityKolkata
DistrictKolkata
KMC wards46, 63
Metro StationEsplanade, Park Street, Maidan and Rabindra Sadan
Kolkata Suburban RailwaySealdah, Princep Ghat, Eden Gardens and B.B.D. Bagh
Elevation
36 ft (11 m)
Population
 (2001)
 • Total159,917
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
700013, 700016, 700071, 700087
Area code+91 33
Lok Sabha constituencyKolkata Uttar and Kolkata Dakshin
Vidhan Sabha constituencyChowranghee and Bhabanipur

Chowringhee (also Chourangi) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Chowringhee Road (officially Jawaharlal Nehru Road) runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district,[1] as well as a shopper's destination and entertainment-hotel centre. The area lies exactly at the centre of the city.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The name 'Chowringhee' has defied etymologists. There is, however, the legend of a Nath yogi, Chouranginath, who discovered an image of the goddess Kali's face and built the first Kalighat temple.[2]

History[edit | edit source]

The village[edit | edit source]

Chowringhee in 1798

In the seventeenth century or prior to it, the area now occupied by the Maidan and Esplanade was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family from Barisha to Halisahar. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.[3]

Urbanisation[edit | edit source]

The strengthening of British power, subsequent to their victory in the Battle of Plassey was followed by the construction of the new Fort William, in 1758. The European inhabitants of Kalikata gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan.[4]

The neighbourhood[edit | edit source]

Chowringhee looking south, 1905

Camac Street (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from Park Street to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of Cornwallis and Wellesley. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed Mirza Ghalib Street), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.[5]

New names[edit | edit source]

Tata Centre on Chowringhee Road - The main stretch of Chowringhee

Indian independence saw a rush to rename streets. The process has slowed as few streets are left to be renamed. Chowringhee Road was renamed after Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after Mother Teresa; Theatre Road after William Shakespeare; and Harrington Street after the leader of the Vietnam independence movement, Ho Chi Minh. Camac Street has been renamed after the artist Abanindranath Tagore. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed after the Urdu/Persian poet Mirza Ghalib. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after Nellie Sengupta.

Geography[edit | edit source]

Park Street Flyover was inaugurated on 19 February 2005. The 1.3-kilometre (0.81 mi) long flyover above Chowringhee Road helps in reduce the traffic jam between Lindsay Street and Middleton Street.[6]

Creative inspiration[edit | edit source]

In 1981, Aparna Sen wrote and directed a film, 36 Chowringhee Lane, about an aged Anglo-Indian school teacher who lives a lonely life in a single-room flat in the neighbourhood.[7]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "Tax lawyer is CPM candidate for Chowringhee seat". The Hindu Business Line, 18 February 2006. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
  2. ↑ Nair, P. Thankappan in The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, pp. 14–15, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-563696-3.
  3. ↑ Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909–1980, p. 19, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  4. ↑ Cotton, H.E.A., p. 72.
  5. ↑ Cotton, H.E.A., pp. 230–236.
  6. ↑ "Park Street Flyover".
  7. ↑ "36 Chowringhee Lane (1981)". imdb.com. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
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