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Bhowanipore | |
|---|---|
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta) | |
  Bhowanipore Location in Kolkata | |
| Coordinates:22°32′02″N88°20′46″E / 22.534°N 88.346°E /22.534; 88.346 | |
| Country |  India |
| State | West Bengal |
| City | Kolkata |
| District | Kolkata |
| Metro Station | Rabindra Sadan,Netaji Bhavan andJatin Das Park |
| Municipal Corporation | Kolkata Municipal Corporation |
| KMC wards | 70,71,72,73 |
| Elevation | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | For population see linked KMC ward pages |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 700 020 |
| Area code | +91 33 |
| Lok Sabha constituency | Kolkata Dakshin |
| Vidhan Sabha constituency | Bhabanipur |
Bhowanipore (alsoBhowanipur;Bengali:ভবানীপুর) is a neighbourhood ofSouth Kolkata inKolkata district in theIndianstate ofWest Bengal.
In 1717, theEast India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement from theMughal emperorFarrukhsiyar. Of these, 5 lay across theHooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall ofSiraj-ud-daulah, the last independentNawab of Bengal, it purchased these villages in 1758 fromMir Jafar, and reorganised them. These villages were known en-bloc asDihi Panchannagram and Bhowanipore was one of them. It was considered to be a suburb beyond the limits of theMaratha Ditch.[1][2][3]
Bhowanipore existed as adihi in 1765 and also absorbed a part of Dihi Chakraberia. The construction of Harish Mukherjee Road and Lansdowne Road (now Sarat Bose Road) and the extension of Hazra Road to Kalighat, opened up the area at the beginning of the 20th century.[4] Artisans played a role in developing the neighbourhood and making it a populous native place. Thekansaris (braziers), theshankharis (conch workers) and thetelis (oil pressers); all had theirparas. The goods were sold inpattis. Along with these artisans, Indian lawyers flocked to Bhowanipore, as theSadr Diwani Adalat, the highest appellate court in those days, had shifted to the old Military Hospital Building here, and the District Judge's court was inAlipore.[4][5]
In 1888, one of the 25 newly organized police section houses was located in Bhowanipore.[4]
When theBengal Renaissance started taking roots in 19th century Calcutta, it was initially limited to the predominantly Hindu 'Indian town' stretching north and north-east from the fringes ofBurrabazar, with a somewhat later extension to south and south-east of the 'European town' to Bhowanipore, and some decades later toBallygunge, which was then developing as a suburb.[6]
In the first half of the 20th century, “in the milieu of relative urban prosperity... Calcutta’s rich citizens – those connected with jute, coal, tea, other industries, trade, money-lending and rentier income from urban property – did fabulously well for themselves.” Many of the mansions inBallygunge, Bhowanipore andAlipore were built by the city's Bengali and the new Marwari elite who wanted to move from the “dirtier sections of north Calcutta to the more fashionable areas in the south”.[7]
Again, it was in the first half of the 20th century that with the implementation of the Area Improvement Programme of Calcutta Improvement Trust Bhowanipore, an old residential suburb was upgraded to modern standards of town planning.[8]
It is located south of theLower Circular Road (nowA.J.C. Bose Road). It is bounded by Lansdown Road (presentlySarat Bose Road) to the east, Hazra Road to the south and Tolly Nullah to the west. It consists of well-known and posh localities like Elgin Road, Gokhale Road, Woodburn Park, Bakulbagan Road, Harish Mukherjee Road, Townshend Road and parts of Chakraberia and Lansdowne.
Bhowanipur police station is part of theSouth division ofKolkata Police.[9]
Tollygunge Women's police station has jurisdiction over all the police districts in the South Division, i.e. Park Street, Shakespeare Sarani, Alipore, Hastings, Maidan, Bhowanipore, Kalighat, Tollygunge, Charu Market, New Alipur and Chetla.[9]
Business opportunities brought many Gujaratis to Calcutta about a century back and they opted to stay in the Lansdowne-Chakraberia-Puddapukur belt of Bhowanipore. The railways, the jute mills and the shipping industry brought in many Punjabis to Calcutta. The Harish Mukherjee Road area of Bhowanipore and Dunlop (in north Kolkata) were the biggest pockets of Punjabi settlement. With declining economic opportunities many of both the communities are leaving Kolkata.[10][11] Writing about theBhabanipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency), from where the West Bengal chief minister,Mamata Banerjee, contests, Hindustan Times said, "The constituency has a sizable population of Sikhs and Gujaratis. However, it is dominated by middle-class Bengalis."[12]
For language and religion census data, available at the district level, seeKolkata district.
Bhowanipore was also known as the Cinema Para, or the locality of the city which boasted of a string of cinema halls. The stretch started with Purna near Jadu Babu's Bazaar and was followed up by Bharati, Indira, Bijoli,Basusree, Kalika, and Ujjwala, right up to the recesses of the Kalighat Temple. They were primarily famous for their screenings of Bengali, English and Hindi movies. However, due to the lack of patronage and drying up of the Bengali film box office in the mid-90s, and the first decade of the 2000s, most of these halls have been closed down. Basusree, Indira and Bijoli are still operational, though the condition is not that well of, Bharati, Kalika, and Ujjwala have been demolished to make way for multi-storied buildings that host malls, educational institutes, and marriage halls. Purna has been closed down for more than a decade now, and there is little hope that it will be opened again.
The area also has the 23 Palli Durga Mandir, a small Temple which houses an Ashta Dhaatu Murti of Durga, and near the well known Kalighat Kali Temple, and the Nakuleshwar Bhairav Temple, considered one of the holiest of the holies in Hindu religion.
A club namedBhawanipore FC, founded by Nani Mitra in 1910, stands at the entrance of the Maidan near the Rani Rashmani Statue and presently managed by theSangbad Pratidin group, represents Bhawanipore in both the domestic and regional tournaments.[13] The club is two time runners-up in theI-League 2nd Division in2014–15[14] and2019–20.[15]
Kolkata/South travel guide from Wikivoyage