21°39′10″N88°04′31″E / 21.6528°N 88.0753°E /21.6528; 88.0753

Sagar Island

Geography
Location	Bay of Bengal
Archipelago	Sundarbans
Administration
India
State	West Bengal
District	South 24 Parganas
Demographics
Population	212037

Sagar Island is an island in theGanges delta, lying on thecontinental shelf ofBay of Bengal about 100 km (54nautical miles) south ofKolkata. This island forms theSagar CD Block inKakdwip subdivision ofSouth 24 Parganas district in theIndianState ofWest Bengal. Although Sagar Island is a part ofSundarbans, it does not have any tiger habitation or mangrove forests or small river tributaries as is characteristic of the overall Sundarban delta. This island is a place of Hindu pilgrimage. Every year on the day ofMakar Sankranti (14 January), hundreds of thousands of Hindus gather to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers (puja) in the Kapil Muni Temple.Kolkata Port Trust has apilot station and a light house.^[1][2]

Sagar Island is located at21°39′10″N88°04′31″E / 21.6528°N 88.0753°E /21.6528; 88.0753. It has an average elevation of 4 metres (13 ft).

A holy man, Kardam Muni, made a pact withVishnu that he would undergo the rigours of marital life, on the condition that Vishnu would incarnate as his son. In due timeKapil Muni was born as an incarnation of Vishnu and became a great saint. Kapil Muni'sashram was located on the island. One dayKing Sagar'ssacrificial horse disappeared; it had been stolen by Indra.

The king sent his 60,000 sons to find it, and they found it next to Kapil Muni's ashram, where Indra had hidden it. Mistaking Kapil Muni for the thief, the sons accused Kapil Muni, who in his wrath at the false accusation burned the sons to ash and sent their souls toHell. Later having compassion for the King Sagar's sons, Kapil Muni acceded to the prayers of King Sagar's descendants, agreeing to the restoration of the sons, ifParvati in the form of the river goddess Ganga would descend to Earth to perform the Last Ritual (Hindus also called as"Tarpan") of mixing the ashes with holy water (niravapanjali).

Throughdeep meditation, King Bhagiratha induced Shiva to order Ganga down from heaven and the 60,000 sons were freed (moksha) and ascended to Heaven, but the river Ganges stayed on the Earth.^[1][5] The date of the descent of Ganga was the date, as is at present the 15th Day of January of theGregorian Calendar which coincides with that ofMakar Sankranti (when Surya enters Makar Constellation, i.e. "Uttarayan" ofHinduPanchangam).

Based on this mythology the then Zamindar, the Gayen family of Ganga Sagar Island or also called as Sagar Island (Sagar Deep in Bangla) who moved in from north of South 24 Parganas donated huge lands to establish the Kapil Muni Ashram twice. But later they i.e. the Gayen family's majority members embraced Islam but remained close to Kapil Muni and Jagadhatri Puja as they were then the Zamindars during the British Rule.

As per2011 Census of India, Sagar Island had a total population of 212,037, of which 109,468 (52%) were males and 102,569 (48%) were females. Population younger than six years was 26,212. The total number of literates was 156,476 (84.21% of the population over 6 years).^[6]

The Gangasagar fair and pilgrimage is held annually on Sagar Island's southern tip, where the Ganges enters the Bay of Bengal.^[7] This confluence is also called Gangasagar or Gangasagara.^[8] Near the confluence is the Kapil Muni Temple.^[8] The Gangasagar pilgrimage and fair is the second largest congregation of mankind after the triennial ritual bathing ofKumbha Mela.^[9]

In 2007, about 300,000 pilgrims took the holy dip where theHooghly meets theBay of Bengal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. Almost five-hundred thousand pilgrims thronged Sagar Island in 2008.^[10] For the rest of the year about 500,000 people come to the island.^[11] According to reports on 14 January 2018, 18-2 million people had visited Ganga Sagar in 2018, against 1.5 million in 2017.^[12]

From Kolkata, Diamond Harbour Road (NH-12) runs south around 90 km (55 mi) to Harwood Point, nearKakdwip, where a ferry runs toKachuberia at the north end of the island.^[13] ThePanchyat Samity maintains a parking area near the ferry landing. The ferry travels about3+1⁄2 km (2+1⁄4 mi) across adistributary of the Ganges river (also known as Hooghly River or Muriganga river locally) to reach Kachuberia. Small boats also cross from Harwood Point to Kachuberia. Private cars and buses travel the roughly 32 km (20 mi) to the pilgrimage site at Sagardwip.^[8] From the pilgrimage parking area the Kapil Muni Temple is about 200 metres (660 ft) and the Gangasagar confluence is about 700 metres (2,300 ft).

TheGovernment of India andGovernment of West Bengal are planning to connect Sagar Island withKakdwip with a 3.3 km (2.1 mi)road-rail bridge and to buildSagar Port on Sagar Island.^[14][15]

•   Media related toSagar Island at Wikimedia Commons

•  Sagar Island travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Sagar" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1002.