Chowringhee | |
---|---|
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta) | |
Coordinates: 23°48′N88°15′E / 23.8°N 88.25°E | |
Country | India |
State | West Bengal |
City | Kolkata |
District | Kolkata |
KMC wards | 46, 63 |
Metro Station | Esplanade, Park Street, Maidan and Rabindra Sadan |
Kolkata Suburban Railway | Eden Gardens, Sealdah, Park Circus |
Elevation | 36 ft (11 m) |
Population (2001) | |
• Total | 159,917 |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 700013, 700016, 700071, 700087 |
Area code | +91 33 |
Lok Sabha constituency | Kolkata Uttar and Kolkata Dakshin |
Vidhan Sabha constituency | Chowranghee 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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
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]
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]
Kolkata/Esplanade travel guide from Wikivoyage
Maidan is a large urban area containing vast urban green space, parks, playgrounds and several public venues in the center of Kolkata, India. The area is spread over a total area of 1283 Acres. The urban green space of Maidan, which compromises an area of around 400 acres, is the largest urban park and urban green space in Kolkata city and second largest in the Kolkata metropolitan area as well as in India. Prior to 2013, before the creation of Eco Park it was the largest urban park in India. Its vast stretch of field that includes numerous sporting grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadiums and the Kolkata Race Course.
Esplanade is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, located at the heart of city with being the city's Central business district. This is a conventional esplanade because the Ganga river (Ganges), also known as Hooghly river, flows nearby and it is adjacent to the large fields of Maidan extending up to Fort William.
Chowringhee Road, located in the Chowringhee neighbourhood of Kolkata, is the arterial road running from the eastern fringes of Esplanade southwards up to the crossing with Lower Circular Road, in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the single most important road of the metropolis of Kolkata. It was officially renamed as Jawaharlal Nehru Road after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, but the original name Chowringhee Road is used commonly.
Park Street, is a famous thoroughfare in downtown Kolkata, India. In Bengali, it is often referred as Shaheb -er Para or the “neighbourhood of Englishmen”.The street runs through what was a deer park of Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Calcutta from 1773 to 1789, hence the earlier name. It's located in central part of Calcutta.
Chitpur is a neighbourhood in North Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sometimes, the entire area along Chitpur Road is referred to as Chitpur, although the various localities have distinctive names.
Park Circus is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India.
Janbazar is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The two century-old house of Rani Rashmoni, the central attraction in Janbazar, is still used by descendants in the family.
Shyambazar is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Bagbazar, the citadel of the Bengali aristocracy, in a part of what was earlier known as Sutanuti. and the popularity of Shyambazer five point crossing is for the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Dharmatala is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Dharmatala Street has been renamed after Lenin as Lenin Sarani but the neighbourhood up to Wellington Square continues to be referred as Dharmatala. It is a busy commercial area that had come up with the growth of Calcutta during the British Raj and is thus one of the repositories of history in the city.
Jorabagan is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. As a neighbourhood, it covers a small area but its importance is primarily because of the police station.
Taltala is a neighbourhood in Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the oldest neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police station on its own name.
Mahatma Gandhi Road or M.G. Road, formerly known as Harrison Road, is a principal East-West thoroughfare in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. M.G. Road makes the boundary of North and Central Kolkata. In 1889 this was the first street of the city to be lit by electricity.
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road and its continuation northwards called Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, are together the longest and the most important north-south thoroughfare in Kolkata, India.
Maidan is an underground metro station on the North-South corridor of the Blue Line of Kolkata Metro in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The station is located on Jawaharlal Nehru Road at Middleton Street. It is named after the Maidan, the largest urban park in Kolkata, which lies on the west side of Jawaharlal Nehru Road.
Park Street is an underground interchange metro station on the North-South corridor of the Blue Line and on the Purple Line of Kolkata Metro in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The station is located on the crossing of Jawaharlal Nehru Road and Park Street after which the station was named). It is one of the deepest underground metro stations of Kolkata Metro. It is the only underground station to have side platforms, which are mostly seen in elevated metro stations.
Abanindranath Thakur Sarani is a one-way road in Kolkata, India. Running in the Kolkata CBD, it connects Allen Park at Park Street to Nizam Palace at Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road. The road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Wellesley. According to Think India Think Retail 2023, Camac Street along with Park Street stands as the 5th toppest high street in India due to presence of many commercial establishments and high-end shopping destinations, with shopping malls, boutiques, restaurants and stand-alone stores.
Shakespeare Sarani is a street running in the central business district of Kolkata, India, from Park Circus to Chowringhee Road. It was renamed on 24 April 1964 after William Shakespeare, to mark the fourth birth centenary of the legendary playwright. It is considered to be a high street of Kolkata with many commercial establishments, offices, shops and restaurants situated by the road. It intersects with other important roads in the CBD like Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road, Camac Street, Loudon Street and Rawdon Street. Few other roads like, Little Russel Street, Wood Street, Picasso Bithi & Lord Sinha Road criss-crosses or merge into Shakespeare Sarani from North or South. West of Birla Planetarium crossing, Shakespeare Sarani becomes Queen's Way.
Ward No. 46, Kolkata Municipal Corporation is an administrative division of Kolkata Municipal Corporation in Borough No. 6, covering parts of Chowringhee, Esplanade East, Dharmatala, Janbazar, Lalbazar, Bowbazar and Maidan neighbourhoods in central Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Ward No. 63, Kolkata Municipal Corporation is an administrative division of Kolkata Municipal Corporation in Borough No. 7, covering parts of Chowringhee, Taltala, Park Street, Shakespeare Sarani, Maidan, The 42 and Hastings neighbourhoods in central Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal.