Dakshineswar

For the Kali temple, see Dakshineswar Kali Temple.

Dakshineswar
Neighbourhood
From top, left to right: Dakshineswar Kali Temple; View of Bally Bridge from Dakshineswar; Dakshineswar Skywalk; Dakshineswar Bus Stand; Dakshineswar Metro Station
Dakshineswar Location in West Bengal, India Show map of Kolkata Dakshineswar Dakshineswar (West Bengal) Show map of West Bengal Dakshineswar Dakshineswar (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 22°39′20″N88°21′28″E / 22.6554310°N 88.3578620°E / 22.6554310; 88.3578620
Country	India
State	West Bengal
Division	Presidency
District	North 24 Parganas
Government
• Type	Municipality
• Body	Kamarhati Municipality
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	700035, 700076
Telephone code	+91 33
Vehicle registration	WB
Lok Sabha constituency	Dum Dum
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Kamarhati
Indian Railways station	Dakshineswar
Kolkata Metro station	Dakshineswar

Dakshineswar is a neighbourhood in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). ^[1]

Etymology

Dakshineswar gets its name from the Sanskrit name the Dakṣiṇeśvara of Shiva. The temple of Shiva is located around 1.5 km north of the famous Kali temple, at the southern part of Ariadaha. ^[2] The temple is very important to the Shiva devotees and the Lingam is believed to be Svayambhu.

The mythological asura king, Banasura attributed to build the temple. There is also a tank named after the king, Ban Rajar Dighi. The locality was previously known as Deulpõtā, suggesting the ancient temple could have been destroyed and submerged, later discovered and brought to the riverside from the ancient lake and built the present temple by Dewan Haranath Ghosal, a local rich man in 19th century. ^[3]

Geography

Location

Dakshineswar is located at 22°39′18″N88°21′29″E / 22.655°N 88.358°E / 22.655; 88.358 . Surrounded by Alambazar, Baranagar (separated by Belghoria Expressway) in South, Ariadaha in North, Dunlop in East and Ganges River (locally called Hooghly River) in West. Hooghly River is considered sacred to Hindus and its water is considered holy.

Belghoria Expressway, Dakshineshwar

Police station

Dakshineswar police station

Dakshineswar ^[4] has its own police station from 2022, ^[5] before that the locality covered by Belgharia police station under Barrackpore Police Commissionerate has jurisdiction over Kamarhati Municipal area. ^{[6] [7]}

Also, Dakshineswar Kali Temple has a Police outpost in its boundary that serves the Kalibari estate.

Pilgrimage centre

Dakshineswar Temple complex

Dakshineswar is the most important international pilgrimage centre in the district. Dakshineswar Kali Temple was built in 1855 by Rani Rashmoni. The temple is famous for its association with Shri Ramkrishna Paramahamsha Dev, a mystic of 19th Century Bengal. Large number of people gather at Dakshineswar throughout the year especially on the day of Shyama Puja, Shiva Chaturdashi, Bengali New Year's Day (naba barsha), Akshaya Tritiya and on 1 January every year on the occasion of Kalpataru Utsava (the day Shree Ramkrishna attained siddhi) ^{[8] [9] [10]}

As per the District Statistical Handbook, "Panchabati Ban is the place where Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansha Dev planted five (pancha) trees i.e. Asvattha, Bata, Bel, Asok and Amlaki, under which he used to meditate. The Panchamundi Asan is called so because there are five human skulls buried underneath and Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansha Dev used to sit and meditate on the asan (seat) and attained siddhi (enlightenment/attainment with the Holy Spirit i.e. the God; in his case Goddess Kali)." ^[10]

Adyapeath Ashram, located nearby at Dakshineswar, is the house of deities of Sri Adya Shakti. ^[10]

Military camp

Dakshineswar is also home to Indian Army, Indian Navy camps, Border Security Forces. There are various Military housing facilities for the armed forces with a primary school in the camp. The navy also uses the river for various water sports.

Economy

Industry

WIMCO, a Swedish match company, which established in the 1920s a factory at Dakshineswar, was taken over by ITC Limited in 2011. ^{[11] [12]}

Emami Paper Mills Ltd. manufactures newsprint from waste paper. It is one of the largest producers of newsprint in the country. It has two plants – one at Dakshineswar and the other at Balgopalpur, Balasore. ^[13]

Tourism

Dakshineswar is one of the most important religious shrines for Hindus and people from all over the world visit the Dakshineswar Kali Temple every day in numbers. Along with the Kali temple, there are other important Hindu temples like the Adyapeath temple, Ramakrishna Sarada Math and many more. Because of a large number of temples in the town and the Ganges River flowing by, it is also regarded as a twin town of Varanasi by the locals.

Transport

300m
330yds

Hooghly River

Adyapeath Annada
B Ed College

C

Adyapeath Annada
Polytechnic

C

Dakshineswar Bus Stop

F

Hiralal Mazumdar
Memorial College for Women

C

Dakshineswar RS

F

Dakshineswar PO

F

Adyapeath Ashram

T

WIMCO

F

Ma Bhabotarini Jetty

F

Panchvati

P

Kali Temple

T

  

Dakshineswar
T: temple, P: park, F: facility, C: college
Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly

Belghoria Expressway is a tolled expressway connecting the junction points of NH 19 and NH 16 at Rajchandrapur (near Dankuni) to Dakshineswar, across Nivedita Setu and then to NH 12 (Jessore Road), near Dumdum/Kolkata Airport. ^{[14] [15]} Dakshineswar is also connected by ordinary toll-free PWD Road to Dankuni across Vivekananda Setu (old Bally Bridge) and to Dunlop More on Barrackpore Trunk Road (part of both SH 1 and SH 2). Dakshineswar is also connected to Ariadaha via Ramkrishna Paramhansa Dev Road-Rabindranath Tagore Road-D.D. Mondal Ghat Road and to Baranagar via Surya Sen Road-Deshbandhu Road. Many buses ply along these roads. ^[16]

Dakshineswar railway station is 13 km from Sealdah railway station on the Calcutta Chord line linking Dum Dum Junction railway station with Dankuni Junction railway station. ^[17]

Dakshineswar railway station

Dakshineswar-Belur Math and Dakshineswar-Uttarpara ferry services are available across the Hooghly from Maa Bhabatarini Jetty. ^[16]

Skywalk

Dakshineswar Skywalk

The 350 m long and narrow Rani Rashmoni Road links Dakshineswar bus stand and railway station to the Kali temple. This road is used annually by 13 million devotees. On festival days 1 lakh people visit Dakshineswar. On 17 March 2015, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation stone of a 400 m long, 10.5 m wide elevated walkway over the congested road to be built at a cost of Rs. 63 crore. The road below would be widened and used only by vehicles. The skywalk will have 12 escalators, 4 elevators and 8 staircases. There is provision for 200 shops inside the skywalk. ^{[18] [19] [20] [21]} The Skywalk, named Dakshineswar Rani Rashmoni Skywalk, was inaugurated by Banerjee, on 5 November 2018. ^[22]

Metro

Dakshineswar Metro Station

The extension of Blue Line from Dum Dum to Dakshineswar was sanctioned in 2010–11. It was extended up to Noapara in 2013. ^[23] The subsequent work was held up because of the encroachments on railway land. The extension was inaugurated on 22 February 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now is a part of Kolkata Metro's North—South Line. ^[24]

Education

Hiralal Mazumdar Memorial College for Women was established at Dakshineswar in 1959. It offers honours courses in Bengali, English, Sanskrit, sociology, history, political science, philosophy, education, journalism, music, geography, economics, zoology, botany, food & nutrition, psychology, chemistry and general courses in BA and B Sc. ^{[25] [26]}

Adyapeath Annada Polytechnic College is a government-sponsored college and was established at Dakshineswar in 2016. It offers diploma engineering courses in mechanical, electrical and civil engineering. ^[27]

Adyapeath Annada B.Ed. College was established at Dakshineswar in 2013. ^[28]

Schools like Ariadaha Kalachand High School, Dakshineswar High School (oldest educational institution of the area), Dakshineswar Sri Sri Sarada Devi Balika Vidyalaya and Dakshineswar Bharati Bhaban Girls' School are there for Primary and secondary education.

References

1. "Base Map of Kolkata Metropolitan area". Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2007.
2. Ghosh, Deepanjan (11 November 2018). "The Real Dakshineswar Temple". The Concrete Paparazzi– via blogspot.com.
3. List of Ancient Monuments in the Presidency Division (2nd ed.). Calcutta: Public Works Department, Government of Bengal. 1896. pp. 8–10. ISBN   9781234384456.
4. "Dakshineswar Police Station". barrackporecitypolice.in.
5. Basu, Kinsuk (10 March 2022). "Barrackpore gets 8 more police stations". Telegraph India. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
6. "District Statistical Handbook". North 24 Parganas 2013, Table 2.1. Department of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
7. "Barrackpore Police Commissionerate". List of Police Stations with telephone numbers. West Bengal Police. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
8. "History of the temple". Dakshineswar Kali Temple. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
9. "Dakshineswar - A Heritage". Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
10. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Places of religious importance, Page 123. Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
11. "WIMCO Limited". ITC. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
12. "Wimco closure threat". The Telegraph. 18 September 2004. Archived from the original on 3 January 2005. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
13. "Emami Paper Mills Ltd". EPML. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
14. "Inauguration of bridge postponed". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 9 June 2007. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012.
15. Gupta, Jayanta (23 January 2012). "A cattle track that poses as expressway". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
16. Google maps
17. "32211 Sealdah-Dankuni local". Time Table. Inidia Rail Info. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
18. "Dakshineswar hawkers stall skyway project". The Times of India, 6 October 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
19. "Firhad Hakim visits Dakshineswar Sky Walk Project site". Kolkata 24 X 7, 29 October 2017. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
20. "Kolkata's Dakshineswar Sky Walk misses Kali Puja deadline". The Times of India, 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
21. "নতুন বছরেও খুলছে না স্কাইওয়াক (The Skywalk will not be opened in the New Year)". in Bengali. Ananda Bazar Patrika, 15 April 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
22. "Mamata ridicules BJP leaders' saffron attire". Asian Age. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
23. "Land cloud over Dakshineswar Metro set to lift". The Telegraph, 13 October 2017. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
24. "Kolkata Metro set to start services till Dakhineshwar from tomorrow". The Statesman. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
25. "Hiralal Maumdar Memorial College for Women". HMMCW. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
26. "Hiralal Majumdar Memorial College for Women". College Admission. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
27. "Adyapeath Annada Polytechnic College, Kolkata". Careers 360. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
28. "Adyapeath Annada B.Ed. College". AABC. Retrieved 20 July 2018.

External links

• Dakshineswar travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Kolkata/Northern fringes travel guide from Wikivoyage

External videos
Dakshineswar Skywalk under construction