Tribeni is a locality in
Bansberia Municipality
Bansberia Municipality is the civic body that governs Bansberia and its surrounding areas ( Tribeni) in Chinsurah subdivision of Hooghly district, West Bengal, India.
History
Bansberia Municipality was established in 1869.
Geography
Bansberi ...
of
Hooghly district
Hooghly district () is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli''. The district is named after the Hooghly River.
The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsura (''C ...
in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
and is currently a part of the area covered by (KMDA). It is an old holy place for the
Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, the sanctity of which has been recognized for many centuries and had been mentioned in Pavanaduta, a Sanskrit piece of the last quarter of the 12th century. The
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
took it over during early phases of their conquest of
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, also referred to as Turkish conquest in the thirteenth century. The place retains its holiness for multiple centuries, primarily due to the rivers it hosted, corroborated by records of the bathers at different timelines, who thronged during the festival of
Makar Sankranti
Makar(a) Sankranti (), also referred to as Uttarayana, Maghi, or simply Sankranti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of January 14 annually, this occasion marks the transition of the Sun from the zodiac of Sag ...
. Of the many odes written on the Ganges in various Indian languages, one that was recited and entered as a ritual offering to the river by the Brahmins during the medieval period, was presumably written in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
by Gaji Jafar Khan during his stay in Tribeni.
Geography
Location
Tribeni is located at .
History
Tribeni is located at .
Tribeni is believed to get its name from the divergence of three rivers — Kunti,
Ganga
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
and
Saraswati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...
. The probable earlier names were "Muktaveni", which distinguished it from Prayag, Allahabad, known as Yuktaveni; it also featured in
James Rennell's map of Bengal in 1781 where it was spelled as "Terbonee". The river Saraswati surfaces from the south of the famous Hindu cremate area, commonly known as ‘Shashan ghat’, westwards into Saptagram. The Yamuna, commonly pronounced as Jamuna in Bengali, had earlier branched off from the Ganges towards south east, but the confluence has silted up with course of time. This leaves the river Ganges, variedly known as Hooghly or Bhagirathi to descend to the sea. The Ghat in Tribeni which lies beside the confluence was built by a king of Bhurisrestha, Rudranarayan Rai Mukhti and that left an influence of Odisha in Tribeni apparent from the temples near the ghat.
The town is on the western banks of the Ganges with no plateau or hills in its close vicinity and hosts one of the earliest surviving monuments of Muslim in West Bengal, Zafar Khan Gazi's Mosque. The mosque bears an Arabic chronogram, 1298 though there remains evidence that suggests it was remodeled over time. The date is further corroborated by the fact that Tribeni along with nearby areas were occupied by Zafar Khan in 1267, after around 60 years from the conquest of Bengal. Its doorways have Hindu Vaishnavite sculptures inscribed along with Sanskrit scripts on its walls which can be associated to a temple from where the slabs were procured or as well could be a temple on which the mosque probably was built.
Tribeni had been of great importance during the Pala and Sena periods, and after the Muslim incursions,
Saptagram
Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...
became a major administrative center for the Sultans of Bengal. During the sixteenth century, Portuguese and French settlements in the Hooghly District were presumably looking to the possibility of trade across the
Saraswati River
The Sarasvati River () is a deified Rigvedic rivers, river first mentioned in the Rigveda and later in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the Historical Vedic religion, Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth bo ...
at the port of
Saptagram
Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...
. Around 1536–37, the King of Bengal had given the Custom houses in Satgaon, today's Saptagram, along with Chittagong, the major port, to the Portuguese to set up trading centers, which ultimately extended their land occupation. During 1579–80, Antonio Tavares founded Ugolim (Hooghly) which outshone Satgaon, and had around five thousand Portuguese inhabitants. Their settlement was highly curtailed during the Mughal assault, where they appeared relatively ill-equipped for such an attack. For the same vulnerability of Mughal threats and the lack of available defense along with depleting trade prospects through Saraswati due to its drying up, Job Charnock, chief agent of East India Company in Hugli, along with his team decided to move further south to Sutanuti in 1690, where several local villages were populated by local merchants and a trading center was available, which later became part of Calcutta. Tribeni was also a host to the British army during WWII in
Nissen hut
A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British engineer and inventor Majo ...
s which can still be seen near Shibpur. Though these didn't have much enduring socio-economic impact, as they did at
Bandel
Bandel is a neighbourhood in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is founded by Portuguese settlers and falls under the jurisdiction of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Me ...
and
Chandernagore
Chandannagar french: Chandernagor ), also known by its former name Chandernagore and French name Chandernagor, is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is part ...
, the town was however revived by many factories in the 20th century, e.g. jute mills, the
Bandel Thermal Power Station
Bandel Thermal Power Station is a coal-based power plant situated on the western bank of Hooghly River at Tribeni, a neighbourhood in Bansberia, near Bandel, in the Indian state of West Bengal, off the Grand Trunk Road/ NH 19 (old numbering NH ...
, the paper factory for
ITC and the tire and rayon factories nearby the town.
![Thermal Power Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Thermal_power_station.jpg)
Tribeni thus differentiated itself from its neighbors, who were relying more on agriculture due to the available fertile land, as an industrial belt. There is no absolute evidence of an old trading center or market place, though with the advent of industries newer market places came into existence. Post independence, the town has witnessed many economic ups and downs due to the economic changes in the industries it houses. The downfall of Jute mills across the Ganges post Partition of India, which had flourished during the late 19th century and once unseated Scotland Jute mills at Dundee, preceded the economic drain from West Bengal and the Ganges Jute Mill at Tribeni was no exception. The annual demand for Indian Jute mills of 6 million raw Jute bales during 1947-48 mostly lay unfulfilled, due to 80% of the cultivable lands for Jute falling in East Pakistan now Bangladesh, and could only meet 1.7 million bales during that period. The following three five year plans by the Government of India helped increase the production but by then the foreign demand for Indian jute started to drop, which led the jute mills to limit production, if not stop it completely. There could be few reasons attributed to such a downfall, viz., the monopolistic structure and control of the industry and methods applied to increase profitability by restricting production so as to reduce the demand and price of raw jute, the paucity of funds post independence and lack of research and development, the cheaper alternatives available and sluggish Indian market to Jute products. There was similar fortune awaiting for Dunlop tire factory in Sahaganj as well by the end of 20th century, irrespective of once having monopoly in Aero tire production.
The density of population, in the 21st century, is on a rise, and as such the communication has seen a growth, both in railways as well as in postal services among others; Internet and cell phone connectivity have entered Tribeni in the late 20th century, parallel to other towns in Hooghly.
Transport & tourism
Tribeni is 66 km away from
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, capital of West Bengal, on road and 48 km from
Howrah Station
Howrah railway station, also known as Howrah Junction, is a railway station located in the city of Howrah, West Bengal, India. It is also the oldest and largest existing railway complex in India. It is one of the busiest train stations in the w ...
(Railway station adjoined to Kolkata) in Broad Gauge railways, which can be covered in EMU coaches (Electric Multiple Units).
Tribeni railway station
Tribeni railway station is railway station on Bandel–Katwa line connecting from ( from Bandel) to Katwa, and under the jurisdiction of Howrah railway division ( from hwh) of Eastern Railway zone. It is situated at Station Road, Masterpara, ...
was renovated in 2010 to have four platforms from existing two, but it doesn't host any express or super fast trains and usually finds them passing through it towards New Jalpaiguri towards north. The nearest major railway station is
Bandel Junction, 7 km on the Bandel-Katwa Railway Line, which can be used to board express trains towards north Bengal as well as towards New Delhi. The town is also benefitted by the
Howrah-Bardhaman main line.
Mogra railway station
Mogra railway station is a Kolkata Suburban Railway station on the Howrah–Bardhaman main line operated by Eastern Railway zone of Indian Railway. It is situated beside Polba Road, Alikhoja, Mogra in Hooghly district in the Indian state of We ...
can be commuted from Tribeni with ease, whereas
Kalyani railway station
Kalyani railway station is a Kolkata Suburban Railway station in Kalyani, West Bengal on the Sealdah–Ranaghat line and Kalyani Simanta branch line. It is located in Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It serves Kalyani and the ...
is situated on the other side of the
Bhagirathi-Hooghly River and one can reach Kolkata via Sealdah using the Sealdah-Krishnanagar Railways, from there.
A 1922 built 103 ton steam engine by W.M. Breadmore Co, England had a run with five coaches from Howrah to Tribeni Railway station on 19 September 1999. This was widely known as Millennium Run and was also likely to be retained to promote tourism but was discontinued due to lack of response.
State Highway 6/ STKK Road runs through the town and meets the Grand Trunk Road, one of the Asia's oldest and longest major road and also runs besides the town, near Adisaptagram. Buses for route numbered 39 between
Chunchura Court &
Jirat
Jirat is a census town located in Hooghly District in the Indian State of West Bengal. It is the administrative headquarter of Balagarh Block. It is birthplace of the Dr. Gangaprasad Mukherjee, Writer
Charuchandra Banerjee, Tollywood actor ...
, the farthest that can be traveled between south and north in a single bus journey, runs through the State Highway.
Tribeni can also be travelled in tri-cycle rickshaws, commonly found in eastern India, though the cheapest available are shared autos and battery operated rickshaws, which might remain overcrowded and may not be practicable for carrying luggage along. The shared autos are a common sight across the town and are very often frequented by the residents to commute even 10 km on a single ride, irrespective of the concerns attached therein.
National Waterway 1, stretching for 1620 km from Haldia to Allahabad, has an ambitious plan of cargo movement and be operative by 2021 through the
Bhagirathi-Hooghly River adjacent to the town. The depth of the river from Kolkata to Tribeni was verified to be able to navigate an inland vessel of loaded draft for 4 meters, and can form a part of river information system abbreviated as RIS which would help vessels to navigate by avoiding ship to ship collision, ship to bridge collision and grounding.
Jafar Khan Gazi's Mosque resembles a unique transformation from stone post and lintel temples belonging to Pala senas to brick dome and arch structures, quite common to Muslim rulers in West Bengal.
Hangseshwari Temple
Hangseswari temple (also spelled as ''Hanseswari temple'') is a Hindu ratna temple located in the town of Bansberia at Hooghly District, West Bengal,India. The presiding deity of the temple is Hangseswari, a form of Maa adi parashakti jagatjan ...
, in
Bansberia
Bansberia is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is about away from Kolkata, at the western end of the Iswar Gupta Setu ( Kalyani-Bansberia) Bridge. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Me ...
, is 21 meters tall and has 13 towers, each shaped as a lotus flower, is a marvellous feat of architecture based on Kundalini and yoga concepts. Inner precincts of the follow the design of the human anatomy. Metallic idol of rising Sun God with his thousand bright rays has been inscribed on the top of the central minar. Even the deity has been designed and installed following the concept of Yoga and Pranayam. The Deity is blue in colour and made of wood derived from "Neem" tree.
![Hanseswari temple, Bansberia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Hanseswari_temple%2C_Bansberia.jpg)
The temple complex has another temple
Ananta Basudeba Temple besides the main temple, which holds a very special position as a terracotta temple with exquisite terracotta works on it.
Bandel Church
The Basilica of the Holy Rosary (commonly known as Bandel Church) is one of the oldest Christian churches in West Bengal, India. Situated in Bandel, Hooghly district of West Bengal, it stands as a memorial to the Portuguese settlement in Benga ...
, situated around 7 km from Tribeni, is the oldest church in West Bengal, initially constructed by 1599, was reconstructed post the Portuguese settlement were savaged and later awarded back by the Mughal Emperor. The statue ‘Our Lady of the Happy Voyage’ was saved from the attack and was miraculously found later and reinstated. The name of the place supposedly came from the Portuguese word ‘Mastro de Bandeira’ which meant flag post and later got transformed to Bandel, as the captain of a wrecked ship offered the main mast he promised to offer the first church he would find. The ship with its crew, is believed to arrive at its bank when the celebrations for the inauguration of the church were on its way.
Among other interesting facts in and around Tribeni are 1. There was a large European settlement south of Tribeni, which included Portuguese, Dutch, French & Danish settlements even before British East India Company made Calcutta their stronghold. 2. "Barowari puja" or public organisation of a religious festival, which was a sharp contrast to the way big festivals were conducted by rich families, commenced in
Guptipara
Guptipara is a census town in Balagarh, a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Sadar subdivision of the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Geography
Guptipara sits beside the Hooghly Ri ...
, north of Tribeni. 3.
Jubilee Bridge (now replaced by
Sampreeti Bridge
Sampreeti Setu is a railway bridge on Hooghly River. This bridge was inaugurated on 17 April 2016. It is situated between Garifa railway station and Hooghly Ghat railway station in the Naihati-Bandel branch line. This bridge has been built as ...
) connecting
Bandel
Bandel is a neighbourhood in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is founded by Portuguese settlers and falls under the jurisdiction of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Me ...
and
Naihati
Naihati is a city and a municipality 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).
Naihati Municipality is one of the oldest in the whol ...
is one of the oldest rail bridges in the country, was constructed even before the
Howrah Bridge
The Howrah Bridge is a balanced cantilever bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the cities ...
. 4.
Kalyani, situated on the eastern side of the Ganges, was a site for American Airbase during WWII and was later developed as a planned town post independence to accommodate growing housing demand in Calcutta.
Sports and Activities
Popular sports are Football and Cricket, which are more often played among boys. There are few tournaments that happen annually, as well as many ad-hoc tournaments are organized, mostly with altered rules from the common formats, wherein many clubs and schools compete. Other commonly played games are badminton, tipcat (‘dangulli’ in Bengali) etc., along with few board games that are also quite common: carom, chess and cards can be seen played even on road sides.
The local government usually supports other lesser popular folk team-sports e.g., kabaddi and Kho-Kho, along with the majority of schools in the town who promotes athletics.
Kite flying can be observed more prominently in September, during the Viswakarma Puja along with the rest of West Bengal. Though it still did not advance as a sport as it did in the western countries, yet it remains quite popular in Tribeni.
Scholars
Pundit
Jagannath Tarka Panchanan
Jagannath Tarka Panchanan (23 September 1695 – 1806) was a legendary Sanskrit scholar and pundit of ancient Hindu Laws.
Biography
Tarka Panchanan was born in Tribeni in 1695. He was the son of Rudradeva Bhattacharji, a poor Brahmin of Tribeni, ...
, the legendary scholar on all branches of the Dharmasastras was born in Tribeni on 23 September 1695, had assisted Sir
William Jones (philologist)
Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of th ...
in his endeavor to compile Vivadabhangarnava –that literally means ‘a break wave on the ocean of disputes' and reconcile the schools of Hindu jurisprudence, to assist judges to familiarize with the Indian culture as a consequence of a parliamentary mandate to perform judicial duties. The text was first published under the title – A Digest of Hindu Law, in 1801, which tried to legitimize the transformation of the prescriptive guidelines enshrined in the Sastras into legal rules to be directly administered through court by using terminologies like 'Digest'. He supposedly introduced
Durga Puja
Durga Puja ( bn, দুর্গা পূজা), also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated ...
in Tribeni, and the Baikunthupur Durga puja continues its traditions even today.
Ramgopal Ghosh, born in Bagati in the year 1815, was a member of the first council of Bethune Society, a literary association established in Calcutta in December 1851 for the consideration and discussion of questions connected with literature and science with the object of promoting the spirit of inquiry and knowledge among the Bengalis on the one hand, and establishing racial harmony between the Europeans and the natives on the other.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, alternatively spelt as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee ( bn, শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়; 15 September 1876 or ৩১ শে ভাদ্র ১২৮৩ বঙ্গাব্দ ...
was a popular Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century, was born in
Debanandapur
Debanandapur is a village beside Saraswati Rver and a gram panchayat in the Chinsurah Mogra CD block in the Chinsurah subdivision of the Hooghly district in the state of West Bengal, India.
The village has ancient temples like Radha Krishna T ...
, near
Bandel
Bandel is a neighbourhood in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is founded by Portuguese settlers and falls under the jurisdiction of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Me ...
.
See also
*
Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also a sacred place, with a bath here said to flush away all of one's sins and free one from the cycle of rebirth.
Triveni Sangam in Allaha ...
References
External links
*
*
Zafar Khan Ghazi Mosque at Tribeni
{{Kolkata neighbourhoods
Cities and towns in Hooghly district
Neighbourhoods in Kolkata
Kolkata Metropolitan Area