Bardhaman

Template:India city infobox Bardhaman (Bangla: বর্ধমান), is a city of West Bengal state in eastern India. It is the headquarters of Bardhaman District.

Bardhaman has been a district capital since the time of Mughals. Later on it became a district headquarters of British India. Burdwan is an alternative name for the city, which remains in use from the British period.

Geography

The city is situated a little less than 150 km north-west of Kolkata on the Grand Trunk Road (NH-2) and Eastern Railway. The chief rivers are the Damodar and Banka nala.

Name

• Burdwan is an anglicised version of the Sanskrit Vardhamana and the corresponding Bardhaman in Bengali.
• The origin of this name dates back to sixth century BCE and is ascribed to Vardhamanswami or Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Jain Tirthankar, who spent some time in Astikagrama, according to the Jain scripture of Kalpasutra. This place was renamed as Vardhamana in his honour.
• A second view holds the literal meaning of the name, a prosperous and growing centre, to argue that this place represented a frontier colony of the progress of aryanisation through the upper Ganga valley. However, the Aryans failed to proceed further east. So, the name was retained. Archeological evidences suggest that this region, forming a major part of Radh Bengal, could be traced even back to 4000-2000 BCE.

Culture

Burdwan is a place of mixed culture. The deuls (temples of rekha type) found here are quite reminiscent of Buddhist architecture. The various mosques and tombs remind us of Muslim culture. The old temples bear signs of Hinduism, mostly belonging to the Sakta and Vaishnava community. The famous Sufi Pir Baharam's tomb is here. The controversy on Kankaleswari Kali of whether it originally belonged to the Jains or Tantriks indicates again the town's multifaceted heritage. Indeed, Burdwan had witnessed, experienced and withstood quite a few historical thunderstorms in the past, mainly due to the Mughal, Pathan and Maratha intruders. The town of Bardhaman was visited at one time or another by many a notable of the Delhi Sultanate from Raja Todarmal to Daud Karnani, from Sher Afgan and Kutub-ud-din to Ajimuswan or the rebel Shah Jahan. The celebrated tombs of Sher Afgan and Kutub-ud-din lying side by side in this township relate to a classic love-story of Mihr-ul-Nissa and Jahangir that made Sher Afgan, the first husband of the great lady, a dead third person. The lady, who once lived here, later ruled India as Jahangir's wife for quite sometime, but with a new name Noor Jahan (Light of the World) commensurate with her beauty and culture.

History

During period of Jahangir this place was named Badh-e-dewan (district headquarters). The town owes its historical importance to being the headquarters of the Maharajas of Burdwan, the premier noblemen of lower Bengal, whose rent-roll was upwards of 300,000. The raj was founded in 1657 by Sangam Rai, of the Kapur Khatri family of Kotli in Lahore, Punjab, whose descendants served in turn the Mughal Emperors and the British government. The great prosperity of the raj was due to the excellent management of Maharaja Mahtab Chand (d. 1879), whose loyalty to the government especially during the “Hul” (Santhal rebellion) of 1855-56 and the Indian rebellion of 1857 was rewarded with the grant of a coat of arms in 1868 and the right to a personal salute of 13 guns in 1877. Maharaja Bijai Chand Mahtab (b. 1881), who succeeded his adoptive father in 1888, earned great distinction by the courage with which he risked his life to save that of Sir Andrew Fraser, the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, on the occasion of the attempt to assassinate him made by Bengali malcontents on 7 November 1908.

Mahtab Chand Bahadur and later Bijoy Chand Mahtab struggled their best to make this region culturally, economically and ecologically healthier. The chief educational institution was the Burdwan Raj college, which was entirely supported out of the maharaja's estate. Sadhak Kamalakanta as composer of devotional songs and Kashiram Das as a poet and translator of the great Mahabharata were possibly the best products of such an endeavour. The society at large also continued to gain the fruits. We find, among others, the great rebellious poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and Kala-azar-famed U. N. Brahmachari as the relatively recent illustrious sons of this soil. The town became an important center of North-Indian classical music as well.

Places of interest

• The famous Shrine of Sarvamangala, said to contain the remnant of Sati's body, is situated here. Aside this, there are quite a number of temples and Sivalingams.
• The Curzon Gate built in honour of the visit of Lord Curzon.
• The palaces and gardens of the maharaja Golapbag.
• Burdwan is a town of tanks. Several tanks are scattered here and there across the town. These caught the attention of Victor Jacquemont, a young French natural scientist, who visited this town in November 1829.
• At Nawab Hat, some 2 mile distant, is a group of 108 Siva lingam temples built in 1788.

Food

• Sitabhog and mihidana are two famous sweets of Burdwan, introduced first in honour of the Raj family.

Education

University

• Burdwan University started on 15 June 1960, with Sukumar Sen, an ICS, as its first Vice-chancellor. It was after the abolition of the Zamindari system in the fifties that Uday Chand Mahtab, the last representative of the Burdwan Raj, showed his magnanimity in leaving almost his entire property of Burdwan at the disposal of the state government. This, coupled with the initiative of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, facilitated the establishment of this university. Presently, the administrative works are mostly done at Rajbati (the palace of Barddhamana Maharaja) campus; on the other hand, academic activities center around the Golapbag campus mainly. With social responsibilities in mind, the university actively patronised the construction of a Science Centre and a Planetarium, named as Meghnad Saha Planetarium.

Schools

• Kendriya Vidyalaya Burdwan- CBSE
• St. Xaviers School - ICSE and ISC
• Burdwan Municipal High School - West Bengal Board
• Burdwan Municipal Girls' High School - West Bengal Board
• Burdwan CMS High School - West Bengal Board
• Burdwan Town School - West Bengal Board
• Raj Collegiate School - West Bengal Board
• Ramkrishna Mission Saradapith - West Bengal Board
• Holy Rock School - ICSE
• East West Model School - ICSE

Colleges

• Burdwan Medical College
• Maharaj Bijoy Chand Institute of Engineering - Polytechnic College
• University Institute of Technology - Degree College
• University Law College
• Maharaj Uday Chand Women's College
• Burdwan Raj College
• Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya