Churni River
River Churni :
A river in the Nadia district, West Bengal.
Course:
Origin bearings (as from Nasa World Wind) :
23.40 North, 88.70 East
Basin :
The river flows through Shibnivas, Hanskhali, Birnagar, Aranghata, Ranaghat, ad finally joins River Bagirathi near Chakdah.
Confluence bearings (as from Nasa World Wind) :
23.13 North, 88.50 East
Length :
Almost 56 km
Geology :
The river is in it’s lower course of flow. Riverbed is dumped with sediment, and full of small, often submerged river islands.
History :
River Churni was most probably an artificial canal, not a true river. Local history says, during 17th Century, the King of Nadia (that time Nadia was a kingdom, now a district of West Bengal) was Maharajah Krishna Chandra. River Churni was dug at his orders as a moat against the Bargee-s or Bergir-s of Maharashtra. At that time, there was another important river here. It’s name was Anjana. It originated from Jalangi river, and confluenced with River Bhagirathi. A distributary emerged from Anjana near Jatrapur (Yatrapur), and confluenced in Ichamati. At that time the lower part of Mathabhanga was known as Ichamati, same as now. The flux of Anjana and the distributary increased with water of the canal. Later, the distributary was filled up artificially, and alluvial sedimentation jammed the upper part of Anjana. The canal, and the lower part of Anjana is today’s Churni. However in Renel's map (1760's) there is no trace of Churni.
Here is an image of the evolution. File:Very simlpe line drawing of the evolution of River Churni.jpg
Only 70 years ago, in the 1930’s, it was the major trade route inside undivided Bengal. Now, the river lost its navigability.
--Captain Albatross 15:55, 8 July 2007 (UTC)Captain Albatross