Krishnanagar is rich in history and culture. As the headquarters of Nadia district, it has a glorious heritage. Located on the banks of the Jalangi river, (a tributary of Ganges) about 100 km from Kolkata, Krishnagar acts as a link between North Bengal and South Bengal, being connected to Kolkata, Siliguri, Bardhaman, Durgapur and Asansol by road. It is also a railway junction. Krishnagar became a municipality in 1864, but has a much longer history.
Krishnagar is famous for its clay models and terracotta works and sweets such as Sarpuria and Sarbhaja. Its Rajbari remains a tourist attraction. Historic too are the Roman Catholic church, the Protestant church as an evidence of a town with a high level of socio-cultural assimilation, Krishnagar is home to the Roman Catholic Diocese, whose origins go back to the mid-18th century. As a centre of the arts and culture and learning Krishnagar and its outskirts are hosts to unique cultural events which highlight a wide aesthetic range of interests of the people. Krishnagar Collegiate School and Krishnagar College, which is presently a Government College, among other institutions, were established dating back to the 19th century to cater to the educational needs of the people of the area and history of these institutions reveal a continuously glorious tradition of the highest academic achievements. No visit to Krishnagar is complete without a trip to Ghurni, famous for its clay models.
Krishnagar city, governed by the Krishnagar Municipality, has a population of 153,062, 90.82 per cent of them Hindus, while the Krishnagar Urban Region has a population of 182,010, males slightly outnumbering females, according to the 2011 Indian census. The Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Ms Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress, covers a wider area with an electorate of 1.47 million.
Bordering Bangladesh on the east, Bardhaman and Hooghly districts on the west, Murshidabad
district
on
the
north and north-west and North 24 Parganas on the south and south-east, Nadia lies between North
Bengal
and
South Bengal. Agriculture is the main economic activity in the district.
Nadia occupies a unique place in the Vaishnava
Hindu religious tradition of worshipping Vishnu
and his avatars such as Rama, Krishna,
Narayana, Gobinda and Jagannath.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the 15th century
Vaishnava saint, was born in Nabadwip, a town
in Nadia.
Hindu pigrims also visit Mayapur, at the
confluence of the Ganga and Jalangi rivers and
the site of the famous Mayapur Chandrodaya Temple of ISKCON (International Society of Krishna
Consciousness) temple, near Nabadwip. Shantipur, like Nabadwip, is famous for its Rash utsav.
The
Dol
ustav
is another festval celebrated with fervour in Shantipur. Shantipur is also renowned for its
handloom
sarees.
Nadia has historical importance too. The village of Palashi in Nadia was the starting point of the rise of British power in India. For this was where the Battle of Plassey was fought, in which Robert Clive defeated the army of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal in June 1757. The Battle of Plassey marked the beginning of the end of the rule of nawabs in Bengal.
Nabadwip, the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, has a
glorious past. It was the capital of the Hindu Sena dynasty
during the reigns of Ballala Sena and Lakshmana Sena in the
12th century.
Lakshmana Sena was expelled from Nadia in 1202 by the
Turkish chief Muḥammad Bakhtyār Khaljī and died about three
years later. Sena kings continued to rule in eastern Bengal for
some decades, but the main political power in Bengal passed to
the Muslims. Nabadwip, however, remained a centre of learning and philosophy. Later, during
British
rule, it
came to be called the Oxford of the East because of the scholarship of its pundits.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Nabadwip on February 18, 1486, and departed this life in Puri on June 14, 1534, at the age of 48. His way of worshipping Krishna with ecstatic song and dance had a profound influence on Vaishnavism in Bengal, inspiring what came to be called Gaudiya Vaishnavism or Bengali Vaishnavism. This form of worship has been popularised globally by the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) or the Hare Krishna movement.
Krishnanagar is said to have been named after Krishnachandra Roy (1728- 1783), the raja and
zamindar
of
Krishnanagar. But there is another theory that Krishnagar was named after Sri Krishna either by
him
or
by one
of his predecessors. Originally, it was known as the village of Reui. Raja Krishnachandra
belonged
to
the Nadia
Raj family.
He popularised Jagaddhatri Puja. The story goes he was imprisoned by Siraj udDaulah for not
paying
his
taxes on time and could not celebrate Durga Puja. Ma
Durga then appeared to him in the form of the goddess Jagaddhatri and told him
to worship her. So he did, starting the tradition of Jagaddhatri Puja, for which
Krishnagar is famous.
Krishnagar’s history is associated with legendary literary figures such as Bharat
Chandra Ray Gunakor (1712-1760), a court poet of Krishna Chandra and famous
for his work Annadanmangal or Annapurnamangal. Another court poet of
Krishna Chandra, Ramprasad Sen (c. 1723 – c. 1775), known for his Bhakti
poems Ramprasadi, was a shakta poet and saint, is remembered today for immortal hymns dedicated
to
Goddess Kali. An area close to Krishnagar, named Ghurni is the birthplace of Yogiraj Shyama
Charan
Lahiri.
Raja Krishnachandra did not support Siraj.
William Dalrymple in his book, The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, says
Nawab
Alivardi Khan, was the last great ruler of Bengal.
>Siraj, his designated successor, who ascended the throne at a young age, incurred the enmity of
powerful
figures
including the general, Mir Jafar, and the Hindu Marwari bankers, the Jagat Seths. Raja
Krishnachandra
sided
with them. Raja Krishnachandra's troubles, however, did not end with the downfall of Siraj. Mir
Jafar,
who
succeeded Siraj as nawab, proved incompetent and was ousted from power by Mir Qasim with British
connivance. Raja Krishnachandra was imprisoned by Mir Qasim who sentenced him to death. But he
was
saved
by Clive who awarded him the title of Maharaja and allowed him to govern Krishnagar as zamindar.
Krishnachandra was a patron of literature. Bharatchandra, one of the famous poets of the 18th
century,
was his
court poet. Other scholars and literary figures at his court included the poet and saint
Ramprasad
Sen,
Pandit
Baneswar Bidyalankar, Krishnananda Bachaspati, Jagannath Tarkapanchanan and Hariram
Tarkasiddhanta.
The celebrated Gopal Bhar was his court jester. Krishnachandra spent generously to promote
Sanskrit
learning
at Nabadwip and other places in Bengal. He established many Sanskrit schools in Nadia.
Krishnagar Government College was founded in 1846, only three decades after Hindu College (now Presidency University) was established in Kolkata in 1817. The government college was set up following the English Education Act of 1835 promoting English education in India. The Act followed the famous Minute upon Indian Education by the British historian and politician Thomas Babington Macaulay, who was the Law Member of the Governor-General Lord William Bentinck's Council.
English education was intended to create Indians "English in tastes", according to Macaulay. In his Minute, he wrote: "We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern -a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect."
Eminent people have been born in Krishnagar.
Ramtanu Lahiri (1813-1898) was a leading figure of the Bengal Renaissance, a renowned teacher and a social reformer.
Shyama Charan Lahiri (1828 – 1895), best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi, guru and a disciple of the Kriya Yoga master Mahavatar Babaji. He was chosen by his guru to revive the practice of Kriya Yoga among the public after it had been a closely guarded secret for centuries. He became known in the West through Paramahansa Yogananda, a disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri. Yogananda wrote about him in his book, Autobiography of a Yogi, which was a favourite of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc.
Dwijendralal Roy (1863-1913) poet, playwright and lyricist, was born on July 19, 1863, at Krishnanagar. He is famous for his historical plays and songs.
Jagadananda Roy (1869 - 1933), born into an aristocratic family in Krishnagar, was an eminent writer on science who became a teacher at Rabindranath Tagore's Visva Bharati.
Charles Henry Stuart Gmelin (1872 – 1950) was a British athlete who competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, the first international Olympic Games in modern history. He was born in Krishnanagar, where his father was a Christian missionary, but returned to England at an early age for schooling. He died in Oxford.
Freedom fighter Haripada Chattopadhyay (1897-1967), a maternal cousin of the revoltionary Bagha Jatin and a friend of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, joined the Indian National Congress during the freedom movement. Later, he won from Nabadwip and Krishnagar respectively in the 1962 and 1967 Lok Sabha elections.
Dilipkumar Roy (1897 - 1980), was a musician, musicologist, novelist, poet and essayist. He was the son of Dwijendralal Ray.
Subhash Mukhopadhyay (1919 – 2003) was one of the leading Bengali poets of the 20th century.
Conclusion:
Krishnagar has a long tradition of stage acting, handicrafts based on jute, wood and bamboo, and miniature painting, which have been sustained continuously for generations. The outskirts of Krishnagar are dotted with places of tourist, cultural and historical interests. The Bethuadahari Wildlife Sanctuary is home to undisturbed alluvial greenery and hosts various species of animals and birds. BallalDhipi (Mound) is an archaeological spot whose remains are traced to the 8th century and is visited by tourists throughout the year.