Janbazar is a neighbourhood of Central

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 ...

, in

Kolkata district Kolkata district (formerly known as Calcutta district) is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Kolkata. History Long before the British came to India, the ''zamindari'' (land lordship) of all lands from Barisha to ...

in the Indian state 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 fou ...

. The two century-old house of

Rani Rashmoni Rashmoni Das, popularly known as Rani Rashmoni, also spelled as Rani Rasmani (28 September 1793 – 19 February 1861), was an Indian businesswoman, Zamindar, philanthropist and the founder of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Kolkata and remaine ...

, the central attraction in Janbazar, is still used by descendants in the family.

Geography

Janbazar is broadly spread across Ward Nos. 46 and 52 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The road from Chowringhee to Circular Road, about a mile long, was called Jan Bazar Road till the end of the 19th century. It was then renamed Corporation Street and was further renamed

Surendranath Banerjee Sir Surendranath Banerjee often known as Rashtraguru ( bn, Rāṣṭraguru, Teacher of the Nation; 10 November 18486 August 1925) was Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian Nat ...

Road. In olden days, Kolkata streets had oil lamps. Then came the gas lamp and electricity. For sometime there was a tussle between gas lamps and electricity. In 1914, high-powered Keith lamps of 1,000 candle power were fixed on Corporation Street, and Chowringhee Road.

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is the Kolkata-based flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, born from the erstwhile RPG Group, under the chairmanship of businessman Sanjiv Goenka. It is an Indian electricity gene ...

bore the cost to demonstrate the advantage of electricity. Janbazar is served by New Market Police Station of

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police Force (KPF) is one of the two presidency police forces of the Indian state of West Bengal. Kolkata Police has the task of policing the metropolitan area (apart from Bidhannagar and New Town, which are served by the Bidhannaga ...

. The police station is located in Janbazar.

Police district

New Market police station is part of the Central division of

. It is located at 133/2 S.N. Banerjee Road, Kolkata-700013. Taltala Women police station covers all police districts under the jurisdiction of the Central division i.e. Bowbazar, Burrabazar, Girish Park, Hare Street, Jorasanko, Muchipara, New Market, Taltala and Posta.

Rani Rashmoni's house

The most famous resident of Janbazar was

. Married at the age of 11 to Raj Chandra Das (Marh), the

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

of Janbazar, she constructed

Dakshineswar Kali Temple Dakshineswar Kali Temple is a Hindu navaratna temple in Dakshineswar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Situated on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, the presiding deity of the temple is Bhavatarini, a form of Parashakti Adya Kali, otherw ...

and engaged in numerous philanthropic activities.Bandopadhyay, Debashis, ''Bonedi Kolkatar Gharbari'', , Second impression 2002, pp. 45-6, Ananda Publishers, What is now known as Rani Rashmoni's house at the crossing of Rani Rashmoni Road and Surendranath Banerjee Road, was initially 70&71 Free School Street. Rani Rashmoni's father-in-law, Pritaram Das, started constructing this house in 1805. It took some 7–8 years to complete construction of the big house. Rani Rashmoni had four daughters – Padmamani, Kumari, Karunamoyee and Jagadamba. Mathuramohan Biswas, the husband of Rani Rashmoni's youngest daughter Jagadamba, had always been like a son to Rashmoni which she did not have biologically. The house is now divided into three parts. Jagadamba's descendants live in 13 Rani Rashmoni Road, Kumari's descendants live in 18/3 Surendranath Banerjee Road, and Padmamani's descendants live in 20 Surendranath Banerjee Road. The family is finding it difficult to maintain the house and although

Kolkata Municipal Corporation Kolkata Municipal Corporation (abbreviated KMC; also Calcutta Municipal Corporation) is the local government of the Indian city of Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal. This civic administrative body administers an area of . Its motto, ' ...

has declared it a heritage building, it has no funds needed for restoration. Parts of the house are collapsing.

Traffic

Many buses ply along Lenin Sarani, Surendranath Banerjee Road (S.N. Banerjee Road),

Chowringhee Road Chowringhee Road (also spelt ''Chourangi Road''), located in the Chowringhee neighbourhood of Kolkata, is the arterial road running from the eastern fringes of Esplanade southwards up to the crossing with Lower Circular Road (AJC Bose Roa ...

and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road. Kolkata trams route no. 5 (via Lenin Sarani) and 25 (via Lenin Sarani-Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road) also serve the locality. The traffic across Janbazar, is extremely heavy. Normally, it is a scene of chaos and when a mishap takes place, it is further chaos.

Sealdah Station Sealdah (station code:SDAH) is one of India's major railway terminals serving the city of Kolkata. The other main railway stations in the Kolkata metropolitan region are , , and Santragachi. Sealdah Railway station is the busiest railway stat ...

, one of the five major railway-terminals of

Kolkata Metropolitan Area Kolkata Metropolitan Area (abbreviated KMA; formerly Calcutta Metropolitan Area), also known as Greater Kolkata, is the urban agglomeration of the city of Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the third most populous metropolitan ar ...

, is located nearby.

Around Janbazar

Image:Kolkata Jan Bazar.jpg, Jan Bazar 2007 Image:Kolkata Hogg Street.jpg, Hogg Street with Futnani Chambers on the left and Corporation building on the right, declared a heritage building by KMC File:Metropolitan Building at the crossing of Chowringhee Road (Jawaharlal Nehru Road) and S.N.Banerjee Road in Kolkata.jpg, Metropolitan Building at the crossing of Jawaharlal Nehru Road and S.N..Banerjee Road.

Geography

Police district

Rani Rashmoni's house

Traffic

Around Janbazar

References

See also