Jorabagan is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, in the Indian stateofWest Bengal. As a neighbourhood, it covers a small area but its importance is primarily because of the police station.^[1]

Etymology[edit]

Jorabagan, meaning ‘a pair of gardens’ in Bengali, was so named because the road through it led to the garden houses of Gobindram Mitter and Umichand.^[2]

History[edit]

Jorabagan is part of old Sutanuti. It is in this neighbourhood that Job Charnock made his famous landing at Sutanuti ghat in 1690. Mohunton's ghat between Beniatola and Shobhabazar ghats lurks the forgotten traditional landing place. There was a large tree under which Job Charnock is believed to have rested.^[3]

The Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad, and nine other intellectuals of the city filed a public interest litigation before the Kolkata High Court in 2001 demanding a probe into the matter whether Job Charnock can be regarded as the founder of Kolkata. The Court, upon an Expert Committee finding, declared that Job Charnock cannot be regarded as the founder of the city.^[4]^[5]

In 1888, one of the 25 newly organized police section houses was located in Jorabagan.^[6]

Geography[edit]

300m
330yds

Jorabagan

Nimtala ghat in the neighbourhood is the burning ghat where Hindus cremate their dead.^[3] Amongst the more renowned people cremated there was Rabindranath Tagore and the place is marked with a memorial structure. Nimtala ghat now has an electric crematorium.

Police district[edit]

Jorabagan police station is part of the North and North Suburban divisionofKolkata Police. It is located at 78, Nimtala Ghat Street, Kolkata-700006.^[7]

Amherst Street Women police station covers all police districts under the jurisdiction of the North and the North Suburban division i.e. Amherst Street, Jorabagan, Shyampukur, Cossipore, Chitpur, Sinthi, Burtolla and Tala.^[7]

Transport[edit]

Road[edit]

Jorabagan is surrounded by Strand Road on the west, Kali Krishna Tagore Street on the south, Rabindra Sarani on the east and Nimtala Ghat Street on the north. Baishab Seth Street-PK Tagore Street-Jadulal Mullick Road passes through the middle of the locality from north to south. Many buses and auto-rickshaws ply along these roads.^[8]

Train[edit]

Burra Bazar railway stationonKolkata Circular Railway line is the nearest railway station.

External links[edit]

Kolkata/North Kolkata travel guide from Wikivoyage

References[edit]

^ "Jorabagan Police Station". Kolkata Police. Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.

^ Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909/1980, p 104, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

^ ^a ^b Cotton, H.E.A., p. 282

^ Bangiya Sabarna Katha Kalishetra Kalikatah by Bhabani Roy Choudhury, (in Bengali), Manna Publication. ISBN 81-87648-36-8

^ Sabarna Prithivi - website of the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family

^ Nair, P.Thankappan, The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, pp. 18-19, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition.