Continuing Heritage Walk: Serampore
Unique Lodge
130-year old family home of the Bhattacharya family.
Pandit Kashinath Bhattacharya came to Serampore from Debipur, another village town of Hooghly on the request of Vidyasagar to teach Sanskrit. He settled in Dey St, but he died untimely. His son, Durga Prasanna became a building contractor and built this ancestral home for his family at 21 Dey Street. He was very fancy at his time, he founded a zoo inspired from Raja Rajendra Mullick's Marble Palace & the zoo. He also has a good number of dogs and won several trophies in the Dog Shows.
Durga Prasanna was fondly called as Panchu babu by locals, so many knows this building as Panchu babu-r bari (পাঁচুবাবুর বাড়ি). Also many call this building as Singho Bari (সিংহ বাড়ি) as the main gate holds two idols of lions.
After the death of Durga Prasanna, his son Nikhilesh took care of the building. He was married to Padmini, grand-daughter of Charu Chandra Bhattacharya. After the demise of Nikhilesh the building is now being maintained by his wife Padmini and his son Pradipta.
Since the November of 2007, Pradipta Bhattacharya renovated Unique Lodge - he had no luxury of adequate time, money and man-power. Yet Unique Lodge has became more than a small museum. Pradipta has great collection of curio. You can also see the wall clocks, rare marble statues, porcelain artifacts, Burma teak furniture etc.
If you want to visit this building, contact Pradipta Bhattacharya at 098300 71787. He is the grandson of Durga Prasanna. He lives in Kolkata, but comes to Serampore in every weekend to take care of his family house. You can also spend a night there - good food, good company, and what do you want more?
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Hotel/Unique-Lodge-Serampore-2043976212542446/
Source: https://kinjalbose.wordpress.com/2018/09/09/unique-lodge-serampore/
Ram Sita Mandir
Age: 267 years
Why? Serampore got its name from the temple!
Rajchandra Roy made the surrounding Sripur, Mohanpur & Gopinathpur as debottor properties. To run the temple smoothly he also donated 300 bigahs of land, which is lost by time and taken over by local people. By the name of Lord Ram, the name of the locality, Srirampur/ Serampore was originated.
In 2005 the temple was renovated by family members of Raja Nirmmal Chandra Ghosh, sebaiyt of the temple.
Many forgot about this temple - which is behind the name of town. Recently Serampore Municipality took an initiative to inform about this temple. Reaching Ram-Sita temple is easy, from Battala five point crossing you turn into Dey Street and go till Unique Lodge (approx 350 meter) and the right sided lane of Unique Lodge is the Ram-Sita Lane. From Unique Lodge the temple is less than 100 meter away.
It should be noted that there is another Ram-Sita Temple at Doltala, Uttarpara built by Raja Rajchandra Roy, son of Raja Manohar Roy in the year of 1762. Nearby there is another temple in Doltala, Uttarpara - Bhadrakali Temple, built in 1730 by Raja Manohar Roy.
Mission Cemetery - William Carey Graveyard
Located at Rupchand Chaprasi Lane (Google Maps notes it as another Danish Cemetery) also known as Mission Cemetery or the Baptist Mission Cemetery in Serampore contains the family graves of Carey, Ward and Marshman.
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| Mission Cemetery (source: internet) |
The ground is now maintained by Serampore College and three monuments of the prominent missionaries William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William Ward have recently been restored under supervision by INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), Kolkata.
Danish Cemetery
Age - more than 250 years
The Danish cemetery in Serampore has two parts - one side was reserved for Protestants and adjoining to it, separated by a low wall, was the burial ground of the Roman Catholics. In the early period the ground was only fenced by a living hedge, which was replaced by a brick wall in the 1770s.
Here the oldest grave is of Col. Krefting, Danish Chief and Director (died 1828). The famous author of Lepcha language Dictionary, Gen. Mainswaring was also buried here. Unfortunately only few gravestones with inscriptions have been preserved. The three most notable commemorative epitaphs are of Factor Casper Top and the two Governors of the Danish possessions in Bengal, Ole (Olave) Bie and Jacob Krefting.
The Danish cemetery is listed as a Protected Monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958 and is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Serampore Town Hall
Raja Kisorilal Goswami Memorial Hall was built in 1927, now located at 1, N.S. Avenue. Now it serves as the Municipality office of Serampore. It also holds a function hall and a public library inside it.
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| Serampore Town Hall - located just opposite to a railgate, and surrounded by a congested road |
Brief history of Serampore Public Library - for interested readers only
In 1806 Dr. William Carry and his assistant Dr. Joshua Marsh Man established ‘Shreerampur Hitakarini Sabha’ (শ্রীরামপুর হিতকারিণী সভা) which had played the role of library. In 1845, Danish left India and the name of the Hitakarini Sabha was changed into Shreerampur Public Library by a resolution of 1871 under the President ship of sub-divisional officer Traven Plauen. It is notable that contribution of Gopikrishna Goswami and Heramba Goswami were memorable to establish the library. In later part, Raja Kishori Lal Goswami, king of Burdwan and Tulsi Chandra Goswami donated many books to the library.
In 1801, some local enthusiastic youths had organized a 'Mutual Improvement Association' to exchange their opinion and discussion. Brahma Mohan Mallick, Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, Dinabandhu Mitra and other learned persons were the patron of this association. In 1885, the association merged with the Shreerampur Public Library and emerged as a rich library, Shreerampur Public Library and Mutual Improvement Association. Very soon, the need of own building for the library was felt due to increase of book and members. King Kishori Lal Goswami had promised to build the library.
Later, his son Tulsi Chandra Goswami, a good orator and parliamentarian had constructed a large beautiful building by expanding more than half core of rupees and named it as ’Raja Kishori Lal Goswami Memorial Hall’. He provided one part of this building to the library and another part to the municipality. In 1928, the library shifted to the building permanently.
The library had earned membership of Bengal Library Association and Indian Library Association in 1929 and 1931 respectively. In 1933, session of the Asian Library Conference was held in this library. Kumar Munindra Deb Roy, Newton Mohan Dutta, Heramba Nath Maitra, Dinesh Chandra Sen, Ramananda Chattopadhyay, Khodabox and many other learned persons had attended its different functions at different time. In 1924, Car Michael inspected the library and donated a set of ‘Imperial Gazette’ by Hunter as a sign of his pleasure. Shreerampur Public Library was the one famous library among 22 of same in undivided Bengal in the nineteenth century. At present it has been bearing its glory by collecting 31,647 volumes and 4249 users.
Hooghly Bank Bhawan
At 16th August, 1932 this Hooghly Bank Limited was founded by D. N. Mukherjee of Uttarpara. This bank had 30 branches across the Bengal before independence.
In 1950 United Bank of India was formed by amalgamation of:
- Comilla Banking Corporation (founded by Narendra Chandra Dutta in 1914 in what is now Bangladesh)
- Bengal Central Bank (founded by J. C. Das in 1918 as Bengal Central Loan Company Ltd.),
- Comilla Union Bank (founded by Indu Bhusan Dutta in 1922)
- Hooghly Bank (founded by D. N. Mukherjeee in 1932).
Post independence there was scarcity of banking services in remote and rural areas. United Bank of India started banking on the water in Sunderban areas with two motor boats. These motor boats acted as branches of the bank and delivered services across the delta region over the rivers.
Post independence Cuttack Bank Ltd (estd 1913), Tezpur Industrial Bank Ltd (estd 1918, first commercial bank in Assam province), Hindustan Mercantile Bank Ltd (estd 1944) and Narang Bank of India Ltd (estd 1943 in Gujarat) were merged into/ acquired by United Bank of India.
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| Hooghly Bank Bhawan |
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| Hooghly Bank Bhawan Plaque |
In 2019 United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce were merged with Punjab National Bank creating India's second largest public sector bank.
Serampore Jail /Correctional Home (উপসংশোধনাগার)
Est. 1803 by the Danes
Presently located at Rishi Bankim Sarani, it was established in 1803 as built under the supervision of the Danish engineer and Major, B. A. von Wickede. It was the second jailhouse for the Danes.
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| Danish Jail is now Serampore Correctional Home (2024) |
Though the Danes having limited and small administration, the governor had to deal with law and order of the town. A court house and jail or Catcherie was to be built. The first Danish jail in Serampore was a single building, containing two rooms only with a veranda and a surrounding brick wall - that was not sufficient considering the population of the town was nearly 11,000 and increasing. During the British possesion 1801-1802 the complex was neglected, and beyond renovation. In 1803 a new plot was bought to establish the jail by Wickede.
Since its establishment, Catherie (also spelled Cutchery, is a Danish loan word and stems from the Hindi word Kachari/কাছারী) had undergone many structural modification, even after independence. Now it is still functional as Serampore Subsidiary Correctional Home under administration of the Sub Division Officer.
Near Serampore Jail I found some old buildings - few are still well maintained.
Serampore Union Institution
Serampore houses multiple schools dated before 1900. Ballavpur High School, Serampore Union Institution and Nandalal Institution were established in 1867, 1884 and 1873 respectively.
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| Union Institution (source: internet) |
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| Union Institution (2024) |
By the end of the 19th century some locals of Serampore led by Sri Narayan Chandra Bhattacharyya approached Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar with request to open a branch of Metropolitan High School at Serampore. But Vidyasagar Mahasai advised them to set up a school in the town on their own. With his blessing Came up Mahesh Higher class English School with fifty six students in the year 1884. Later the school was shifted from Mahesh Higher to Newgate street (present Rishi Bankim Sarani) and there from to Poffam House, the present Vidyasagar bhavan of the school building at K M Bhattacharjee Street (Krishna Mohan Bhattacharjee st).
In the thirties the doors of the school were opened for the girls of the town willing to pursue higher education after primary level until Serampore Girls’ High School came up to shoulder the responsibility. During the war the school building also housed some classes of Serampore College.
Spread over 10 bighas Serampore Union Institution has been in the centre of many historical events of the pre and post independent India with her spirited children actively participating in the freedom movement and process of reformation, social as well as political, besides achieving brilliant academic excellence spanning a period of hundred and twenty five years since 1884.
The old building of Union Institution is a heritage building.
Nearby Hope House and Haranath Bhawan are also listed as heritage building.
Hope House is located at 51-52 Panchugopal Bhaduri Sarani (Gantzer St). Apparent age of the building is not known, but more than 150 years of old. Reverend Lee Philipant (Sub-Judge of Serampore) sold the building to Charubala Devi, mother of Sitangshu Chakraborty. Architecture wise it is a classical European bungalow with a lofty front portico and central hall flanked by rooms on two sides. Height of rooms is about 20 feet. Wooden beams supporting the tile roof with lime terracing.
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| Hope House |
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| Hope House |
I visited Hope House in December 2024 - nobody stays in the house. A local young man informed that after the death of the lady, her daughter-in-law shifted to Bangalore. The house is locked since then.
Haranath Bhawan is located at 54 K.M. Bhattacharyya Street (Chapan St) - Built by Haranath Bhattacharya in 1884. (opp. to Union Institution)
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| Haranath Bhawan |
Golakdham । গোলোকধাম
Located at 43 Queen's St (or, Netaji Subash Avenue, as renamed), Golakdham was built by Golok Chandra Roy, the first trader of the Danish Asiatic Company. He was originally descended from the famous Vaishnavite Madhab Chandra or Madhai Pundit, a close associate and disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
It is a typical traditional house consisting of verandahs and courtyards as the functional essence. The ‘bairer’ courtyard has a greater degree of monumentality reflecting in its architectural language, with the introduction of ‘thakurdalan’ concept. The ‘andar’ courtyard maintained more of its rustic bearings – most of the activities and routines of the erstwhile life were being rigidly followed and upheld. The courtyard was used for – cultural events marked by the presence of eminent personalities like Bismillah Khan sahab, Bade Ghulam Ali sahab; during early 19th C., the Congress party would hold meetings in the baithak khana; also bandminton tournaments were organized in the courtyard.
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| Golok Dham - outside view |
It lost its former glory and a very few care about its history and heritage, not even the dwellers of this building.
Trivia: Satyajit Ray's Golokdham Rahashya is based on a Dutta family's imaginary mansion of the same name, located at 7/1 Ballygaunge Place.
There are two other heritage buildings nearby -
Sarada Bhawan of Satsang Society (initially owned by Sarada Prasad Ghosh has been donated to Satsang Society; located at 57 N.S. Avenue)
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| Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, Serampore |
Yogoda Satsanga Society was founded in 1917 by Paramahansa Yogananda.
and
Sarkar Bari (Corinthian column is the dominant feature of the facade, a part of it is demolished for real estate development. Located at 50 N.S. Avenue).
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| Note down the Corinthian columns of Sarkar Bari at NS Avenue |
The part, which was demolished, now holds Senco Gold - so it's now easier to locate. But I doubt how long this remaining part of the building will exist.
Follow Next Part - Serampore Part 2B
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