Bhowanipore
| Bhawanipur | |
|---|---|
| Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta) | |
| Country |
 India
|
| State | West Bengal |
| City | Kolkata |
| KMC Wards | 70, 71, 72, 73 |
| Metro stations | Rabindra Sadan, Netaji Bhavan and Jatin Das Park |
| Parliamentary constituency | Kolkata Dakshin |
| Assembly constituency | Bhabanipur |
| Elevation | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 700 020 |
| Area code(s) | +91 33 |
Bhowanipore or Bhabanipur is the oldest locality of South Kolkata.It is located just south of the Lower Circular Road (now A.J.C. Bose Road). It is the second largest locality in South Kolkata after Ballygunge. The locality has its boundary touching the AJC Bose Road, Maidan, Victoria Memorial and consists of well-known and posh localities like Elgin Road, Gokhale Road, Woodburn Park, Bakulbagan Road, Harish Mukherjee Road, Beltala Road, Townshend Road and parts of Chakraberia and Lansdowne. The locality has an illustrious past and abounds with stories of great men and women who lived here, although in the recent years it has lost much of its glory to Ballygunge, which has gone ahead in terms of good roads, posh locales, and modern day developments.
Bhowanipore is perhaps the first 'posh' south Kolkata neighbourhood. In the early 19th century, it was just a small village on the southern outskirts of the city of Calcutta. By the early 1850s it developed into a favourable home to many immigrants into the city from the countryside of East Bengal. These immigrants were very literate and prosperous and just wanted to settle outside the more famous localities of northern Kolkata.
The Lower Circular Road (present AJC Bose Road) had just been constructed and the area just south of the road became home to many Indians who wanted to live in proximity to the city and yet away from it.
Many Englishmen also took fancy to the area and they also began settling in the area, but were far outnumbered by the local populace.
Initially the locality was bounded by Lansdowne Road (presently Sarat Bose Road) to the east, Russa Road (presently A.T. Mukherjee Road and S.P. Mukherjee Road) to the west and the Hazra Road to the south. But it expanded much more to the west, far beyond Harish Mukherjee Road to the Tolly Nullah.
The Jadu Babu's Bazaar on Asutosh Mukherjee Road was the heart of south Kolkata before Gariahat even developed. It is still the major market for the locality.
Many young people from the locality became notable individuals like Subhas Chandra Bose ("Netaji"), Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee and his son Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Uttam Kumar and lately Satyajit Ray, who made the area his home, among others.
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Wikipedia