2409:4060:2E0C:DFB0:0:0:574A:3D0E at 05:38, 30 April 2025

2025-04-30T05:38:38Z

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{{Short description|Neighborhood of Kolkata, West Bengal, India}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox settlement



| name = Chowringhee 
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| settlement_type = [[Neighbourhoods in Kolkata Metropolitan Area|Neighborhood of Kolkata]] 
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| image_skyline = Metropolitan Building, Esplanade Kolkata (Edited).jpg
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| image_caption = Metropolitan Building near Chowringhee
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| image_map = Map Kolkata Chowringhee.jpg
| mapsize = 220px
| map_caption = Location of Chowringhee in Kolkata
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| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{IND}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[States and territories of India|State]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[West Bengal]]
| subdivision_type2 = City
| subdivision_name2 = [[Kolkata]]
| subdivision_type3 = [[List of districts of West Bengal|District]]
| subdivision_name3 = [[Kolkata district|Kolkata]]
| subdivision_type4 = [[Kolkata Municipal Corporation|KMC]] wards
| subdivision_name4 = [[Ward No. 46, Kolkata Municipal Corporation|46]], [[Ward No. 63, Kolkata Municipal Corporation|63]]
| subdivision_type5 = [[Kolkata Metro|Metro Station]]
| subdivision_name5 = [[Esplanade metro station|Esplanade]], [[Park Street metro station (Kolkata)|Park Street]], [[Maidan metro station|Maidan]] and [[Rabindra Sadan metro station|Rabindra Sadan]]
| subdivision_type6 = [[Kolkata Suburban Railway]]
| subdivision_name6 = [[Sealdah Station|Sealdah]], [[Princep Ghat Railway Station|Princep Ghat]], [[Eden Gardens Railway Station|Eden Gardens]] and [[B.B.D. Bagh Railway Station|B.B.D. Bagh]]

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| elevation_ft = 36
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| population_as_of = 2001
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| population_total = 159917
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| timezone = IST
| utc_offset = +5:30
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| coordinates = {{coord|23.8|N|88.25|E|region:IN-{{IndAbbr|[[West Bengal]]}}|display=inline,title}}

| postal_code_type = PIN
| postal_code = 700013, 700016, 700071, 700087
| area_code = +91 33
| blank1_name_sec1 = [[Lok Sabha]] constituency
| blank1_info_sec1 = [[Kolkata Uttar (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Uttar]] and [[Kolkata Dakshin (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Dakshin]]
| blank2_name_sec1 = [[Vidhan Sabha]] constituency
| blank2_info_sec1 = [[Chowranghee (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Chowranghee]] and [[Bhabanipur, West Bengal Assembly constituency|Bhabanipur]]
| website =
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}}

'''Chowringhee''' (also '''Chourangi''') is a neighbourhood of Central [[Kolkata]], in [[Kolkata district]] in the Indian [[States and territories of India|state]] of [[West Bengal]]. [[Chowringhee Road]] (officially Jawaharlal Nehru Road) runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/18/stories/2006021803341900.htm
| title = Tax lawyer is CPM candidate for Chowringhee seat | access-date = 16 January 2008 | publisher = The Hindu Business Line, 18 February 2006}}</ref> as well as a shopper's destination and entertainment-hotel centre. The area lies exactly at the centre of the city.

==Etymology==
The name 'Chowringhee' has defied etymologists. There is, however, the legend of a [[Nath]] yogi, Chouranginath, who discovered an image of the goddess Kali's face and built the first [[Kalighat Kali Temple|Kalighat temple]].<ref name = "Nair">Nair, P. Thankappan in ''The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, edited by [[Sukanta Chaudhuri]], pp. 14–15, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-563696-3}}.</ref>

==History==

===The village===
[[Image:Kolkata Chowringhee.jpg|thumb|left|Chowringhee in 1798]]
In the seventeenth century or prior to it, the area now occupied by the [[Maidan (Kolkata)|Maidan]] and [[Esplanade, Calcutta|Esplanade]] was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the [[Sabarna Roy Choudhury]] family from [[Barisha, India|Barisha]] to [[Halisahar]]. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.<ref name = "Cotton1">[[H. E. A. Cotton|Cotton, H.E.A.]], ''Calcutta Old and New'', 1909–1980, p. 19, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.</ref>

===Urbanisation===
The strengthening of British power, subsequent to their victory in the [[Battle of Plassey]] was followed by the construction of the new [[Fort William, India|Fort William]], in 1758. The European inhabitants of [[Kalikata]] gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan.<ref>Cotton, H.E.A., p. 72.</ref>

===The neighbourhood===
[[File:Chowringhee looking south.jpg|thumb|left|Chowringhee looking south, 1905]]
[[Camac Street]] (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]] to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]] and [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Wellesley]]. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed [[Mirza Ghalib Street]]), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.<ref name= "Cotton2">Cotton, H.E.A., pp. 230–236.</ref>

===New names===
[[File:Tata Centre - 43 Chowringhee Road - Kolkata 2013-01-05 2424.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Tata Centre]] on [[Chowringhee Road]] - The main stretch of Chowringhee]]
Indian independence saw a rush to rename streets. The process has slowed as few streets are left to be renamed. Chowringhee Road was renamed after [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after [[Mother Teresa]]; Theatre Road after [[William Shakespeare]]; and Harrington Street after the leader of the [[Vietnam]] independence movement, [[Ho Chi Minh]]. Camac Street has been renamed after the artist [[Abanindranath Tagore]]. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed after the Urdu/Persian poet [[Mirza Ghalib]]. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after [[Nellie Sengupta]].

==Geography==
Park Street Flyover was inaugurated on 19 February 2005. The {{convert|1.3|km|adj=on}} long flyover above [[Chowringhee Road]] helps in reduce the traffic jam between [[Lindsay Street]] and Middleton Street.<ref>{{cite web|title=Park Street Flyover|url=https://www.projectstoday.com/News/Park-Street-Flyover-to-be-inaugurated-on-19-Feb}}</ref>

==Creative inspiration==
In 1981, [[Aparna Sen]] wrote and directed a film, ''[[36 Chowringhee Lane]]'', about an aged [[Anglo-Indian]] school teacher who lives a lonely life in a single-room flat in the neighbourhood.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081968/ | title = 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) | access-date = 16 January 2008 | website = imdb.com}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center">
Image:Kolkata Chowringhee 3.jpg|Industry House on [[Camac Street|Abanindranath Tagore Sarani]]
Image:Kolkata Chwringhee 4.jpg|[[Pantaloon Group|Pantaloon]] outlet on [[Camac Street|Abanindranath Tagore Sarani]]
Image:Kolkata Chowringhee 5.jpg|[[St. Thomas Church, Kolkata|St. Thomas Church]] adjacent to Loreto House on Middleton Row
Image:Kolkata Choweinghee 6.jpg| [[KFC]] outlet on Middleton Row
Image:Middleton Street - Kolkata 2015-02-07 2148.JPG|Middleton Street
Image:Kolkata AJC Bose Road Area Shots.jpg|Park Street Flyover
</gallery>

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage-inline|Kolkata/Esplanade}}

==References==
{{commons category}}
{{reflist|2}}

{{Kolkata neighbourhoods}}

[[Category:Neighbourhoods in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Shopping districts and streets in India]]

Chowringhee - Revision history

2409:4060:2E0C:DFB0:0:0:574A:3D0E at 05:38, 30 April 2025