Haat to revive 17th century trade hub in Bhadreswar
Times of India | 30 April 2024
BHADRESWAR: A group of Bhadreswar residents has taken an initiative to organise a weekly fair on the banks of the Hooghly to revive a 525-year-old history of the area. The place was popular as Bhadreswarganj during the early 17th century and became a big trading hub. Local Bengali businessmen used to share spaces with British, French, Danish, Portuguese, German and Dutch merchants.
The brainchild behind the fair is 63-year-old Saktipada Bhattacharyya, a Bhadreswar resident who is also a former history teacher of Shyamsundar Children High School in Hooghly. "The idea is to restore the old glory of our town and help people look back at Bengal's one of the oldest and prominent business hubs," he said. Every Wednesday evening, the open air market - 'Totini Haat' (fair at river bank) - is being held .
Bhadreswar was mentioned in the journey of Chand Sadagar in 'Manasamangal'. At that time, it was considered to be the golden age of Saptagram port situated on the banks of Saraswati river which still exists as a canal in the the town. The port had to be abandoned because of silting in the Saraswati that forced the merchants to shift business to Bhadreswar, which gained importance as a major trading hub.
Famous Bengali merchants Antaram and Bonomali Sarkar of Bhadreswar later shifted business to Calcutta. Businessman families like Pal Choudhury, Shrimani, Kundu and Kha were also very popular during the time.
Locals said once there were more than 200 warehouses and "gaddi-ghor" (traders' shop) and now only eight of them can be found in a dilapidated state. According to locals, ghee from Bihar used to be transported on country boats via Saraswati and Hooghly rivers to the town.
The fair - the idea of which came from Sonajhuri Haat of Santiniketan - now starts from 4 pm and continues till 7 pm. Here locals and self-help groups sell their home-made items. Environment friendly bags, gardening items and flower plants, aquarium fish, 'dokra', wooden owls of Agradwip, home-made food, pickles, paintings, hand-made jewelleries, handicraft items, candles and incense sticks are available.
"About 100 individual shop owners have already joined the open-air weekly fair and the turnover of second Wednesday was around Rs 2 lakh," added Bhattacharyya. Use of plastic, microphones are banned here.
"We will extend all support to make the effort successful," said Praloy Chakraborty, chairman of Bhadreswar Municipality.