Nabadwip


Nabadwip is a city and a municipality in Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a holy place where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born. Located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, it is considered to have been founded in 1063 CE, and served as the old capital of the Sena dynasty. A center of learning and philosophy in medieval India, the city is still noted for its traditional Sanskrit schools. The Navya Nyaya school of logic reached its peak with the efforts of some well known contemporary philosophers of Nabadwip. The great Vaishnava saint, social reformer and an important figure of the Bhakti movement, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born here, for whose sake, this place has turned into an important center of pilgrimage for the Vaishnavs worldwide as well as the Hindus in general. Many devotees who adhere to the Gaudiya Vaishnavism come to Nabadwip for pilgrimage on the auspicious occasion of the Birthday celebration of Shri Mahaprabhu on the Phalguni Purnima, and for various festivals in relation to Leelas of Shri Mahaprabhu like Sri Nabadwip-mandala Parikrama and other festivities like Dol yatra, Ras purnima, Gaura-purnima.
The Bhagirathi river originally flowed down the west of Nabadwip in the past, forming a natural boundary between the districts of Purba Bardhaman and Nadia. With time it has shifted its course to where it is at present, cutting the city off from the rest of the Nadia district.

Etymology

The name of the city is derived from the conjugation of the Bengali words /naba/ and /dwipa/ meaning New-island. In the down stream of the river Ganges, the alluvial deposits carried over during its course that starts at the Himalayas, were gradually deposited, forming a new island which is present day's Nabadwip. The name Nabadwip and Nadia has the same connotation of the same geographical location flanked at west and north by the Ganges at earlier times. Kabi Karnapur used Nabadwip as Nabīna dbīpaṁ, mean New Island in his book Chaitanya Charitamritam
The claim that the name Nabadwip refers to an area comprising nine islets has no ground. There are many historical references in this respect. Actually the misconception around the nomenclature of the name "Nabadwip" arose since the publication of the book "Bhakti Ratnakar" of Narahari Chakraborty. Narahari Chakraborty's claim, however, is not supportable from the perspective of geographical definition of the term Island. He might have made-up the idea of "nine islands" since "naba" in Bengali also means 'nine'. Hence "Nabadwip" i.e. nine islands, namely Antardwip, Simantadwip, Rudradwip, Madhyadwip, Godrumdwip, Ritudwip, Jahnudwip, Modadrumdwip, and Koladwip. However again, it is to mention that all these islands are loosely scattered over a vast geographical area that the Historians do not approve of the idea as being "Nabadwip".

History

Although significant examples of the history of Nabadwip have been found since the Sen dynasty, various historians have been referring to Nabadwip in the Pala period and the Shura dynasty. The English historian mentions Nabadwip as the capital of Adishur.

Sen era

It is known from the Deopara stone slab of Rajshahi district that Raja Samanta Sen, a resident of Karnataka, lived in the Ganges-Pulin in his last years when he was defeated by his tenants and zamindars. According to the eminent historian Harprasad Shastri, Samanta Sen lived on the shores of Bhagirathi, probably in Nabadwip in his last years. Prior to Gour, Nabadwip was the capital of Sena dynasty during the reigns of Ballal Sen and Lakshman Sen. They ruled Bengal from here in the period from 1159 to 1206. The Ballal Dhipi in the Bamanpukur area adjacent to Nabadwip, which is associated with the history of Sen dynasty, has been protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. During the reign of Lakshman Sen, in 1202 AD, Bakhtiyar Khalji invaded and plundered Nabadwip and defeated Lakshman Sen. This victory paved the way for Muslim rule in Bengal. At that time the prosperity of Nabadwip was particularly damaged. During the Muslim rule, various temples, golden monasteries and idols of Bengal and Nabadwip were destroyed.

Chaitanya era

The birth of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is an important chapter of the fifteenth century. With the advent of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Vaishnava culture was well established in Nabadwip. However, even before the birth of Mahaprabhu, during the reign of Jalaluddin Fateh Shah, royal fear appeared in Nabadwip. The ruling society and the Brahmin society obstructed the spread of Vaishnava culture in Nabadwip at that time. Many Brahmin scholars and common people had to leave Nabadwip at that time due to the oppression of the king. However, when Chand Kazi, the then ruler of Nabadwip, issued an order to the Vaishnava community to stop chanting, Mahaprabhu went to Kazi's house with his companion and rescued Kazi, which is the first instance of lawlessness movement in the history of India. During Chaitanya and later, various Pandits-Sadhaks-Vidyalankars and Sanskrit Pandits were born in Nabadwip. During the period of Chaitanya, Basudev Sarvabhauma, Raghunath Shiromani, Raghunandan etc. and later Krishnananda Agamavagisha, Buno Ramnath etc., Nabadwip became the main center of Sanskrit practice and learning. At the time of Raja Rudra Roy, there were four thousand students and six hundred professors teaching in Nabadwip. For five centuries, it was referred to as "Oxford of East".

Next centuries

Buno Ramnath, Shankara Tarkabagish and other scholars and logicians made the name of Nabadwip famous in the eighteenth century. Shakti worship spread in Nabadwip during the time of Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia royal family. During the reign of Raja Krishnachandra Roy and later Raja Girish Chandra, the popularity, glory and pomp of Shakta Rash increased. Various temples and idols were established in that time.

Nabadwip Metropolitan Areas

In the 2011 census, Nabadwip Urban Agglomeration had a population of 175,474, out of which 90,810 were males and 84,664 were females. The 0–6 years population was 8,388. In education section, total literates in Nabadwip city are 102,793 of which 55,569 are males while 47,224 are females. Average literacy rate of Nabadwip city is 87.75 percent of which male and female literacy was 91.14 and 84.07 percent. Total children in Nabadwip city are 8,388 as per figure from Census India report on 2011. There were 4,329 boys while 4,059 are girls. The child forms 6.68% of total population of Nabadwip City.
India census, Nabadwip had a population of 115,036. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Nabadwip has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 70%. In Nabadwip, 9% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Religion

is majority religion in Nabadwip city with 98.97% followers. Islam is second most popular religion in city of Nabadwip with approximately 0.79% following it. In Nabadwip city, Christianity is followed by 0.04%, Jainism by 0.00%, Sikhism by 0.01% and Buddhism by 0.00%. Around 0.01% stated Other Religion, approximately 0.18% stated No Particular Religion.

Police station

Nabadwip police station has jurisdiction over Nabadwip municipality and Nabadwip CD Block. The total area covered by the police station is 102.94 km2 and the population covered is 260,843.

Education

There are a total of 18 high and higher secondary schools in Nabadwip, Notables among them are Nabadwip Bakultala High School, Nabadwip Hindu School, Nabadwip Siksha Mandir, R.C.B Saraswatmandir, Jatiya Vidyalaya, Tarasundari Girls High School, Nabadwip Bakultala Girls High School, Nabadwip Balika Vidyalaya, Sudarshan High School and Techno India School etc. There is a college namely Nabadwip Vidyasagar College affiliated under University of Kalyani.

Climate

In summer, i.e. from April to June, the weather remains hot and temperature ranges from maximum of 35 °C to minimum of 26 °C.
Monsoon season prevails during beginning-June to mid-September. Also retrieving monsoon from mid-October till mid-November
The weather is quite pleasant, the summers and winters are moderate. The level of moisture increases during summers.

Festival

Many festivals are celebrated in Nabadwip throughout the year. Among them Shakta Rash, Dol Purnima Ratha Yatra are the most popular religious festivals in Nabadwip. Other major festivals are Kali Puja, Durga Puja, Gaura-purnima, Shiber Biye, Gajan, Pohela Boishakh, Jhulan Purnima etc. An extinct festival of Nabadwip is Dhulōṭa. It is the general conferences of Kirtaniyas, occurred in month of Magh. Typically, it is a thirteen day long Sankirtana, performed by renowned Kirtaniyas from all over Bengal who gathered in Nabadwip in that time.

Shakta Rash

It is the most celebrated age old festivals of Nabadwip, celebrated thirty-five days after the autumnal Durga puja celebration or fifteen days after Kali puja in Kartik Purnima. The main feature of the festival is to make huge idols of different type of goddess and to worshiped Shakti. After the patronize of Raja Krishnachandra Roy and mainly Girish Chandra Basu, Nabadwip Shakta Rash to became more popular and glorious.

Rath Yatra

Although Ratha Yatra is the main festival of Odisha, still Nabadwip have a pride of Ratha Yatra because of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Nearly 20-25 Ratha Chariots are bloom in this occasion. Here in Nabadwip one can found some exceptions like full hand idols of Lord Jagannatha. Here another speciality is a fruit called "Notkona" which is specially found in this eve, mainly brought from Assam. This Fruit is a vital part of Eastern part of Bengali.

Library

Rail services

is the main railway station of Nabadwip. The railway inaugurated in 1913. It is situated 105 km from Howrah on the Bandel-Katwa Branch Line.
Nabadwip Dham Railway Station is seventh longest railway station of India.
Bishnupriya railway station is another Halt station of Nabadwip, 107 km from howrah junction and 38 km from katwa junction.
Nabadwip Dham is 65 km from Bandel,105 km from Howrah and 112 km from Sealdah on the Bandel-Katwa-Azimganj section of Eastern Railway. It has very good railway communication with North Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Odisha and Kolkata.

Bus services

There is a good bus services in Nabadwip. From Nabadwip bus stand, it connect with Krishnanagar, Shantipur, Phulia, Ranaghat, Chakdaha, Nadanghat, Kusumgram, Bardhaman, Karimpur, Samudragarh, Memari, Tarapith Via Katwa etc. A long-distance bus services like Durgapur, Asansol, Siliguri, Dinhata Via Berhampur, Maldah, Coochbehar, Bolpur, Puruliya, Bankura, Suri, Gangarampur provided here.