Jorasanko is an urban place in northern part of Kolkata. It is so called because of the two wooden or bamboo bridges that spanned a small stream at this point. It was creek at that time now it was made as roadway to go to Tagore Palace.
Popularity of Jorasanko
Apart from the distinguished seat of the Tagore family, traditionally known as the Jorasanko Thakur Bari, it was also home of the Singhas including Kaliprasanna Singha, the Pals including Krishnadas Pal, and the families of Dewan Banarasi Ghosh, Gokul Chandra Daw, Narsingha Chandra Daw, Prafulla Chandra Gain, and Chandramohan Chatterji. It was earlier known as Mechuabazar.
Social Institutions of Jorasanko
Adi Brahmo Samaj, the Jorasanko Bharati Natya Samaj, the Kalikata Haribhakti Pradayani Sabha, the Minerva Library and Oriental Seminary are the social institutions in Jorasanko. The Oriental Seminary started in 1829 by the educator Gour Mohan Addy which was one of the earliest privately run, first-rate, Hindu supported modern school in Kolkata, open to middle and lower middle-class Hindu boys only. Rabindra Bharati University, the third university in Kolkata, was set up in 1962 in the Tagore family"s house at Jorasanko, primarily as a centre for music and fine arts.
Rabindra Sarani and Jorasanko
Jorasanko is located on Rabindra Sarani. It is the great thoroughfare, which commencing is in the extreme south and assumes the various names of Russa Road, Chowringhee Road, Bentick Street, Chitpur Road and Barrackpore Trunk Road forms a continuation of the Dum Dum Road and was the old line of communication between Murshidabad and Kalighat. It is said to occupy the site of the old road made by the Sabarna Roy Choudhurys, the old zemindars of Kolkata, from Barisha, where the junior branch resided, to Halisahar, beyond Barrackpore, which was the seat of the senior branch. Some people refer to the entire stretch through which Chitpur Road ran as Chitpur.
Jorasanko Natyashala in Modern Bengal
There were two Jorasanko Natyashalas. The earlier one was organised by Peary Mohan Bose at his house on Banarasi Ghose Street, in Jorasanko. Ganendranath Tagore established the second Jorasanko Natyasala, a home theatre, in 1865 and staged Krishnakumari written by Michael Madhusudan Dutt that year itself. Young Jyotirindranath had the first opportunity to act in it in the role of Ahalya devi. At first men played women"s roles, but subsequently women of the family also acted before an audience of friends and relatives and even late before the public.
Related Articles
Kolkata
West Bengal, Indian State
Tourism in Kolkata
History of Kolkata
Chitpur
Sutanati
Gobindapur
