Home > Sites > Bansberia

Ananta Vasudeva Temple

Base Frieze
Bansberia

This town located about 50 km north of Kolkata in the Hooghly district was once part of a large urban settlement called Satgaon, an important port town in medieval Bengal. Its importance in pre-Muslim Bengal was religious, owing to its location at the Tribeni or confluence of three rivers (Ganga, Jamuna, and Saraswati). After Muslim occupation in the late 13th century (by a Ghazi or warrior-saint named Zafar Khan) it continued to be an important city under the Tughlaks, as a military base, mint-town and port. After the Mughal conquest of Bengal in the mid-16th century, the city started to decline due to the loss of royal patronage, but some areas such as Bansberia continued to prosper upto the 19th century, sponsored by semi-independent zamindars who built several temples in the area. >>

Photos and Text © Amit Guha Back to Sites Feedback