Serampore Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Serampore Town
(Srtramfur). Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in Hooghly District, Bengal, situated in 22 45' N. and 88 21' E., on the right bank of the Hooghly river, opposite Barrackpore, The population increased from 24,440 in 1872 to 25,559 in 1881, to 35,952 in 1891, and to 44,45* in 1901, the progress being due to the important mills which it contains. Of the total, 80 per cent, are Hindus and 19 per cent. Musalma"ns, while of the remainder 405 are Christians.
Serampore was originally a settlement of the Danes, who remained here until 1845, when by a treaty with the King of Denmark all the Danish possessions in India, consisting of the towns of Tranquebar and Serampore (or Frederiksnagar, as it was called) and a small piece of ground at Balasore, formerly occupied as a Danish factory, were sold to the East India Company for 1 2-| lakhs of rupees. Serampore was the scene of the labours of the famous Baptist missionaries, Carey, Marshman, and Ward ; and the mission, in connexion with which its founder established a church, school, and library, still flourishes.
Two great melas, the Snanjatra and the Rathjatra, are annually held in the Mahesh and Ballabhpur suburbs of the town. At the first the image of Jagannath is brought from his temple at Mahesh and bathed; at the second and more important the image is dragged to the temple of a brother god, Radhaballabh, and brought back after an eight days' visit. During these days an important fair is held at Mahesh, which is very largely attended, as many as 50,000 persons being present on the first and last days of the festival. The town contains several important mills, and silk- and cotton-weaving by hand is also largely carried on ; other industries are silk-dyeing, brick-making, pottery, and mat-making.
Serampore was constituted a municipality in 1865. The income during the decade ending 1901-2 averaged Rs. 55,000, and the expenditure Rs. 53,000, In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 60,000, including Rs. 29,000 derived from a tax on houses and lands, Rs. 16,000 from a conservancy rate, Rs. 5,000 from tolls, Rs. 1,600 from a tax on vehicles, Rs. 1,500 from a tax on professions, &c., and Rs. 2,000 from the municipal market, which is held in a corrugated iron building. The incidence of taxation was Rs. 1-3-5 P er nea( ^ f the population. In the same year the expenditure was Rs. 54,000, the chief items being Rs. 3,000 spent on lighting, Rs. 9,000 on drainage, Rs. 19,000 on conservancy, Rs. 7,000 on medical relief, Rs. 4,000 on roads, and Rs. 2,000 on education. The town contains 37 miles of metalled and 18 miles of unmetalled roads.
The chief buildings are the courts, which occupy the site of the old Danish Government House, the school (late the college), the Danish (now the English) church built by subscription in 1805, the Mission chapel, the Roman Catholic chapel, a sub-jail with accommodation for 28 prisoners, which was formerly the Danish courthouse, a dispensary with 42 beds, and the temples of Radha- ballabh at Ballabhpur and of Jagannath at Mahesh. The former college, which was founded by the three Serampore missionaries, is now a high school. It possesses a fine library in which are several historic pictures, and had 312 boys on the rolls in 1902; attached to it is a training school for native pastors of the Baptist Church. There are 3 other high schools, 6 middle vernacular schools, and 15 primary schools, of which 4 are for girls. A public library is maintained by subscriptions.
