localities along and near the river, south of Calcutta as far as the sea. Just to the north of the town is the village of Baránagar, in Calcutta Parganá. This place was formerly a Dutch factory; and during the greater part of the last century the Dutch vessels anchored here on their way to Chinsura. It is said to have been originally a Portuguese settlement, and to have been a seat of considerable trade when Calcutta was as yet the abode of the tiger.
Dakhineswar, the next village up the river, is also situated in Parganá Calcutta. It contains a powder magazine and a few country houses of European gentlemen. It is also noted for its twelve beautiful temples in honour of Siva, on the river side, built by a Hindu lady named Rás Mani Dásí, a wealthy landholder of Ján Bázár, Calcutta.
Ariadaha, a thriving village in Parganá Calcutta, half-way between Calcutta and Barrackpur.
Agarpara, a small village a mile or so farther north, is known for its church and orphan refuge, raised through the instrumentality of Mrs. Wilson, and affording accommodation for a hundred and fifty orphan children. The church is 81 by 54 feet, and 31 feet in height, with a tower of 74 feet, and is capable of holding five hundred people. It was completed in 1840, at a cost of £1500.
Khardah, a small station of the Eastern Bengal Railway, situated on the Húglí a little north of Agarpárá, in Parganá Calcutta, but within Bárásat Subdivision. The following story is told by the people regarding the foundation of the village:—Nityánand, one of the disciples of Chaitanya, had located himself as an ascetic on the banks of the Húglí. One day about dusk he heard the lamentations of a woman, and went to her, when she told him that her only daughter had just died. Upon looking at the body, Nityánand said that the girl was only sleeping. The mother thereupon made a vow that if he would restore her daughter, he should have her for his wife. The saint immediately revived the girl, and wedded her. Being now a married man, he required a house to live in, and asked the landlord of the place for a plot of land for a site. The latter, to mock him, took a piece of straw (khar) and threw it into an eddy (daha) of the river, telling him to take up his residence there. Nityánand’s sanctity, however, was such that the eddy immediately dried up, and left a convenient site for a dwelling. Hence the village has taken the name of Khardah. Nityánand’s son Bírbhadra was thus the progenitor of the Goswámís or Gosáins of
