Sagar Island

"Gangasagar" redirects here. For the village in eastern Karnataka, see Gangasagara.
Sagar Island
সাগর দ্বীপ
Island
Sagar Island
Sagar Island

Location in West Bengal, India

Coordinates: 21°48′N 88°06′E / 21.8°N 88.1°E / 21.8; 88.1Coordinates: 21°48′N 88°06′E / 21.8°N 88.1°E / 21.8; 88.1
Country India
State West Bengal
District South 24 Parganas
Languages
 • Official Bengali, English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Lok Sabha constituency Mathurapur (SC)
Vidhan Sabha constituency Sagar
Website s24pgs.gov.in

Sagar island is an island in the Ganges delta, lying on the continental shelf of Bay of Bengal about 100 km (54 nautical miles) south of Kolkata.This Island under South 24 Parganas District in India State West Bengal. It belongs to the Republic of India and is governed by the State government of West Bengal. The island is large — with an area of 224.3 km², lying between 21°36’ to 21°56’ north latitude and 88°2’ to 88° 11’ east latitude.[1] It has 43 villages and a population of over 160,000.[2] The largest village is also named "Ganga Sagar" or "Gangasagar".[1] Although Sagar island is a part of Sunderban Administration, it does not have any tiger habitation or mangrove forests or small river tributaries as is characteristic of the overall sunderban delta.

This island, also known as Gangasagar or Sagardwip, is a place of Hindu pilgrimage. Every year on the day of Makar Sankranti (14 January), hundreds of thousands of Hindus gather to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers (puja) in the Kapil Muni Temple.[1]

Kolkata Port Trust has a pilot station and a light house.[2]

Pilgrimage centre

History

Kapil Muni Ashram at Gangasagar

A holy man, Kardam Muni, made a pact with Vishnu that he would undergo the rigours of marital life, on the condition that Vishnu would incarnate as his son. In due time Kapil Muni was born as an incarnation of Vishnu and became a great saint. Kapil Muni’s ashram was located on the island. One day King Sagar's sacrificial horse disappeared; it had been stolen by Indra.

The king sent his 60,000 sons to find it, and they found it next to Kapil Muni's ashram, where Indra had hidden it. Mistaking Kapil Muni for the thief, the sons accused Kapil Muni, who in his wrath at the false accusation burned the sons to ash and sent their souls to Hell. Later having compassion for the King Sagar's sons, Kapil Muni acceded to the prayers of King Sagar's descendants, agreeing to the restoration of the sons, if Parvati in the form of the river goddess Ganga would descend to Earth to perform the Last Ritual (Hindus also called as"Tarpan") of mixing the ashes with holy water (niravapanjali).

Through deep meditation, King Bhagiratha induced Shiva to order Ganga down from heaven and the 60,000 sons were freed (moksha) and ascended to Heaven, but the river Ganges stayed on the Earth.[1][3] The date of the descent of Ganga was at present day15th January of Gregorian Calendar which coincides with Makar Sankranti (When Surya enters Makar Constellation) I.e. "Dakshinyana" .

Pilgrimage

Sunset at Gangasagar.

The Gangasagar fair and pilgrimage is held annually on Sagar Island’s southern tip, where the Ganges enters the Bay of Bengal.[4] This confluence is also called Gangasagar or Gangasagara.[5] Near the confluence is the Kapil Muni Temple.[5] The Gangasagar pilgrimage and fair is the second largest congregation of mankind after the triennial ritual bathing of Kumbha Mela.[6]

In 2007, about 300,000 pilgrims took the holy dip where the Hooghly meets the Bay of Bengal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. Almost five-hundred thousand pilgrims thronged Sagar Island in 2008.[7] For the rest of the year about 500,000 people come to the island.[8]

Travel

Gangasagar Fair Transit Camp, 2012

Road and ferry

From Kolkata, Diamond Harbour Road (NH-117) runs south around 90 km to Harwood Point, near Kakdip, where a ferry runs to Kachuberia at the north end of the island.[9] The Panchyat Samity maintains a parking area near the ferry landing. The ferry travels about 3.5 km across a distributary of the Ganges river (also known as Hooghly River or Muriganga river locally) to reach Kachuberia. Small boats also cross from Harwood Point to Kachuberia. Private cars and buses travel the roughly 32 km to the pilgrimage site at Sagardwip.[5] From the pilgrimage parking area the Kapil Muni Temple is about 200 meters and the Gangasagar confluence is about 700 meters.

Train and ferry

Trains run on the Sealdah South lines from Kolkata through Kakdwip to Namkhana where at Bok-Khali there is a ferry across the Muriganga distributary (Channel Creek) to Sagar Island (Gangasagar).

Air

One can reach Gangasagar by availing Helicopter services operated on every Sunday, facilitated by State Government.

Development proposals

The Government of West Bengal is planning to connect Sagar Island with the mainland with a 3.3 km bridge costing around Rs. 6,000 million.[2][10]

The West Bengal government is also planning to build a deepwater port in Sagar Island.[10] The Indian navy is also interested in using the port on the island.[11]

See also

Sagar Island travel guide from Wikivoyage

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dasgupta, Samira; Mondal, Krishna & Basu, Krishna (2006). "Dissemination of Cultural Heritage and Impact of Pilgrim Tourism at Gangasagar Island" (PDF). Anthropologist. 8 (1): 11–15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 November 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 "Sagar bridge on study table". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 11 September 2007. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011.
  3. ↑ The Mahabharata translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1883 -1896), Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva: Section 107, Section 108 and Section 109.
  4. ↑ "Makar Sankanti festival: Sun's Transition from Sagittarius to Capricorn: Time to visit Gangasagar". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  5. 1 2 3 Abram, David, ed. (2011). "Chapter J: Kolkata and West Bengal". The Rough Guide to India. Penguin. p. 766. ISBN 978-1-4053-8583-1.
  6. ↑ Dawar, Damini (14 January 2014). "Ganga Sagar Mela in West Bengal : A dip for Moksha". Merinews. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Dip, deaths mark Sagar mela finale". The Statesman, 16 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
  8. ↑ Chattopdhyay, Debashis (15 January 2007). "Bridge plea for Sagar tourism". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. Archived from the original on 2007.
  9. ↑ Bindloss, Joseph; et al. (2009). Northeast India. Footscray, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-74179-319-2.
  10. 1 2 Manish, Visakhapatnam (20 September 2013). "Major port at Sagar to be operational by 2019". The Times of India.
  11. ↑ Keck, Zachary (22 December 2013). "China to Sell Bangladesh 2 Submarines". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sagar Island.
External video
Ganga Sagar Mela 2013


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