Guptipara
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Guptipara is a village in Hooghly District of West Bengal. It is an important Vaishnav centre known for its temples and rath. The place has a rich history along with a mix of tradition and legends. Guptipara also plays a significant role in Bengal’s folk music and is the birth place of famous kabial Bhola Moira. Bhola Moira was defeated by Anthony Firingi is a famous musical duel immortalized by Uttam Kumar’s movie. Sweets also play an important role in Guptipara and the first branded sweet of Bengal, Gupo Sandesh originates from Guptipara. Guptipara also happen to the first place for community puja when 12 friends got together to organize the first community durga puja of Bengal. This lead to the introduction of the word Barowari (Baro means 12 and yari means friends) into the Bengali vocabulary.
Understand:
Guptipara is best explored in a day trip from Kolkata. It has a several temple including the Brindaban Chandra Temple complex. The temples of Guptipara follows different temple styles like aat-chala, jor-bangla and ek-ratna. They also have their share of terracotta ornamentations, stucco art along with brightly coloured frescoes. Apart from the Brindaban ChandraComplex there are scattered temples in Guptipara and historic structures in Guptipara. Sweet shops sell Gupo Sandesh and other sweets.
Get in
By Air
By train
- 1 Guptipara railway station.
Get around
Cycle rickshaw is the only option. Charges are about Rs 120 (however there is no fixed price and bargaining is possible).
See
- 1 Bindhyabasini Temple. The place of Bengal's first barowari (publicly organised) Durga Puja which introduced Sri Bindhyabasini Jagaddhatri Puja. Guptipara was a citadel of Vaishnavite culture.
- 2 Brindaban Chandra's Math. It houses four Vaishnava (of Lord Vishnu) temples: Chaitanya, Brindabanchandra, Ramchandra and Krishnachandra. The Ramchandra Temples contain many terracotta works, and the structures bear characteristics of the Bengal school of architecture, with carvings depicting scenes from the epics and Puranas.
- 3 Jagannath Masir Bari, Borobazar. The Temple where the Jagannath idoles are cept during Rathayatra.