Uttarayan Kaal is the best time to start auspicious works in our
country. And Ganga Sagar Mela held during this Makar Sankranti.
Sagardwip - the old island of
Sundarban area in the coast
of Bay of Bengal, and its ancient name is Shwetdwip (the white
island). The southern part of it, where river Ganga meets Sagar, named
Ganga Sagar.
Once upon a time, the Sagardwip was full of inhabitants in an area of
170 square miles. About 2 lakh people plunged in typhoon in the year
1688 and since then, the island remained abandoned for ages. The
foreign merchants and English re-discovered the island abandoned. In
the year 1727, Alexander Hamilton mentioned it as a sacred pilgrimage
for Hindus. Since ancient times, sages and pilgrims used to take holy
dip here. In the eighteenth century, the island became a harbour.
William Hicky wrote in his book 'Memoirs Of William Hicky' that he
landed here from Madras by ship on 1 September 1777. Again in 1808, he
left Calcutta to board on ship at Sagardwip to go to England. After a
few years, new harbour and dock established at Khidirpur in Kolkata
and thus, the importance of Sagardwip as a harbour grew less.
Moreover, recurrent cyclone disrupted the possibilities of inhabitants
to live here. But it was always a place for pilgrims. --
A. B.
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