Antpur

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Antpur
Antpur
State - District(s)	West Bengal - Hooghly
Coordinates	22.46° N 88.2° E
Area
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Population - Density	-
Codes - Postal - Telephone - Vehicle	- 712424 - +91 3212 25 -

Antpur is a village in Hooghly District in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is around 20 km from Tarakeswar, the famous temple town and railhead for the Sheoraphuli-Tarakeswar section.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Transport
4 References
5 External link
6 See also

[edit] History

The most famous temple in Antpur is that of Radhagovindjiu with exquisite terracotta carvings depicting stories from all the 18 puranas. This 100 feet high temple was constructed by Krishna Ram Mitra, the Diwan of Bardhaman Raj in 1708. Its Chandi Mandap and Dol Mancha have beautifully crafted wood carvings. ^[1]

The period when the temple was built was important. Muslim rule was ebbing out and the Europeans were making forays into the country. It is said that Krishna Ram Mitra built the temple to enthuse the Hindus. Terracota work which was earlier an exclusive preserve of Bishnupur artisans was no more so. While Radha and Krishna are predominant in the carvings, there also is the goddess Durga, whose worship had been revived in a big way by Nabakrishna Deb of Shovabazar Rajbari in 1757. ^[2]

Besides the main temple of Radhagovindjiu are the temples of Gangadhara, Fuleswara, Rameswara, Jaleswara and Baneswara.

It was at the village home of Baburam Ghosh (later Swami Premananda) at Antpur that Swami Vivekananda and eight other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna took a vow of ‘sannyasa’ on 24 December 1886. The Ramakrishna-Premananda Ashram of Antpur has built a temple on the birth-place of Swami Pramananda. ^[3]

[edit] Economy

Rajbalhat, 15 minutes by bus from Antpur, is famous for handloom saris. ^[4]

[edit] Transport

Now, one has to go to Antpur by road either directly from Kolkata or from Tarakeswar or Haripal. Earlier Antpur was station on the Howrah-Amta-Chapadanga-Shiakhala narrow-gauge route of the Martin Light Railway Company, a private rail service established in 1892. The rail company was shut down in the 1950s, and the tourist flow to the village declined gradually after that. ^[5] ^[6]