Baithak-khana Bazar


  • Located amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the busiest thoroughfares of Kolkata, Baithakkhana bazar is an ancient market place in the Bowbazar area. 
  • It was one of the largest paper markets in India which has lost its importance today due to emergence of digital technology. 
  • It is also one of the largest retail groceries and FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) markets of eastern India and one of the oldest wholesale markets for vegetables and fish in the city. 
  • As one passes through the place, the variety of marketable commodities holds one in awe. 
  • Boytaconnah Street, as per Lt. Col. Mark Wood’s map of 1784, was the area east of Lal Bazar to Circular Road, which ran along the filled-in Marhatta Ditch and is now Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road. 
  • In Bengali language Baithakkana means drawing room for gathering and chatting. According to legend, in this area under a ‘Bat-tola’ (banyan tree) to Job Charnock met his native acquaintances and chatted with them and complete his business dealings. People gradually started calling the place ‘Baithakkhana’ or a drawing-room.
  • This was an area where merchants loaded and dispersed their caravans, sheltered by an old banyan tree (called a peepul tree in Cotton), 
  • Today, the road stretching from B.B. Ganguly Street (Bowbazar) to Mahatma Gandhi Road is called Baithakkhana Road, and the market along the road at the easternmost part of B.B. Ganguly Street as Baithakkhana Bazar.
  • Adjacent to the Sealdah Railway Station and adjoining the Baithakkhana bazar, is the Koley market or Koley babur bazar, named after its founder Nafar Kumar Koley. This wholesale vegetable market remains open 24 hours, each day of the year. Indigenous and exotic vegetables are all available at a reasonable rate. 
References: 

https://www.getbengal.com/details/kolkatas-sitting-room-the-baithakkhana-bazar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeduaJAOWb4


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