Saptagram
Village in Hooghly district, West Bengal
Saptagram (colloquially called Satgaon) was an ancient major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times of Bengal, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is about 4 km from Bandel, a major rail junction. By the early twentieth century, the place had dwindled to a group of insignificant huts. The port had to be abandoned because of the silting up and consequent drying of the Saraswati River.
01Etymology
The word Saptagram means seven villages. These are identified as Bansberia, Kristapur, Basudebpur, Nityanandapur, Sibpur, Sambachora and Baladghati.
02History
According to Binoy Ghosh, Tamralipta, the ancient port, started declining from the 8th century, owing to river silting, and Saptagram possibly started gaining in importance as a port from the 9th to 10th century. The Saptagram port, along with its business centre, had become important in the pre-Muslim era, during the rule of the Palas and Senas. In the Muslim era, Saptagram was an important administrative centre right from the beginning, and the period 14th to 16th century was considered the golden age of Saptagram. In 1565, Maharaja Rudranarayan of Bhurshut annexed it from the Pathans. In 1592, Saptagram was recaptured by the Pathans. In the 17th century, Bandel-Hooghly-Chinsurah started gaining in importance. From the 18th century, Kolkata started emerging as the main business and cultural centre of Bengal.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Saptagram”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- সপ্তগ্রাম হুগলী তে বর্তমান সরস্বতী নদীর অবস্থা.jpg by Pinaki1983, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sayed Jamaluddin Mosque in Saptagram 08.jpg by Pinakpani, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Silver Tanka of the Delhi Sultan Ghiyath al-din Jalal Shah, struck in Satgaon.jpg by Billjones94, CC0
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