Kharagpur, West Bengal - History

History

Historically, Kharagpur was a part of the Hijli Kingdom and ruled by Hindu Oriya rulers as a feudatory under Gajapati Kings of Orissa. Historians claim that in the 16th century, Kharagpur was still a small village surrounded by dense forests. The village was on high rocky barren land. The only inhabited settlement near Kharagpur was Hijli. Hijli was a small island village on the banks of River Rasulpur in the delta of Bay of Bengal. It developed into a port town in 1687. Hijli was also a Province and was in existence till 1886. It covered parts of Bengal and Orissa. It had important towns like Tamluk, Panskura, Debra along with Kelghai & Haldi rivers on the north, south and east sides bounded by Bay of Bengal and Kharagpur, Keshiary, Dantan and Jaleswar on the west.

Hijli was ruled by Taj Khan who was the disciple of Guru Peer Mackdram Sha Chisti. It was also ruled by Kushan, Gupta and Pal dynasties, and by the Mughals. It is said that Hijli had excellent business and trade centers with judiciary, jail and administrative offices during the reign of Hindu Kings and during the Moghul Raj. Hijli Province was at its peak in 1754 AD and was highly prosperous during this period. The capital of Hijli was in Bahiri up to 1628 A.D. and was shifted to Hijli afterwards.

In the 18th century another port town Khejuri came into existence, primarily set up by the British for carrying out trade with European countries. Khejuri was also an island set up on the banks of River Koukhali in the delta region. Development of this region because of Khejuri and Hijli Port can be gauged by the fact that the first Indian Telegraph Office was established in 1852 connecting Khejuri with Calcutta. In the devastating cyclone of 1864, both the ports got destroyed. The islands have since got merged with the mainland.

Captain Nicolson was the first English colonialist to invade Hijli and captured the port. In 1687 Job Charnock with soldiers and warships captured Hijli defeating Hindu & Mughal defenders. After the war with the Mughals, a treaty was signed between Job Charnock and the Mughal Emperor. The loss suffered by Job Charnock forced him to leave Hijli and proceed towards Uluberia while the Mughal Emperor continued to rule the Province. From there they finally settled at Sutanuti in Kolkata for establishing their business in Eastern India. This was the start of East India Company in India. Hijli as we know it today, is only a very small part of erstwhile Hijli Province and was created for establishing administrative offices by the British in the 19th century. It is curious that almost the entire Kharagpur division of today has boundaries identical to Hijli Province.

The name of Kharagpur derived from the name of old Shiva temple called ‘Khargeswar’ located at Kharagpur. The Temple was established by King Kharag Singh Pal and was named after him. The place of Kharagpur has mythological importance too. As depicted in Mahabharata, this area was ruled by the Demon King Hiramba. Pancha Pandavas spent a part of their repatriation years here. Bhim had fallen in love with Hirimba, sister of Hiramba. This annoyed Hiramba who clashed with Bhim. It was believed that Hiramba was killed by Bhim at the same place where Khargeswar Temple is located.