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Visit to Dhanyakuria – Day trip during Durga Puja

Dhanyakuria is a quaint little town located in the Basirhat sub division of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. This place is quite famous during the month of Durga Puja where thousands of people from across the country do pay a visit to witness the beautiful Palaces and the festivities surrounding them. So the next time if you are planning to spent a day a little bit away from all the hustle bustle of the big cities during the festival then you should definitely pay a visit Dhanyakuria.

Visit to Dhanyakuria – Day trip during Durga Puja : History of the place

As per history, few wealthy landlords during the British era have come and settled here in this place building huge mansions and castles to showcase their wealth. They seamlessly copied the European style of architecture for their huge mansions and blended with the regional structure as well. This was earlier a part of the mangrove region of Sundarbans, but once a wealthy trader called Jagannath Das came and redeveloped this region clearing all the forest lands, economy started booming since then. After Das, there were lot of traders who came down and settled in this place.

Visit to Dhanyakuria – Day trip during Durga Puja : How to reach

By Road – Dhanyakuria is around 50 km from Kolkata and can easily be reached by roadways. We have not seen any direct buses from Kolkata city so cannot comment on that but we have definitely seen people taking their own vehicle or on hire to visit the place. There are two ways you can reach the place : One via Rajarhat and taking the Basirhat/Taki Road and the other one from Science city and taking the Basanti Highway which is 95 km almost. The second one will take much longer time compared to the first route ofcourse.

By Railways – The nearest railway station to Dhanyakuria is Kankra Mirzangar and it falls in the Sealdah-Hasnabad line. You can also get down near Basirhat and take public transport to reach Dhanyakuria.

By Airline – Nearest airport is Kolkata International Airport. Once you get down take the Basirhat/Taki road via Rajarhat to reach there.

Visit to Dhanyakuria – Day trip during Durga Puja : Best time to Visit

Like our header suggests the best time to visit this place is of course during the month of September and October during the Grand Durga Puja Festival. But we have seen lot of people travelling during winters as well from November-February .

Visit to Dhanyakuria – Day trip during Durga Puja : Places to visit

  • Gaine Rajbari 
  • Sawoo Mansion
  • Ballav Bari
  • Gaine mansion and garden

The road which leads to Dhanyakuria is picturesque. You would actually be able to witness rural side of things of Bengal away from all the chaos of the big cities. Small houses, with large agricultural fields with small little ponds situated here and there will be a treat to the eyes. But once you enter the place you will be awestruck with the architectures .

We parked our own private vehicle near the Dhanyakuria High School and walked straight around 200 meters to witness the beautiful Gaine Rajbari.

Gaine Rajbari

The Gaine Rajbari was built in 19th century by Gobinda Chandra Gaine and his son Mahendranath Gaine. The beautiful structure of the Rajbari was influenced by European and Islamic structure. As soon as you enter you will be awestruck with its beauty. It is often used for movies as well. When we entered we found few of the family members who just finished their offerings to Maa Durga and was heading towards the sitting area to take some rest. The beautiful idol of Maa Durga is also worth mentioning as well.

Sawoo Mansion

Although it was closed during the day of Saptami when we went there, Sawoo mansion is also quite a prominent landmark in Dhanyakuria. It was built by Patit Chandra Sawoo. The mansion is created using Corinthian pillars. The mansion is inhabited currently and is looked after by the caretakers of the family. It is not as maintained as the Gaine Rajbari or Ballav Bari, but the Sawoo Rajbari is indeed grand from within if you could get a chance to enter.

Ballav Bari

Just few meters from Sawoo mansion we have the majestic Ballav Bari which was built by Shyamacharan Ballav around 150 years ago. The mansion was beautifully decorated on the occasion of Durga Puja and we also saw few currently residing family members inside it. The most unique feature which caught our eye were the 3 dolls at the entrance gate which resembles European culture and architecture. Its is locally called Putul Bari. It is painted white and green as the others mansions of this time. Also you can witness huge photographs of the erstwhile zamindars and prominent family members hung on the corridors of the thakurdalan.

Gaine mansion and garden

When you take the lane towards Dhanyakuria from the Kolkata/Basirhat road, just Infront of the road you will be able to witness the Gaine garden and mansion. This is closed for public, but we could get a glimpse from the outside and it looked like straight out from a movie set. The architecture resembles the Gothic style of art. This palace was the garden retreat of the family built by Gobinda Chandra Gaine. The two towers connected by an arch as the gate of the castle is definitely worth a click for social media consumption. The road which leads to the castle from the main gate is filled with long grass and it signifies that its not well maintained at this moment.

Visit to Dhanyakuria – Day trip during Durga Puja : Conclusion

As it was raining heavily, we did not get much time to explore the town properly. But we would definitely come back in the near future to find out what more treasure is hidden in this beautiful region. The place just lit’s up during the Durga puja festival and walking by foot to explore the area will be the best thing to do which we did as well. Note, there are not many restaurants or eateries in this region, hence when you come either you carry your own food or have lunch in a restaurant on the way. The majestic castle for which this place is famous for had definitely filled up our hearts with joy and pleasure. Also if you want to plan your next trip in some other areas of Bengal or India, do check out our Blogs section for that.

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