District Court Hooghly

HISTORICAL DETAILS

Chinsurah Sadar Sub-Division:
The town of Hooghly-Chuchura was founded by the Portuguese in 1579. But, the district has thousands of years of rich heritage in the form of the great Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut. The city flourished as a trading port and some religious structures were built. One such structure is a Church dedicated to a Charismatic statue of the Mother Mary brought by the Portuguese. In the 17th century, political disorder struck the city and the Mughal governor of Bengal expelled the Portuguese. The statue was lost in the river by the Portuguese when fleeing. The statue was later found by the local people on the bank of the river. The arrested Portuguese were taken to Delhi where a death sentence of trampling by elephants was decreed. When the emperor Shah Jahan heard this he ordered the priests released and granted a piece of land on the bank of the river Hooghly where the statue of the Mother Mary was reestablished. There a church was constructed to house the statue, which still receives pilgrims today. The church was renovated in 1980s and has been declared as a balilica by the authority of[...]