Buddha Purnima Celebration at Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Kolkata
Buddha Purnima Celebration at Fo Guang Shan Monastery
Tangra (New Chinatown) Kolkata
Also see: My blog post on Calcutta (Kolkata) Chinatown and Buddhist Temple of Kolkata (Calcutta)
It was 21 May 2016 and the world celebrated the Buddha Purnima (Purnima means full moon), which marked the birth of Lord Buddha.
Strangely, even according to the lunar calendar, the birth of Lord Buddha is not constant and is celebrated on different days in different countries all over Asia.
Achipur ~ Birth Place of Calcutta Chinatown
Achipur
~ Birth Place of Calcutta Chinatown ~
In the late 18th century a Chinese tea trader by the name of Tong Achew landed on the banks of Hooghly, somewhere near present day Budge – Budge, never to return again. The then Governor General Warren Hasting granted land to Achew to set up a sugar cane plantation and sugar factory. According to records to British East India Company “Achew was granted 650 bighas of land about 6 miles south of Budge – Budge for an annual rent of Rs 45.”
After acquiring the land Achew set up a sugar – cane plantation along with a sugar mill. He brought in a band of Chinese workers to work in his plantation and factory and thus forming the first Chinese settlement in India. But Achew died soon after and his sugar factory was abandoned. His workers left for the city of Calcutta, where their descendents still continue to live.