Churni River

"Churni" redirects here. For other uses, see Churni (disambiguation).

Churni River
A stretch of Churni river, Radhanagar-Kalinarayanpur
Native name	চূর্ণী (Bengali)
Location
Country	India
State	West Bengal
Cities	Ranaghat
Physical characteristics
Source	Mathabhanga
• location	Majhdia
Mouth	Bhagirathi
• location	Mangaldwip
Length	53 km (33 mi)

The Churni River is a distributary of the Mathabhanga River and a tributary of the Hooghly River, flowing through Nadia district in West Bengal, India. The Mathabhanga River itself is a distributary of the Padma River. The Mathabhanga-Churni is one of the three Nadia Rivers —Bhagirathi, Jalangi, and Mathabhanga. The Mathabhanga-Churni system is also an Indo-Bangladesh transboundary river.

Course

Char-Mahishkunadi village is located to the east of Char-Madhugori, along the northeastern border of Karimpur-1 block. To the east of the border fence of Char-Mahishkunadi lies a narrow bypass channel of the Padma River in Bangladesh. The Mathabhanga River branches off from this bypass channel at coordinates 24° 03' 43 N and 88° 44' 21 E. However, the Mathabhanga is "beheaded" because its source from the Padma feeder channel is blocked by a large sandbar, except during the monsoon when water flows for one or two months. The Mathabhanga River runs 196.40 km from its offtake at Char-Mahishkunadi to Pabakhali near Majdia, where it splits into the Churni and Ichhamati rivers. The right-bank distributary of the Mathabhanga River is the Churni River. From Majdia, the Churni flows northwest to Shibnibas, then southeast, passing through Chandannagar, Benali, Hanskhali, Bapujinagar, Byaspur, Aranghata, Kailarayanpur, Ranaghat, and Masunda, before emptying into the Hooghly River at Shibpur. The Churni River covers a distance of approximately 53 km from its source at Pabakhali near Majdia to its confluence with the Hooghly River at Shibpurrr (23°07′58″ N, 88°30′08″ E), although other sources report it as 56 km. The sediment deposited at the confluence of the Churni and Hooghly rivers has created 'Mangaldwip' island, which now hosts an Eco-Tourism Park.

History

In various cultural narratives—including popular folklore, newspaper columns, local literature, and some research articles —the Churni River is consistently described as an artificially constructed canal. These accounts credit Maharaja Krishnachandra of Nadia with creating this waterway by diverting a segment of the Ichamati River's flow. The river was named 'Churni,' meaning 'female thief' . In 1742, fearing a Bargi invasion, Maharaja Krishnachandra is said to have shifted his capital from Krishnagar to Shibnibas, where he built a moat around the new capital and connected it by cutting the artificial Churni River to make the area impassable to invaders.

A thorough review of existing literatures 'Nadia Kahini,' (Mallik, Kumudnath 1919) 'Kshitish Vansabali Charita, (Ray, Kartikeya Chandra 1876)' and 'Sri Maharaj Krishnachandra Rayasya Charitang’ (Mukhopadhyay, Rajeev Lochan 1811) and an analysis of the current channel morphology of the river reveals that the myths and rumors about its origins—claiming it was artificially constructed by Maharaja Krishnachandra—are unsupported by evidence. Instead, a more likely explanation suggests that the Maharaja's efforts were directed at restoring the silted and deteriorating course of an already existing river. Additionally, there is no evidence to support the claim that Maharaja Krishnachandra named the river 'Churni'. As recently as the 1930s, the river was an important route for water travel and trade. However, in the 21st century it has partly silted up, has many small bars, and is no longer navigable.

Gallery

• 
  Mathabhanga divides into Churni and Ichhamati near Pabakhali , Majhdia of Nadia
• 
  Churni meets Bhagirathi river near Shibpur, Payradanga of Nadia
• 
  Polluted dark water filled with water hyacinth in a stretch of river near Ranaghat, Nadia