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Lal Dighi (meaning Red Pool) is a body of water in the middle of B. B. D. Bagh, earlier known as Tank Square or Dalhousie Square, in the heart of Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. ==History== Lal Dighi in Dihi Kalikata was there before the arrival of Job Charnock.〔Cotton, H.E.A., ''Calcutta Old and New'', 1909/1980, p. 18, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.〕Sabarna Roy Choudhury had a kutchery (court-house) and a temple of its family deity Shyam Rai, near Lal Dighi. It was so named possibly because of the red colour the water acquired during dol, the festival of colours. The court-house was first taken on rent and later purchased by the British East India Company.〔Patree, Purnendu, ''Purano Kolkatar Kathachitra'', , pp. 154-5, 3rd edition, 1995, Dey’s Publishing, ISBN 81-7079-751-9〕 There are other theories and stories about Lal Dighi. Some say that the reflection of the red colour of the old fort used to sparkle in the water of the tank and so it acquired its name.〔 According to another school of belief, Lalchand Basak, had dug the immense pond and it came to be known as Lal Dighi after his name. Prankrishna Dutta had given yet another history in ''Nabyabharat''. According to him, the tank was dug by either Mukundaram Seth of Gobindapur or his son. He had a court house there, where dol festival was celebrated in a big way. The tank became red or crimson with the colours used and hence the name.〔 Whatever may have been its beginning, it was deepened and lengthened in 1709 and converted from a dirty pond full of weeds and noxious matter into a much needed reservoir of sweet water.〔 In the 18th century Tank Square was, ‘in the middle of the city’. It covers upwards of of ground. ‘It was dug” says the Dutch admiral Stavorinus who visited the settlement in 1770, ‘by order of Government, to provide the inhabitants of Calcutta with water, which is very sweet and pleasant. The number of springs which it contains makes the water in it almost on the same level. It is railed around, no one may wash in it.’ The tank was formerly more extensive, but was cleansed and embanked completely in Warren Hastings’ time. It has always been esteemed the sweetest water in Calcutta, and until the introduction of municipal water supply, was the chief source of supply of drinking water to the European community.〔Cotton, H.E.A., p 268-9〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lal Dighi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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