Halisahar... my beautiful home town

Kumarapala of the Pala dynasty for the first time established a port at the bank of the confluence of the Jamuna and Hooghly rivers during the second half of the 11th century AD. The place was styled after him Kumara-hatta. Vijaysena (AD 1119-1158) of the Sena dynasty established his capital at Kumarhatta and the place was christened Vijaypura- the capital of a vast empire which consisted of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and a larger part of Assam. During the Muslim invasion of Bengal led by Muhammad-bin- Bakhtyár-Khilji, general of Muhammad Ghori, many Hindus fled to this city of Kumarhatta; it led to the development of the age old civilization of the region. Later under the Muslim rule Kumarhatta-Vijaypura was renamed Haveli Sahar- the city of Palaces. The Halisahar name of the place is believed to be a modified version of Haveli sahar. Abul-Fazal might had given the allusion of this name of the place in his Ain-ee-Akbari. There this member of the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, recorded an annual revenue collection of Haveli Sahar as 8093 sikka.

Culturally it was famous for ‘Toles’ for Sanskrit teachings. ‘Halisahar Patrika’ was published in the mid 19th century, ‘Sangbad Prabhakar’ in 1931.