Cuttack: You must have visited the Millennium city Cuttack, you must have relished Dahibara and Aloodam, the signature food of the city, standing at the corner of one of the 52 markets here.
You must have passed through one of the 53 lanes and by lanes in Cuttack more than once.
Sometimes the names of some of the markets and lanes here must have made you ponder their etymology. And the next moment, you must have stopped stressing your grey cells either because of shortage of time or having no clue and just moved ahead.
In fact, there are interesting stories and history behind the names of the markets, lanes and streets of this city, which used to be the capital of the state, prior to Bhubaneswar.
Here is a market named Kazi Bazaar. Do you know why the market has been christened so?
Well, here is how the market got its name.
A local saying ’52 bazaars 53 galis’ (there are 52 markets and 53 lanes in the city) has long been associated with Cuttack city even though the number of markets and lanes have increased many times over the years.
Cuttack Municipal Corporation’s ward no 13, 15 and 19 form Kazi Bazaar and about 500 families reside here.
According to the written documents of the then chief secretary of government Judge Dudswell Esquire, ‘Kazi’ was an important position in the hierarchy of Muslim ruling system. They were the judges. After the Mughal emperors started ruling over Odisha, Kazis used be one of those important positions that commanded respect in the society.
With the beginning of Muslim rule in Odisha, ‘Munsif’ and ‘Kazi’ were given appointment at courts. Some of these ‘Kazis’ set up colonies in some areas in Cuttack city. Because of their presence here, the market thus got its name Kazi Bazaar.
The most important feature of this area is that here both Hindus and Muslims live together, showing full respect to each other’s religions. The brotherhood they exude nothing short of remarkable.
People of one community take part in the celebration of festivals of the other. They celebrate festivals like Kali Puja, Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja, Kartikeswar Puja, Ganesh Puja, Eid, Ramadan, Bakrid etc with all fervor and enthusiasm.
Kazi Bazaar is first in introducing the silver tableau of Goddess Laxmi during Laxmi Puja. The Durga Mandap and Anleswar Mahadev temple also exist in this area. The shrine of Satyapeer also coexists here.
The Government Girls’ High School established in the year 1919 has long been a popular attraction for kids in Kazi Bazaar. BhaktaMadhu Bidyapeeth is another school in the area. It was initially known as Town Victoria School.
Among others, former Chief Minister Biswanath Das, Kabichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak and senior advocate G A R Dora were the residents of this area.
The residents here have been experiencing many problems with water logging being on the top. A slight drizzling leaves the residents here in knee high water in their houses. Local residents allege that they have taken up the issue with the administration on so many occasions but to no avail.
PNN
