Panihati
পানিহাটি
The festival of flattened rice
A very old river town sacred to Bengal’s Vaishnavs. In the early 1500s Nityananda asked the devotee Raghunath Das to feed the gathered devotees flattened rice and curd under a banyan tree by the river; the Danda Mahotsav (Chida-Dahi Utsav) is still held on that spot each summer.
Did you know
- The festival ground by the ghat is called Mahotsavtala.
- Sri Chaitanya is also said to have landed at this ghat on his way back from Puri.
A short walk to try
From Sodepur or Agarpara station take an auto to Mahotsavtala Ghat and walk the riverside lanes to Raghav Bhavan.
Getting there
- Train
- Sodepur or Agarpara
Places to visit in Panihati
- Mahotsavtala Ghat, Panihati: The riverside banyan where the Chida-Dahi festival has been held for five centuries.