Lal Dighi

Lal Dighi 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.HistoryLal Dighi in Dihi Kalikata was there before the arrival of Job Charnock.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.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.