GUWAHATI, Nov 22 � Many parts of the city have lost their original names and new developments have covered them under the blanket of oblivion, said renowned writer Kumudeswar Hazarika while talking to this newspaper. Hazarika, a former principal of the city-based Sonaram Higher Secondary School, has been studying the history of the city for the past about two decades.
Driving home his point, Hazarika said the Kukurmuta area is unknown to many of the present-day Guwahatians. The place attained this name because of the abundantly available species of mushroom there. This species was called kukurmutta in Hindi. A good number of people of Bihar origin used to reside in the area during the pre-independence period.
The Kukurmuta area was located between the present Assam State Museum and the Silpukhuri, which was earlier known as the Na-Konia (nonagonal) Pukhuri.
Its southern boundary was the Company Bagan Road, presently known as Dr Surya Kumar Bhuyan Road. Its northern boundary was the presently extinct south-eastern part of Solabeel.
Kukurmuta is now known as Dighalipukhuri East, Railway Colony, Ambari, Hedayatpur, Panchavati and Silpukhuri West.
Similarly, the Latasil area of the bygone days was spread up to Rajabari and Chatrakar on the north-eastern side and Happy Villa, Barowari and parts of Chenikuthi on the southern side.
A part of the western area of Latasil was known as Panbazar.
During the Ahom rule, part of Latasil, along with Uzanbazar, was known as Athkhelia and Barokhelia villages. The Panbazar part was the place of the Panjoganiar Khel during the Ahom rule. This khel used to supply betel leaves to the Borphukan�s howly (campus). From this originated the name Panbazar.
The southern part of the city adjacent to Kukurmuta was earlier known as Ketekibari due to the availability of keteki flowers in abundance there. But the rail track, the Guwahati Railway Station, the railway colony, Tokobari Sattra and Paltan Bazar made Ketekibari extinct.
The name Chatribari originated from a girls� hostel set up by the Christian Missionaries in the 1930s.
Durgasarovar area was known as Itapukhuri as a brick kiln set up during the early part of the British rule by the side of an Ahom-era tank. This part of the city now includes south-western part of Santipur, Kalipur, Durgasarovar and Bhutnath.
Fancy Bazar area was in fact known as Phansi Bazar, because of the jail and its gallows. In municipal records too, the area is known as Phansi Bazar. But under the influence of the Hindi-speaking traders it later assumed the name Fancy Bazar.
Significantly, the market located in Fancy Bazar was initially known as the Sadar Bazar and then Phansi Bazar.
Earlier, the Borphukan�s howly was located at the site where the Fancy Bazar jail is situated. The howly was later shifted to the site where the Panbazar water supply works and Cotton College are situated now.
Strand Road became the Mahatma Gandhi Road. Earlier, between Bharalumukh and Uzanbazar Pakighat (now Mathuramohanghat) was known as the Lower Strand Road and from Uzanbazar Pakighat to the Raj Bhawan it was known as the Upper Strand Road.
The Rohini Kumar Choudhury Road by the eastern side of the Bharalu was known as the Western Boundary Road. The Sir Sadulla Road, Gopinath Bordoloi Road (between Panbazar Overbridge and Silpukhuri), Maniram Dewan Road (between Silpukhuri East and Bamunimaidam Industrial Estate) and Noonmati Road (between Bamunimaidam Industrial Estate and Refinery) were known as Noonmati Road, said the noted writer.
