Tribeni

Tribeni is a small town in Hooghly in the state of West Bengal, India. It was an old holy place for the Hindus. The sanctity of the place has been recognized for many centuries and has been mentioned in Pavana-Dutam, a Sanskrit piece of the last quarter of the 12th century. The Muslims took it over during early phases of their conquest of Bengal.

History & Geography

Tribeni is located at 22°59′N 88°24′E / 22.99°N 88.40°E / 22.99; 88.40.

Tribeni is believed to get its name from the divergence of three rivers, Yamuna, Ganga and Saraswati. The probable earlier names were “Muktaveni”, which distinguished it from Prayag, Allahabad, known as Yuktaveni; “Terbonee” was spelled in James Rennell's map of Bengal in 1781. The River Saraswati surfaces from besides the famous Hindu cremate area, commonly known as ‘Shashan ghat’, towards south west into Saptagram. This leaves the river Ganges, variedly known as Hooghly or Bhagirathi to descend to the sea, along with another holy River, Yamuna engrossed in it. The Yamuna, commonly pronounced as Jamuna in Bengali, had earlier branched off from the Ganges towards south east, but the confluence has silted up with course of time.