Ben: রাণাঘাট rāṇāghāṭa
‘Red Ghat’ City, West Bengal
From Ben: rāṅā, ‘red’, ‘scarlet’; and ghāṭa, ‘landing-stage (on riverbank)’, ‘quay’.
Ranaghat is famous for flowers, flower gradens, flower markets, floriculture and handloom. Possibly this lent the city it a bit of colour or maybe it was the local buildings or temples.
Local stories tell of a Kali-worshipping bandit king called ‘Rana Dacoit’, who terrorised this area a few hundred years ago.
For related place names see Indian Place names and West Bengal place names.
