a subdivisional town in the district of the Twentyfour Parganas, Bengal, India. For a considerable time Barasat town was the headquarters of a joint magistracy, known as the "Barasat District," but in 1861, on a readjustment of boundaries Barasat district was abolished by order of government, and was converted into a subdivision of the Twenty-four Parganas. Pop. (1901) 8634. It forms a striking illustration of the rural character of the so-called "towns" in Bengal, and is merely an agglomeration of 41 separate villages, in which all the operations of husbandry go on precisely as in the adjacent hamlets.