Dharmatala (archaic spelling Dharmotola) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Dharmatala Street has been renamed after Lenin as Lenin Sarani but the neighbourhood up to Wellington Square continues to be referred as Dharmatala. It is a busy commercial area that had come up with the growth of Calcutta during the British Raj and is thus one of the repositories of history in the city.

Dharmatala means Holy Street. It is commonly held to derive its name from a large mosque which stood at the site of Cook and Company's livery stables. Some discern the name as a reference to dharma, one of the units of the Buddhist Trinity. There was a Buddhist temple at Janbazar, nearby. Tipu Sultan Mosque at the corner of Chowringhee Road and Dharmatala, was built in 1842, by Prince Gholam Mohammad, son of Tipu Sultan. Binoy Ghosh feels that the name Dharmatala is because of the preeminence of Dharmathakur in olden days. Haris and Doms, who are worshippers of Dharmathakur, predominated the area even in the memorable past.

Dharmatala extends from Chowringhee Road (renamed Jawaharlal Nehru Road) to Nirmal Chandra Street. It is bounded to the north by Bowbazar, the south by Janbazar, the east by Taltala and the west by Maidan.

The neighbourhood is spread over 2 wards: 46 and 47 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

In the 18th century, Dharmatala is described as ‘a well raised causeway, raised by deepening the ditch on both sides’. It was shaded with trees on both sides.

Just north of Dharmatala a creek formerly ran from Chandpal Ghat to Beliaghata (or Baliaghata, as it was then known). The creek passed through what was later Wellington Square (renamed Subodh Chandra Mallick Square) and Creek Row. The earlier name of Creek Row was Dhinga Bhanga, as a ship broke there during the cyclone of 1737. The creek was navigable for large boats. Wellington Square was a tank made on the bed of this creek. Both Wellington Square and Creek Row were developed by the Lottery Committee. Calcutta Gazette of 9 August 1821 refers to Wellington Square as ‘the new square in Dharmotola.’

While the English quarter was then restricted to around the old fort (present B.B.D. Bagh), the area south of Dharmatala was a jungle. The native quarters to the north consisted of a number of straggling villages.

After their victory in the Battle of Plassey, the English decided to build new Fort William, in 1758. For this purpose, the native population shifted from Gobindapur mostly to Sutanuti. The European inhabitants of Kalikata gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan. Civilians were not allowed to live within the new fort. Gradually the areas to the south of the Great Tank and to the east along Chowringhee Road were emerging as preferred haunts for the Englishmen. While Sutanuti developed as the Black Town, the Esplanade and Chowringhee emerged as the White Town. However, the areas around Writers' building, Baitakkhana (Bowbazar), Dharmatala and Janbazar went down in estimation and were gradually taken over by ‘the rest’, which included half-castes, Portuguese, Armenians and so on, 'to become grey areas between Black and White Towns of old Calcutta'.