Ananda Nagar is a village and higher education centre in the Joypur CD block in the Jhalda subdivision of the

Purulia district Purulia district () is one of the twenty-three districts of West Bengal state in Eastern India. Purulia is the administrative headquarters of the district. Some of the other important towns of Purulia district are Raghunathpur- Adra, Manbazar ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, India.

History

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (21 May 1921 – 21 October 1990), also known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti (Ánanda Múrti meaning "Bliss Embodiment"), and known as Bábá ("Father") to his disciples, was a spiritual guru, philos ...

(Shrii Shrii Anandamurti), founder of the

Ananda Marga Ānanda Mārga (, Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages, also spelled Anand Marg and Ananda Marg), or officially Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha (organization for the propagation of the path of bliss), is a world-wide socio-spiritual orga ...

, coined the name Ananda Nagar and set up Ananda Nagar as headquarters of Ananda Marg Gurukul, with the objective of developing a university and a township. Asthi Pahad, a hill south-west of Ananda Nagar, contains ancient fossils. Maharshi Kapila was born at Pat Jhalda, south-west of Ananda Nagar, 3,500 years ago. Baglata, which now has a post office, means the abode of tigers in creepers and shrubs.

Geography

Location

Ananda Nagar is located at . Ananda Nagar is not identified as a separate inhabited settlement in the 2011 census.

Area overview

Purulia district forms the lowest step of the

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau () is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and th ...

. The general scenario is undulating land with scattered hills. Jhalda subdivision, shown in the map alongside, is located in the western part of the district, bordering

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

. The Subarnarekha flows along a short stretch of its western border. It is an overwhelmingly rural subdivision with 91.02% of the population living in the rural areas and 8.98% living in the urban areas. There are three census towns in the subdivision. The map alongside shows some of the tourist attractions in the Ajodhya Hills. The area is home to Purulia

Chhau dance ''Chhau'', also spelled ''Chhou'', is a semi classical Indian dance with martial and folk traditions. It is found in three styles named after the location where they are performed, i.e. the ''Purulia Chhau'' of West Bengal, the ''Seraikella Chh ...

with spectacular masks made at

Charida Charida (also referred to as Chorida, Chorda) is a village in the Baghmundi CD block in the Jhalda subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Charida is located at . Charida i ...

. The remnants of old temples and deities are found in the subdivision also, as in other parts of the district.

Transport

There is a station at Pundag on the NSC Bose Gomoh-Hatia line of the South Eastern Railway.

Education

Anandanagar is the headquarter of Ananda Marga Board of Education called Ananda Marga Gurukula (AMGK) AMGK was envisioned as a multi-faculty global university by its founder Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji. All educational institutions started by Ananda Marga are affiliated to AMGK. Ananda Marga College was established in 1966. Affiliated with the

Sidho Kanho Birsha University Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University (SKBU) is a public state university located in Purulia district of West Bengal, India. It was established under an Act of the West Bengal Legislature in April 2010. It offers different undergraduate and postgraduat ...

, it offers honours courses in Bengali, English, history, geography, and general courses in arts and science. It has separate hostel for boys and girls. Over the years the college has provided higher education to students from poor families living in 60 villages around Ananda Nagar. Ananda Marga Gurukula Teacher's Training College received formal approval in 2014. Ananda Marga High School is a Bengali-medium boys only institution established in 1964. It has facilities for teaching from class V to class X.

Healthcare

The Ananda Marga mission runs a 36-bed hospital.

References

{{Purulia District Villages in Purulia district