Araidanga is a populated place, not identified as a separate place in 2011 census, in the

Ratua II Ratua II is a Community Development Block that forms an administrative division in Chanchal subdivision of Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Gauda and Pandua Gauda was once the "capital of the ancient bhukti or politica ...

CD block in the

Chanchal subdivision Chanchal subdivision is an administrative subdivision of the Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Chanchal subdivision covers the Tal, one of the three physiographic sub-regions of the district. The Tal region gradually s ...

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. It lies 347 km (215 miles) north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this district. T ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Geography

Location

Araidanga is located at . Araidanga is a

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

Area overview

The area shown in the adjacent map covers two physiographic regions – the ''

Barind Barind Tract (alternately called the Varendra Tract in English and Borendro Bhumi in Bengali) is the largest Pleistocene era physiographic unit in the Bengal Basin. It covers most of Dinajpur, Rangpur, Pabna, Rajshahi, Bogra, and Joypurhat d ...

'' in the east and the ''tal'' in the west. The eastern part is comparatively high (up to 40 metres above mean sea level at places) and uneven. The soils of the eastern region are “hard salty clays of a reddish hue and the ground is baked hard as iron.” It lies to the east of the

Mahananda River The Mahananda River (Pron:/ˌməhɑːˈnʌndə or ˌmɑːhəˈnʌndə/) is a trans-boundary river that flows through the Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal, and Bangladesh. It is an important tributary of the Ganges. Course The Mahananda ...

. The area lying to the west of the Mahananda River, the ''tal'', is a flat low land and “is strewn with innumerable marshes, bils and

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s.” The ''tal'' area is prone to flooding by local rivers. The total area is overwhelmingly

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

. There are two important historical/ archaeological sites in the area – Pandua and

Jagjivanpur Jagajjibanpur or Jagajivanpur (in Bengali: জগজ্জীবনপুর) is an archaeological site in Habibpur block of Malda district in West Bengal state in eastern India. This site is located at a distance of 41 km east from English Ba ...

. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the area. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Education

Araidanga DBM Academy is a Bengali-medium coeducational institution established in 1865. It has facilities for teaching from class V to class XII. It has a playground, a library with 361 books, and 15 computers for teaching and learning purposes.

Healthcare

Araidanga Rural Hospital, with 30 beds, is the main government medical facility in Ratua II CD block.

References