Samta () is a village and 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 ...
in the
Howrah district
Howrah district (, ) is a district of the West Bengal state in eastern India. Howrah district is one of the highly urbanized area of West Bengal. The urbanised sectors gradually increase the slum populations. Howrah is the third smallest distric ...
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 ...
, on the banks of the
Rupnarayan river
The Rupnarayan River is a river in India. It begins as the Dhaleswari (Dhalkisor) in the Chhota Nagpur plateau foothills northeast of the town of Purulia. It then follows a tortuous southeasterly course past the town of Bankura, where it is ...
. Samta is noted for being the home of
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, alternatively spelt as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee ( bn, শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়; 15 September 1876 or ৩১ শে ভাদ্র ১২৮৩ বঙ্গাব্দ ...
(namely,
Sarat Chandra Kuthi
Sarat may refer to:
People
* Sarat Chandra (disambiguation), the given names of several people
*Austin Sarat (born 1947), American lawyer and academic
*Sarat Kumar Rai or Kumar Saratkumar Rai (1876–1946), a member of the royal family of Dighapat ...
) for twelve years, starting from the year 1923. The terracotta
temple of Madangopal jiu is located in the neighbouring village of Mellak. Samta is connected to the state capital,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, through the
National Highway 6, that also connects it to the nearby towns of
Bagnan
Mama Saha Bagnan is a census town in Bagnan I CD Block of Uluberia subdivision in Howrah district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Bagnan is located at . It has an average elevation of 6 metres (19 feet). It is situate ...
and
Kolaghat
Kolaghat ( bn, কোলাঘাট) is a census town in Kolaghat CD Block,
Tamluk subdivision of the Purba Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Location
Kolaghat is located at . It is located in the Panskura ...
. Samta hosts few educational facilities including the Samta Sarat Chandra Girls High School, among others.
History
During the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, Samta was the power-hold of the local Roy
zamindars
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
, subordinate to the
Burdwan Raj Estate, who was in turn subordinate to the British empire. Following
Indian independence, the village came to be governed by the
government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
.
Festivals including
Dol purnima,
Durga puja
Durga Puja ( bn, দুর্গা পূজা), also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated ...
,
Shivaratri
Maha Shivaratri ( IAST: Mahāśivarātri) is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. The name also refers to the night when Shiva performs the heavenly dance called Tandava.
In every month of the luni-solar Hindu c ...
,
Shitala puja, Itu puja, and
Janmashtami
Krishna Janmashtami , also known simply as Krishnashtami, Janmashtami, or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. According to the Hindu lunisolar calendar, it is observed ...
, among others, are celebrated in the village.
Gajan sessions are also held during festivals. The
terracotta temple of Madangopal jiu, built in the 17th-century CE, is located in the neighbouring village of Mellak, south of Samta.
It is locally known as Gopaler Mondir (literally, "the temple of
Gopala
Gopala (Bangla: গোপাল) (ruled c. 750s–770s CE) was the founder of the Pala dynasty of Bihar and Bengal regions of the Indian Subcontinent. The last morpheme of his name ''Pala'' means "protector" and was used as an ending for the name ...
"). The temple was commissioned by Mukundaprasad Roychowdhury, a member of Mellak's then Roychowdhury zamindars.
Samta was home to Bengali novelist, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, for twelve years, until he moved to Kolkata. His house in Samta, constructed in 1923 by local worker Gopal Das, is known as
Sarat Chandra Kuthi
Sarat may refer to:
People
* Sarat Chandra (disambiguation), the given names of several people
*Austin Sarat (born 1947), American lawyer and academic
*Sarat Kumar Rai or Kumar Saratkumar Rai (1876–1946), a member of the royal family of Dighapat ...
(or alternatively as, Sarat Smriti Mandir).
He had fenced his house and the adjacent area, renaming it as Samtaber.
His novels such as ''
Devdas
''Devdas'' ( bn, দেবদাস, transliterated as ''Debdās'') is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidden ...
'' were serialised during his stay in Samta,
while he wrote stories including ''Ramesh'' and ''Ramer Sumati'', among others, during the years he lived in the village.
Sarat Chandra Kuthi is a heritage-historical site under the West Bengal Heritage Commission Act (IX) of 2001.
In 2009, the structure underwent renovation.
An annual fair, by the name of Sarat Mela, is held in late January in Samta's neighbouring village Panitras, located north of Samta, in remembrance of the novelist.
Geography
Samta is located on the plains of the Rupnarayan river, situated about a kilometre (0.62 miles) away from its banks.
Infrastructure
Education
There are a few schools in Samta including Samta Sarat Chandra Girls High School (established by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay himself, in 1924)
and Samta Primary School.
Transport
The village is connected to the
National Highway 6, also known as the Bombay Road, through a road known as the Sarat Road.
The national highway links Samta to Kolkata, the state capital, and towns including Bagnan and Kolaghat.
The village has a barrage, a kind of breakwater, created to protect the village in times of floods. The barrage road, the Sarat Road, and other village roads together links Samta to its nearby villages including Mellak, Panitras, Birampur, and others. The Sarat Road starts at Mellak from the national highway, south of Samta, and extends to Kalyanpur and
Hooghly in the north.
Local transport exists in the form of rickshaws, rickshaw-vans, and trekkers (a kind of jeep). The nearest railway station is the
Deulti railway station located across the highway, that connects Samta and its neighbouring villages to the
Howrah Junction railway station
Howrah railway station, also known as Howrah Junction, is a railway station located in the city of Howrah, West Bengal, India. It is also the oldest and largest existing railway complex in India. It is one of the busiest train stations in the ...
.
Gallery
File:Samta -Tagar folwers in a house's garden.JPG, ''Ixora
''Ixora'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the only genus in the tribe Ixoreae. It consists of tropical evergreen trees and shrubs and holds around 544 species. Though native to the tropical and subtropical areas ...
'' flowers in a house's garden
File:Samta- Shubho Chandi.JPG, Sculpture of a Hindu deity, in Samta
File:Mud House - Samtaber - Howrah 2014-10-19 9856.JPG, Mud houses in the village
File:Samta - The Temple of Gopala.JPG, Arches of the Madangopal temple
File:Floral Decoration - Terracotta - Eastern Facade - Madangopal Mandir - 1651 CE - Mellock - Howrah 2014-10-19 9957.JPG, Terracotta motif on the walls of the Madangopal temple
File:Samta Sarat Chandra Girls High School - 1924 CE - Bagnan - Howrah 2014-10-19 9862.JPG, Old wing of the Samta Sarat Chandra Girls High School
See also
*
Madangopal Jiu Temple
Madangopal Jiu Temple is a 450 year old Hindu temple in the village of Mellak, near Samta, in Deulti town,in Howrah district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The temple is locally known as Gopaler Mondir (literally, "the temple of Gopala"). ...
*
Sarat Chandra Kuthi
Sarat may refer to:
People
* Sarat Chandra (disambiguation), the given names of several people
*Austin Sarat (born 1947), American lawyer and academic
*Sarat Kumar Rai or Kumar Saratkumar Rai (1876–1946), a member of the royal family of Dighapat ...
References
External links
A complete description of Deulti and Samtaber's trip
{{Howrah District
Villages in Howrah district
Tourist attractions in Howrah district