Sidheswari is a village in the

Cooch Behar II Cooch Behar II is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Khagrabari, one of the constituent pan ...

CD block in the

Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision is a subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Cooch Behar district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative units Cooch Behar Sa ...

of the

Cooch Behar district Cooch Behar district () is a district of Indian state of West Bengal. Formerly part of the Kamarupa kingdom, the area became the heart of the Kamata Kingdom in the 12th century. During the British Raj, the district was known as Cooch Behar st ...

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 fou ...

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

Sidheswari is located at .

Area overview

The map alongside shows the north-central part of the district. It has the highest level of urbanisation in an overwhelming rural district. 22.08% of the population of the Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision lives in the urban areas and 77.92% lives in the rural areas. The entire district forms the flat

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

flood plains of mighty rivers. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Demographics

As per the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, Sidheswari had a total population of 4,467. There were 2,327 (52%) males and 2,140 (48%) females. There were 496 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Sidheswari was 3,382 (85.17% of the population over 6 years).

Transport

New Baneswar railway station, on the

New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

of the

Barauni–Guwahati line The Barauni–Guwahati railway line connects Barauni, Saharsa, Purnia and Katihar in the Indian state of Bihar and in Assam via Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar in West Bengal. It is a linkage of prime importance for Northeaste ...

, is about from Sidheswari.Koch Bihar Jelar Purakirti (in Bengali), Data compilation and writing by Dr. Shyamachand Mukhopadhayay, published by the Department of Archaeology, Government of West Bengal, Second edition 1974, Pages 59-61.

Culture

The temple of Sidheswari Devi is a brick-built structure having an unusual octagonal shape with a dome on top of it. It has a height of . There is a raised platform in front of the temple. The internal distance from one corner of the temple to another is around . The tall idol of Sidheswari Devi in the

garbhagriha A ''garbhagriha'' or ''sannidhanam'' is the ''sanctum sanctorum'', the innermost sanctuary of a Hindu and Jain temples where resides the '' murti'' (idol or icon) of the primary deity of the temple. In Jainism, the main deity is known as the ' ...

is made of

ashtadhatu Ashtadhatu (), also called octo-alloy, is an alloy often used for casting metallic idols for Jain and Hindu temples in India. The composition is laid down in the ''Shilpa shastras'', a collection of ancient texts that describe arts, crafts, and t ...

. The four-handed goddess is worshipped as a form of

goddess Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tradit ...

. According to Madho Sarup Vats, of the Archaeological Survey, the temple is an example of British architectural influence. He particularly points out the pillars in the structure. The temple seems to have been built by the Maharajas of

Cooch Behar State Cooch Behar, also known as Koch Bihar, was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The state was placed under the Bengal States Agency, part of the Eastern States Agency of the Bengal Presidency. It is located south of the Him ...

in end 19th century or early 20th century.

Sidheswari temple picture gallery

File:Siddheswari Temple at Cooch Behar district in West Bengal 03.jpg File:Siddheswari Temple at Cooch Behar district in West Bengal 01.jpg File:Siddheswari Temple at Cooch Behar district in West Bengal 11.jpg

References

External links

{{Temple towns in West Bengal Villages in Cooch Behar district