Subarnapur, also known as Sonepur, is a town and district headquarters of Subarnapur district of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sc ...

. The district spreads over an area of 2284.89 km². It is also known as Second

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

of India for its cluster of temples having architectural importance and also of tantricism and second

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the admin ...

for the Meeting Point (Sangam) of two rivers

Mahanadi The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay ...

and Tel in place just like in

. Subarnapur is also famous for

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

, handloom, prawns, terracotta etc.

History

Sonepur was formerly the capital of Sonepur State, a

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, Sonepur town had a population of 17,535. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Sonepur has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 65%. In Sonepur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Education

Maharaja High School, Sonepur Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

Sonepur College Sonepur College is located in Sonepur town, district headquarters of Subarnapur district, Odisha, India.http://sonepurcollege.org.in/ History This college was started in 1964 with pre-university arts class under Utkal University. On 01.05.2 ...

, Sonepur

Temples of Sonepur

* SHREE KAPILESHWAR TAMPLE CHARDA * MAA CHARDEI TAMPLE CHARDA * Bhagavati Temple * Budhima Temple * Budhi Somalai Temple * Dadhibaban Temple * Dasamati Temple * Gokarneswar Temple * Gundicha / Nrusimhanath Temple *

Jagannath Temple The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt ...

* Khambeswari Temple * Kosaleswara Temple * Lankeswari Temple * Narayani Temple * Paschima Somanath Temple * Ramachandi Temple * Rameswar Temple * Somaleswari Temple *

Sureswari Temple Sureswari temple or Sursuri temple is located at the left bank of Tel River towards the south-west of the confluence of Mahanadi and Tel River. This temple is located in the temple town of Sonepur, Subarnapur district, Odisha, India. The presidin ...

Subarnameru Temple Subarnameru Temple is situated in Sonepur town in Subarnapur district of Odisha, India. It is a shrine for the worshipping of Shiva and commonly known as Second Varanasi of India. Legend Popular story of Gold coin Rain is associated with this P ...

* Balaji (Hanuman) Temple * ShreeRam (Ramsita)Temple * Pancharatha Temple

Notable people

* Kailash Chandra Meher, painter, awarded

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

by Govt. of India.

Sari

* Sonepuri Sari

Politics

Current MLA from Sonepur (SC) Assembly Constituency is Niranjan Pujari of BJD, who won the seat in State elections in 2014. Previous MLAs from this seat were Binod Patra of INC, who won the seat in 2004, Kunduru Kushal who won this seat representing BJD in 2000, representing JD in 1995 and in 1990, Achyuta Biswal of INC in 1985, Dhaneswar Kumbhar of INC(I) in 1980, and Debraj Seth of JNP in 1977. The place witnessed one and only sitting Prime Minister, i.e. Shri

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

here on 6th of April 2019. Sonepur is part of Balangir (Lok Sabha constituency).

References

* Pasayat, C. and Sudam Naik (2008), ''Subarnapur Darabari Sahitya'' (in Oriya), Bhubaneswar: Gyanajuga Publications. * Pasayat, C. (Ed.) (2008), ''Paschima Odisara Lokageeta'' (in Oriya), Bhubaneswar: Folklore Foundation. * Padhy, S.K. ''History and Culture of Sonepur'' Ph.D. thesis, Berhampur University, 2000 . *Accommodation in Sonepur "HOTEL KASTURI" {{Odisha Cities and towns in Subarnapur district