Budhpur is a village in the
Manbazar I CD block in the
Manbazar 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
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Geography
Location
Budhpur is located at .
Budhpur is 6 km north of
Manbazar and 11 km south of
Pakbirra
Pakbirra is a village in the Puncha (community development block), Puncha Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Manbazar subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Location
Pakbirra is l ...
. It is on the north bank of the
Kangsabati.
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.
Manbazar subdivision, shown in the map alongside, is located in the eastern part of the district. It is an overwhelmingly rural subdivision with 96.32% of the population living in the rural areas and 3.68% living in the urban areas. There are 3 census towns in the subdivision. The map shows the Kangsabati Project Reservoir. The
Mukutmanipur Dam is in Bankura district but the upper portion of the reservoir is in Manbazar subdivision. The remnants of old temples and deities are found in the subdivision also, as in other parts of the district. The subdivision has a very high proportion of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Bandwan CD block has 51.86% ST population, Manbazar II CD block has 48.97% ST population. Manbazar I CD block has 22.03% ST and 22.44% SC. Puncha CD block has 24.74% ST and 14.54 SC. Writing in 1911, H. Coupland, ICS, speaks of the aboriginal races largely predominating in the old Manbhum district. He particularly mentions the Kurmis, Santhals, Bhumij and Bauri.
Demographics
According to the
2011 Census of India, Budhpur had a total population of 496, of which 247 (50%) were males and 249 (50%) were females. There were 77 persons in the age range of 0–6 years. The total number of literate persons in Budhpur was 259 (61.81% of the population over 6 years).
Culture
There was a large Buddheswara Shiva temple, with an attached
mandapa
A ''mandapa'' or ''mantapa'' () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian architecture, especially featured in Hindu temple architecture and Jain temple architecture.
''Mandapas'' are described as "open" or "closed" dependin ...
at Budhpur. There were four smaller shrines at the corners of the enclosure. The main temple has virtually fallen down and only one of the corner shrines is partly there. The place is now full of tumbled down blocks of stone. In J.D.Beglar’s time (late 19th century), the tower of the main temple (possibly fallen down by then) was replaced by a brick-and-plaster work. In 1926, it was replaced by a rough stone tower having a curved entrance. From the fragments of the ''
amalaka
An amalaka (), is a segmented or notched stone disk, usually with ridges on the rim, that sits on the top of a Hindu temple's shikhara or main tower. According to one interpretation, the amalaka represents a lotus, and thus the symbolic seat for ...
s'', ''
chaitya
A chaitya, chaitya hall, chaitya-griha, (Sanskrit:''Caitya''; Pāli: ''Cetiya'') refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions. The term is most common in Buddhism, where it refers to a space with a stupa and a rounded ...
s'', etc. in the rubble, it appears that all these temples were in the ''nagara'' style. The original ''
Shivalingam'' appears to have disappeared. Some cult images have been found. Apart from the main temple and corner shrines in the enclosure, Beglar had seen five small shrines to the north-east of the main temple. Beglar dated the temples at Budhpur to have come up in the 12th/13th century.
Gallery
File:Budhpur Siva temple of Purulia 01.jpg, The Shiva temple as it stands now
File:Budhpur Siva temple of Purulia 05.jpg, The Shivalingam now in the temple
File:Temple gate in Budhpur at Purulia.jpg, Temple gate
References
External links
{{Temple towns in West Bengal
Villages in Purulia district