Purulia district () is one of the twenty-three districts 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 ...

state in

Eastern India East India is a region consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The states of Bihar and West Bengal lie on the Indo-Gangetic plain. Jharkhan ...

Purulia Purulia, officially Purulia Sadar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purulia district. It is located on the north of the Kangsabati River. Geography Location Purulia is locate ...

is the administrative headquarters of the district. Some of the other important towns of Purulia district are Raghunathpur- Adra,

Manbazar Manbazar is a City in Manbazar I block of Manbazar subdivision of Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. The headquarters of Manbazar subdivision are located in Manbazar. Geography Location Manbazar is located at . Area overv ...

, Jhalda, Anara and Balarampur.

History

Pre history

The territory of present Purulia district was a part of Banga, one of the 16

Mahajanapadas The Mahājanapadas were sixteen Realm, kingdoms and aristocracy, aristocratic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the History of India#Second urbanisation (c. 600 – 200 BCE), second urbanis ...

according to Jaina Bhagavati

Sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

(c. fifth century CE) and was also a part of the country known as Vajra-bhumi in ancient period. Little is known about Purulia before the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

acquired this territory by obtaining the grant of Diwani of the subahs of Bengal, Bihar, Odisha in 1765.

Pre independence

By Regulation XVIX of 1805, a

Jungle Mahals Jungle Mahals ( jungle estates) was a district formed by British possessions and some independent chiefdoms lying between Birbhum, Burdwan, Midnapore and the hilly country of Chota Nagpur in what is now the Indian state of West Bengal.O’Malle ...

district composed of 23 parganas and mahals including the present Purulia was formed. By Regulation XIII of 1833 the Jungle Mahals district was broken up and a new district called

Manbhum Manbhum District was one of the districts of the East India during the British Raj. After India's independence, the district became a part of Bihar State. Upon the reorganization of the Indian states in the mid-1950s, the Manbhum district was ...

was constituted with headquarters at

. The district was very large in size and included parts of

Bankura Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district. Etymology It comes from the old Austric word ráŕhá or ráŕho which means “land of red soil”.P.R. Sarkar Rarh - ...

and

Bardhaman Bardhaman (, ), officially Bardhaman Sadar, is a city and municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an a ...

districts of present

state and

Dhanbad Dhanbad is the second-most populated city in the Indian state of Jharkhand after Jamshedpur and a major financial hub of Jharkhand. In terms of economy, Dhanbad has the largest economy in the state of Jharkhand and it is often referred to as th ...

Dhalbhum Dhalbhum was an estate in early modern period and British India, spread across the East Singhbhum district in present-day Jharkhand,Ghosh, Binoy, ''Paschim Banger Sanskriti'', (in Bengali), part II, 1978 edition, p. 56, Prakash Bhaban western ...

and Seraikela-Kharswan districts of present

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

states. In 1838 the district headquarters was transferred from Manbazar to

. Since the formation of the district it was withdrawn from regular administration and placed under an officer called Principal Assistant to the agent to the Governor-General for South-West Frontier. Under Act XX of 1854, the Principal Agent was redesignated as Deputy Commissioner, and the

Chota Nagpur Division The Chota Nagpur Division was one of the administrative divisions established under British rule. Under Act XX of 1854, the South West Frontier Agency was renamed a Commissionary, with the Political Agent becoming the Commissioner and the Assis ...

was formally established.

Post independence

Finally in 1956 Manbhum district was partitioned between

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and West Bengal under the States Reorganization Act and the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act 1956 and the present Purulia district was born on 1 November 1956. The district is a part of the

Red Corridor Red corridor designates the districts of India which has the presence and influence of Naxalites. As of March 2025, the corridor encompasses 18 districts across seven states, predominantly in Central and East India. History The Naxalite� ...

Geography

Purulia lies between 22.60 degrees and 23.50 degrees north latitudes and 85.75 degrees and 86.65 degrees east longitudes. Compass Declination 0º22'W. The geographical area of the district is . This district is bordered on the east by

Paschim Medinipur Paschim Medinipur (English: ''West Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur a ...

districts, on the north by

Bardhaman district Bardhaman (, ), or sometimes Burdwan and Barddhaman, is a former district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Bardhaman. On 7 April 2017, the district was bifurcated into two separate districts namely Purba Bardhaman and Pas ...

of West Bengal state and

Dhanbad district Dhanbad district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand States and territories of India, state, India, and Dhanbad is the administrative headquarters of this district. As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of Jharkhand ...

state, on the west by Bokaro and

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

districts of Jharkhand state and on the south by West Singhbhum and

East Singhbhum East Singhbhum is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand, India. It was created on 16 January 1990. More than 50% of the district is covered by dense forests and mountains, where wild animals once roamed freely. It is known for being a centre of ind ...

districts of Jharkhand state. Purulia is the westernmost district of West Bengal with an all-India significance because of its tropical location, its shape as well as function like a funnel. It funnels not only the tropical monsoon current from the Bay to the subtropical parts of north-west India, but also acts as a gateway between the developed industrial belts of West Bengal and the hinterlands in Odisha, Jharkhand,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Climate

Using the

Köppen classification Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

, Purulia has a tropical savanna climate ''(Aw)'' and receives most of its rainfall during the monsoon season. Temperature is high in summer, averaging and average in winter, around . Rainfall defines the climate of the district. South west monsoon is the principal source of rainfall in the district. Average annual rainfall varies between . The relative humidity is high in monsoon season, being 75% to 85%. But in hot summer it comes down to 20% to 35%.

Rivers and lakes

Several rivers flow across Purulia district. Among these Kangsabati, Kumari, Silabati (silai), Dwarakeswar, Subarnarekha and Damodar are the important ones. Although several rivers flows across the district, 50% of the water run off due to the undulated topography. There are also several Small dams like Futiyary, Murguma, Pardi, Burda, Gopalpur, which are mainly used for irrigation of agriculture field. Saheb Bandh is one of the popular and famous waterbodies of Purulia. It is located in the heart of the purulia town. It is a shelter of the migratory birds which comes from Bangladesh, Burma, Sindh, Baluchistan during December to March.

Geology

Due to undulated topography nearly 50% of the rainfall flows away as runoff. The district is covered by mostly residual soil formed by weathering of bed rocks.

Economy

The economy of the Purulia district is mainly driven by the industrial & Agricultural sector and tourism. Among these, the industrial sector is the backbone of the economy of the district. From 2001, with the new industrial policies of government of West Bengal, this district has attracted investments in steel, cement and power sectors. The district has large scale industries like Santaldih Thermal Power Station at

Santaldih Santaldih is a census town in the Raghunathpur II CD block in the Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Santaldih Thermal Power Project Town is shown in the Para CD block ...

, Pumped Storage Project at

Baghmundi Baghmundi is a village, with a police station, in the Baghmundi (community development block), Baghmundi Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Jhalda subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geogra ...

, ACC Damodar Cement Factory at Madhukunda. The Purulia Pumped Storage Project of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. consists of 4 units with a capacity of 224 MW each, which generates 900 MW of electricity. DVC is involved with a thermal power plant in Raghunathpur sub division with a capacity of 2400 MW. It has investments in steel and cement sectors. The manufacturing sector specially the sponge iron sector got an investment of 306.17 crores, which is comparable to the economically developed districts of West Bengal. Among small scale industries, the

lac Lac may refer to: Places Africa * Lac Region, a district in Chad * Lac Prefecture, a district in Chad America * Rivière du Lac, a tributary of the Montmorency River, in Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada Europe * Laç, a city in Albania * Lac ...

industry and sericulture industry is another major source of income of this district. Purulia produces 90% of the lac produced in West Bengal. Lac is cultivated in all the blocks of Purulia and about 70,000 people are associated with this industry.

Sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the Bombyx mori, domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkwo ...

industry is supported by the ample amount of caterpillar larvae as raw materials. Tourism is another source of income for this district. Forests, Hillocks, Rivulets, Streams, Wild Life, Flora & Fauna has tremendous scope to be explored by the tourist. The prominent of the district like Ajodhya Hills,

Matha A ''matha'' (; , ), also written as ''math'', ''muth'', ''mutth'', ''mutt'', or ''mut'', is a Sanskrit word that means 'institute or college', and it also refers to a monastery in Hinduism.

, Murguma Dam and Kuilapal Forests, Jaychandi Pahar, Panchakote Raj, Duarsini Hills and Forests attract quite a good number of visitors to Purulia every year. Due to the rough weather and soil, purulia lags behind in agricultural arena from the other districts of West Bengal. However cultivation of silk and lac are the main agricultural products. In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj () is a branch of the Government of India. The Ministry is in charge of the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The Ministry is headed by a minister of cabinet rank / Min ...

named Purulia one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

). It is one of the eleven districts in West Bengal that has received funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund programme (BRGF).

Divisions

Administrative subdivisions

The district comprises four subdivisions: Purulia Sadar, Jhalda, Raghunathpur and Manbazar. Puruliya Sadar consists of

municipality and five community development blocks: Purulia–I, Purulia–II, Hura, Puncha and Balarampur. Jhalda subdivision consists of Jhalda municipality and four community development blocks: Jhalda–I, Jhalda–II, Jaipur, Bagmundi. Raghunathpur subdivision consists of Raghunathpur municipality and six community development blocks: Para, Raghunathpur–I, Raghunathpur–II, Neturia, Santuri and Kashipur. Manbazar subdivision consists of five community development blocks: Manbazar–I, Manbazar–II Barabazar, Bandwan and Puncha. Purulia town is the district headquarters. There are 21 police stations, 20 development blocks, 3 municipalities, 170 gram panchayats, and 2459 inhabited villages in this district. Each subdivision except Manbazar contains one municipality each along with community development blocks which in turn is divided into rural areas and census towns. In total there are 11 urban units: 3 municipalities and 9 census towns.

Purulia Sadar subdivision

: municipality * Purulia–I community development block consists of rural areas only with 8 gram panchayats. * Purulia–II community development block consists of rural areas only with 9 gram panchayats. *

Hura Hura, or Houra (, ) is a Bedouin town in the Southern District of Israel. It is located near Beersheba and beside the town Meitar. The town was established in 1989 as a part of solution offered by the state for the consolidation of Negev Bedo ...

community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats. * Balarampur community development block consists of rural areas with 7 gram panchayats and one census town: Balarampur. * Arsha is a community development block

Manbazar subdivision

* Manbazar I community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats. * Manbazar II community development block consists of rural areas only with 8 gram panchayats. *

Bandwan Bandwan is a census town in the Bandwan CD block in the Manbazar subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Bandwan is located at . Area overview Purulia district forms the lowest step of the ...

community development block consists of rural areas only with 8 gram panchayats. * Puncha community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats. *

Barabazar Barabazar is a census town in the Barabazar CD block in the Manbazar subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Before Indian independence in 1947, it was the capital of an expensive zamindari of Barabhum in Br ...

community development block consists of rural areas with 10 gram panchayats and one census town:

Jhalda subdivision

* Jhalda: municipality * Jhalda–I community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats. * Jhalda–II community development block consists of rural areas only with 9 gram panchayats. * Joypur community development block consists of rural areas only with 7 gram panchayats. *

community development block consists of rural areas only with 8 gram panchayats.

Raghunathpur subdivision

* Raghunathpur: municipality * Para community development block consists of rural areas with 10 gram panchayats and two census towns:

and Chapari. *

Raghunathpur I Raghunathpur I is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Background The ''Jaina Bhagavati-Sutra'' of the ...

community development block consists of rural areas with 7 gram panchayats and one census town: Arra. *

Raghunathpur II Raghunathpur II is a Community development blocks in India, community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian States and territories of India, state ...

community development block consists of rural areas with 6 gram panchayats and one census town: Nabagram. * Neturia community development block consists of rural areas with 7 gram panchayats and two census towns:

Hijuli Hijuli is a census town in the Neturia CD block in Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Hijuli is located at . Hijuli is not marked on Google maps. The location has been ...

and Par Beliya. * Santuri community development block consists of rural areas only with 6 gram panchayats. * Kashipur community development block consists of rural areas with 13 gram panchayats and one census town: Adra.

Assembly constituencies

The district is divided into assembly constituencies: # Bandwan (ST) (assembly constituency no. 234) #

(assembly constituency no. 243), # Balarampur (ST) (assembly constituency no. 235), # Joypur (assembly constituency no. 238), #

(assembly constituency no. 239), # Para (SC) (assembly constituency no. 240), # Raghunathpur (SC) (assembly constituency no. 241), # Kashipur (ST) (assembly constituency no. 242) # Bagmundi Vidhan Sabha Para constituency was reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. Banduan, Manbazar, Balarampur, Arsa, Jhalda, Jaipur and Purulia constituencies formed the

Purulia (Lok Sabha constituency) Purulia Lok Sabha constituency is one of the present 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal state in eastern India. India has total 543 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies. All the seven assembly segments of No. 35 Purulia Lok Sabha ...

. Para, Raghunathpur, Kashipur and Hura were assembly segments of

Bankura (Lok Sabha constituency) Bankura Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. While six assembly segments of No. 36 Bankura Lok Sabha constituency are in Bankura district, one assembly segment is in Purulia district. Assembly segmen ...

, which also contained three assembly segments from

Bankura district Bankura district (Pron: bãkuɽa) is an District#India, administrative unit in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is part of Medinipur division—one of the five Divisions of West Bengal, administrative divisi ...

Impact of delimitation of constituencies

As per order of the

Delimitation Commission The Delimitation Commission of India is a commission established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act, tasked with redrawing the boundaries of legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies bas ...

in respect of the

delimitation of constituencies Electoral boundary delimitation (or simply boundary delimitation or delimitation) is the drawing of boundaries of electoral precincts and related divisions involved in elections, such as states, counties or other municipalities.Bandwan (ST) (assembly constituency no. 234) # Balarampur (assembly constituency no. 239), #

(assembly constituency no. 240), # Joypur (assembly constituency no. 241), #

(assembly constituency no. 242), # Manbazar (ST) (assembly constituency no. 243), # Kashipur (assembly constituency no. 244), # Para (SC) (assembly constituency no. 245) and # Raghunathpur (SC) (assembly constituency no. 246). Bandwan and Manbazar constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates, while Para and Raghunathpur constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. Banduan is an assembly segment of Jhargram (Lok Sabha constituency), which also contains six assembly segments from

Paschim Medinipur district Paschim Medinipur (English: ''West Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur a ...

. Balarampur, Baghmundi, Jaipur, Purulia, Manbazar, Kashipur and Para constituencies will form the

. Raghunathpur assembly segment is part of

, which also contains six assembly segments from Bankura district.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Purulia district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 2,930,115, roughly equal to the nation of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

or the US state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. This gives it a ranking of 129th in India (out of a total of

). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 15.43%. Puruliya has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 955

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 65.38%. The literacy rates of male and female are 74.18% and 37.15% of the total population. 12.74% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes collectively account for 37.83% (SC: 19.38% and ST: 18.45%) of the district's total population. The prominent communities in this group, in terms of the district's total population, are

Santal The Santal (or Santhal) are an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic-speaking Munda peoples, Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found ...

(11.57%), Bauri (8.29%), Bhumij (3.57%), Sunri (excluding Saha) (1.68%), Rajwar (1.61%), Kora (1.14%), Hari (1.02%), Bhuiya (1.01%), Dom (0.98%),

Chamar Chamar (or Jatav) is a community classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's Reservation in India, system of affirmative action that originated from the group of trade persons who were involved in leather tanning and shoemaking. They a ...

(0.88%), Dhoba (0.81%), Jalia Kaibartta (0.62%), Ghasi (0.45%), Lohar (0.45%), Bagdi/Duley (0.44%), Munda (0.35%), and Mahali (0.35%). Additionally, populations ranging between ten thousand to one thousand include Oraon, Savar, Bedia, Keot, Mal, Lodha/ Kharia, Lohara, Gorait, and Dosadh.

Religion

Language

According to the 2011 census, 80.56% of the population spoke

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, 11.17% Santali, 5.04% Kurmali and 1.93%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as their first language.

Transport

Purulia district is well connected with other cities and towns of West Bengal and neighbourhood states by road and rail transport.

Rail

The District is served by three Rail connections provided by the South Eastern Railways. One line runs from Jharkhand in the South through the district up to Asansol passing through Adra division. Another line runs between Bankura and Dhanbad also via the Adra Division. The third line connects purulia with Jharkhand. Major cities and towns like Ranchi, Tatanagar, Patna, Howrah, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Lucknow, Asansol, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Durgapur, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi are now well connected with this district by railways. The Railway Divisional Headquarter

Adra railway division Adra railway division is one of the four railway divisions under the jurisdiction of South Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. This railway division was formed on 14 April 1961 and its headquarter is located at Adra, Purulia, Adra town ...

, which is one of the major rail division of South Eastern Railway, is situated on the northeastern part of Purulia district.

Road

The road transport is another important transportation medium of Purulia. The road transport is adequate in terms of bus availability and goods flow. NH 18 (NH 32) connects this district with Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Chas and Dhanbad. National Highway 60A (now NH 314) connects Purulia with State Highway 9 at Bankura and subsequently to NH2 at Durgapur. State Highway 5 also plays an important role in district's transport network as it connects the towns like Raghunathpur, Adra, Santaldih and Neturia to NH2 at Neamatpur and

Asansol Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. Accordi ...

. Purulia has excellent road connectivity with Raniganj-Asansol industrial belt.

South Bengal State Transport Corporation South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) is a West Bengal state government undertaken transport corporation. It plys buses in South Bengal and other parts of West Bengal to Durgapur and Kolkata. SBSTC owns many depots in West Bengal to ...

runs 4 buses from Purulia to

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

via State Highway 5 thus connecting towns and cities like Raghunathpur, Adra, Neturia to the industrial belt of

, Raniganj, Durgapur and Burdwan. There are also many private bus operators on this route.

Culture

Purulia has rich cultural heritage. It has the mixed culture of Bengal, Jharkhand, and

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

as it was a part of these areas for various times. From archaeological evidences to local festivals, every cultural event has got a tribal touch in it, which is the speciality of Purulia. Living mostly in rural areas and keeping intact many of their socio-cultural values, more or less in pristine forms, the rural people of Purulia have their folks to speak about many of their tenets. The distinctiveness of those is well demonstrated with the sentiments and feelings of the population and these are marked with splash of colours and often entwined with pathos, romanticism, velour and social consciousness. Purulia has a range of traditional song types, including

Jhumair Jhumair or Jhumar, is a folk dance from the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal. It is a traditional dance of the Sadan, the Indo-Aryan ethnic groups of Chotanagpur. It is also performed by Adivasi com ...

, Ahirageet, Bhadu, Bihargeet,

Baul The Baul () are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism from different parts of Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute bot ...

, Karamgeet, and Tusugeet. It is also the birthplace of a martial dance of Bengal Chhau.

Tourism

Hundreds of thousands of tourists come to visit Purulia annually to witness the charm of the natural scenery of Ayodhya, Turga Falls, PPSP Upper and Lower Dam, Dawri khal in Kesto Bazar Dam, Lahoria Shiv Mandir, Matha and Kuilapal, falls and tribal habitations of Ajodhya Hills and Bagmundih, dams like Panchet, Murguma Dam and Futiari, heritage buildings like Panchakot Raj Place, trekking range of Matha proud with Pakhi Pahar, and Joychandi Pahar, picnic spots like Baranti, Duarsini, Doladanga, Jamuna, traditional folk dance and culture like Chhou Dance and Jhumur Song.

Notable people

Ajitesh Bandopadhyay Ajitesh Bandopadhyay (; born: 30 September 1933 ― 13 October 1983) was an Indian actor, playwright, activist and director. He along with Shambhu Mitra and Utpal Dutt are considered to be the doyens of Bengali theatre of the post - Independenc ...

, Bengali actor, playwright, activist and director * Bhabini Mahato, Indian freedom fighter * Atul Chandra Ghosh, Indian freedom fighter * Basudeb Acharia, politician * Gambhir Singh Mura, Padmashree awardee and Chhau dancer * Labanya Prabha Ghosh, Indian freedom fighter * Mabinul Haq, Sahitya Akademi Award for Bengali Translation winning Bengali writer *

Mihir Sen Mihir Sen (16 November 1930 – 11 June 1997) was a famous Indian long distance swimmer and lawyer. He was the first Asian to conquer the English Channel from Dover to Calais in 1958, and did so in the fastest time (14 hrs & 45 mins). He w ...

, first Indian to swim the English Channel from Dover to Calais in 1958 * Nepal Mahata, chhau artiste, He was awarded Padmashree in 1983. * Pinki Pramanik, an Indian track and field athlete winning silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, gold at the 2006 Asian Games, and gold at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games * Shyam Sundar Besra, Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Santali and

writer

References

External links

Purulia district official websitePurulia image gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purulia District Districts of West Bengal 1956 establishments in West Bengal 9th-century Jain temples