Understand
Mukutmanipur is a small town in the Rarh region
of West Bengal in India.
Mukutmanipur is 55 km from Bankura and is situated
near the confluence of rivers Kangsabati and Kumari. It is the second biggest
earthen(man-made, mud-banked) dam in India. The nearest railway station is
Bankura .
Green forests surround the vast
bluish tract of water. Hillocks are essentially a dream come here. The
undulating terrain along the southern edge of the Kangsabati Water Reservoir
spreads as a three-dimensional necklace of green and terracotta colour.
The vastness of the lake stretches
as far one's eye can reach. The view of the sunset with the lake in the fore
ground is breath-taking.
The ancient town near Mukutmanipur
is Ambikanagar(4 km away). The Maharaja of Ambikanagar, christened
Mukutmanipur after his beloved queen, Mukutmoni.
Mukutmanipur and the place Jhilimili
nearby are the important centres for tourism in the region. The dam, a giant
water reservoir, was constructed in 1956. It is located about 12 km from Khatra
town in the district of Bankura. The dam was constructed under the supervision
of the then Chief Minister of Bengal, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, to provide
irrigation facilities to 8,000 sq km of agricultural land.
It is now a picnic spot and many
people come to the lakeside to relax and spend time.
Ideal time to visit
Mukutmanipur :- During the monsoons, July and August, the time of the
year, when the lock gates at the barrage is opened and also when the mud-dam at
the Kangshabati can be easily seen. Or during the winter, end of November - January.
Get in
Trains are available from Kolkata to the nearest rail-head Bankura. Regular buses are available from Bankura
to Mukutmanipur - distance 55 km.
Option 1 Train services are available from
Kolkata (Howrah) - Rupashi Bangla Express leaves the
Howrah station (new platform) at 6:00 a.m. and reaches Bankura at 10:20 a.m.
If you have your train reservations
done, you need not worry, however, if you are travelling by the general
compartment, you are advised to board the rear half of the train, since the
front half is Dhauli Express, which goes to Bhubaneshwar. This switching over
takes place at Kharagpur station, where the train stops for about fifteen
minutes.
Option 2 Howrah -Bokaro passenger is also available from
Howrah ( Dep time - 22:40) reaches Bankura at around 3 in the morning.
Option 3 You could
also take Satabdi Express (Dep time - 6:05 a.m) or Black Diamond Express(Dep
time- 6:15 a.m) from Howrah to Durgapur and take a bus to Mukutmanipur.
Option 4 Aranyak express train from Santragachi at 7:45 am and reach
nearest big station Bankura by 11:35 am .
From Bankura , you can reach
Mukutmanipur by Bus or Car . You can taken private Taxi ( fare Rs 800) . - 1
and a half hour journey.TATA SUMO will take Rs.250-300 extra. . You can
contact Dipak, (Ph: +91 9679717291) for a visit to Mukutmanipur from Bankura/ Bishnupur.
Bus services available from
Machantala bus stop (at Bankura) from 5 in the morning.
Car
One can also drive down from Kolkata
to Mukutmanipur easily.
There are two routes.
The shorter one (241 km) is Kolkata
> Baidyabati > Tarakeshwar > Arambagh >
Bishnupur (NH 60) > Bankura (SH9) > Mukutmanipur.
The second possible route (270 km)
is Kolkata > Dankuni > Bardhaman > Durgapur (till here
NH2) > Bankura (SH9) > Mukutmanipur.
However we explored the first route.
After Arambagh around 20 Km of the road is bad , otherwise both SH or NH is
quite good.
Personally, I would suggest you to
go by car from Kolkata to Mukutmanipur. After you reach Mukutmanipur, you would
find your car very useful, since your local conveyance would be a motor-pulled
cart or auto and are relatively expensive. There are very few such vans
available in the area. Actually it is cheaper to come by car !
Bus
The second route is normally
recommended because of the excellent road condition in spite of the additional
30 km.
Regular buses are available from
Kolkata, a distance 250 km.
Orientation
In Mukutmanipur, apart from the dam,
there are many tourist spots, which make it an important place in West Bengal
from the tourism point of view.
The major tourist places in this
city and surrounding area are Pareshnath hill, Statue of Pareshnath, Bonpukuria
Deer Park, Palace of King Raicharan.
It is a very small town. The road
from Bankura becomes a fork. Before the fork there is Green Hotel. At the fork
one road goes towards Jhilimili, Sutan and other one goes towards the
end the dam.
Before the dam one road goes towards
Peerless Hotel on the right.
5/3/15
(Thursday)
Today is Dol and tomorrow (Friday)
is Holi holiday. So we left by car, We were four – Bidhanda,Boudi, Mohua and I.
Our hotel Green Park hotel (9002 42 33 42 and 9434 65 16 63 - owner Sudip is a
very nice gentleman) is in an excellent location. All other hotels are
booked because of this extended weekend.
I thought this hotel has one of the
best locations. It is around 1.5 Km from the dam. So there is no crowd – no
hotel – no house nearby.There is a nice garden inside the complex. It took
approximately 5.50 hrs to 6 hours to reach our hotel. We started at 8 am from
South Kolkata and reached comfortably at 1 pm. We had some snacks near
Arambagh. Every now and then our car was splashed with colour by children
playing Dol beside the road.
After reaching there we took our
launch. AC Room rent is Rs 1700 and non AC room was Rs 650 (I stayed here and
was the only one available then. However there was no need to put on the AC
actually) for peak season.There is a place to sleep for drivers too and enough
car parking space.There is also a 8 bed dormitory - which looked nice. We took
a short nap after our lunch.
Other
hotels
There are not too many hotels here. None
of the hotel’s number are veified by me
Rs. 600-6,000.
Non-AC rooms:Rs. 600, AC rooms:Rs.
900-1800, Deluxe rooms: Rs. 3,000 - 6,000.
·Peerless
Resort, ☎ +91
9932787993, 9434052430, 9748401084 (Accounts
dept), peerlessresort@yahoo.com.
Double bedded room Rs. 2600, Triple
bedded room Rs. 2800, Four bedded room Rs. 3,000.
·Kangsabati Bhawan. Bookings
at Irrigation and Water Supply Dept, Govt of W Bengal, Writer's
Building, Kolkata
·Sonajhuri Prakriti Bhraman
Kendra (Cottages). West Bengal Forest Developement
Corporation, 6A Raja Subodh Mullick Square, 7th Floor, Kolkata-13. Near Hind
Cinema, Landmark- Dharamtala Post Office, Phone - 22370060/61. Booking time -
Till 3:30 p.m.
This hotel is built atop a hillock
covered with green trees. The view from the
cottages Haritaki and Amlaki is very picturesque . Book
well in advance. Spot booking permitted subject to availability of rooms .
The WBFDC’s
“Sonajhhuri Prakiti Bhraman Kendra” resort is very well built on the slope of a
small hill covered with dense forest of Sonajhhuri trees (and hence the name of
the resort). Depending upon which cottage you stay you need to climb up and
down around 50-60 stairs each time you come down to your car or to have your
food in the dining hall.
Tips from a fellow blogger
The best among them in respect of
scenic views are "SHAL & PIYAL". Food quality is too
good - very homely and delicious. Service is very fine especially the boy BIJOY
is always at your service. He is very much honest and polite too.
And DONT MISS TO TRY
"POSTO BARA"(SNACKS PREPARED FROM POPPY SEEDS) HERE.
|
Around 4 pm , we took the car to go
to the dam . Today being Dol the Kangsabati Dam is closed !.
So we booked a
local boat trip. We managed to get a good deal for boating at Rs 350 for
approx. for 3 hours boating.
Boating in Mukutmanipur dam cover 3
places : Pareshnath temple , Deer park and Mohona . All are nearby places .
Bonpukuria deer park : Deer park located on an island in
the middle of the Mukutmanipur dam called Bonpukuria
Mrigadhaba . It was 30 min boat ride. From island we took a
motor rickshaw ( they charged Rs 120 for to and fro booking
for 1.5 km jungle ride to reach deer park) .
You can reach there by walking and
enjoy mini forest walking. We were late but still saw one deer in the forest.
We spent 15 min there and came back boating ghat . The Bonpukuria deer park is not very special.
This is an Island in the middle of
the lake (Bonpukuria Mrigadhaba is 1.5 km from Ferry Ghat). Ferry
service:Usually every 4 hours in
winter. Ferry service: Rs. 25-30 per head. The deer park is inside the
Island.
Mohona : From this island you can see the mohona of
Kangsabati and Kumari . It was 10 min boating to reach near mohona . From here
we saw a wonderful sunset .
You can see Pareshnath
temple from here . After 10 min boating near Mohona , we could have
set for our last boating trip to Pareshnath temple , but we
skipped it, since we are taking a car ride tomorrow along the dam. So in any
case we can see the temple tomorrow. Actually the temple is located on the
dam itself.
One must also experience the moonlit
night around the lake. We actually were inside the lake boating and saw the
moonlit lake from the boat.
After disembarking from the boat it
was already quite dark , we spent some time beside the dam and had some snacks
and went back to our hotel. We took our dinner little early and went to bed
little early. We had our dinner in the hotel itself.
6/3/15
(Friday)
Today we left for for Jhilimili trip by our car . This is a half day drip.
Normally Taxi charges Rs 1000. We have taken route though Ambika Nagar route.
On the way to Jhilimili forest (30 km journey) we have seen tribal village ,
nicely decorated ( painted ) mud houses along the road . The trees are riot of
colours - Palash and Shimul.
Ambikanagar was an ancient town and
pilgrimage centre of the Jains and the remnants of it are still available at a
distance of 4 kilometres from the lake.
We went to the temple and also saw
the
dilapidated Rajbari of Ambikanagar.The shondha-arati begins
at 7 p.m.
Around 25 km away is the spot of
Chhendapahar, where a training school and underground manufacturing factory of
arms existed during the days of India’s war for freedom. Various arms had been
supplied to the freedom fighters like Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose.
Then after 18 km drive from
Mukutmanipur , we entered in Rani Bandh area . It’s a small tribal
town and surrounded by jungle . From here you can visits to tourist place
located deep inside the jungle .
First is Talberia Dam and second one is Sutan .
Both are on the left hand side.
We have chosen Talberia dam for
its scenic beauty. We spent 30 minutes there. It was so serene that we could
not sense how the tine has been passed by .
The road towards Sutan is amazing
and is simply world class and one of the best roads I have ever seen in
India.
Previously this was Maoist infested
and we saw a site house which has been torched by the Maoist. It was really a
awesome place . It’s a natural dam covered by hillocks and lush
green forest.
Then we had some nice lunch at Jhilimili town. Drving along the hill road
toward Mukutmanipur was awesome experience.
We had to rush to reach the ticket
counter of dam. Passes are issued free of cost near the dam from 8 am to 12 am
in the morning and 2 pm to 4 pm in the afternoon. To visit the dam, for which
passes are required only for 04 wheeler holders.
You would have to take a
motor-pulled cart and travel the 11 km stretch of road along the Kangshabati
river(these motor pulled cart don't required any passes.We were told to return
by 5.45 pm.
The height of the dam is 38 metres
with a lake of 86 sq km. A drive over the dam is recommended. One needs to
collect passes to enter this road.
To visit the dam, you would have to
take a motor-pulled cart and travel the 14 km stretch of road along the
Kangshabati river. Go during the sunset. It is breath-takingly beautiful .
A drive over the dam is recommended.
The length of the motorable road over the dam is approx. 14 km. On the way, you
will also see the Pareshnath Hillock. We spend some time sitting in the middle
of the dam. On the way back we went to Pareshnath Temple . You can reach
this place by boating or local rickshaw . We have climbed the Pareshnath
hill and on the hill top we have seen shiva lingam . At Pareshnath
hill where several statues of Jain and Hindu deities are kept in open
air. These statues are recovered during digging while the dam was
built.
From here you can see the awesome
view of Mukutmanipur dam.
We saw one of the most
beautiful sunsets from the temple. We had some sugar cane juice there .
Like us many people were sitting there for the sunset. Once the sun was set ,
all the temporary food stalls were closed. The hillock is basically somewhere
in the middle of the dam.
Pareshnath hill, considered as one
of the most important pilgrimage centres of Jains, is the highest peak in this
area at 1350 metres. The name of the hill was derived from the name of the 23rd
Jain Tirthankara. It is the place where twenty of the twenty-four Jain
Tirthankaras found salvation from life. The hills are located in Giridih
district of Jharkhand.
Pareshnath hill, which is a Jain
pilgrimage centre, is the highest summit in this area. The hill is named after
the 23rd Tirthankaras of the Jains and is the location of attainment of
salvation of the 20 Jain Tirthankaras. This range of hills however, is under the
Jharkhand’s Giridih District. There is a temple on the top of the hill of Lord
Shiva.
Tips: From Pareshnath temple , one
can book boating for only deer park ( to & fro boating price Rs 20-30 )
instead of hiring the boat.
Then we returned back to our hotel
and took our dinner . Then after dinner we went to see the village by our car,
near our hotel near the newly constructed stadium to see some local festival.
Today Chou dancers will perform. Since it will start late so we decided to
return our hotel without watching the show!
7/3/15
(Saturday)
Bishnupur
We packed our luggage and checked
out of the hotel. We put our luggage in the car. Our plan is
to go to Bishnupur and Panchmura.
On the way to Bishunupur , we
stopped at Khatra town for breakfast .
It’s the same way taking us to Bankura station . After a 10 min
drive , we take road at the right towards Bishnupur. After few km ride we
entered jungle area . It was an awesome experience to cross the long
stretch of jungle . In next one and half an hour time we reached Bishnupur . It
was about 2.5 hours relax driving from Mukutmanipur to Bishnupur.First we
saw Rasmancha.
1. Rasmancha : King Birhambir established this in 1600 A.D. .We took
ticket Rs. 5 /- per head from here and keep this ticket as you need to show
this at other temples . It’s a unique infrastructural combination of pyramid
and our own Hindu temple. Top part is built with bricks and base built with
makra stone . There is a beautiful lawn before the temple. We entered the
temple with torch as if we are watching mummy return movie. But it’s small
structure. Still I feel this is the top 3 temple in Bishnupur.
2. Madanmohan Temple : it was built by Mallaya king Durjan Singh in 1694 AD.
Our driver took us to this spot through narrow road passing through Shakhari
Para . I found it also in top 3 temple in Bishnupur . Whole mandir is decorated
with beautiful sculptures of animal, krishnalila , ten avatars of lord krishna
. If you reach early there you can offer puja to God Madan Mohan.
3. Shyamrai temple: This beautiful terracotta temple was built by Mallaya king
Raghunath Singh .it’s popularly known as Pachchura mandir . We have found
mastery of terracotta work is beyond our explanation. As per local guide we
have found four lines inscription on the right facing wall of the temple.
Guide pointed a Gumgarh while
entering into this temple, it looks intimidating as if it was a testimonial of
old style torture house. But guide informed that it was used for storing water
as historian found many water pipes of terracotta near this site. : It is
one of the famous terracotta temples at Bishnupur
4. Other Important temples
:
Jor bangla temple : this place you can find 4 popular temple in a single
place and they are situated 50-70 meters apart from each others .
a. Jor bangla temple : it was built by Mallaya king Rraghu Nath Singh I in
1655 AD. It is popularly known as Krishna Rai Mandir . We spent 10 min here .
b.Radhashyam temple : This was built by Mallaya king Chaitanya Singh in 1758
AD. This temple has a nahavat khana at the entrance of temple . As per
historian, sahanai and other local music were played here. Temple sculpture is
good and we have found small lanterns shops here . Bishnupur is famous for this
lanterns industry.
c. Radha Lalijiu temple : we have identified this at a corner of a big
playground. This Radha Krishna mandir wad built by Mallaya king Virsingh in
1658 AD.
d. Big and small stone gate. We have found big gate at the other end of the
playground. It was used as a northern entrance of Bishnupur fort . There was a
place for army to position with armours .we have also seen small gate and stone
chariot.
Our second phase trip was over. We
took some rest with juice and snacks.
6. Dalmadal canon : As per history , it was used to drive out bargi (
maratha invaders ) by King Bhaskar Rao in 1742 AD. Its length is 3.8 meter and
diameter is 30 cm.
In 1919 British raj put this canon
on a podium for tourist visit. Mallya had many canons, but British has most of
those from Bishnupur.
Bishnupur the ancient capital of
“MALLYA” dynasty is rich repository of some excellent terracotta temples.
Before start to visit temple one ticket of Rs 5/- has to be bought from
Rash Mancha. The single ticket covers visiting all the temples.
ART AND
CRAFT
1. One
of the most expensive saris in India called the Baluchari saris &
Swarnachari sarees are created by craftsmen of this place. The best place to
buy Baluchari & Swarnachari is ANUBHABA & KANISKA.
Everywhere you will see their signboard.
The colored strands pass through
these holes and fall into place very precisely on the loom. One sari may have
an entire episode from the Mahabharata woven into its border and pallu. Best
shop to buy saree is Kanishka.
2. The
name Dokra or Dhokra was used to indicate a group of craftsmen of nomadic type,
scattered over Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradash and ware identified by their
beautifully shaped and decorated metal products. The craftsmen have latter on
settled down in some areas of Burdwan, Bankura and Midnapore districts of West
Bengal leaving their nomadic character. Most of such craftsmen had left the
craft leaving only a few families in the trade.
Dokra system of metal casting is
said to be oldest form of metal casting and is technically known as lost
wax process. A replica of the desired product is made with wax on a clay core
with all its finer details of designs and decorations. A few coats of finely
prepared clay paste is applied over the model and dried in the shade. The
technique of casting revolves round replacement of wax with molten metal by the
traditional hollow casting method. Brass scrap in generally used as raw
material.
In recent years, the product of
Dokra artisans are in great demand in domestic and foreign market because of it
primitive simplicity enchanting folk motifs and forceful form. Though,
originally it developed at Bikna village of Bankura-II block under Bankura
Sadar Sub-Division, but artisans of Patrasayer of Bishnupur
Sub-Division, which is 30 km away from Bishnupur town, produce Dokra items with
very fine polish. Products like dokra horses, elephants, peacock owl,
religious images, and measuring bowls, lamp caskets etc., are highly
appreciated.
3. The conch
shell carving is one of the traditional art of Bishnupur. Traditional
artisans, mostly belonging to Sankha Banik caste partake conch shell curving at
Sankhari Bazar, Malleswar and Kadakuli. Besides, making bangles, the artisans
beautifully curve various mythological character of Hindu pantheons on conch
shell. Sri Gopal Nandi, one of the eminent artisan and
President Medal Awardee still displays beautiful and intricate art of conch
shell carving. Generally, it takes more than a months of hard labour to design
a conch shell and obviously a costly item. Since such designed conch shell is
very costly, therefore, the artisans are shifting to coconut shell curving to
find markets.
4. The
most famous art form of Bishnupur is its terracotta work. The exquisite
craftsmanship of the terracotta artisans is evident in the Madanmohana Temple
and the Shyam Rai Temple. The temple walls are richly decorated with the
carvings of different aspects of Krishna's life-playing with Radha and the
other milkmaids, incarnations of Vishnu, etc.
Artisans of Uliwara
village of Bishnupur and adjacent Panchmura village of Taldangra block produce
fine quality of Terracotta tiles, beautiful gift-items, burnt clay models.
Panchmura
First we had our lunch at a hotel
near West Bengal tourism Deptts guest house. Then we left for Panchmura. The road in front of
the guest house goes towards the bus terminal/stand. From there first we went
to Bakadah and from there we went to Choubeta More - from where we took
right turn to go to Panchmura. There is another route , it is better to follow
this route though you have drive more.It is around 25 Km from Bishnupur.
We bought many items there – horse,
elephant and tiger and flower vase etc.
It was already late so we had to
drop the idea of going to Jayrambati & Kamarpukur . The road upto
Jaipur in between the Jaipur forest range on the way to Jayrambati - Kamarpukur
is beautful . Jairambati and Kamarpukur is the birth place of Sri Saradama and
is located just 43 km away from Bishnupur town. The Matri Mondir at Jairambati
offers Prasad every day at 11.30 am.
We reached home quite late around 11
pm.
Source:
1. rahulkumardutta.blogspot.in , debopamdrives.blogspot.in ,gobindaroy.wordpress.com , sunrita-rai.blogspot.in
2.. wikitravel.com
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