Visitor's Post: From Hills, masked dance to Palash Flowers: Stories of Purulia
When Traffic jam
and corporate buildings become part of everyday life,we all crave for a weekend
getaway and Purulia, the land of Palash flowers and Chau dance is a perfect
choice for a 2 days trip from Kolkata, West Bengal.
We, a group of
seven members started our journey to Purulia on Friday night and reached
station the day after. The cab arrived and took us to the Ajodhya hilltop
through the zigzag hilly roads where our cottage was already booked in an area
surrounded by sal, mahuya, piyal trees. After having our breakfast We started
our trip through Ajodhya hill area.
Day 1:
Marble
Lake:
Our first
destination of the day was the beautiful Marble Lake, surrounded by several
majestic hills .
The cobalt blue
coloured picturesque water, mild breeze and the hills gives an ample scope to
spend sometime in the laps of Mother Nature, click wallpaper like photographs
as well.
Bamni Falls and Turga Dam:
After that we
started our journey for Bamni Falls situated near Bagmundi. The way to Bamni is
quite steep. After walking for some time we got the beautiful view of Bamni
Falls flowing through the hills. We stood there for some time, enjoyed the view
and then started our journey towards another falls, named Turga. Turga Dam is just a few yards away from the
falls, where the pumped storage project is ongoing to utilize the water of
Turga Nala for power generation.
The serene view
of this place makes tourist spend a some time here.
Khairabera
Dam:
Khairabera
Dam is another attraction of Purulia. It is on Khaira River. The place gives
ultimate solace and peace. There is tranquility all over this place; we sat
near the river sometime enjoying the solitude, away from daily hustles of the
city.
Charida
Village:
Charida
village, snuggled at a corner of Purulia is definitely another jewel on the
crown of this district. It is the center of mask artists of Chhau
, a worldwide popular dance form
of Purulia
and one among the UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage lists. As a child I
always loved masks and those chhau masks are made in reference of the
characters of Hindu Mythology mainly like Durga, Kali, Shiva, Kartik, Ganesha, Asura
etc . Masks of tribal couples and Kathakali are also very popular. We visited
different mask shops and had a chat with the artists. We saw the lifeless mask
becoming full of life with the perfect touch of the rang tuli (painting brush) by this
incredible artists. This masks are made of paper pulp and soil initially, then
after drying they are decorated with jari, pearls, glitters etc to make it more
vibrant and colourful.After buying several masks, We left this colourful place and started for our next destination, Pakhi Pahar which had quite an interesting history.
Pakhi
Pahar:
On our way to
Pakhi Pahar, the greenery outside the window was mesmerizing. The sal, piyal trees were standing tall all over this place, the smell of the wild flowers
made this journey more beautiful. After an hour and half , we finally reached
Pakhi Pahar, which is a dream project of
Chitta Dey, a sculptor and veteran
artist . His idea was to bring life in the lifeless rocks in the form of art.
Different birds, animals motifs are carved on the rocks which is a treat to any art lover’s eyes.The
safety ropes and cages are still seen hanging from the hills which were once
used to do the sculpture. The rock is in the midst of the sal forest, the mysterious sound of leaves while the
wind passes gives goose bumps and creates a thrilling environment all around.
After this
thrilling experience it was time to wrap up the trip with the view of sunset.
So,without wasting any moment we started for our final destinations of Day1, Upper
dam ,Lower dam and Mayur Pahar or Peacock hill.
Mayur
Pahar:
Mayur pahar or
peacock hill as the name suggests, should be an abode of our national bird
peacock. But alas! No peacock is there in this hill.
From this place
we can enjoy the view of sun setting in the west, birds chirping and returning
to home, the mystic wind and the majestic red shades of sky.
With bidding goodbye to sun we also ended our journey for
the day and returned back to the cottage waiting for the next day’s adventure.
A view from Mayur
pahar
Day 2:
Day 2 started
with the alarm at 6 am, but this time without procrastinating I woke up and got
ready for our last day trip around Purulia.
Our second day
started with Murguma Dam, which is quite
a few miles away from Ajodhya hilltop. On our way to Murguma Dam from Ajodhya we had a chance take peek into
several tribal villages, their neat, clean and folk art decorated mud houses,
farmers ploughing the lands, the mud pots hanging from date trees. After a few
kilometers drive through the road having
unique bends and geometrical curves, we
got to see the panoramic view of Murguma Dam, the place is unique and beautiful in every way. The place where you have no network, no pings
in all the social media accounts, where you can spend your lone time with
mother nature sitting at the dam side and enjoying the view of this place. But
as we had time bound, we left this place after sometime and started for our
journey for Purulia township area.
On our way to
Purulia township area we surpassed the green meadows, sugar cane growing in
fields, schools of Panchayet area and what not. But all we wanted was a glance
of palash tree full of red coloured vibrant and bright Palash flowers, blazing
like the flames of fire.
But the driver told
may be we won’t find much luck as spring is yet to arrive. We felt a little bit
sad but did not lose hope. We kept
looking outside the window and after crossing a few miles finally Baba shouted “Look
outside. It’s there.” A palash tree with bloomed flowers all over its branches.
We told driver to stop there for some time and ran to that field at a rush.
A few men and
women were working in the field. One women came forward and asked with a bright
smile on her face “Are you from Kolkata? How far is it?”
We talked with
her and she also suggested a few picture perfect poses with Palash. Other men
and women also came forward and welcomed us.
The moment was
priceless. In an unknown place, some unknown people suddenly became so near to
us and gifted us the memories which we will cherish forever. We gave them sweets and chocolates, They
invited us to their houses. We picked palash flowers with their help and got a
bag full of red palash. We left the place with the sweetest memory of the day.
After we reached
to Purulia township area, we packed some snacks and started our journey to
Jaychandi pahar, famous as the shooting spot of Satyajit Ray’s classic “Hirak
rajar deshe”.
There are around
500 stairs to reach the top of the hill where a Chandi mandir and Bajrangbali
mandir is situated. There is also a
tunnel which leads to a secret path to Kashipur Rajbari as the local people
say. Behind the Jaychandi pahar there is
Sitakund, which tells several years old mythological story.
According to
locals, It was the place in Ramayana from where King Ravana was taking Sita in
his rath, while Sita was shouting and crying for the help from Ram and
Lakshmana .Teardrops of Sita fell in this place and created the Sita kund. They
also said water never dries in Sita Kund. It is regarded as holy water.
With the aroma of
history and mythology Jaychandi Pahar is a must visit in Purulia. We also had
awesome lunch there at Jaychandi resort
and hotel .
We set
out for another historical place Garpanchkot, which was ruled by Deo dynasty
.But in mid 18th century the Bargis attacked this place and almost ruined
everything.
It is said that
17 queens committed suicide in the nearby well to protect their honour.
We saw the
dilapidated structure of Pancharatna temple which has motifs like the
terracotta temples of Bishnupur. This
place has its own charms and tells us the uncanny history which can never be
known but can only be imagined.
At the end of the
trip we felt fascinated by the wealth of history in our own West Bengal.
And we ended our
trip with visit to Baranti dam where we
got the view of beautiful sunset .
The shadow of hills
and crimson red sun make a picturesque view in this place.
It is difficult to sum up Purulia in one
word. Whether you are a nature lover,
Hill lover, culture venture or someone who just need a break from monotonus
life to find the inner peace and voice, this place won’t disappoint you at
all. A trip mixed with different flavours and that's too in West Bengal.
A palash tree
standing with all its glory.
Garpanchkot in ruined state.
Booking Details:
For best places
to stay:
Malabika
,Niharika and other govt tourist lodges at Ajodhya hilltop.
Please check
Purulia govt websites for details of trip planning.
Author Bio:
Diya is a
software engineer by profession, occasional writer and painter by passion. Have
keen interest in history, environment, culture of India and trying to find it
through people,places, food and architecture.
Name: Diya
Bandyopadhyay
Email:
idiyabandyopadhyay@gmail.com
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