Chandrakona
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| Chandrakona | |
  Chandrakona
|
|
| State - District(s) |
West Bengal - Paschim Medinipur |
| Coordinates | |
| Area - Elevation |
- 28 m |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Population (2001) - Density |
20,400 - |
| Codes - Postal - Telephone - Vehicle |
- 721201 - +03225 - |
Chandrakona (Bengali: চন্দ্রকোণা) is a town and a municipality in West Midnapore in the state of West Bengal, India.
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[edit] Geography
Chandrakona is located at [1]. It has an average elevation of 28 metres (91 feet).
[edit] Demographics
As of 2001 India censusGRIndia, Chandrakona had a population of 20,400. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Chandrakona has an average literacy rate of 66%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 73% and female literacy of 58%. 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.
[edit] Economy
The main economy is dependent on potato cultivation.
[edit] References
[edit] History
Chandrakona in its heyday was supposed to have 52 bazaars and 53 roads. It was a place of trade importance and noted for its textile products, sugar, brass-ware and milk products. But all this is now nostalgic and all that remains are lofty buildings in ruins and relics literally of innumerable temples.
It is difficult to think what Chandrakona was like when all these temples used to tinkle with the temple bells for Arti in the evenings. There is hardly any locality or lane at Chandrakona where there are no temples. It looks as if every thriving family had a family deity enshrined in a temple. The abandoned homestead lands where the temples are now in ruins, jungles thrive and jackals howl.
Most of the temples have no deities now. Very few towns or villages in India have probably so many abandoned houses and deserted temples. But although the temples have been in utter ruins they have an individuality and indicate the wide exchange of thoughts and ideas in temple structure among the Orissan artists and architects have studied the Rekha-deul temple types of Orissa and taken some of the ideas in their four-roofed and eight- roofed buildings and temples (Char-chala and At-chala).
The Pancharatna and Navaratna temples of Chandrakona have clearly adopted quite a few ideas of the Rekha-duel temple. The old temples in ruins at Chandrakona show us the tremendous impact the cult of Dharmathakur had over the area. It is peculiar that Contai and Taluk subdivisions of Midnapore district do not have this impact.
Several Dharmathakur images are found at Gobindapur, Narahipur and Jayantipur localities of Chandrakona. We find the different names of Dharmathakur such as Sitalnarain, Swarupnarain, Rajballav Roy and Bankura Roy in one and the same temple. Several female counter-parts of Dharmathakur known as Kaminya are also found in the different localities of Chandrakona.
The more famous of them is Kalkali Devi at Naraharipur locality. It may be mentioned here that different types of tortoises and at places often represent Dharmathakur only by a few stone pieces and there is not much to distinguish between the image of one name from the other. The names of the Dharma Kaminya are also peculiar, such as, Jai Durga, Kalkali, Kaliburi, Raiburi, Raibaghini, etc.
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