Para is a village, with a police station, in the Para CD block in the Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district in West Bengal, India.

Para
Village
Para Location in West Bengal, India Show map of West Bengal Para Para (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 23.52°N 86.52°E / 23.52; 86.52
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Purulia
Subdivision	Raghunathpur
Government
• Body	Gram panchayat
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
ISO 3166 code	IN-WB
Lok Sabha constituency	Purulia
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Para
Website	wb.gov.in

Geography

Location

Para is located at 23°31′N 86°31′E.

Area overview

Purulia district forms the lowest step of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. The general scenario is undulating land with scattered hills.[1] Raghunathpur subdivision occupies the northern part of the district. 83.80% of the population of the subdivision lives in rural areas. However, there are pockets of urbanization and 16.20% of the population lives in urban areas. There are 14 census towns in the subdivision.[2] It is presented in the map given alongside. There is a coal mining area around Parbelia[3] and two thermal power plants are there – the 500 MW Santaldih Thermal Power Station[4] and the 1200 MW Raghunathpur Thermal Power Station. The subdivision has a rich heritage of old temples, some of them belonging to the 11th century or earlier. The Banda Deul is a monument of national importance.[5][6] The comparatively more recent in historical terms, Panchkot Raj has interesting and intriguing remains in the area.[7][8]

Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India Para had a total population of 9,697 of which 5,031 (52%) were males and 4,666 (48%) were females. There were 1,158 persons in the age range of 0–6 years. The total number of literate persons in Para was 5,453 (63,86% of the population over 6 years).[9]

Civic administration

Police station

Para police station, along with Santaldih police station, has jurisdiction over the Para CD block. The area covered is 270.59 km² and the population covered is 200,621.[10][11]

CD block HQ

The headquarters of the Para CD block are located at Para.[12][13]

Education

Santaldih College was established in 2008 at Usir, PO Chatarmahul.[14]

Para Shib Narayan High School is a Bengali-medium coeducational institution established in 1916. It has facilities for teaching from class V to class XII. It has a play ground and 2,500 books in the library.[15]

Culture

Para was probably capital of the Panchkot Raj at some point of time. It may also have been associated with some other royal establishment. However, what remains of its royal connections are three dilapidated temples (all the three are deulas), one built of bricks, another built of stone and third one built of bricks and stone. Scholars date the brick temple as belonging to 10th-11th century. The stone temple, standing nearby, probably predates the brick temple. In the stone temple one can still see some of the intricate designs. It has a lot of similarity with another remarkable temple, located nearby, at Banda.[16] There is an 11th-century rekha deul at Banda.[17]

Numerous statues related to Jainism and Hinduism have been found at Haraktor.[18]

Rekha deul

David J. McCutchion says that the pre-dominant traditional architectural style for temples in the western areas of Bengal in the pre-Muslim period is the tall curvilinear rekha deul and it went on developing from the late 7th century or early 8th century to around the 12th century, increasing its complexity and height but retaining its basic features. Such temples had “curvilinear shikhara with chaitya mesh decoration, surmounted by a large amalaka and kalasa finial. Examples of such dilapidated deulas are still standing at Satdeula (in Bardhaman), Bahulara and Sonatapal (in Bankura) and Deulghat (in Purulia). On the brick deulas already mentioned here, plus Jatar (in 24 Parganas) and Para (in Purulia), “we find extensive and remarkably fine stucco work on carved brick”.[19]

Para picture gallery

• 
  The stone and brick deuls at Para
• 
  The stone deul
• 
  The stone deul in 1872-73 - photograph by JD Beglar
• 
  Sculptural panel in stone
• 
  The brick deul
• 
  Brick deul wall
• 
  Brick deul with corbelled arch
• 
  Side view of the third temple

Healthcare

Para Block Primary Health Centre, with 30 beds, is a major government medical facility in the Para CD block.[20]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Para, Purulia.