Ramrajatala

Ramrajatala রামরাজাতলা
neighborhood in Howrah
Ramrajatala Railway Station
Nickname(s): Ramtala
Ramrajatala Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates: 22°35′18″N 88°17′46″E / 22.58833°N 88.29611°E / 22.58833; 88.29611Coordinates: 22°35′18″N 88°17′46″E / 22.58833°N 88.29611°E / 22.58833; 88.29611
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Howrah
Named for	God Rama
Government
• Body	Howrah Municipal Corporation
• MLA	Jatu Lahiri
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English, Hindi, Odia
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	711104[1]
Telephone code	+91 33 2627,2657
Vehicle registration	WB-
Nearest city	Kolkata
Lok Sabha constituency	Howrah
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Shibpur
Civic agency	Howrah Municipal Corporation
Climate	Normal (Köppen)
Avg. summer temperature	35 °C (95 °F)
Avg. winter temperature	15 °C (59 °F)

Ramrajatala is a neighborhood in the city of Howrah (Haora), of Howrah district in the state of West Bengal, India. The name of the area comes from the presence of a temple dedicated to Lord Rama and three months long worship is undertaken by the people of the locality every year at the temple. This tradition of worship of Lord Rama here has continued for about 3 centuries.^[2]

History

Ayodhyaram Choudhury, the zamindar started Rama puja first time in this area. According to him, he got some divine instructions to worship Lord Rama. After that he started a huge Barowari Puja of Lord Rama. That Puja got a massive popularly in the passage of time and the locality was named after it Ramrajatala. But during that time, Saraswati Puja was very famous in that area and the villagers used to enjoy the same a lot from previous 300 years. So some villagers those were the fond of the Saraswati Puja opposed the Ram Puja. The two groups came to a conclusion after numerous discussions that Ram Puja would be done and the Goddess of Wisdom Saraswati would be placed on the top of Lord Ram & Sita. From that day the customary started to cut the bamboo from the bamboo groove of Sasthitala and perform the very first Puja of those bamboos at Choudhury Para Shib Mandir on the day of Saraswati Puja. During the initial days the Puja the fair firstly held for three days. After that it continued for a fortnight and then up to a month. Now Ram Puja starts on Ramnavami in Chaitra-Baisakh month and continues up to the last Sunday of Shraban month. It is longest running fair in Bengali.^[2]

The idols of Ram Sita at Ramrajtala

Locality

Ramrajatala is one of the oldest parts of the city of Howrah. The area is a densely populated within the city of Howrah. Situated in the centre of this area Ramrajatla Bazar is the most populated place. The area is in need of development in domains like road improvements and drainage system because waterlogging is a major problem in this part of Howrah. For this water stands here even after a slight rain in monsoon. That creates much problem for the locality of the people.

Transport

There is a small but very important railway station. A large number of people travel from nearby villages and towns through the station.

An important road, the Kona Expressway, passes nearby connecting Mumbai Road NH6 with Second Hooghly Bridge to Kolkata. This is important connection for transportation to Kolkata as well as to different suburban area like Domjur, Bagnan, Amta, Bally and Digha.

The buses start running from here, on route no. 52 between Ramrajatala to Howrah Station/Esplanade in every five minutes. In previous times, some minibus ran from Ramrajatala to Rajabazar near the science college but it is now stopped and the route is amalgamated with 52 no. bus route.

Places of interest

• Rama Mandir (Rama Temple)

A fair is held during the four month long puja. This is popular, particularly during the bisarjan (immersion ceremony) that is the last journey on the last Sunday in Shraavana.

• Shankar Math^[3]

A Shankaracharya Temple with a Gurukul styled school having a residential ashram for the poor and homeless students. There is a huge playground in front of here.

• Lake Land Country Club

Situated on Kona Exp Road it is a place for shooting Tollywood movies, auditions for many national talent hunt contests are held here. It was previously known as Rashid Park.

• Santragachhi Jheel

It attracts many migratory Siberian birds such as lesser whistling duck from December to February every year.

• Dumurjala Stadium^[4]

A few distance away beside the Bholanath Chakraborty Road, it is an indoor stadium with plays host to several prominent talent hunt contests and sports activities.

• Bani Niketan Public Library^[5]

A big public library in Ramrajatala, containing long range of books, hosts many compititions also.

Educational Institutions

• There is the famous Industrial Training Institute, Howrah Homes.
• Santragachi Kedarnath Institution, Howrah is the biggest high school. Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of this school in 1925. Santragachi Kedarnath Institution (For girls) is the sister school of this school.^[6]
• Governmental schools include Santragachi Bhanumati Balika Bidyalaya, Ichapur High School, Santragachi Railway Colony High School and non-governmental schools include Augustine's Public School,^[7] Maria's Day School^[8] and Vikramshila Academy.^[9]
• The only college includes here Dr. Kanailal Bhattacharya College, situated in 1885.

References

External links