West Bengal (PART-V)
Cooch Behar (2)
Jorai
This is a small sub-urban area of
Coochbehar district. The name derived from a rivulet called "Jorai
Nodi" which is a tributary of the river Sankosh. Danio rerio and Danio
dangila species of fishes are available in Jorai Rivulet. Borealis spp., the
rare fishes of Himalayan foothills are available here apart from Raidak and
Sankosh river.This fish is locally called "Boirali maach".The small
suburb is famous for Raas-mela (Fair based on Radha-Krishna's life). The
railway station, named Jorai, has uniqueness in it. There are three railway
stations, named Kamakhyaguri, Jorai and Srirampur, comes in a consecutive row
which belong to three separate districts, named Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar (both
are of West Bengal ) and Kokrajhar (of Assam), respectively.
Baneshwar Shiv
Temple
Situated at a distance of about
10 km to the North of Cooch Behar town, the temple has a 'Shivalinga' (the
symble of Lord Shiva) 10 feet below the plinth level. Also present in the temple is 'Gouripat'. By the side of the main temple is another temple
which has the statute of 'Ardhanariswar'
installed.
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| 'Shivalinga' |
On the occasions of Madan
Chaturdashi and Dol Purnima
this statue is carried temporarily to the Madan Mohan Temple of Cooch Behar
town. This has given it the fame as ‘Movable Baneswar'.There is a big pond
within the temple campus having a large number of tortoises. Some of the
tortoises are very old and big in size. At Siva Chaturdashi a big mela is held
here for a week.
Kamteswari Temple
This temple situated at a distance of
about 35 km west of Cooch Behar Town, the original temple is now
destroyed. The present temple has been established by Maharaja Pran Narayan in
1665 the throne of Devi is situated here. Beside the main temple 2 smaller
temples also exist at the back-side of the temple courtyard. At the gate a Tarakeswar Sivalinga exists. A large
number of festivals are observed here of which the Bath Festival of Debi
in the month of Magh is worth
mentioning.
Sagar Dighi
Situated in the Cooch Behar Town itself;
the huge tank was excavated by Maharaja Hitendra Narayan. It is a popular
rendezvous in the evening, surrounded by heritage buildings including Victor
House and a War Memorial where a tank is kept. During winter months one can
spot migratory birds on the water surface and the nearby trees.
Rasikbil
It is a recognized bird sanctuary, situated
about 42 km from Cooch Behar Town. It has a deer park and a recently built
aquarium where fishes, turtles, seven nos. of leopards, Peafowl are kept. You
may spot Chinese Fishing Nets on the way to Rasikbil. Rasikbil is a complex
of wet land, the name of important water bodies are Bochamari bil, Rasik bil,
Batikata Bil & raichangmari bil. In Bengali, ‘bil’ means large water
body.
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| Watch Tower at Rasikbil |
The main migratory birds found in this
wet land are Lesser Whistling Teal, Common Teal, Cotton Teal, Dapchick, Bronze
winged Jacana, Pheasant Tailed Janacana, Shoveler, Barheaded goose, White Eyed Poacher
etc. Except this a lot of other aquatic birds like small & large Cormorant,
four spp. of Kingfisher, open bill storks etc. are found. The area of water dobby
complex is 178 hec. The whole area comes under protected forest & managed
by Coochbehar Forest Division. In January 2009, a beautiful watch tower of 70
feet height was constructed by Coochbehar Forest Division.
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| Birds in Rasikbil |
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| Spotted Deer |
There is a mini zoo at Rasikbil; the zoo
is recognised by Central Zoo Authority, Govt. of India. There are Tortoise,
Gharial, Leopard, Spotted deer, Peafowl and other birds in the zoo. In 2009,
Coochbehar Division in collaboration with Zoological Survey of India conducted
bird census in the wetland complex, 66 species of birds were recorded.
Image courtesy: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=cooch+behar+photos&hl
