Charida (also referred to as Chorida, Chorda) is a village in the

Baghmundi Baghmundi is a village, with a police station, in the Baghmundi (community development block), Baghmundi Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Jhalda subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geogra ...

CD block in the Jhalda subdivision of the

Purulia district Purulia district () is one of the twenty-three districts of West Bengal state in Eastern India. Purulia is the administrative headquarters of the district. Some of the other important towns of Purulia district are Raghunathpur- Adra, Manbazar ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Geography

Location

Charida is located at . Charida is about 5 km from

village, at the scenic foothills of the Ajodhya Hills.

Area overview

Purulia district forms the lowest step of the

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau () is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and th ...

. The general scenario is undulating land with scattered hills. Jhalda subdivision, shown in the map alongside, is located in the western part of the district, bordering

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

. The Subarnarekha flows along a short stretch of its western border. It is an overwhelmingly rural subdivision with 91.02% of the population living in the rural areas and 8.98% living in the urban areas. There are 3 census towns in the subdivision. The map alongside shows some of the tourist attractions in the Ajodhya Hills. The area is home to Purulia

Chhau dance ''Chhau'', also spelled ''Chhou'', is a semi classical Indian dance with martial and folk traditions. It is found in three styles named after the location where they are performed, i.e. the ''Purulia Chhau'' of West Bengal, the ''Seraikella Chh ...

with spectacular masks made at Charida. The remnants of old temples and deities are found in the subdivision also, as in other parts of the district.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Chorda had a total population of 2,568, of which 1,353 (53%) were males and 1,215 (47%) were females. There were 385 persons in the age range of 0–6 years. The total number of literate persons in Chorda was 1,416 (64.86% of the population over 6 years).

Culture

Charida is famous for the Chhau masks used in the Purulia

. Around 150 families are involved in mask-making. It involves five elaborate processes and depending on the intricacies involved it takes two to seven days to complete a mask. "The Chhau craft itself dates back 150 years, to the reign of King Madan Mohan Singh Deo of Baghmundi". A chau mask festival is organised at Charida in January–February. Some of the craftsmen have travelled to far off places such as Japan and France "to showcase their work and popularise Chhau." "The Kirat-Kiratin avtar of Shiva and Durga is the inspiration" behind the Chhau mask. Apart from their traditional use in the Purulia chhau dance, the masks have become a drawing room show piece. Traditionally, only people of lower castes were involved in mask making but the growing demand of the item is drawing in people from all castes into this profession. Gambhir Singh Mura, an outstanding Chhau dancer and a Padma Shri awardee, belonged to the nearby village of Pitikiri Bamni. Now, his statue adorns Charida.

Charida picture gallery

File:Chau Dance.jpg, Chhau performance File:Charida 5.jpg, A chhau mask File:Charida 4.jpg, The preliminary stage of mask-making File:Chau Mask Making.jpg, The advanced stage of mask making File:An artisan making a mask in Chorida at Purulia.jpg, Providing finishing touches File:Makers of Chau mask in the village Chorida of Bagmundi block of Purulia. 02.jpg, An artist at work File:Chau masks on sell.jpg, Masks on sale File:Mask Purulia1.jpg, Charida mask File:Mask Purulia3.jpg, Charida mask File:Gambhir Singh Mura.jpg, Statue of Gambhir Singh Mura

References

External links

{{Craft centres in West Bengal Villages in Purulia district