Image by aceofnet, Unsplash
Right before the havoc of covid in 2020, February I took a trip to Purulia. It’s a beautiful city in West Bengal and famous for its hills, temples, ancient buildings and several archaeological excavations. The city has a rough and rugged kind of beauty where nature will amaze you.
We stayed at Bagmundi, a small village of Purulia surrounded by the famous Ayodhya Hills. We were there for three days and two nights. The place is far from all the chaos of the city. Hills, temples, lakes, and waterfalls have made it a beautiful tourist destination. Spring is the best time to give visit this place, as the Polash flowers paint the city red. It's just too much beauty to hold in our eyes. The rugged Ayodhya hill with all the greenery and the Polash.
People also come here to photograph the beauty of Polash. Places like Ayodhya hills, Marble lake, Bamni falls, Pakhi Pahar and the famous Mukhosh Gram (where the masks are made for the famous Chou Nach) are the main attractions of Baghmundi. Apart from these some temples, Adivasi villages, and dams are also there. All these places are near Bagmundi.
If you stay in Purulia town then Garhpanchakot, Baranti lake, Joychondi Pahar etc are the nearest tourist spots.
Ayodhya is a famous mountain range and all the other tourist attractions of Purulia are centred around it. Beautiful roads have been made through this hill. Many resorts are there amidst the Ayodhya hill. Several dams, some villages and temples are also there. The view is absolutely gorgeous from the top of the hill.
The most beautiful and adventurous spot is the Bamni falls. This is a hidden fall and you have to take at least 600 steps to reach here. Going there was not the toughest thing but climbing back was quite hard and risky for old people, pregnant ladies or people with any kind of physical condition.
After going through this long and hard journey the Marble Lake gave us much-needed relaxation. It is a beautiful lake with crystal clear water surrounded by huge marble rocks. You can see beautiful pebbles on the lake floor.
According to me, the Mukhosh Gram is the most interesting place. A small village where every household is making masks as their occupation. These masks are bold in colours with vivid expressions, and will surely brighten up your living room.
Visually the most beautiful place was the Pakhi Pahar. The area is full of trees, the dry and yellow leaves will take you to another world. One can spend a whole day just sitting there. The Pakhi Pahar(Birds Hill) has paintings all over it, paintings of birds in blue and white colour. The Adivasi village here is also praise-worthy. Very neat and clean, the houses are beautifully painted. There is a small temple of Maa Durga beside this village. Interestingly only pure cow ghee is offered to the deity as ‘Prashad’.
These were the note-worthy places we visited, around the Ayodhya Hill. It took us a whole day to visit all these places. We hired a four-wheeler through the hotel we stayed at. Our driver was very friendly and guided us in a great manner throughout the trip.
On the third day we went to the town Purulia, from there we went to Garh Panchkot. It was also a hill accompanied by an ancient temple of Radha Krishna with great architecture. It took us almost 1.5 hours to reach there from Purulia. This place is full of natural beauty.
After Garh Panchkot we went to the Baranti Dam which is a secluded place. The Baranti hill was surely the most beautiful one, full of greens. It gives peace to the eyes. We had our lunch here. Simple Bengali cuisine was served, like – fish and rice. It was good in quality and taste. Then we ended our trip by visiting the Joychondi hill.
There is a temple there on the top of the Joychondi Hill but we didn’t attempt to reach there as the sun was going down. So, we started our journey towards our hotel. By that time it became dark outside and that experience was something else. Only the lights emitting from the car were making some of the road visible. The rest of the area was dark and elusive. The long fields of crops, rarely accompanied by some small huts seemed like some scenes out of a horror story. It gave us chills. Thus, enjoying the view our journey came to an end.
On the day of our return, we just explored some local places. ate breakfast from a local tea stall. We left Purulia with a desire of coming back again sometime. Our train was quite late but that increased the happiness. We chatted for a long time about various topics and life.
The small and empty stations on our way back to Kolkata made me melancholy. Don’t know why but I experienced a stunning change in my emotion. They seem to me romantically sad, like some couple must have parted ways there. With all these thoughts running inside my head we finally reached Kolkata.
Many hotels and resorts are available, and some of them have great views. You can choose according to your budget. Trains and buses are very much available to reach Purulia. The Barabhum station is nearer to Bagmundi. So, if you are planning to stay at Bagmundi then go this way. The trip can also be done with a four-wheeler. Purulia is full of natural beauty and traditions. A small trip to this rural area gave me an inclusive perspective of Bengal’s traditions, cultures and beauty. The view of the mountains from my hotel window was something so beautiful that I will remember always. The late-night long drive over the Ayodhya Hills, the breeze, and the Bengali thalis still gives me a feeling of happiness.
Debjani Dasgupta
Debjani is a writer and travel blogger. She loves to explore relatively unexplored destinations, and share those stories with people. She cares for animals and spend her time with books.
