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55-745: WB-30,WB-31,WB-32,WB-33,WB-34,WB-36,WB-37, WB-38,WB-39,WB-40,WB-41,WB-42,WB-44,WB-53, WB-54,WB-55,WB-56,WB-57,WB-WB-58,WB-67, Rarh region ( Bengali pronunciation: [raːɽʱ] ) is a toponym for an area in the Indian subcontinent that lies between the Chota Nagpur Plateau on the West and the Ganges Delta on the East. Although the boundaries of the region have been defined differently according to various sources throughout history, it

110-515: A 12th-century minister, describes Rāḍha as "a waterless, dry and woody region". This description suits the western part of Bengal. The 16th century Digvijayaprakasha suggests that Rāḍha was located to the north of the Damodar River , and to the south of the Gauda region . The 13th century chronicle Tabaqat-i Nasiri by Minhaj-i-Siraj defines Rāḍh (Rāḍha) as the section lying to the west of

165-609: A Jain image. A Khajuraho inscription mentions that the Chandela ruler imprisoned the wives of the rulers of various kingdoms, which included Rāḍha. The 12th century Naihati copper-plate inscription of the Sena ruler Vallalasena mentions Rāḍha as the ancestral place of his dynasty. Various ancient and medieval region offer clues about the location and historical extent of the Rarh region. The Bhuvaneshvara inscription of Bhatta Bhavadeva,

220-453: A command area of 24,235 square kilometres (9,357 sq mi). The Damodar valley is rich in coal. It is considered as the prime centre of coking coal in the country. Massive deposits are found in the central basin spreading over 2,883 square kilometres (1,113 sq mi). The important coalfields in the basin are Jharia , Raniganj , West Bokaro , East Bokaro , Ramgarh , South Karanpura and North Karanpura . The Damodar Valley

275-538: A distinct unit in several inscriptions, including the 10th century Gaonri inscription of Vakpati Munja , the 10th century Nyayakandali of Sridhara-acharya, the 11th century Prabodha-Chandrodaya by Krishna Mishra, the 13th century Amareshvara temple inscription of Mandhata , and the 16th century Chandimangal by Mukundarama. The 11th century CE Tirumalai inscription of Rajendra Chola I also mentions "Ladam" (Uttara Rāḍha) and "Takkana-Ladam" (Dakṣina Rāḍha) as two distinct units. Rupendra K Chattopadhyaya theorizes that

330-472: A federal basis), subdivisions such as individual states or provinces will have individual boards. Individual geographic names boards include: Damodar River Damodar means "rope around the belly", derived from Sanskrit दाम (dama) "rope" and उदर (udara) "belly". Damodar is also another name given to the Hindu god Krishna because his foster-mother, Yashoda , had tied him to a large urn. The Damodar

385-460: A few. More recently many postcolonial countries revert to their own nomenclature for toponyms that have been named by colonial powers. Place names provide the most useful geographical reference system in the world. Consistency and accuracy are essential in referring to a place to prevent confusion in everyday business and recreation. A toponymist, through well-established local principles and procedures developed in cooperation and consultation with

440-399: A person's death for the use of a commemorative name. In the same vein, writers Pinchevski and Torgovnik (2002) consider the naming of streets as a political act in which holders of the legitimate monopoly to name aspire to engrave their ideological views in the social space. Similarly, the revisionist practice of renaming streets , as both the celebration of triumph and the repudiation of

495-463: Is a fertile, low-lying alluvial tract. Rice, jute, legumes, oilseeds, wheat, barley, and mangoes are the chief crops in the east; extensive mulberry cultivation is carried out in the west. Rarh has several moist deciduous forests of Shorea robusta (sal), Magnolia champaca (champak) and Acacia . According to Rupendra Kr Chattopadhyay, the historical Rarh region cover parts of the following districts, divided into northern and southern Rarh by

550-565: Is a process that can include restoring place names by Indigenous communities themselves. Frictions sometimes arise between countries because of toponymy, as illustrated by the Macedonia naming dispute in which Greece has claimed the name Macedonia , the Sea of Japan naming dispute between Japan and Korea , as well as the Persian Gulf naming dispute . On 20 September 1996 a note on

605-793: Is a rain-fed river. It originates in Khamarpat Hill on Chotanagpur Plateau in Jharkhand. It travels 368 miles (592 km) before joining the Hooghly River . Damodar River has a number of tributaries and subtributaries, such as Barakar , Konar , Bokaro , Haharo, Jamunia , Ghari, Guaia, Khadia and Bhera. The Damodar and the Barakar trifurcate the Chota Nagpur plateau. The rivers pass through hilly areas with great force, sweeping away whatever lies in their path. Two bridges on

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660-556: Is identified with Rāḍha by several scholars. In a 1972 thesis, the researcher Amalendu Mitra traced the origin of the word Rarh to "lāṛ", the Santali word for snake . This theory was also endorsed by his mentor Panchanan Mandal. However, German Indologist Rahul Peter Das notes that this is highly unlikely: the Santali word "lāṛ" actually means string or fibre , and is sometimes used for "snake" or "twig". Das further points out that

715-476: Is mainly coextensive with the state of West Bengal , also comprising parts of the state of Jharkhand in India. The Rarh region historically has been known by many different names and has hosted numerous settlements throughout history. One theory identifies it with the powerful Gangaridai nation mentioned in the ancient Greco-Roman accounts. The Naihati copper plate inscription of King Ballal Sen names it as

770-493: Is one of the most industrialised parts of India. Three integrated steel plants ( Bokaro , Burnpur and Durgapur ) of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and other factories are in the valley. Several dams have been constructed in the valley, for the generation of hydroelectric power. The valley is called “the Ruhr of India”. Damodar Valley Corporation , popularly known as DVC, came into being on July 7, 1948, by an Act of

825-520: Is probably derived from an older language, such as Pelasgian , which was unknown to those who explained its origin. In his Names on the Globe , George R. Stewart theorizes that Hellespont originally meant something like 'narrow Pontus' or 'entrance to Pontus', Pontus being an ancient name for the region around the Black Sea , and by extension, for the sea itself. Especially in the 19th century,

880-421: Is the study of toponyms ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names ), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature , and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features. In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while

935-680: The Constituent Assembly of India (Act No. XIV of 1948) as the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. It is modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States. The initial focus of the DVC were flood control, irrigation, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, eco-conservation and afforestation, as well as job creation for the socio-economic well-being of

990-640: The Grand Trunk Road near Barhi in Hazaribagh district were torn down by the Barakar: the great stone bridge in 1913 and the subsequent iron bridge in 1946. The Chota Nagpur Plateau receives an average annual rainfall of around 1,400 mm (55 in), almost all of it in the monsoon months between June and August. The huge volume of water that flows down the Damodar and its tributaries during

1045-768: The Hoogly-Bhagirathi River . According to Rupendra K Chattopadhyaya of Banglapedia , Rāḍha "probably included a large part of the modern Indian state of West Bengal". According to historian André Wink, the Rāḍha division of the Pala-Sena era corresponds roughly to the modern Bardhaman district . The 9th–10th century literature and inscriptions and literature mention two divisions of Rāḍha: northern (Uttara) and southern (Dakṣiṇa). Rupendra K Chattopadhyaya (in Banglapedia ) believes that these roughly correspond to

1100-665: The River Hooghly . The river Subarnarekha flows through some parts of the region in the Midnapur district . In the past, the floods of Damodar, called the "Sorrow of Bengal", often resulted in heavy losses to life and property. After the formation of the Damodar Valley Corporation in 1948, the flood hazard in the Rarh plain has been reduced through the construction of heavy embankments and other sophisticated engineering structures. West Rarh's Bagri river

1155-595: The Subbhabhumi and Vajjabhumi mentioned in the ancient Jain literature. The 17th century scholar Nilakanatha mentions Suhma as a synonym of Rāḍha. However, as Subbhabhumi is a corruption of Suhma, it appears that Suhma referred to only a part of the ancient Rāḍha region. A 6th century CE inscription of the Chola king Devendravarman is the earliest inscription to mention Uttara Rāḍha. The 12th century Belava copper inscription of Bhojavarman states that Bhatta Bhavadeva

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1210-627: The United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names acknowledged that while common, the practice of naming geographical places after living persons (toponymic commemoration) could be problematic. Therefore, the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names recommends that it be avoided and that national authorities should set their own guidelines as to the time required after

1265-531: The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), applies the science of toponymy to establish officially recognized geographical names. A toponymist relies not only on maps and local histories, but interviews with local residents to determine names with established local usage. The exact application of a toponym, its specific language, its pronunciation, and its origins and meaning are all important facts to be recorded during name surveys. Scholars have found that toponyms provide valuable insight into

1320-768: The Dakṣiṇa Rāḍha covered a large of part of West Bengal lying between the Ajay and Damodar rivers. This includes large parts of the later Bardhaman , Howrah , and Hughli , and Burdwan districts. The southern boundary of Dakṣiṇa Rāḍha may have extended to the Rupnarayan River , and its western boundary extended beyond the Damodar river into the present-day Arambag subdivision . The archaeological sites that formed part of Dakṣina Rāḍha include: Mahanad , Betur, Saptagram , Garh Mandaran, Bharatpur, Mangalkot , and possibly Dihar and Puskarana. Rarh presented human society

1375-635: The Damodar are recorded in history — 1770, 1855, 1866, 1873–74, 1875–76, 1884–85, 1891–92, 1897, 1900, 1907, 1913, 1927, 1930, 1935 and 1943. In four of these floods (1770, 1855, 1913 and 1943) most of Bardhaman town was flooded. In 1789 an agreement was signed between Maharaja Kirti Chand of Burdwan and the East India Company wherein the Maharaja was asked to pay an additional amount of ₹ 193,721 (equivalent to ₹ 110 million, US$ 1.4 million or £1.2 million in 2023) for

1430-568: The Damodar river: P. R. Sarkar defines the Rarh region as follows: The earliest reference to Rāḍha janapada (as "Ladha") is found in the Jain text Acharangasutra . The text states that the 6th century BCE spiritual leader Mahavira traveled in Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi , which were located in the Ladha country. It mentions that the region was "pathless and lawless" during this time, and

1485-824: The Kankagram bhukti . Based on these records, Rupendra K Chattopadhyaya believes that the Uttara Rāḍha included the western parts of the modern Murshidabad district , the entire Birbhum district , some parts of the Santal Parganas district , and the northern part of the Katwa subdivision of the Bardhaman district . The archaeological sites located in the historical Uttara Rāḍha region include Rajbadidanga, Gitagram, Paikor, Batikar, Bahiri , Kagas, Kotasur, and Vallala-rajar-dhibi (Ballal Dhipi). Dakṣina Rāḍha appears as

1540-608: The Rarh region. However, other writers such as Plutarch , Curtius and Solinus , suggest that Gangaridai was located on the eastern banks of the Gangaridai river. Moreover, Pliny states that the Gangaridai occupied the entire region about the mouths of the Ganges. This suggests that the Gangaridai territory included the larger coastal region of present-day West Bangal and Bangladesh, from the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly River in

1595-413: The age of exploration, a lot of toponyms got a different name because of national pride. Thus the famous German cartographer Petermann thought that the naming of newly discovered physical features was one of the privileges of a map-editor, especially as he was fed up with forever encountering toponyms like 'Victoria', 'Wellington', 'Smith', 'Jones', etc. He writes: "While constructing the new map to specify

1650-451: The ancestral settlement of the Sena dynasty . Rāḍha ( Sanskrit ) and Lāḍ[h]a ( Prakrit ) are the ancient names of the Rarh region. Other variations of the name that appear in the ancient Jain literature include Rarha, Lara, and Rara. The Sri Lankan Buddhist chronicles such as Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa state that the legendary Prince Vijaya came from a region called Lāla, which

1705-424: The ancient manuscripts of tantra and mantra, raveling various villages, and mixing with 'Mantrayanis' in Rarh. Whereas, Subarnarekha hoite Mayurakshi is based on the tribal lifestyle, introducing various tribes, their festivals, clothing's, culture of Hazaribag, Singbhum, Manbhum, Dhalbhum Shikarbhum, Santal Pargana and Bankura that are situated in the basin of the river Subarnarekha. The author also discussed about

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1760-412: The basis for their etiological legends. The process of folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, for example, the toponym of Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after Helle , daughter of Athamas , who drowned there as she crossed it with her brother Phrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however,

1815-887: The construction and maintenance of embankment to prevent floods. However, these ran into dispute and in 1866 and 1873, The Bengal Embankment Act was passed, transferring the powers to build and maintain embankment to the government. So great was the devastation every year that the floods passed into folklore, as the following Bhadu song testifies: The Damodar Valley is spread across Hazaribagh , Ramgarh , Koderma , Giridih , Dhanbad , Bokaro and Chatra districts in Jharkhand and Bardhaman and Hooghly districts in West Bengal and partially covers Palamu , Ranchi , Lohardaga and Dumka districts in Jharkhand and Howrah , Bankura and Purulia districts in West Bengal with

1870-703: The detailed topographical portrayal and after consulting with and authorization of messr. Theodor von Heuglin and count Karl Graf von Waldburg-Zeil I have entered 118 names in the map: partly they are the names derived from celebrities of arctic explorations and discoveries, arctic travellers anyway as well as excellent friends, patrons, and participants of different nationalities in the newest northpolar expeditions, partly eminent German travellers in Africa, Australia, America ...". Toponyms may have different names through time, due to changes and developments in languages, political developments and border adjustments to name but

1925-550: The discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics . Toponymy is a branch of onomastics , the study of proper names of all kinds. A person who studies toponymy is called toponymist . The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek : τόπος / tópos , 'place', and ὄνομα / onoma , 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876. Since then, toponym has come to replace

1980-458: The establishment of an independent Greek state, Turkish, Slavic and Italian place names were Hellenized, as an effort of "toponymic cleansing." This nationalization of place names can also manifest itself in a postcolonial context. In Canada, there have been initiatives in recent years " to restore traditional names to reflect the Indigenous culture wherever possible ". Indigenous mapping

2035-708: The first philosopher Maharishi Kapila who was born near Jahlda. Maharishi Patanjali who systematised yoga was born in Patun village in Burdwan. Kashiram Das from Siddhi village in Burdwan made the Mahabharata in lucid language accessible to the people and Krittibas Ojha did the same with the Ramayana . 15th century Indian saint and social reformer Chaitanya Mahaprabhu , who is the chief proponent of vedantic philosophy of Achintya Bheda Abheda and Gaudiya Vaishnavism ,

2090-469: The historical geography of a particular region. In 1954, F. M. Powicke said of place-name study that it "uses, enriches and tests the discoveries of archaeology and history and the rules of the philologists ." Toponyms not only illustrate ethnic settlement patterns, but they can also help identify discrete periods of immigration. Toponymists are responsible for the active preservation of their region's culture through its toponymy. They typically ensure

2145-525: The internet reflected a query by a Canadian surfer, who said as follows: 'One producer of maps labeled the water body "Persian Gulf" on a 1977 map of Iran, and then "Arabian Gulf", also in 1977, in a map which focused on the Gulf States . I would gather that this is an indication of the "politics of maps", but I would be interested to know if this was done to avoid upsetting users of the Iran map and users of

2200-621: The landscape of those laces and the influence of Buddhism on the tribal religion. The Rarh region lies between the Chota Nagpur Plateau on the west and the chief flow of the Ganges river (which has been continuously changing) in the east. The Rarh plains comprise the lower Gangetic plains to the south of the Ganges, and to the west of its Bhagirathi-Hooghly distributary. These plains are formed of old alluvial deposits . The elevation ranges between 75 and 150 m. Low-level Pleistocene -era lateritic badlands (locally called khoai ) are common in

2255-420: The local people treated Mahavira harshly. One theory identifies Rarh with the powerful Gangaridai people described in the ancient Greek literature. The Greek writer Diodorus Siculus mentions that the Ganges river formed the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai. Based on his statement and the identification of Ganges with Bhāgirathi-Hooghly (a western distributary of Ganges), Gangaridai can be identified with

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2310-462: The map showing Arab Gulf States'. This symbolizes a further aspect of the topic, namely the spilling over of the problem from the purely political to the economic sphere. A geographic names board is an official body established by a government to decide on official names for geographical areas and features. Most countries have such a body, which is commonly (but not always) known under this name. Also, in some countries (especially those organised on

2365-412: The monsoons used to be a fury in the upper reaches of the valley. In the lower valley it used to overflow its banks and flood large areas. Damodar River was earlier known as the "River of Sorrows" as it used to flood many areas of Bardhaman , Hooghly , Howrah and Medinipur districts. The floods were virtually an annual ritual. In some years the damage was probably more. Many of the great floods of

2420-521: The old regime is another issue of toponymy. Also, in the context of Slavic nationalism , the name of Saint Petersburg was changed to the more Slavic sounding Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then to Leningrad following the death of Vladimir Lenin and back to Saint-Peterburg in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union . After 1830, in the wake of the Greek War of Independence and

2475-486: The ongoing development of a geographical names database and associated publications, for recording and disseminating authoritative hard-copy and digital toponymic data. This data may be disseminated in a wide variety of formats, including hard-copy topographic maps as well as digital formats such as geographic information systems , Google Maps , or thesauri like the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names . In 2002,

2530-461: The people residing in and around areas affected by DVC projects. However, over the past few decades, power generation has gained priority. Other objectives of the DVC remain part of its primary responsibility. The dams in the valley have a capacity to moderate peak floods of 7,100 to 18,400 cubic metres per second (250,000 to 650,000 cu ft/s). DVC has created irrigation potential of 3,640 square kilometres (1,410 sq mi). The first dam

2585-904: The poet Jaydev , Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore , Sangeetacharya Rajendranath Karmakar, Anil Kumar Gain , Michael Madhusudan Dutta , Kazi Nazrul Islam , Satyen Dutta, Rajshekhar Basu (Parashuram), legendary mathematician Shubhankar Das, Kashana, Jayanta Panigrahi, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar , Satyendranath Bose , Rashbehari Bose , Prafulla Chandra Roy , Subhas Chandra Bose , Ramakrishna Paramahamsa , Swami Vivekananda , Shri Aurobindo , Raja Rammohan Roy , Kaliprasanna Singha , Ramprasad Sen , Keshab Chandra Sen , Akshay Kumar Datta , Devendranath Tagore , Dwarakanath Tagore , Thakur Shri Nityananda, Abanindranath Tagore , Gaganendranath Tagore , Batukeswar Dutt , Thakur Krshnadas Kaviraj, Yamini Ray, Maniklal Sinha , Kaberi Gain , Ramkinkar Baij , Kalidasa , Kshudiram Bose , and Satyajeet Ray . Toponym Toponymy , toponymics , or toponomastics

2640-601: The region. Several of these small hillocks were formed as a result of subaerial erosions and other tectonic movements. The highest of these are Biharinath (440 m) and Susunia (440 m). Biharinath contains sedimentary rocks of Gondwana system. Susunia contains gneissic and schistose rocks of Archean age, and also felspathic quartzite at its top. The major rivers in the region include Damodar , Ajay , Mayurakshi , Dwarakeswar , Shilabati (Shilai), and Kangsabati River (Kasai). All these rivers originate from Chota Nagpur Plateau and flows towards east or south-east finally to meet

2695-441: The term place-name in professional discourse among geographers . Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups: Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order: Various types of cosmographical toponyms (cosmonyms) include: Probably the first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of specific place names as part of their tales; sometimes place-names served as

2750-483: The west to the Padma River in the east. The legendary Sri Lankan chronicles Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa mention that Prince Vijaya , the founder of their nation, came from Simhapura city in the "Lala" country. This Lala is identified with Rāḍha. The earliest epigraphic evidence to Rāḍha probably appears in an inscription from Mathura . This inscription states that a Jain monk from the "Rara" country erected

2805-600: The word "lāṛ" may itself be an Indo-Aryan loanword in Santali. " Gangaridai ", the name of an ancient Bengali people in Greek literature, is sometimes believed to be a Greek corruption of " Ganga -Rāḍha". However, according to D. C. Sircar , the word is simply the plural form of "Gangarid" (which is derived from the base "Ganga"), and means "Ganga (Ganges) people". Many aspect of Rarh are found in these books entitle as ' Subarnarekha hoite Mayurakshi and Rarher Mantrayan authored by Maniklal Sinha . Rarher Mantrayan contains

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2860-456: Was born in Nabadwip village of Nadia district . Others were born in Rarh or were by lineage from Rarh such as: Lochandas Thakur, Vrindavandas Thakur, Govindadas Thakur, Dvaja Chandidas, Dina Chandidas, Boru Chandidas , Ghanaram Chakravorty, Kavikankan Mukundaram Chakravorty, Bharatchandra Ray , Premendra Mitra , Sangeetacharya Kshetramohan Goswami, Sharatchandra , Tarashankar Bandopadhyay ,

2915-576: Was born in the Siddhala village (modern Siddhalagram) of Uttara Rāḍha. The 12th century Naihati inscription of Vallalasena also mentions a village named Vallahittaha in the Uttara-Rāḍha mandala (administrative unit). It suggests that Uttara Rāḍha was a part of the Vardhaman bhukti (province). However, the inscription of Vallalasena's successor Lakshmanasena states that this region was a part of

2970-584: Was built across the Barakar River , a tributary of the Damodar river at Tilaiya in 1953. The second one was built across the Konar River , another tributary of the Damodar river at Konar in 1955. Two dams across the rivers Barakar and Damodar were built at Maithon in 1957 and Panchet in 1958. Both the dams are some 8 kilometres (5 mi) upstream of the confluence point of the rivers. These four major dams are controlled by DVC. Durgapur Barrage

3025-462: Was constructed downstream of the four dams in 1955, across the Damodar river at Durgapur, with head regulators for canals on either side for feeding an extensive system of canals and distributaries. In 1978, the government of Bihar (that was before the formation of the state of Jharkhand) constructed the Tenughat Dam across the Damodar river outside the control of DVC. It proposes constructing

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