Lalgarh - Midnapore
Lalgarh is a village in Binpur–I community development block under the Jhargram subdivision of West Midnapore district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Lalgarh is the headquarters of Binpur–I CD block.
Midnapore Railway station is the nearest important station about 45 km from the village.
Demography
Lalgarh is a sparsely populated place with majority of population being adivasis, the total population count would amount to around 1.5 lacs among which 30% belong to the category of Scheduled Tribe and 25%
belong to the Category of Scheduled Caste.
History of Lalgarh
It was the reign of the great Mughal Samrat, Akbar. Invading and conquering states of the land one by one, he invaded Bengal in 1576 and surmounted the then nabab of Bengal. In the year 1592 the contemporary
subedar Nasir Khan of Bengal began to rebel against the Mughal Samrat and Akbar sent Mansingha to cross the sword with him. In an ambitious fight Mansingha ultimately defeated Nasir Khan in place of battle near
Medinipur. And in that battle a Lalsinha whom Mansingha brought as an aide from Itawa, Uttar Pradesh fought valiantly in favour of Mansingha and rescued him from a danger in the battlefield. In 1594 Mansingha
became the subadar of Bengal and awarded Lalsingha vast stretches of lands around the river Kangsabati . The residence palace was built at Shankha khullya and after him the place was called Lalgarh. Legend has it
that two brothers Lalsingha and Mansingha set up their residence at a place near a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at Balarampur which now belongs to Binpur-1 Block and Nepuar – 10 Block and with their valour and
strength got command over vast stretches of land on the both sides of the river Kangsabati. After some years Ramsingha went to a place called Moujithan which is now supposed to be near presently Ramgarh and when
his predecessors established the palace, they named the place Ramgarh after their famous ancestor. On the other hand, Lalsingha crossed over the Kangsabati and came over to now Lalgarh and established his residence
at Shankhakhullya. The Singha brothers were great soldiers. It is believed that for Lalsingh,it was not a cakewalk to build up his empire. The place was covered with deep forest and amidst them resided the Kol tribes
who fought valiantly against Lalsingh. Finally, they were defeated and were driven away and Lalsingh did establish his supremacy. Not much is known about those exiled Kols except the fact that they lived near the than
of Bamalsini in a highland and one of the moujas nerar it is called Kollakul. Lalsingh swayed sovereign mastery over the place and his ancestors ruled the place. Revolving around Lion-hunting ceremony the Kings of
Lalgarh assumed the title Sahasray and Kings of Ramgarh assumed the title Singhasahasray.
River Kangsabati flows along the Western side of the Shankhakhullya and the rivers flowing in the farthest west. The land was plain in the eastern side of the place was the dense green sal jungle and the natural
scenery was a feast to the eye. It was called the Shankha khullya paragana. That Lalsingha and his ancestors ruled the place is evident for a broken brick-made temple, a covered pond, the mentioning of the name
of the paragana at official records. Later on due to huge directional change of the river appeared a crisis in the populace near Shakhankhullya and the contemporary King came to more eastern part of the land and
established the palace in a naturally created highland of laterite soil and finally was called the Lalgarh King’s palace around which a new populace came to exist. Shakhakullya became a paragana of the Lalgarh
paragana King Sarup narayan sahas ray used to reign from here. The palace we see today is his. He dug up a huge pond on the eastern part of the palace, now known as Rajbandh and set up a hawamahal in the midst
of it. On his initiative was built Sri Sri Radhamohan Jew Temple after the Bishnupur pattern.
Again, the name Shankhakhullya is itself of great interest. Somewhere high, somewhere low and full of trenches, a place called in local dialect khullya. Such lands are still found today around the place. There is
an interesting story related with goddess Durga. Legend has it that one day a conch-bangle seller was taking rest in the river bank was taking his refreshment. Suddenly a wonderfully beautiful woman with a bright
golden halo appears before him and said to him, “I am the daughter of the king. I want to wear conch-bangle in my hands. Adore my hands with them. The seller did so and asked for the payment. The lady said him to
meet his father to get his due. As directed the conch seller came to the king and demanded the money at which the king got angry. Instead he wanted to see the lady who wore the conch-bangles and cautioned the man
that if he failed to produce the lady, he would be put to death. Coming back to the bank nobody could see the lady there. The bangle- seller began to weep profusely and cried “Hey! Mother! Please appear before us.
I don’t need the money but your good appearance because that can only save my life. Then, suddenly, appeared in the middle of the river, only, two hands beautifully decorated with conch-bangles and disappeared in
the next moment. The King came to understand the mystery behind it. It was sheer magic of Goddes Durga. He was satisfied with the conch seller as for him he got the chance to witness such divine magic. He donated
land of the place to him and the place became to known as Shankhakhullya.
Gradually the flow of the river altered and it was said the entire palace went into the womb of the river including the palatial chariot one day. And the contemporary King settled into more northern heights to build up
the now existing palace.