Gopiballavpur is a town in Paschim Medinipur

Paschim Medinipur

Paschim Medinipur district or West Midnapore district is the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on January 1, 2002 after the Partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur. The district has 4 sub-divisions: Kharagpur, Medinipur Sadar, Ghatal and Jhargram...

 district of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Gopiballavpur–I

Gopiballavpur I (community development block)

Gopiballavpur I is an administrative division in Jhargram subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Beliabera and Gopiballavpur police stations serve this block...

 and Gopiballavpur–II

Gopiballavpur II (community development block)

Gopiballavpur II is an administrative division in Jhargram subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Beliabera police station serves this block...

 are two community development blocks under the Jhargram subdivision

Jhargram subdivision

Jhargram subdivision , is a subdivision of the Paschim Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal, India. It consists of Jhargram municipality and eight community development blocks: Binpur–I, Binpur–II, Jamboni, Jhargram, Gopiballavpur–I, Gopiballavpur–II, Nayagram and...

 of the district.

History

Earlier this area was a part of Mayurbhanj princely state.The place was earlier known as Kashipur. Shyamananda Mahaprabhu, a prominent figure in the Vaishnava cult, was being commanded by Shrimati Radha Rani to travel & carry the holy waters of Yamuna to this place and establish a Temple since then the village is named after Gopiballav(Sri Krishna). Kashipur came to be known as Gopiballavpur since then. The Village houses this old temple since 1400 and its being run and administered by Vaishnava Goswami Families since then. Currently the Mahant is the head of the temple.

The temple is known as Shri Radha Govinda Mandir and known to the vaishnavas as "Gupta Vrindavan". It houses the beautiful idols of Shri Radha Govind Ji and Smt. Radha Rani along with eye catching idols of Jagannatha Mahaprabhu, Balabhadra and Subadhra. An annual Car Festival (Ratha Yatra) is held every year. Gopiballabpur also houses ancient Mahadev Temple where Gajan Mela is held every year. Besides Gajon, Chorok Mela, Snan Jatra, Jhulon Jatra are prominent festivals in the area. The chou dancers from Orissa are brought every year to give performances to audience in these fairs.

Geography

Gopiballavpur is located at 22.22°N 86.9°E. It has an average elevation of 34 metres (114 feet).

The town is on the banks of the Subarnarekha River

Subarnarekha River

Subarnarekha River flows through the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa.-Etymology:As per tradition, gold was mined near the origin of the river at a village named Piska near Ranchi. This is why it was named Subarnarekha, meaning ‘streak of gold’. Legend has it that traces of...

 near the Jharkhand

Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...

 and Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

borders.

Transportation

Gopiballavpur is easily accessible by Roadways from Kolkata & Orissa both Regular deluxe bus service from Esplanade to Gopiballavpur are easily available. Prominent plyers are the Nilmadhav Bus Service & Dhumsai line buses.

For Railways Gopiballavpur is about 48 km from Jhargram. Take Ispat Express from Howrah station in the morning to reach Jhargram. The journey takes a little more than two hours.Also Several Buses from kharagpur railway station are available.

Eating out in Gopiballavpur

Though a village Gopiballavpur offers variety of cuisine and sweets. The famous Barik Sweet house near Hatibari bus stand is sweetlovers paradise. Try the chenna pora there. The freshly fried Khaja sweet is yet another mouth watering delicacy of Gopiballabpur. The Pradeep hotel, Saraswati hotel are cheap eating joints serving traditional Bengali main course dishes. As it borders Baripada in Odhisa an oriya confluence is present in Gopiballavpur cuisine. Try the Puffed Rice (Muri) with variety of Chanachurs(Namkeen/frittle) which is being sold in the small side eatries in evening time. South Indian snacks idli, dosa and vada also serves an ethinic snacks for people.