Madarihat
More actions
| Madarihat | |
|---|---|
| Madari Hat | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | The Dooars |
| Growing Area | Alipurduar |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | West Bengal |
| District | Alipurduar District |
| Coordinates | 26.6941, 89.2786 |
| Settlement | |
| Type | Town |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 99–103 m |
| Terrain | Alluvial plain by the Torsa, on the edge of Jaldapara National Park |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | Jaldapara |
| Accessions | 3 |
Madarihat (formerly Madari Hat) is a market town in Alipurduar District, West Bengal, India, on the west bank of the Torsa, in the Alipurduar growing area of The Dooars. It stands at the northern edge of the Jaldapara appellation, near the boundary of Jaldapara National Park.[1] Three accessions of feral cannabis collected nearby in June 2025 carry it as their locality.
History
In 1911 Madari Hat was a village on the right bank of the Torsa and the terminus of the eastern branch of the Bengal-Duars Railway, with a road south to Falakata and north to the Hantapara tea garden. Its weekly market was growing fast. Nearly all the land around it had been brought under cultivation, much of it by Oraons and Nepalis, and jute was becoming a large crop: 5,454 maunds were despatched from the station in 1907, and 4,998 maunds in the first six months of 1908. The ferry over the Torsa was hard to use in the rains, and the boulder-strewn riverbed blocked traffic for the rest of the year, so the tea gardens east of the river sent their tea by the Cooch Behar State Railway instead. A police outpost had lately been sanctioned for the village.[2]: 152–153
People
In 2011 Uttar Madarihat, the census town of Madarihat block, had 9,631 people in 2,328 households. Four rural villages of the block, Madhya, Paschim, Dakshin and Purba Madarihat, were enumerated separately.[3] Like Banarhat, it is home to Bengali-speaking people, Marwari merchants and other migrants drawn by trade, transport and administration.[1]
Cannabis
The three accessions are feral selections collected by the Zomia Collective on 21 June 2025 and stored at 99 m, south-west of the town. Two carry the local name ganja and one jongli bhang ("jungle bhang").
Accessions
| Name | ID | Type | Elevation (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250041 | Jaldapara 'Madarihat' Feral Selection #1 2025 | ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250041 | Selection | 99 |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250042 | Jaldapara 'Madarihat' Feral Selection #2 2025 | ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250042 | Selection | 99 |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250059 | Jaldapara 'Madarihat' Feral Selection #3 2025 | ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250059 | Selection | 99 |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Éloïse (30 June 2025). "Field Report #4: Western Dooars Part II". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
- ↑ Gruning, John F. (1911). Eastern Bengal and Assam District Gazetteers: Jalpaiguri. Allahabad: Pioneer Press – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. PCA: Primary Census Abstract C.D. Block wise, West Bengal - District Jalpaiguri - 2011 (Spreadsheet (PCA_CDB-1902-F-Census.xlsx)). Retrieved 9 November 2026.