Pandhurna

Pandhurna
city
File:Madhya Pradesh districts location map big.svg Pandhurna Location in Madhya Pradesh, India
Coordinates:
Country	India
State	Madhya Pradesh
District	Chhindwara
Elevation	474 m (1,555 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	40,906
Languages
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)

Pandhurna is a city and a municipality in Chhindwara district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Geography

Pandhurna is located at . It has an average elevation of 474 metres (1555 feet).

Demographics

Pandhurna is a Municipality city in district of Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. The Pandhurna city is divided into 30 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The Pandhurna Municipality has population of 45,479 of which 23,478 are males while 22,001 are females as per report released by Census India 2011.

Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 4986 which is 10.96 % of total population of Pandhurna (M). In Pandhurna Municipality, Female Sex Ratio is of 937 against state average of 931. Moreover Child Sex Ratio in Pandhurna is around 959 compared to Madhya Pradesh state average of 918. Literacy rate of Pandhurna city is 87.03 % higher than state average of 69.32 %. In Pandhurna, Male literacy is around 91.02 % while female literacy rate is 82.76 %.

Pandhurna Municipality has total administration over 10,243 houses to which it supplies basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorize to build roads within Municipality limits and impose taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction.

Caste Factor

Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 8.66 % while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 6.02 % of total population in Pandhurna (M).

Work Profile

Out of total population, 18,265 were engaged in work or business activity. Of this 13,272 were males while 4,993 were females. In census survey, worker is defined as person who does business, job, service, and cultivator and labour activity. Of total 18265 working population, 86.87 % were engaged in Main Work while 13.13 % of total workers were engaged in Marginal Work.

Economics

This is a typical Indian village with farming as the major occupation of the populace. A lot of farmers grow oranges and cotton as the Kharif crop since the black soil is suitable for its production. Other crops are soybean, groundnut, cauliflower, gram and wheat. The village also has a few oil and cotton mills, food processing plants. Pandhurna is home for many cotton ginning and pressing factories. Pandhurna is basically surrounded by Vidharbha, hence the local language is Marathi. Economic factors are also affected by it.

Gotmar

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Gotmar literally means stone throwing('got' = small stone & 'mar' = beat). This is an event unique to this place. Every year a tree trunk (flag) from one of the Savargao family placed the middle of the river Jam which flows through this village and pandhuran vilalge. A flag is tied on top of this tree. People from neighbouring village Savargao, and Pandhurna gather on either side of the river banks in the morning. Savargao people try to save the tree (flag) from pandhurana people through throwing stone , and Pandhurana people try to push back Savargao people and cut the tree (flag ) and bring into pandhurna.If pandhurana people could pull the tree(flag) till evening 5:00 ,6:00 PM then they are the winner , after pulling tree (flag) into pandhurna people carry this flag to Chandika Mata temple , If pandhurana people could not able to cut the tree and bring into pandhurana side till evening then mutually both side people cut the tree and bring into Chandika mata temple. This festival is celebrated every year. This is a very bloody custom and there are usually several deaths and hundreds of injuries every year.

The local authorities had not interfered until recently. After attempts in 2001 and 2002 to get the villagers to use rubber balls instead of stones failed, the authorities banned the festival in 2009 & 2011.Ninety-Seven km from Chhindwara, in the headquarters of 'Pandhurna' tahsil a unique fair (mela in Hindi) by name 'Gotmar Mela' is celebrated every year on the second day to 'Bhadrapad' New Moon day. This fair is celebrated on the banks of the river 'Jam'. A long tree is erected in the middle of the river with a flag at its very top. The residents of the villages 'Savargaon' and 'Pandhurna' gather on either bank of the river, and start pelting stones ('Got') at the persons of the opposite village who try to cross into the mid of the river and remove the flag on top of the tree trunk. The village whose resident succeeds in removing the flag will be considered victorious. The whole activity happens amidst the chanting of the sacred name of 'Maa' Durgaji. Several people get wounded in this celebration and the District Administration makes elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of this rare fair. People are often left dead or injured so the festival has now been banned.