Bankura

Bankura, city, western West Bengal state, northeastern India. It lies on a densely populated alluvial plain just north of the Dhaleshwari (Dhalkisor) River (known locally as the Dwarkeswar River, a tributary of the Damodar River to the east), about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Durgapur.

Bankura was constituted a municipality in 1869. It is a major rail and road junction northwest of Kolkata (Calcutta) and is an agricultural distribution centre. Rice and oilseed milling, cotton weaving, metalware manufacture, and railway workshops are the major industries. The city has several colleges, including a medical school, affiliated with the University of Burdwan in Burdwan.

Rice, wheat, corn (maize), and sugarcane are the chief crops in the surrounding agricultural region. Mica, china clay, iron ore, lead, zinc, and wolframite (tungsten ore) deposits are worked in the locality. The area long remained a focus of Hindu culture based on the Mallabhum kingdom, with its capital at Bishnupur. Pop. (2001) 128,781; (2011) 137,386.