Pachamba

"Pachamba" is a very ancient location, near Giridih town, Jharkhand state, India. Presently, Pachamba is a part of Giridih town.

Location: Latitude: 24o12'N, Longitude: 86o16'E.

The literal meaning of Pachamba is "pach" (five in Hindi) and "amba" (a name of Devi in Hindi), meaning thereby the place of five Devis. There are temples of Goddesses on the boundary of the township. However, another explanation is that "Pachamba" means five ("pach") mangoes ("amba"), implying a cluster of five mango trees where the township grew up.

Pachamba has one of the oldest churches of Eastern India. The Church is called the Stevenson Memorial Church. In the year 1871, Rev. (Dr.) Archibald Templeton, M.D., came to Pachamba to serve these tribal areas under the “Santal Mission of the United Free Church of Scotland”. This mission also set up the first hospital in Pachamba. The church was named after one of the mission doctors, William Henderson Stevenson, who died of fever.

From the late 19th century till mid-20th century, Pachamba was home to mica related activities, with a number of mica trading and exporting business houses located there, including the business house, which became famous as Mica Kings during the period between the First World War and the Second World War.

During the British Raj, Pachamba was ruled by the local landlord, called "Tikait". There is no survivor of the last Tikait now.

Pachamba is known for a small temple dedicated to Goddess Kali, called "Kali Manda". Worship in the shrine is popularly held only on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Incidentally, there is also another Kali Manda located about a kilometer away, which is the hub of the main Durga Puja celebrations in the town.

There are a number of prominent personalities from Pachamba. Barun Kumar Sahu and Mukesh Chandra Sahu are two senior bureaucrats of Indian Administrative Service from Pachamba.

Mr. Nageshwar Prasad Sinha was an eminent lawyer and freedom fighter from Diwan Tola locality of Pachamba. He was elected as Giridih's first Member of Parliament in 1952(Then known as Hazaribagh East constituency).

Mr. Ved Prakash Sinha was a rising politician well popular as a social worker.He was holding various eminent posts of state level,later who died of diabetes.