Ráŕh is a land of rough and undulating red soil. Even if this does not completely hold true for eastern Ráŕh, eastern Ráŕh is a rather high and arid land compared to Bagri. So the air of Ráŕh is clear and the climate is conducive to good health. The clean air blowing across western Ráŕh can hardly be found anywhere else. And its water is equally good. Adequately rich in minerals, it is, as it were, nectar (sudhá). A long vein that runs from Bakreshwar to Nannur (in Birbhum District) in Ráŕh, sometimes beneath the surface, sometimes above, is rich in sulphur ore. Hence the water there is warm and healthful. Besides, it contains some special kinds of minerals and gases, some of which, if not all, are good for health. The milky fountain of Bankura in Ráŕh is a magnificent gift of nature. Its water is crowned with milky froth and is like nectar (amrta) as a drink. This kind of thing is rare in the world.

The undulating soil, the clean air and the mineral-rich water can make Ráŕh an attractive destination for those who want to recover their health. So I think that if cheap health resorts or sanatoriums are built in selected places, people may come here from outside in order to regain their broken health quickly and at little expense, and in this way the local poor people will get an opportunity to earn some money.

A dreaded disease in Ráŕh is leprosy. Why does leprosy break out in such an incomparably healthy place as this? In no way is the soil, water, climate or nature responsible for this. It is only a defective man-made socio-economic system that is at fault. People cannot live on water and air alone. Ráŕh is trapped in extreme poverty. A large part of the population cannot fill their stomachs with nutritious food. It is due to this malnutrition that they contract leprosy. If poverty is removed through people’s efforts – the efforts not only of the people of Ráŕh themselves, but of everyone – the bodies of the people of Ráŕh will once again resemble those of the Greek heroes as seen in sculptures.

While discussing the health of the people of Ráŕh, the púrvádra theory needs to be discussed. [Púrva = “east”. Ádra = “damp”.] Basically the rule is that the farther east the land is, the damper or more moist the climate is, the more unhealthful the place is, and the more unhealthy and the more averse to labour the people are. In other words, “east” and “damp” are basically correlated. Vauṋga-D́abák is in the extreme east, hence it is very moist. The people there are in ill health and unable to toil much. Samatat-Bagri is on the west of Vauṋga-D́abák and is a little less moist and a little more healthful, and the people are healthier and more hard-working. In comparison, eastern Ráŕh is farther to the west and hence more arid and more healthful, and the people are still more hard-working.

Western Ráŕh is in the extreme west and is very dry, so the climate there is very healthful, and the people are healthy and very hard-working. The people of western Ráŕh come to eastern Ráŕh to earn a living as labourers, but the people of eastern Ráŕh do not go to western Ráŕh to work, because they cannot compete with the local people as regards manual labour. When Pratapaditya, the local king of Jessore, was preparing to fight against the Mughals, one part of his preparations was to beef up his infantry with a large number of Bagdis from the Burdwan area of Ráŕh. He settled them with landed property in Jessore and Khulna, and their descendants have remained there permanently.