West Bengal

At the time of Partition, Bengal was split into East and West Bengal. East Bengal became the eastern wing of Pakistan and later, with the disintegration of that country, Bangladesh. West Bengal became a state of India with Kolkata as its capital. The state is ling and narrow, running from the delta of the Ganges River system at the Bay of Bengal in the south to the heights of the Himalaya at Darjeeling in the north.

There is not a great deal of interest in the state apart from these two extremes Kolkata, with its bewildering maelstrom of noise, culture, confusion and squalor at one end and Darjeeling, serene and peaceful, at the other.

Outside these two centers the intrepid traveler will find a number of places to consider visiting, either south of Kolkata on the Bay of Bengal or north along the route to Darjeeling. Few foreign tourists visit the ruined mosques of Malda, the palaces of Murshidabad, the temples of Vishnupur of the Sunderbans Wildlife Sanctuary. If you do, the friendly Bengalis will make you feel all the more welcome for being an exception to the rule.

Boundaries

East

Bangladesh and Assam.

West

Orissa, Bihar and Nepal

North

Sikkim and Bhutan

South

Bay of Bengal

Important Museums

Kolkata

Indian Museum, Rabindra Bharati Museum, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, Nehru Children's Museum, Victoria Memorial Hall Museum.

Darjeeling

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Museums and Natural History Museum.

Pilgrim Centres

Bakreswar

Bakarnath Shiva Temple and Mahisasurmardini Temple.

Bansberia

Temples of Haneswari and Vasudev.

Belur Math

Headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission founded by Swami Vivekanand.

Kolkata

Temple of Kali.

Dakshineshwar

Kali temple associated with Ramakrishna Parmahansa.

Ganga Sagar

Famed for Ganga Sagar Mela in January and for Kapil Muni Temple.

Kamarpukar

Birthplace of Saint Ramakrishna.

Mayapur

Temple of Gourange. Headquater of ISCON.

Nabadwip

Birthplace of Sri Chaitanya.

Tarapith

Temple of Tara Devi. Acentre of Tantrik culture.

Hill Resorts

Darjeeling (2127m) Railhead - Darjeeling.

Kalimpong (1450m) Railhead - Siliguri 68 km, New Jaipaiguri 77 km.

Kurseong (1450m) Railhead - Darjeeling 32 km.

Mirik (170m) Railhead - Darjeeling 49km - Siliguri 52 km.

General Info

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