About West Bengal
When Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed his famous song, “Bande Mataram”, over a hundred years ago in 1882, he was in many ways epitomizing the beauty of Bengal. Some things here are still eternal. Like the rich culture of the state that binds the population together through its unique unity in diversity. Like the matchless geographical variety it offers to visitors. Like the fact that even today, very few diehard Bengalis want to accept the fact that the state was divided during partition and one half of it is now a different country.
West Bengal is the land of the Royal Bengal Tiger, the Sunderban, tea plantations, freedom fighters and great literary figures. The list seems endless, and needless to say that these are the qualities that people think of when they call West Bengal the Cultural Centre of India. Calcutta is West Bengal’s capital. It is the second largest city of India. A city of contrasts, it boasts of a rich cultural life on one hand and shows you its poverty and deprivation on the other. The state is situated on the East Side of the country above the Eastern Ghats, and proudly bears the Gangetic Delta. In the South of West Bengal lies the Bay of Bengal, while in the North is Sikkim. On the East, it shares its borders with Assam and Bangladesh, while on the West are the states of Bihar and Orissa, and Nepal. The state starts from the sea level and rises up to the Himalayas.
West Bengal is the state where the Ganges becomes so heavy with the silt, that it meanders left and right till it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It has the widest delta in India and the distributary rivers have changed their course frequently. The plains of West Bengal are rich with the alluvial silt of the Ganges. Part of these plains are flooded during the monsoons, but the silt that is left behind makes the soil very fertile.
West Bengal has been ruled over by the Dravidians, the Aryans, Mauryan Empire, Guptas, Pala Dynasty, Sena Dynasty, Muslims and the British. They all came and conquered but could not subdue the spirit of West Bengal. Instead, many of them, over a period of time, were spiritually transformed. The state has rich mineral resources and its variety of flora makes it a place that has a hand in a number of industries. The Bengalis are friendly people and would greet you warmly and make you feel very welcome. There are numerous historical sites scattered all over Bengal. Modern day Bengal is a place rich in literature, art and reforms. It tries to create and maintain a balance between the old traditions and cultures and the new computer-savvy generation.
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