West Bengal is one of the leading states of eastern India. Nature has bestowed on it all its verdant glory. The countryside is always lush with varying shades of green right from the foothills in the north to the area lapped by the Bay of Bengal in the south. The Bengal landscape has been immortalized in Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Amar Sonar Bangla.

West Bengal is known to the world for its Santiniketan the adobe of peace where Rabindranath Tagore put in practice his concept of education just as well for its Darjeeling Hills where the towering Kanchenzonga greets the visitors. It is also known to the world for its Sundarbans the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger and of course the rich but not very widely known monuments which produced history at the same time being the products of history.

Kolkata now the capital of west Bengal was indeed in the 17th century by the British and it was their premier city till 1911. Today Kolkata the second largest city in India is famous as the centre of a flourishing Bengali culture that has produced outstanding writers poets artists and film makers.

Lying to the north of West Bengal is Sikkim a tiny mountain state. Sikkim is an incredibly beautiful and of lofty mountain peaks forests filled with rhododendrons and orchids and magnificent Buddhist monasteries perched on hill slopes.

This book on west Bengal and Sikkim is the 7th in the series. A vision of India it gives glimpses of the rich traditions of Bengalis as reflected in their festivals arts and crafts literature theatre and cinema. Presented in a simple style with colorful illustrations the book will form a valuable addition to school libraries as well as to the bookshelf of every reader.