Explore East India

East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, and also the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. West Bengal's capital Kolkata is the largest city of this region. The Kolkata Metropolitan Area is the country's third largest. The states of Odisha and West Bengal share some cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh. Bengali is the most spoken language of this region and it is also the second most spoken language in India after Hindi. Odia is the only language in east India accorded the status of a classical language of India. Together with Bangladesh, West Bengal formed the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal before partition in 1947. The historic region of Bengal which was ruled by Nawabs of Bengal comprises the present, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Bangladesh from where the British started their conquest of India. The modern state of Odisha was known as Kalinga, and Utkala in ancient times. It was ruled by mighty indigenous rulers of Mahameghavahana dynasty, Eastern Ganga dynasty and Gajapati Dynasty.