Heritage of West Bengal
A brief idea of West Bengal:
Heritage of West Bengal is very enriched. It is a state in eastern India, between the great Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal. Its capital, Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, retains architectural and cultural remnants of its past as an East India Company trading post and capital of the British Raj. From the year 1772 to 1911, Calcutta was the capital of British India. Now Kolkata is called the Cultural capital of India. Presently , the state has a total area of 88,752 square kilometres with the current estimated population of approximately 10.42 Crores.
Heritage sites of West Bengal:
There are five World Heritage sites in West Bengal. They are:
1) Sundarban National Park (1987),
2)Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1999),
3) Bishnupur Terracotta Temples (1998),
4) Neora Valley National Park (2009),
5) Shantiniketan (2010).
Even , considering the important traditional values, labours, clay and lighting artists and sentiments involved, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has included Kolkata’s famed Durga Puja in its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list (ICH).
Cultural Heritage of West Bengal:
West Bengal is such a state which is flourished with rich ancient cultural heritage. The Bengali language maintains a rich literary heritage . Bengali is a very popular language throughout the world. West Bengal has a long tradition in folk literature like – the Charyapada, Mangalkavya, Shreekrishna Kirtana, Thakurmar Jhuli, stories related to Gopal Bhar etcetera.
Rabindra Nath Tagore, the legend Bengali got the Nobel Prize for translating the ‘Geetanjali’ into English from Bengali. Rabindranath Tagore composed 2,233 songs which are popularly known as Rabindrasangeet. The book forming a collection of all these songs written by Tagore is called Gitabitan (“Garden of songs”). Rabindrasangeets are like emotion for every Bengalis.
Conclusion:
The cultural heritage of West Bengal is colourful and vivid. Lots and lots of variety are present in almost everything. The state is famous for it’s heritage, hospitality and warmth of love.