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West Bengal
Darjeeling
General Information
General Information
Straddling a ridge at 2134m and surrounded by a tea plantations,
Darjeeling has been a popular hill station since the British established
it as an R&R centre for their troops in mid-1800s. People come here now,
as they did then, to escape the heat, humidity and hassle of the north
Indian plain. You get an indication of how popular Darjeeling is from
the 70 or so hotels recognised by the tourist office and the scores of
others which don't come up to its requirements. Here you will find
yourself surrounded by mountain people from all over the eastern
Himalaya who have come to work, to trade or - in the case of the
Tibetans - as refugees.
Outside of the monsoon season (June to September), the views over
the mountains to the snowy peaks of Kanchenjunga and down to the swollen
rivers in the valleys are magnificent. Darjeeling is a fascinating place
where you can see Buddhist monasteries, visit a tea plantation and see
how the tea is processed, go for a ride on the chairlift, spend days
hunting for bargains in colourful markets and handicrafts shops, or go
trekking to high-altitude spots for closer views of Kanchenjunga.
Like many places in the Himalaya, half the fun is in getting there
and Darjeeling has the unique attraction of its famous toy train . This
miniature train loops and switchbacks its way up the steep mountainsides
from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling.
History
Until the beginning of the 18th century the whole of the area
between the present borders of Sikkim and the plains of Bengal,
including Darjeeling and Kalimpong, belonged to the rajas of Sikkim. In
1706 they lost Kalimpong to the Bhutanese, and control of the remainder
was wrested from them by the Gurkhas who invaded Sikkim in 1780,
following consolidation of the latter's rule in Nepal.
These annexations by the Gurkhas, however, brought them into
conflict with the British East India Company. A series of wars were
fought between the two parties, eventually leading to the defeat of the
Gurkhas and the ceding of all the land they had taken from the Sikkimese
to the East India Company. Part of this territory was restored to the
rajas of Sikkim and the country's sovereignty guaranteed by the British
in return for British control over any disputes which arose with
neighbouring states.
One such dispute in 1828 led to the dispatch of two British
officers to this area, and it was during their fact-finding tour that
they spent some time at Darjeeling (then called Dorje Ling - Place of
the Thunderbolt - after the lama who founded the monastery which once
stood on Observatory Hill). The officers were quick to appreciate
Darjeeling's value as a site for a sanatorium and hill station, and as
the key to a pass into Nepal and Tibet. The officers' observations were
reported to the authorities in Kolkata and a pretext was eventually
found to pressure the raja into granting the site to the British in
return for an annual stipend of Rs3000 (raised to Rs6000 in 1846).
Orientation
Kolkata sprawls north-south along the eastern bank of the Hooghly
River, which divides it from Howrah on the western bank. If you arrive
from anywhere west of Kolkata by rail, you'll come into the immense
Howrah Station and have to cross the Howrah Bridge into Kolkata proper.
The more relevant parts of Kolkata are
south of the bridge in the areas around BBD Bagh and Chowringhee.
Area : 11.44sq.km.
Altitude : 2,134
meters
Weather : Winter :-
03-19 °C, Summer :-11-20 °C
Clothing :
Light woolen in summer and heavy woolens in winter.
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