Darjeeling: District Gazetteer

Darjeeling conjure up the image of snowclad Himalayan peaks, Buddhist monasteries people with yellowrobed monks, and rush of summer tourists. But there s more in Darjeeling than meets the eye. The geography, fauna and flora, inhabitants, rites, rituals and festivals form a mosaic of great interest. Named after the Buddhist monastery of ‘Darjeeling’ or the ‘place of thunderbolt’, this district forms an irregular triangle 1164 square miles in area, its base resting on Sikkim in the north while its apex stretches into West Bengal in the south. It is demarcated from Nepal in the west by the Singania mountain chain and its north eastern boundaries are with Bhutan and the districts of Jalpaiguri and Pernea respectively. Ranging in altitude from 3000 to 12000 feet above sea level this largely hilly religion is drained by the Mechi, Balasan, Mahandi, Tista and Jaidhaka rivers. Its vegetation ranges from pine, oak, maple and chestnut foresis and teagardens at the higher altitudes to palm and plantain in the marshy terrain. A handy and authentic reference work on the border district of India.