Dooars Information, North Bengal
Dooars or Duars are the anglicized version of “Dwar”, which means passes or gateways. The British named the land Dooars after the numerous passages this area provided to access Bhutan.
The geographical limits of Dooars stretch across the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. In the West Bengal state it constitutes the plains of Darjeeling district, the northern part of Jalpaiguri district and the upper regions of Cooch Behar district. In the state of Assam, Dooars constitute the Districts of Bodoland (Assam) and Assam’s other districts like Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Goalpara, Bongaigaon and Sonitpur. The British for administrative reasons divided the region into Western and Eastern Dooars which roughly is what today are Bengal Dooars and Assam Dooars.
Here,for convenience, as the planters and foresters imagined, we will present Dooars in three different but related parts- with its distinct geographies, people and heritage. Western Dooars is the land between the river Teesta (26.848579N, 88.718119E) and the river Diana (26.854465N, 89.000587E). Central Dooars lies between the river Diana and the river Sankosh (26.383333N, 89.800000E). The river Sankosh and the river Jia Bhareli (26.664345N, 92.819075E) mark the boundaries of Eastern Dooars. See Map for an eagle eyes view.
