West Bengal · District

Birbhum

Birbhum is the district of Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan and the spiritual heartland of the baul tradition, whose Shantiniketan ektara (gopi yantra) recently earned a GI tag. The Bolpur-Santiniketan area is the district's craft market, where the Amar Kutir cooperative sells hand-batik silk, kantha-stitched saris, leather goods, terracotta pottery and bamboo craft, and where the khesh recycled-cotton handloom and patachitra scroll paintings are made. Tourists also buy Ilambazar palm-leaf mats and the winter pithe sweets around Bolpur-Santiniketan.