The Republic of India (Bhārat in Hindi) is the seventh largest country and most populous country in the world. It occupies a subcontinent of Asia that projects southward into the North Indian Ocean, separating the Bay of Bengal on the east from the Arabian Sea on the west. Before 1947 it was a patchwork of regions governed as British colonies and semi-independent princely states under British supervision. In 1947 this British Raj was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan. Several French and Portuguese colonies embedded in the territory of India were absorbed in 1950 and 1961, respectively. India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. This page lists lighthouses of India's northeast coast, including the states of West Bengal and Odisha (formerly Orissa). This coastline faces the head of the Bay of Bengal and is almost everywhere low and sandy, with numerous offshore shoals. The major port is Kolkata (Calcutta) on the Hooghly River, the major western distributary of the Ganges Delta at the head of the Bay. Paradip in Odisha is a second modern port. India's lighthouse heritage is British. However, only a fraction of the original British lighthouses remain in use; new towers have been built at most of the stations. India has also built many lighthouses at new locations in recent years. Nearly all of the larger Indian lighthouses are staffed and by long tradition the staff will receive visitors at a specific time, usually late in the afternoon. Several lighthouses have been developed as tourist attractions and have longer hours. Hindi and English are official languages in India, with English serving as a lingua franca for the entire nation. The Indian Constitution recognizes another 21 languages, called scheduled languages, and each of the coastal states has its own scheduled language in official use. In Bengali, the official language of West Bengal, the word for a lighthouse is bātighara (বাতিঘর); dbīpa or dwip is an island, nadī is a river, and bandara is a port or harbor. In Odia, the official language of Odisha, the English word "lighthouse" is transliterated as linhathausē (ଲିଂହଥୌସେ). Lighthouses and aids to navigation in India are administered by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL), an agency of the Ministry of Shipping. Lighthouses of West Bengal and Odisha are maintained by the Kolkata Directorate of DGLL. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume F of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Lighthouses of West Bengal
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![]() New (left) and old Panchpara Range Rear Lights, Kolkata, March 2023 Google Maps photo by Timir Baran Saha |
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Lighthouses of Odisha (Orissa)
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
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![]() Gopalpur Light, Gopalpur-on-Sea, September 2014 Google Maps photo by Narasingh Naik |
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Bangladesh | South: Andhra Pradesh
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Posted January 20, 2006. Checked and revised July 4, 2024. Lighthouses: 32. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil