East India, more properly eastern India, is a region of India consisting of the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Orissa. It is geographically between North India and North-East India, and shares many cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh, which formed part of this region before Partition. The Indo-Aryan languages spoken in this region descend from the Magadhi Prakrits spoken in the ancient kingdom of Magadha. Of these, Magadhi and Oriya, which remain virtually unchanged for over a thousand years, are considered the most direct descendants. Bengali and Assamese emerged as distinct languages from Magadhi Prakrit around 9/10th century A.D. Many of the adivasis (indigenous tribal people) of East India belong to the Munda branch of the Austro-Asiatic language family. Major representatives of this group include the Munda, Santal, and Ho peoples. Durga and Jagannath are particularly popular deities in this region. Puri is the eastern center for pilgrimage in Hinduism, and Bhubaneswar is considered to be the city of temples. West Bengal's capital Kolkata is the biggest metropolis of the region. However, the cities of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri in Orissa, and Bihar's capital Patna, were historically more prominent.
