Eastern India, is a region of India consisting of the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Orissa. The states of Orissa and West Bengal share some cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh and with the state of Assam. Together with Bangladesh, West Bengal formed the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal before Partition in 1947.

The bulk of the region lies on the east coast of India by the Bay of Bengal, and on the Indo-Gangetic plain. Jharkhand, on the Chota Nagpur plateau, is a hilly and a heavily forested state rich in mineral wealth. The region is bounded by the Nepal and Sikkim Himalayas in the north, the states of Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh on the west, the state of Andhra Pradesh in the south and the Bay of Bengal on the east. The region was the historical centre of the Maurya, Kalinga,Utkal,Gajapati,Sunga and Pala empires that ruled much of the Indian sub-continent at their prime. In medieval India, it was incorporated into the Mughal and then the British empire. Bengali is the dominant language of West Bengal,spoken by well over 80 million people . Hindi has the largest number of speakers at over 90 million but has little linguistic influence outside Bihar. The other important language is Oriya, the dominant language of the east coast. The majority of the population of East India is Hindu with Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Sikh minorities. Durga and Jagannath are particularly popular Hindu deities in this region.