Sagar Island

Sagar Island lies in the Ganges delta about 100 km south of Kolkata, in South 24 Parganas district, and is West Bengal's largest island. Although counted as part of the Sundarbans, it has no tigers or mangrove forest. Its importance is religious: each year on Makar Sankranti, hundreds of thousands of Hindus come to bathe where the Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal and to pray at the Kapil Muni Temple.

The legend tied to the island tells of the sage Kapil Muni, whose ashram stood here. When the 60,000 sons of King Sagar wrongly accused him of stealing their father's sacrificial horse, he burned them to ash; they were freed only when King Bhagiratha brought the Ganga down from heaven to perform their last rites. Land for the Kapil Muni Ashram was given by the Gayen family, local zamindars. The Kolkata Port Trust keeps a pilot station and a lighthouse on the island.