The local story
A border river, a bridge and a flood
For most of the 19th century the Teesta here was a frontier. The hills to the west belonged to British Darjeeling after 1835; the hills to the east, with Kalimpong, were held by Bhutan. Only after the Anglo-Bhutan war of 1864–65 and the Treaty of Sinchula did the land east of the river pass to British India, and in 1866 it joined Darjeeling district. Teesta Bazar grew at the crossing point, where traders, mule men and later motor traffic came down from Kalimpong to cross the river towards Darjeeling and Sikkim.
The Lepcha, the first people of these hills, call the river Rongnyu. Lepcha folklore tells that Rongnyu and the Rangeet were lovers who agreed to meet in the plains: Rongnyu followed Parilbu the snake, who led her straight down, while the Rangeet followed Tutfo the bird, who wandered and stopped to eat. They met at Pozok, near today's Peshok, a few kilometres upstream of the bazaar. The confluence is still called Lovers' Meet, and the sandy bank there, Triveni.
On the night of 3–4 October 2023, South Lhonak lake in North Sikkim burst its moraine. The surge broke the Teesta III dam at Chungthang and raced down the valley. At Teesta Bazar it flooded the lower market and houses, buried stretches of NH10 under silt and sand, and raised the riverbed by several metres. Further slides in the 2024 and 2025 monsoons cut the road again. The town is rebuilding, and its story is now the river's story: generous, and dangerous.
