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Introduction
Bihar is a state of the Indian union situated in central eastern India. Its
capital is Patna.To Bihar's north is the country of Nepal. On its other three
sides Bihar is surrounded by the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh to the west,
Jharkhand to the south and West Bengal to the east. Bihar lies in the very
fertile Indo-Gangetic Plain. Culturally, it is a part of the Bhojpuri
heartland of India. Bihar is most famous for its status as the birthplace of
Buddhism. Bihar is also the birth place of the first president of India, Dr.
Rajendra Prasad and legendary freedom fighters like Babu Kunwar Singh, Swami
Sahajanand Saraswati, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha,
Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha and Maulana Mazharul
Haque.
History
Ancient History
Bihar was called Magadha in ancient times. Its capital Patna, then known as
Pataliputra, was the center of the first empire built in India, that was by
Nanda Dynasty, followed by Mauryan empire, which dominated the Indian
subcontinent from 325 BC to 185 BC. Emperor Ashoka was the most famous ruler
of this dynasty. Bihar remained an important place of power, culture and
education during the next one thousand years. The Vikramshila and Nalanda
Universities, were among the oldest and best centres of education in ancient
India. It must be mentioned here that the boundaries of ancient Mauryan
empire extended up to the present day Afghanistan which was unparelled in
Indian history.
Religions Originating in Bihar
Bihar is the birthplace of several religions including Buddhism and Jainism.
Buddha attained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, a town located in the modern day
district of Gaya. Mahavira, the 24th and the last Tirthankara of Jainism, was
born in Vaishali. Indeed Jain monks & nuns wandered in the towns and
forests of then-Magadha. They called it vihara and thus Bihar got its name
from the vihara of jain sages.The tenth guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh
was born in Patna, the capital of Bihar. Mythological Goddess Sita was born
in Sitamarhi.
Medieval History
Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, a Pashtun and general of Muhammad Ghori,
captured Bihar in 12th century. Many of the viharas and the famed
universities of Nalanda and Vikramshila were destroyed in this
period.[citation needed
Bihar saw a brief period of glory for six years during the rule of another
Pashtun Sher Shah Suri, who was from Sasaram and built the longest road of
the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road, which starts from Sonargaon in
Bangladesh and ends at Peshawar in Pakistan.
During 1557-1576, Akbar, the Mughal emperor, annexed Bihar and Bengal to his
empire. With the decline of the Mughals, Bihar passed under the control of
the Nawabs of Bengal. Thus, the medieval period was mostly one of anonymous
provincial existence. The 10th and the last guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind
Singh, was born in Patna.
Modern History
After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the British East India Company obtained the
diwani rights (rights to administer and collect revenue, or tax
administration / collection) for Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. From this point
onwards, Bihar remained a part the Bengal Presidency of the British Raj until
1912, when Bihar was carved out as a separate province. In 1935, certain
portions of Bihar were reorganised into the separate province of Orissa.
Again, in 2000, 18 administrative districts of Bihar were separated to form
the state of Jharkhand.
Babu Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur and his army, as well as countless other
persons from Bihar, contributed to the India's First War of Independence
(1857), also called the Sepoy Mutiny by some historians.
Bihar's contribution in the freedom struggle has been immense with
outstanding leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati,[2]Bihar BibhutiAnugrah
Narayan Sinha ,Mulana Mazharul Haque,, Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan,Satyendra
Narayan Sinha(Singh) Basawon Singh (Sinha), Yogendra Shukla, Sheel Bhadra
Yajee, Pandit Yamuna Karjee and many others who worked for India's freedom
relentlessly and helped in the upliftment of the underprivileged masses. Khudiram
Bose and Prafulla Chaki were also active in revolutionary movement in Bihar.
Baikuntha Shukla, another great nationalist from Bihar who was hanged for
murdering Phanindrananth Ghosh who had become a government approver which led
to hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru.Phanindra Nath Ghosh hitherto
a key member of the Revolutionary Party had treacherously betrayed the cause
by turning an approver, giving evidence, which led to the execution. Baikunth
was commissioned to plan the execution of Ghosh as an act of ideological
vendetta which he carried out successfully on 9 November 1932. He was
arrested and tried for the killing. Baikunth was convicted and hanged in Gaya
Central Jail on May 14, 1934. He was only 28 years old.
In North and Central Bihar, peasants movement was an important side effect of
the freedom movement. This movement aimed at overthrowing the fedual
zamindari system instituted by Britishers It was being led by Swami Shajanand
Saraswati and his followers Pandit Yamuna Karjee, Rahul Sankritayan and
others. Pandit Yamuna Karjee along with Rahul Sankritayan and other Hindi
literaries started publishing a Hindi weekly Hunkar from Bihar, in 1940.
Hunkar later became the mouthpiece of the peasant movement and the agrarian
movement in Bihar and was instrumental in spreading the movement. The peasant
movement later spread to other parts of the country and helped in digging out
the British roots in the Indian society by overthrowing the zamindari system.
After his return from South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi started the freedom
movement in India by his satyagraha in the Champaran District of Bihar at the
request of Raj Kumar Shukla-- against the British, who were forcing the local
farmers to plant indigo which was very harmful to the local soil.
In India’s struggle for Independence the "Champaran Satyagraha",
marks a very important stage.Raj Kumar Shukla drew the attention of Mahatma
Gandhi, who had just returned from South Africa, to the plight of the
peasants suffering under an oppressive system established by European indigo
planters. Besides other excesses they were forced to cultivate indigo on 3/20
part of their holding and sell it to the planters at prices fixed by the
planters. This marked Gandhiji’s entry into the India’s Struggle for Freedom.
On his arrival at Motihari, the district headquarters,Gandhiji along with his
team of eminent lawyers comprising of Dr.Rajendra Prasad, Dr.Anugrah Narayan
Sinha, Brajkishore Prasad and Ram Navami Prasad which he handpicked tp
participate in the satyagraha were ordered to leave by the next available
train which they refused to do and Gandhiji was arrested. He was released and
the ban order was withdrawn in the face of a, "Satyagraha" threat.
Gandhiji conducted an open enquiry into the peasant’s grievances. The
Government had to appoint an enquiry committee with Gandhiji as a member.
This led to the abolition of the system.
Raj Kumar Shukla has been described by Gandhiji in his "Atmakatha",
as a man whose suffering gave him the strength to rise against the odds. In
his letter to Gandhiji he wrote "Respected Mahatma, You hear the stories
of others everyday. Today please listen to my story….. I want to draw your
attention to the promise made by you in the Lucknow Congress that you would
come to Champaran. The time has come for you to fulfil your promise. 19 lakhs
suffering people of Champaran are waiting to see you."
Gandhiji reached Patna on 10 April 1917 and on 16 April he reached Motihari
accompanied by Raj Kumar Shukla. Under Gandhiji’s leadership the historic
"Champaran Satyagraha" began. The contribution of Raj Kumar Shukla
is reflected in the writings of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of
India, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Acharya Kriplani and of course, Mahatma Gandhi
himself. Raj Kumar Shukla maintained a diary in which he has given an account
of struggle against the atrocities of the indigo planters, atrocities so
movingly depicted by Dinabandhu Mitra in Nil Darpan, a play that was
translated by Michael Madhusudan Dutt. This movement by Mahatma Gandhi
received the spontaneous support of a cross section of people, including Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, who ultimately became the first President of India, Bihar
Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha who became the first Chief Minister of Bihar, Dr.
Anugrah Narayan Sinha, who ultimately became the first finance minister of
Bihar and Brajkishore Prasad.
Geography & climate
Geography Bihar is mainly a vast stretch of very fertile flat land. It has
several major rivers: Ganga, Son, Bagmati, Kosi, Budhi Gandak, Chandan, Orhani
and Falgu. Central parts of Bihar have some small hills, for example the
Rajgir hills. The Himalayan mountains are to the north, in Nepal. To the
south is the Chota Nagpur plateau, which was part of Bihar until 2000 but now
is part of a separate state called jharkhand.
Climate: Bihar is mildly cold in the winter
(the lowest temperatures being around 5 to 10 degrees Celsius; 41 to 50
degrees Fahrenheit). Winter months are December and January. It is hot in the
summer (40 to 45 degrees Celsius; 104 to 114 degrees Fahrenheit). April to
mid June are the hot months. The monsoon months of June, July, August, and
September see good rainfall. October & November and February & March
have pleasant climate.
Language & literature
Hindi (Official language of State), Urdu- (2nd official language of State
government), Maithili, Angika (Southern version of Maithili) , Bhojpuri,
Bajjika (spoken around the Hajipur district),Bangla and Magadhi (Magahi) are
the major languages spoken in Bihar. Angika is the only one of the languages
which can be used in the Google Search Engine; Google-Angika has been
available since 2004[citation needed]. The oldest poetry of the Hindi
language (e.g., poetries written by Saraha, also known by the name Sarahapa,
were written in the Angika language during the 8th century.
Bihar has produced a number of writers of Hindi, including Raja Radhika Raman
Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar',
Ram Briksh Benipuri, Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Gopal Singh "Nepali"
and Baba Nagarjun. Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, the great writer and
Buddhist scholar, was born in U.P. but spent his life in the land of Lord
Buddha, i.e., Bihar.Hrishikesh Sulabh is the prominent writer of the new
generation. He is short story writer, playwright and theatre critic. Arun
Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional languages
also have produced some prominent poets and authors.
Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who is among the greatest writers in Bangla,
resided for some time in Bihar. Of late, the latest Indian writer in English,
Upamanyu Chatterjee also hails from Patna in Bihar.
Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century
on account of his novels such as Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, was
born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Vidyapati Thakur is the most renowned poet of
Maithili (c. 14-15th century).
Bihar Travel Information - How to Reach There Bihar has three airports - Lok
Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Patna, Bhagalpur Airport and Gaya. Patna airport
is connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Ranchi. It is
categorized as a restricted international airport, with customs facilities to
receive international chartered flights. Gaya airport is a small
international airport connected to Colombo, Singapore, Bangkok and more.
Bihar is well-connected by railway lines to the rest of India. Most of the
towns are interconnected among themselves, and they also are directly
connected to Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. Patna, Darbhanga, Kathihar, Baruani,
Chapra,Bhagalpur and Gaya are Bihar's best-connected railway stations.
The state has a vast network of National and State highways. For Buddhist
pilgrims, the best option for travel to Bihar is to reach Patna or Gaya,
either by air or train, and then travel to Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Rajgir and
Vaishali. Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh also is not very far.
SOURCE:http://www.bodhgayatourism.com/about-bihar.html
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