Bihar

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This article is about . For , see Bihar (disambiguation).


Template:India state infobox Bihar ( बिहार in Devanagari) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. Its capital is Patna. Etymologically, the name Bihar derives from the Sanskrit Vihara which means abode. The Buddhist Vihara, which were the abode of the Buddhist monks, dotted the area in the ancient and medieval period.

To Bihar's north is the Kingdom of Nepal. The other three sides are surrounded by the Indian states, Uttar Pradesh to the west, Jharkhand to the south and West Bengal to the east. Bihar lies in the very fertile Gangetic plains. Culturally, it is a part of the Hindi heartland of India.

Contents

History

Main Article: History of Bihar

Ancient

Bihar has a very rich history. It was called Magadha in ancient days. Its capital Patna, known as Pataliputra during the old days, was the center of the Mauryan empire, which dominated the Indian subcontinent between 325 BC-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. Nalanda and Vikramshila Universities were the world class learning centres.

Religions Originated

Image:Buddha image - white stone.jpg
A stone image of the Buddha.

Bihar is also the birthplace of many religions, including Buddhism and Jainism. Buddha attained the Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, a town located in the modern day district of Gaya. Buddha started spreading his teaching after attaining the Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, was born in Vaishali. When we speak of Bihar it conjures up memories of ancient India when Buddhism was evolving into what is now a universal religion. The word "Bihar" has its origin in the Sanskrit word Vihara meaning Buddhist Monasteries. At one time in the epoch of history these "viharas" were strewn all over the landscape of Bihar, around villages and cities alike.

Medieval

With the advent of the foreign aggression and eventual foreign subjugation of India, the position of Bihar was also adversely affected. Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, a General of Muhammad Ghori captured Bihar in 12th century. In between, Bihar saw a brief period of glory for six years during the rule of Sher Shah Suri, who was from Sasaram and built the longest road of the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road, which starts from Calcutta and ends at Peshawar, Pakistan. During 1557-1576, Akbar, the Mughal emperor, annexed Bihar and Bengal to his empire and made Bihar a part of Bengal. With the decline of Mughals, Bihar passed under the control of the Nawabs of Bengal.

Modern

After the Battle of Buxar (1765), the British East India Company got 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 Sasaram and his army, as well as countless other persons from Bihar, contributed to the India's First War of Independence (1857), also called Sepoy Mutiny by some historians.

After his return from the South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi started the freedom movement in India by his satyagraha in the Champaran district of Bihar against the British , who were forcing the local farmers to plant indigo which was very harmful to the local soil. This movement by Mahatma Gandhi received the spontaneous support from a cross section of people, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, who ultimately became the first President of India.

Timelines

Geography & climate

Geography Bihar is mainly a vast stretch of very fertile flat land. It has several rivers: Ganga, Son, Bagmati, Kosi, Budhi Gandak, and Falgu to name a few. Central parts of Bihar has 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 till 2000, but is now part of a separate state called Jharkhand.

Climate It is mildly cold in the winter (the lowest being around 5 to 10 degrees Celsius). Winter months are December and January. It is rather hot in the summer (40 to 45 degrees Celsius). April, May and first half of June are the hot months. Monsoon months of June, July, August, and September see good rainfall. October, November, February, and March are very pleasant months.

Economy

There was a division of the state in 2000, when the industrially advanced and mineral rich part of the state was carved out as the separate state of Jharkhand. Since then, the main economic activity of the state has been agriculture.

Bihar is probably the least developed state of India, and possibly the poorest. Blames for this are put on many factors - a historical neglect from the center of Indian power (be it Calcutta during the British empire or Delhi in the independent India), lack of vision of the political classes, absence of a sub-national identity which allowed the Central Government to get away with the neglect even in the post independent era and grossly inadequate investment in agriculture, infrastructure and education. A lot of people in Bihar and in the rest of India also think that gross misrule, caste based politics and rampant corruption by politicians have been the cause of the poverty of the state and its people.

The economy is mainly based on the agricultural and trading activities. The vast swath of the extremely fertile land makes it ideal for agriculture. Despite a number of rivers and good fertile soil, investment in irrigation and other agriculture facilities have been grossly inadequate. Agriculture is mainly dependent upon the vagaries of the nature.

Of late, Dairy industry has picked up very well in the state. There have been some attempts to industrialize the state also -an oil refinery in Barauni, a scooter plant at Fatuha, Power plant at Muzaffarpur and some agriculture based industries like sugar and vegetable oil . However, no sustained effort has been made in this direction and there is little success in its industrialization.

Government & politics

Nominally, the state is headed by a Governor, who is appointed by the President of India. The real executive power rests with the Chief Minister and the cabinet. The political party or the coalition of political parties having majority in the Legislative Assembly forms the Government.

The head of bureaucracy of the State is called the Chief Secretary. Under him is a hierarchy of officials drawn from the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and different wings of the State Civil Services.

The judiciary is headed by the Chief Justice. Bihar has a High Court functioning since 1916.

All the wings of the government are located in the state capital, Patna.

See List of political parties in the state

Administrative

The state is divided into 9 divisions and 37 districts for administrative purposes.

See also

Transport & travel

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 categorised as a a restricted international airport with customs facilities to receive international chartered flights. Gaya airport is a small international airport connected to Colombo and Bangkok.

Bihar is well connected by railway lines to the rest of India. Most of the towns are interconnected and also directly connected to Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. Patna, Bhagalpur and Gaya are the best connected railway stations.

It has a vast network of National and State highways. However, at present, the roads are not in a good condition.

For Buddhist pilgrims, the best option 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 is also not very far.

Places to See

  • Sanjay Gandhi Jaivik Udyaan, patna

Culture

Festivals

Folksongs & music

Main article: Music of Bihar

Bihar has a very old tradition of beautiful folk songs, sung during important family occasions, like marriage, birth ceremonies, festivals, etc. They are sung mainly in group settings without the help of any musical instruments.

Bihar also has a tradition of lively Holi songs, filled with fun beats.

During the 19th century, when the condition of Bihar further worsened after the British loot and misrule, a lot of Biharis had to migrate as indentured labourers to West Indian islands, Fiji, and Mauritius. During this time a lot of sad plays and songs called biraha became very popular in the Bhojpur area and dramas on that theme continue to be popular in the theaters of Patna.

Dances of Bihar

Dance forms of Bihar are another expression of the very rich subaltern tradition married with the ethnic identity. There are several folk dance forms that can keep one enthralled like dhobi nach, jhumarnach, manjhi, gondnach, jitiyanach, more morni, dom-domin, bhuiababa, rah baba, kathghorwa nach, jat jatin, launda nach, bamar nach, jharni, jhijhia, natua nach, bidapad nach, sohrai nach, and gond nach.

Language & Literature

Bihari, Hindi and Urdu are the major languages spoken in Bihar. Major regional languages of Bihar include Angika, Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Magadhi (Magahi). These languages are collectively referred as Bihari language. Angika is one of the Bihari languages in which even Google Search Engine, Google-Angika is available since 2004. Some of the oldest poeteries (e.g., poetries written by Saraha, also known by the name, Sarahpa during the 8th century), were written in Angika language.

Bihar has produced a number of writers of Hindi, and they include Raja Radhika Raman Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksha Benipuri. Different regional languages have also produced some prominent poets and authors.

Devaki Nandan Khatri , who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels like Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Folk Theatre

Theatre is another form in which the Bihari sub altern culture forms an expression. Some forms of theater which have a rich tradition are Reshma-Chuharmal, Bihula-Bisahari , Bahura-Gorin, Raja Salhesh, Sama Chakeva, and Dom Kach. All these theatre belong to Anga or Ang area of the Bihar.

Cinema

Bihar has a robust cinema industry for the Bhojpuri language. There is a small Maithili film industry also.

Cuisine

Main Article Cuisine of Bihar

Predominantly, the food of Bihar is vegetarian. However, unlike Gujarat or some communities of south, non-vegetarian is food has been quite acceptable in the society of Bihar with even some sects of Brahmins like the Mithila Brahmins accepting Fish as a food item. Traditional bihar society did not quite eat eggs and chicken, though other types of birds and fowls were highly acceptable.

The staple food is “bhat, dal, roti, tarkari and achar”, prepared basically from rice, lentils, wheat flour, vegetables, and pickle. Traditional cooking medium is mustard oil. "Kichdi", the broth of rice and lentils, seasoned with spices, and served with several accompanying items constitutes the lunch for Biharis on Saturdays.

There is large variety of sweet delicacies which unlike those from Bengal are mostly dry. Some of them are Anarasa, Belgrami, Chena Murki, , Motichoor ka Ladoo, Kala Jamun, Kesaria Peda, Khaja, Khurma, Khubi ka Lai, Laktho, Parwal ki Mithai, Pua & Mal Pua, [[Thekua], Murabba and Tilkut. Many of these owe their origin to towns in the vicinity of Patna.

There are several other traditional salted snacks and savouries like Chiwra, Dhuska, Litti, Makhana, Pittha, and Sattu.

There is a distinctive Bihari flavor to the non-vegetarian cooking, though some of the names of the dishes may be the same as those found in other parts of north India. Roll is a typical Bihar non vegetarian dish. These are rather popular by the generic name Roll Bihari in and around Lexington Avenue (South) in New York.

Education

In ancient Bihar, world famous learning centres, universities of Nalanda and Vikramshila, were located. After their destruction in the 13th century, Bihar has not seen any educational centre of world repute.

Presently, like most parts of India, after 10 years of schooling, students can join 2 years of Intermediate course (or +2 courses) in Arts, Science and Commerce. This is followed by 3 years of degree courses. Some students choose to join 3 years diploma courses offered by Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). There are hardly 5 or 6 institutions imparting professional courses.

The educational infrastructure of the state falls short of a growing population. As such, a number of students, after completing schooling, move away to New Delhi, Karnataka, and other parts of India, for perusing higher technical or non-technical studies.

Overall it must be noted that Bihar has the highest illiteracy in India - with women's literacy rate being only 33.57 %. Exceptions being barred, the standard of enducation today is also very poor. The situation is worst at the elementary level. This could be one of the factors that make Bihar the least developed state of India.

Schools

Bihar has a system of district schools (called Zila schools), located at district headquarter of older districts of Bihar. In early eighties, the state government took over control and management of most of privately run schools, and accorded them government recognition. There are many such schools throughout the state with different names. Central government also runs a number of Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central schools) for the wards of its employees and Jawahar Navodaya Schools for students coming from rural areas. Delhi Public School, a chain of schools, is also opening schools in various towns of Bihar. In bigger cities and towns, some schools are run by convents or by the Jesuits.

Most of the government-run schools in Bihar are affiliated to Bihar School Examination Board, whereas most of the private schools are affiliated to ICSE and CBSE boards.

Universities & colleges

Bihar has five general purpose universities and one exclusively for Sanskrit:

University of Patna, established in 1917 and the seventh oldest university on the Indian subcontinent, is the most prominent among the above five universities. It has 11 colleges, including famous colleges like Science College, Patna,B.N.College, Patna,Women's College, Patna, Patna College, Patna and Patna Medical College and Hospital, Patna. Patna Women's College is one of the leading women's college in Bihar, followed by Magadh Mahila College.

There are three engineering colleges, under the management and control of the Government of Bihar:

  1. Bihar College of Engineering, now National Institute of Technology, Patna
  2. Bhagalpur College of Engineering
  3. Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology

Following is a list of the medical colleges in Bihar :

  1. Patna Medical College and Hospita, and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, at Patna
  2. Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital at Muzaffarpur
  3. Magadh Medical College and Hospital at Gaya and
  4. Bhagalpur Medical College and Hospital at Bhagalpur
  5. Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital at Darbhanga

See also

External links


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