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Founding
Founding of Bihar
state in eastern India
- 22 March 1912
- Patna
- South Asia
Founding
state in eastern India
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Bihar (Hindi: Bihār, pronounced [bɪˈɦaːr] ⓘ) is a state in eastern India. It borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Bengal to the east, and Jharkhand to the south. Bihar is split by the river Ganges, which flows from west to east. It is the second largest state by population, the 12th largest by area, and the 14th largest by GDP in 2024. Bihar's official languages are Hindi and Urdu. The main native languages are Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri, but there are several other languages being spoken at smaller levels.
Bihar played a central role in the history and development of Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya at the Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Early Buddhist schools, such as Nalanda and Vikramashila emerged in Bihar as major centres of Buddhist learning, attracting students and scholars from across Asia. Under dynasties including the Mauryas and Guptas, Buddhism received royal patronage and expanded from the region to other parts of Asia.
Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social and economic development. Economists and social scientists claim that this is a direct result of the policies of the central government, such as the freight equalisation policy, its apathy towards Bihar, lack of Bihari sub-nationalism, and the Permanent Settlement of 1793 by the British East India Company. The state government has, however, made significant strides in developing the state. Improved governance has led to an economic revival in the state through increased investment in infrastructure, better healthcare facilities, greater emphasis on education, and a reduction in crime and corruption.
The name Bihar is generally believed to derive from the Sanskrit and Pali word vihāra (विहार), meaning "monastery" or "religious dwelling". The region was an important centre of Buddhism from the Mauryan period onward and was home to numerous Buddhist monastic establishments, including those at Nalanda and Vikramashila. Medieval Persian and Turkic writers applied the name Bihar to the area, a form thought to have evolved from vihāra. The name subsequently came to designate the wider region and was retained for the modern state.
Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age (c. 2500–1345 BCE). Regions of Bihar – such as Magadha, Mithila, and Anga – are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India.
Mithila gained prominence after the establishment of the Videha Kingdom. During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. Sita, a daughter of one of the Janakas of Mithila is mentioned as the consort of Rama, in the Hindu epic Ramayana, written by Valmiki. The Videha Kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajjika League which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila. Vajji had a republican form of government where the head of state was elected from the rajas. Based on the information found in texts pertaining to Jainism and Buddhism, Vajji was established as a republic by the sixth century BCE, before the birth of Gautama Buddha in 563 BCE, making it the first known republic in India.
The Haryanka dynasty, founded in 684 BCE, ruled Magadha from the city of Rajgriha (modern Rajgir). The two well-known kings from this dynasty were Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru, who imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. Ajatashatru founded the city of Pataliputra which later became the capital of Magadha. He declared war and conquered the Vajjika League. The Haryanka dynasty was followed by the Shishunaga dynasty. Later, the Nanda dynasty ruled a vast tract stretching from Punjab to Odisha.
The Nanda dynasty was replaced by the Maurya Empire, India's first empire. The Maurya Empire and the religion of Buddhism arose in the region that now makes up modern Bihar. The Mauryan Empire, which originated from Magadha in 321 BCE, was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, who was born in Magadha. It had its capital at Pataliputra (modern Patna). Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, who was born in Pataliputra (Patna), is often considered to be among the most accomplished rulers in world history.
The Gupta Empire, which originated in Magadha in 240 CE, is referred to as the Golden Age of India in science, mathematics, astronomy, commerce, religion, and Indian philosophy. Bihar and Bengal were invaded by Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty in the 11th century.
Buddhism in Magadha declined due to the invasion of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, during which many of the viharas were destroyed along with the universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. Some historians believe that thousands of Buddhist monks were massacred during the 12th century. D. N. Jha suggests, instead, that these incidents were the result of Buddhist–Brahmin skirmishes in a fight for supremacy. After the rule of the Pala Empire, the Karnat dynasty came into power in the Mithila region in the 11th century and they were succeeded by the Oiniwar dynasty in the 14th century. Aside from Mithila, there were other small kingdoms in medieval Bihar. The area around Bodh Gaya and much of Magadha came under the Buddhist Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya. The Khayaravala dynasty were present in the southwestern portions of the state until the 13th century.
Many famous Buddhist and Hindu philosophers and scholars have originated or studied in Bihar during the period from the 5th to 13th century at institutions like Nalanda and Vikramashila including Kamalaśīla, Ratnākaraśānti, Śāntarakṣita, Abhayakaragupta, Udayana and Gaṅgeśa.
Sasaram was also the first capital city of the Sur Empire founded by the ruler of Bihar, Sultan Sher Shah Suri who was Pashtun.
After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the British East India Company obtained the diwani rights (rights to administer and collect tax revenue) for Bihar, Bengal, and Odisha. The rich resources of fertile land, water, and skilled labour had attracted the foreign imperialists, particularly the Dutch and British, in the 18th century. A number of agriculture-based industries had been started in Bihar by foreign entrepreneurs. Bihar remained a part of the Bengal Presidency of British India until 1912, when Bihar and Orissa were carved out of the Bengal Presidency to form a new province.
Farmers in Champaran had revolted against indigo cultivation in 1914 (at Pipra) and 1916 (Turkaulia). In April 1917, Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran, where Raj Kumar Shukla had drawn his attention to the exploitation of the peasants by European indigo planters. The Champaran Satyagraha that followed received support from many Bihari nationalists, such as Rajendra Prasad, Shri Krishna Sinha and Anugrah Narayan Sinha.
In the northern and central regions of Bihar, the Kisan Sabha (peasant movement) was an important consequence of the independence movement. It began in 1929 under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati who formed the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS), to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights. The movement intensified and spread from Bihar across the rest of India, culminating in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936, where Saraswati was elected as its first president.
Following independence, Bihari migrant workers have faced violence and prejudice in many parts of India, such as Maharashtra, Punjab, and Assam.
Decades following the independence in 1947 were full of violent conflicts between the landless section of Bihari society and the landed elite who controlled the government at various level. This was an outcome of the failed land reform drive and improper implementation of the land ceiling laws that were passed by Indian National Congress government in the 1950s. Landed castes like Rajput and Bhumihar became suspicious of the land reforms and used their influence in government to hinder the efforts of the land redistribution programme, which may have alleviated the huge caste based income inequalities. Unscrupulous tactics such as absentee landlordism neutralised the reforms which was architected by Krishna Ballabh Sahay.
In the Zamindari areas of Bihar, such as Bhojpur district, the Dalits were also subjected to frequent humiliation and practice of begar existed. This led to first spark of mass scale naxalism to grew up in the plains of Bhojpur. This armed struggle was led initially by Master Jagdish Mahto, a school teacher turned naxalite. Soon, the struggle spread into other parts of Bihar, where the landlords and agricultural labourers locked horns against each other. Between 1950 and 2000, several massacres took place. In Bihar, unlike the other parts of India, the naxalism took the form of caste conflict as the landed section of society belonged primarily to Forward Castes and a section of Upper Backward Castes, on the other hand, the landless were the people belonging to Schedule Castes and a section of Other Backward Castes. Formation of caste based private armies called senas took place in response to violent activities of the naxalites. One of the most dreaded caste army of the landlord was Ranvir Sena, which was involved in massacres of Dalits in Laxmanpur Bathe. The Dalit struggle against these caste armies was led by Indian People's Front and its successor Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, which was controlled at the upper echelon by the middle peasant castes such as the Koeris and Yadavs, with Dalits and Extremely Backward Castes forming its mass support base and activists.
Meanwhile, the 1960s saw the rise of political instability in the state with dwindling power of Indian National Congress and rise of parties like Samyukta Socialist Party. The leaders belonging to Backward Castes became vocal for their political rights. The toppling of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha government by Jagdeo Prasad hastened the end of dominance of Forward Caste backed Indian National Congress in the state.
In 1990 the 10th Assembly elections to Bihar Legislative Assembly was held and Lalu Prasad Yadav became the Chief Minister of Bihar. He led the Janata Dal political party, which won majority in assembly elections due to strong wave of discontent against Indian National Congress.
Bihar covers a total area of 94,163 km2 (36,357 sq mi), with an average elevation above sea level of 173 feet (53 m). It is landlocked by Nepal in the north, Jharkhand in the south, West Bengal in the east and Uttar Pradesh in the west. It has three parts on the basis of physical and structural conditions: the Southern Plateau, the Shivalik Region, and Bihar's Gangetic Plain. Furthermore, the vast stretch of the fertile Bihar Plain is divided by the Ganges River into two unequal parts – North Bihar and South Bihar. The Ganges flows west–east and, along with its tributaries, regularly floods parts of the Bihar plain. The main northern tributaries are the Gandak and Koshi, which originate in the Nepalese Himalayas, and the Bagmati, which originates in the Kathmandu Valley. Other tributaries are the Son, Budhi Gandak, Chandan, Orhani and Phalgu. Bihar has some small hills, such as the Rajgir hills in center, Kaimur Range in south-west and Shivalik Range in North. Bihar has a forest area of 6,764.14 km2, which is 7.1 per cent of its geographical area. The sub-Himalayan foothills of Shivalik ranges, primary Someshwar and Dun mountain, in West Champaran district are clad in a belt of moist deciduous forest. As well as trees, this consists of brush, grasses and reeds.
Bihar lies completely in the Subtropical region of the Temperate Zone, and its climatic type is humid subtropical. Its temperature is subtropical in general, with hot summers and cold winters. Bihar has an average daily high temperature of only 26 °C with a yearly average of 26 °C. The climate is very warm, but has only a very few tropical and humid months. Several months of the year it is warm to hot at temperatures continuously above 25 °C, sometimes up to 29 °C. Due to less rain the best time for travelling is from October to April. The rainiest days occur from May to September.
Bihar has a nature conservation area of 6,845 km2 (2,643 sq mi), which is 7.27% of its geographical area. The sub-Himalayan foothill of Someshwar and the Dun ranges in the Champaran district have belts of moist deciduous forests, mixed with shrubs, grass and reeds. High rainfall (above 1,600 mm [63 in]) promotes forests of Sal (Shorea robusta) in these areas. Other important trees are Sal Cedrela Toona, Khair, and Semal. Deciduous forests also occur in the Saharsa and Purnia districts, with common trees including Shorea robusta (sal), Diospyros melanoxylon (kendu), Boswellia serrata (salai), Terminalia tomentose (asan), Terminalia bellerica (bahera), Terminalia arjuna (arjun), Pterocarpus marsupium (paisar), and Madhuca indica (mahua).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Bihar”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.