East India

Bihar  *

 

 

    Bihar, the second most populous state in India, derives its name from the Sanskrit word Vihar, which means a Buddhist monastery. It is a landlocked state tucked in between Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and U.P. It can be divided in two regions. North Bihar is extremely fertile, irrigated by the rGanga, Gandak and Sarayu. South Bihar - the tribal homeland around Chhota Nagpur and Santhal Pargana - is a thickly wooded hilly area.

 

    Bihar has a glorious historical tradition. This is the land identified with the rise of two major religions of the land-Buddhism and Jainism. Many of the places associated with Buddha are pilgrimage centres. Kapilavastu, his birth place, lies just across the international border in Nepal, and it was in Bodh Gaya that the Buddha attained supreme knowledge. Ruins, in sites like Nalanda, remind us that at one time, Bihar was an international centre of learning.

 

    It was in Bihar, that the first imperial dynasty in India, the Mauryas, established itself. Pataliputa was counted among the great cities of the ancient world. The Greek traveller Meghasthenes has left a vivid account of life in this metropolis in his Indica. The centre of political gravity shifted outside Bihar with the decline of the Mauryas, but Bihar regained some of its prestige during the Gupta period.

 

    During the medieval period, Bihar lost much of its glory - the short reign of Sher Shah, an Afghan chieftain from Bihar as the ruler of Delhi, after he defeated Humayun was an exception. It was Sher Shah who founded the modern city of Patna.

 

    Bihar is primarily suited for agriculture. The principal crops are rice, wheat, maize, pulses, sugarcane, oilseeds and tobacco. Forest covers about 19 per cent of the area. Important forest produce are timber, tendu leaf and gum. The most important river is the Ganga.

 

    Bihar ranks above all States in minerals. It accounts for almost 40 per cent of the national mineral production. It is the main repository of coking coal, pyrites and uranium and a leading producer of mica. Jamshedpur and Bokaro are major industrial centres where steel plants are situated.