Hazaribagh
Encyclopedia
Hazaribagh is a city and a municipality
in Hazaribagh district
in the Indian state
of Jharkhand
. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division
. It is famous as a health resort and for Hazaribagh National Park
(17 km from city).
subsequently replaced this military road in the mid-eight hundreds, but the lay out differed at places, particularly around Hazaribagh. A dilapidated watch tower meant to guard the military road is still visible on Tower Hill, near Silwar.
The nearest, airport, Ranchi(Capital Jharkhand) (91 km) is connected with New Delhi,Mumbai,Kolkata,Patna,Lucknow etc. by regular Indian Airlines service and many other private airlines.
By Rail
The nearest railway station is Koderma which is 69 km away, situated on the New Delhi Howarah Grand Cord Line. All major trains including Rajdhanis stop here. Railways provide regular bus service from Koderma Station to Hazaribagh.
By Road
Hazaribagh is situated on NH 33 (life line of Jharkahnd),is connected by road to Ranchi 91 km, Dhanbad 128 km(via GT road), Bokaro 116 km(Via Ramgarh), Gaya 130 km, Patna 235 km, Daltonganj 198 km, Kolkata (via Asansol-Govindapur-Barhi) 434 km.Regular bus service connects all these places.
at different times. The entire territory of Chhotanagpur, known as Jharkhand (meaning forest territory) was presumably beyond the pale of district Hindu influence in ancient India. Though out the Turko-Afghan period (up to 1526), the area remained virtually free from external influence. It was only with the accession of Akbar to the throne of Delhi in 1556,that Muslim influence penetrated Jharkhand, then known to the Mughals as Kokrah. In 1585, Akbar sent a force under the command of Shahbaj Khan to reduce the Raja of Chotanagpur to the position of a tributary. After the death of Akbar in 1605, the area presumably regained its independence. This necessitated an expedition in 1616 by Ibrahim Khan Fateh Jang, the Governor of Bihar and brother of Queen Noorjehan. Ibrahim Khan defeated and captured Durjan Sal, the 46th Raja of Chotanagpur. He was imprisoned for 12 years but was later released and reinstated on the throne after he had shown his ability in distinguishing a real diamond from a fake one.
In 1632 Chotanagpur was given as Jagir to the Governor at Patna for an annual payment of Rs. 136000. This was raised to Rs. 161000 in 1636 A.D. During the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719–1748), Sarballand Khan, the Governor of then Bihar, marched against the Raja of Chotanagpur and obtained his submission. Another expedition was led by Fakhruddoula, the Governor of Bihar in 1731.
He came to terms with the Raja of Chotanagpur. In 1735 Alivardi Khan had some difficulty in enforcing the payment of the annual tribute of Rs. 12000 from the Raja of Ramgarh, as agreed to by the latter according to the terms settled with Fakhruddoula.
This situation continued until the occupation of the country by the British. During the Muslim period, the main estates in the district were Ramgarh, Kunda, Chai and Kharagdiha. Subsequent to the Kol uprising in 1831 which, however, did not seriously affect Hazaribag, the administrative structure of the territory was changed. The paraganas Ramgarh, Kharagdiha, Kendi and Kunda became parts of the South-West Frontier Agency and were formed into a division named Hazaribag as the administrative headquarters.
In 1854 the designation of South-West Frontier Agency was changed to Chota Nagpur and it began to be administered as a Non-regulation province under the Lieutenant Governor of the then Bihar. In 1855-56 there was the great uprising of the Santhals against the British but was brutally suppressed.
After 1991 census, the district of Hazaribag has been divided into three separate districts viz. Hazaribag, Chatra and Koderma. The two sub-divisions namely Chatra and Koderma were upgraded to the status of independent districts.
During British rule one had go by train to Giridih and then travel in a vehicle called push-push to Hazaribagh. It was pushed and pulled by human force over hilly tracts. It was exciting journey across rivers and through dense forests infested with bandits and wild animals. Rabindranath Tagore
travelled in a push-push along the route in 1885. He has recorded the experience in an essay, Chotanagpur families. When the Grand Chord was opened in 1906, Hazaribagh Road station was linked with the town. For many years, Lal Motor Company operated the rail-cum-bus service between Hazaribagh town and Hazaribagh Road station.
Hazaribagh Central Jail housed many leaders of the Indian freedom movement
, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad
, later the first president of India. The popular leader Jayaprakash Narayan
was put under arrest in this jail during the Quit India Movement
of 1942. His escape from this high security prison and the support he received from the local people is one of the legends of the Indian Independence movement.
During the early years of World War II
an internment camp ("parole camp") for German civilians was in the town. In June 1942 it housed 36 women, 5 men and 16 children. 21 females with 13 children, had been transferred on 25. February 1942 from Diyatalawa
. In autumn they were transferred to the family camps at Purandhar or Satara
.
community settled at Hazaribagh in the nineteenth century when the area was in Bengal Presidency
and the British administration was looking for people with English
education. The small community Contributed considerably towards the development of the place.
Ray Bahadur Jadunath Mukhopadhay(Mukherjee) one of early settlers is much talked about. He helped in setting up the Durga Puja
mandap, the Brahmo Samaj
and the first girls’ school in the town. Chanchala Niyogi physically got the school going around 1895. Those were the days when people thought that by educating their daughters they were paving the way for their widowhood. Around 1920, the new school building was built with the initiative of Braja Kumar Niyogi with funds mainly from the estate of Raja of Ramgarh. Great Scholars such as Mahesh Chandra Ghosh
, and Dhirendranath Choudhury
, made the town their home. The poet Kamini Roy
lived in the town for some years. Manmathanath Dasgupta, a Brahmo missionary spent many years in Hazaribagh working amongst the down trodden. Sarat Kumar Gupta contributed towards the development of the town in many ways. Doctors such as Mandindra Bhushan Banerjee (Panna Babu), Bikash Kumar Sen, Sambhu Nath Roy and Benoy Chandra Chatterjee were prominent personalities. The noted Bengali author and writer for many Hindi films like SUJATA, Subodh Ghosh
was born and brought up in Hazaribagh. Many of his stories are set in the region.
Keshub Chunder Sen, the great Brahmo
Leader, accompanied by Trailokyanath Sanyal
, had visited Hazaribagh in 1874 to recoup his health. He wrote many pieces during his short stay and participated in Bhadrotsav celebrations. After his death in 1884, a public hall on the Main Road was named Keshub Hall in his memory. Amongst the Brahmo missionaries who visited Hazaribagh regularly was Pramathalal Sen
.
Rai Bahadur Kalipada Sarkar was a leading advocate. He was the chairman of Municipality, chairman of District Board, President Bar Association and also member of council. Incidentally, KP Sarkar was the first India
n to be the chairman of Hazaribag Municipality.
Another notable Bengali of the first half of the 20th century was Rai Bahadur Surendra Nath Roy, the noted government Pleader and a patron of the arts. Suren babu migrated from village Raghunathpur (Nadia, Bengal), where he was a zamindar
(জমিদার) and the title 'Rai Bahadur' was conferred on him by the British, in 1902 to practice law in the Civil Court at Hazaribagh. For a time he was President Bar Association and was the co-founder of Annada High School (Bengali School). He also acted as the custodian of the minor Kamakhya Narayan Singh, the erstwhile Raja of Ramgarh Ramgarh Raj.
. Work is currently going on for the development of NTPC's 3000MW Super Thermal Power Project, and Reliance Power's 3600MW Thermal power projectSuper Thermal Power Project. A major NTPC
township is also coming 10 km from city. Many Steel Plants and other industries are also envisioned due to its proximity to coal, water and power. Damodar Valley Corporation
has a number of offices in Hazaribagh.
Till now Hazaribagh does not have a railway connection (due to its forested and hilly terrain). Although work is almost complete for its railway link with Koderma station(Grand chord line)
within city limits, named after Saint Vinoba Bhave.It is the 2nd largest university of Jharkhand
.St. Columba's College,Medical College of Dhanbad and many Engineering and local colleges are affiliated to this university now.
After independence Roman Catholics,established a girls’ school - Mount Carmel. Parallel to this Reverend Father John Moore, an Australian Jesuit missionary, set up St.Xavier’s in 1952.
Hazaribagh has the Police Training centre of whole of jharkhand. The Border Security Force(BSF) also have huge presence. East India's largest training Centre is here in the forest with hilly terrain.
Hazaribagh has one of the most prestigious school of Jharkhand, Indira gandhi balika vidyalaya. the school is resedential school for girls by the state government.
, Hazaribagh had a population of 127,243. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Hazaribagh has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 70%. In Hazaribagh, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.
The population of the town and the area is over whelmingly Hindi-speaking.There is a sprinkling of Santhali-speaking population mainly in the rural areas. There is a sizeable Muslim population. Bengalis, Marwaris and Punjabis form small minorities.
Krishna Ballabh Sahay (Born in Khadhaiya, a village in Tandwa Block), the renowned freedom fighter and subsequently chief minister of Bihar belonged to Hazaribagh. As Revenue Minister, he was instrumental in the abolition of zemindaries in Bihar. In 1952 that was the first such legislation in the country. The political rivalry between the Kamakhya Narayan Singh, the Raja of Ramgarh and K.B.Sahay was talk of the town in the fifties of the twentieth century.
In the elections for the first Lok Sabha held in 1951, Nageshwar Prasad Sinha of Congress won the Hazaribagh East seat and Baboo Ram Narayan Singh, an Independent candidate, won the Hazaribagh West seat. In 1957, Lalita Rajya Lakshmi, of the Ramgarh Raj family, won the seat. Basant Narayan Singh, younger brother of Kamakhya Narayan Singh, won the seat four times, in 1962, 1967 and again in 1977 and 1980. Damodar Pandey of Congress had won it in 1984. Yadunath Pandey of BJP won it in 1989. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta of CPI won the seat in 1991 and in 2004. Mahabir Lal Viswakarma of BJP won the seat in 1996. Yashwant Sinha
of BJP won the seat in 1998 and went on to become Finance Minister and latter Foreign Minister in the NDA government. He also won the seat in 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta of Communist Party of India (CPI) won the seat in 2004 with the help of seat sharing of the UPA.
Hazaribag Times
is a local newspaper.
The specialty is a 20 sq ft (1.9 m²) stone, which is locally named Barso Pani. There is a belief that if any one enters the cave and call Barso Pani, it starts raining.
Contrary to popular beliefs, it does not rain when you clap nor it rains when you shout BARSO PANI. It just rains without any calling. Situated at Jhikjhor Basti on Barkagaon- Hemgir Road, 17 km from Barkagaon block and 50 km from the district headquarters, Barso Pani is a silent obscure place concealed deep in forest. Its a semi-formed cave structure where drops of water fall from the ceiling and gives a fake sense of rain.
An interesting point to note is that only the bottom of the ceiling of this cave remains wet, remaining sides stay dry which makes tourists speculate about the source of those raining drops. There is a small stream just beside the structure but to call it the source would be foolish and a personal visit can only prove why.The place is full of natural beauty and visitors need to trek for almost a kilometer from Jhikjhor.
Please see travel details -
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in Hazaribagh district
Hazaribagh District
Hazaribagh district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India, and Hazaribagh town is the district headquarters. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.-Etymology:The district is named after its headquarters, the town of Hazaribagh...
in the Indian state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division
North Chotanagpur division
North Chotanagpur division is one of the five divisions in the Indian state of Jharkhand.The division comprises the following districts: Bokaro district, Chatra district, Dhanbad district, Giridih district, Hazaribagh district, Koderma district and Ramgarh district. It was earlier part of Chota...
. It is famous as a health resort and for Hazaribagh National Park
Hazaribagh National Park
Hazaribagh National Park, about 135 km from Ranchi is also a sanctuary adorned with scenic beauties. The park has also the same features as that of Betla to some extent. The park has tigers, panthers, sambhars, spotted deer, bisons and a number of mammalian faunas. There are some towers which...
(17 km from city).
Etymology
Etymologially, the word Hazaribagh is made of two words, hazar meaning 'one thousand(1,000)', and 'bagh' meaning tigers. Hence the literal meaning of Hazaribagh is 'City of a thousand tigers'. According to Sir John Houlton the town takes its name from the small villages of Okni and Hazari – shown in old maps as Ocunhazry. The last syllable in its name probably originated in a mango-grove, which formed a camping ground for troops and travellers marching along the ‘new military road’ from Kolkata to Varanasi, constructed in 1782 and the following years. The Grand Trunk RoadGrand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road also formerly known as Uttarapatha, Shah Rah-e-Azam or Sadak-e-Azam or Badshahi Sadak is one of South Asia's oldest and longest major roads...
subsequently replaced this military road in the mid-eight hundreds, but the lay out differed at places, particularly around Hazaribagh. A dilapidated watch tower meant to guard the military road is still visible on Tower Hill, near Silwar.
Travelling Times
By AirThe nearest, airport, Ranchi(Capital Jharkhand) (91 km) is connected with New Delhi,Mumbai,Kolkata,Patna,Lucknow etc. by regular Indian Airlines service and many other private airlines.
By Rail
The nearest railway station is Koderma which is 69 km away, situated on the New Delhi Howarah Grand Cord Line. All major trains including Rajdhanis stop here. Railways provide regular bus service from Koderma Station to Hazaribagh.
By Road
Hazaribagh is situated on NH 33 (life line of Jharkahnd),is connected by road to Ranchi 91 km, Dhanbad 128 km(via GT road), Bokaro 116 km(Via Ramgarh), Gaya 130 km, Patna 235 km, Daltonganj 198 km, Kolkata (via Asansol-Govindapur-Barhi) 434 km.Regular bus service connects all these places.
History
In very early times the district was covered with inaccessible forests to which non- Aryan tribes who refused to surrender to the steadily advancing Aryans, retiredat different times. The entire territory of Chhotanagpur, known as Jharkhand (meaning forest territory) was presumably beyond the pale of district Hindu influence in ancient India. Though out the Turko-Afghan period (up to 1526), the area remained virtually free from external influence. It was only with the accession of Akbar to the throne of Delhi in 1556,that Muslim influence penetrated Jharkhand, then known to the Mughals as Kokrah. In 1585, Akbar sent a force under the command of Shahbaj Khan to reduce the Raja of Chotanagpur to the position of a tributary. After the death of Akbar in 1605, the area presumably regained its independence. This necessitated an expedition in 1616 by Ibrahim Khan Fateh Jang, the Governor of Bihar and brother of Queen Noorjehan. Ibrahim Khan defeated and captured Durjan Sal, the 46th Raja of Chotanagpur. He was imprisoned for 12 years but was later released and reinstated on the throne after he had shown his ability in distinguishing a real diamond from a fake one.
In 1632 Chotanagpur was given as Jagir to the Governor at Patna for an annual payment of Rs. 136000. This was raised to Rs. 161000 in 1636 A.D. During the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719–1748), Sarballand Khan, the Governor of then Bihar, marched against the Raja of Chotanagpur and obtained his submission. Another expedition was led by Fakhruddoula, the Governor of Bihar in 1731.
He came to terms with the Raja of Chotanagpur. In 1735 Alivardi Khan had some difficulty in enforcing the payment of the annual tribute of Rs. 12000 from the Raja of Ramgarh, as agreed to by the latter according to the terms settled with Fakhruddoula.
This situation continued until the occupation of the country by the British. During the Muslim period, the main estates in the district were Ramgarh, Kunda, Chai and Kharagdiha. Subsequent to the Kol uprising in 1831 which, however, did not seriously affect Hazaribag, the administrative structure of the territory was changed. The paraganas Ramgarh, Kharagdiha, Kendi and Kunda became parts of the South-West Frontier Agency and were formed into a division named Hazaribag as the administrative headquarters.
In 1854 the designation of South-West Frontier Agency was changed to Chota Nagpur and it began to be administered as a Non-regulation province under the Lieutenant Governor of the then Bihar. In 1855-56 there was the great uprising of the Santhals against the British but was brutally suppressed.
After 1991 census, the district of Hazaribag has been divided into three separate districts viz. Hazaribag, Chatra and Koderma. The two sub-divisions namely Chatra and Koderma were upgraded to the status of independent districts.
During British rule one had go by train to Giridih and then travel in a vehicle called push-push to Hazaribagh. It was pushed and pulled by human force over hilly tracts. It was exciting journey across rivers and through dense forests infested with bandits and wild animals. Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
travelled in a push-push along the route in 1885. He has recorded the experience in an essay, Chotanagpur families. When the Grand Chord was opened in 1906, Hazaribagh Road station was linked with the town. For many years, Lal Motor Company operated the rail-cum-bus service between Hazaribagh town and Hazaribagh Road station.
Cantonment town
The town became a cantonment in 1790, the Ramgarh battalion having been raised ten years earlier. It was then part of Ramgarh district. It became a district headquarter in 1834. The cantonment flourished till 1884.This resulted in a planned old city. This part of the town is known as Boddam Bazar, after the officer who laid it out. Many Englishmen settled in Hazaribagh during the British period. They built large bungalow type houses, quite often with sloping roofs. Many of them were great hunters and hunting stories abound in the town by word of mouth. Most of them left after independence. Tutu Imam topped the list of hunting legends in the town. A century back it was common for tigers and leopards to poach upon livestock in the outskirts of the town.Hazaribagh Central Jail housed many leaders of the Indian freedom movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Rajendra Prasad
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician and educator. He was one of the architects of the Indian Republic, having drafted its first constitution and serving as the first president of independent India...
, later the first president of India. The popular leader Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan , widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution...
was put under arrest in this jail during the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
of 1942. His escape from this high security prison and the support he received from the local people is one of the legends of the Indian Independence movement.
During the early years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
an internment camp ("parole camp") for German civilians was in the town. In June 1942 it housed 36 women, 5 men and 16 children. 21 females with 13 children, had been transferred on 25. February 1942 from Diyatalawa
Diyatalawa
Diyatalawa is a garrison town in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, in the Badulla District of Uva Province. It is at an altitude of and has become a popular destination for local holiday makers...
. In autumn they were transferred to the family camps at Purandhar or Satara
Satara
Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the the historical cities of...
.
Early Bengali settlers
A small but effective BengaliBengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
community settled at Hazaribagh in the nineteenth century when the area was in Bengal Presidency
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency originally comprising east and west Bengal, was a colonial region of the British Empire in South-Asia and beyond it. It comprised areas which are now within Bangladesh, and the present day Indian States of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya, Orissa and Tripura.Penang and...
and the British administration was looking for people with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
education. The small community Contributed considerably towards the development of the place.
Ray Bahadur Jadunath Mukhopadhay(Mukherjee) one of early settlers is much talked about. He helped in setting up the Durga Puja
Durga Puja
Durga puja ; দুর্গা পূজা,ଦୁର୍ଗା ପୂଜା,‘Worship of Durga’), also referred to as Durgotsava ; , is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and...
mandap, the Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
and the first girls’ school in the town. Chanchala Niyogi physically got the school going around 1895. Those were the days when people thought that by educating their daughters they were paving the way for their widowhood. Around 1920, the new school building was built with the initiative of Braja Kumar Niyogi with funds mainly from the estate of Raja of Ramgarh. Great Scholars such as Mahesh Chandra Ghosh
Mahesh Chandra Ghosh
Mahesh Chandra Ghosh was a Bengali Indian philosopher. He was conferred the title of Vednataratna for his immense knowledge of the religious scriptures and philosophy.-Life:...
, and Dhirendranath Choudhury
Dhirendranath Choudhury
Dhirendranath Choudhury was an erudite scholar, an eminent teacher and a religious reformer.-Early life:Son of Madhab Choudhury of Nagarpur in Mymensingh, now in Bangladesh, was born in the month of Bhadro, 1277 Bengali era. Attracted towards philosophy and religion from a young age, he started...
, made the town their home. The poet Kamini Roy
Kamini Roy
Kamini Roy was a leading Bengali poet, social worker and feminist from India. She was the first woman honours graduate in India.-Early life:...
lived in the town for some years. Manmathanath Dasgupta, a Brahmo missionary spent many years in Hazaribagh working amongst the down trodden. Sarat Kumar Gupta contributed towards the development of the town in many ways. Doctors such as Mandindra Bhushan Banerjee (Panna Babu), Bikash Kumar Sen, Sambhu Nath Roy and Benoy Chandra Chatterjee were prominent personalities. The noted Bengali author and writer for many Hindi films like SUJATA, Subodh Ghosh
Subodh Ghosh
Subodh Ghosh was a noted Bengali author and journalist, with Kolkata-based daily newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika. His best known work Bharat Premkatha, about the romances of epic Indian characters, has remained a sensation in bengali literature world...
was born and brought up in Hazaribagh. Many of his stories are set in the region.
Keshub Chunder Sen, the great Brahmo
Brahmo
A Brahmo is either an adherent of Brahmoism to the exclusion of all other religions, or a person with at least one Brahmo parent or guardian and who has never denied his faith...
Leader, accompanied by Trailokyanath Sanyal
Trailokyanath Sanyal
Trailokyanath Sanyal was one of the Brahmo missionaries, who assisted in combining the ideals of traditional Vaishnavism with those of Brahmo Samaj. Through hundreds of devotional songs which he created, he developed Brahma Sangit, devotional songs of Brahmo Samaj, as an art form...
, had visited Hazaribagh in 1874 to recoup his health. He wrote many pieces during his short stay and participated in Bhadrotsav celebrations. After his death in 1884, a public hall on the Main Road was named Keshub Hall in his memory. Amongst the Brahmo missionaries who visited Hazaribagh regularly was Pramathalal Sen
Pramathalal Sen
Pramathalal Sen was a philosopher of Keshub Chunder Sen’s New Dispensation, who along with Benoyendranath Sen and Mohit Chandra Sen, devoted himself to update the organisation and doctrine of the new religious congregation and improve relations with other Brahmo groups.-Early life:The son of Nabin...
.
Rai Bahadur Kalipada Sarkar was a leading advocate. He was the chairman of Municipality, chairman of District Board, President Bar Association and also member of council. Incidentally, KP Sarkar was the first India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n to be the chairman of Hazaribag Municipality.
Another notable Bengali of the first half of the 20th century was Rai Bahadur Surendra Nath Roy, the noted government Pleader and a patron of the arts. Suren babu migrated from village Raghunathpur (Nadia, Bengal), where he was a zamindar
Zamindar
A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...
(জমিদার) and the title 'Rai Bahadur' was conferred on him by the British, in 1902 to practice law in the Civil Court at Hazaribagh. For a time he was President Bar Association and was the co-founder of Annada High School (Bengali School). He also acted as the custodian of the minor Kamakhya Narayan Singh, the erstwhile Raja of Ramgarh Ramgarh Raj.
Coal Fields and Power Centre
Hazaribagh has the 2nd highest coal reserve in Jharkhand (1st is Dhanbad region) and is still largely intact. Recently there has been a spurt in the coal mining activities in the region by Central Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India LimitedCoal India Limited
Coal India Limited is an Indian state-controlled coal company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the world's largest coal miner with revenue exceeding 60,245 Crore . It was formerly owned entirely by the Union Government of India, under the administrative control of the Ministry of...
. Work is currently going on for the development of NTPC's 3000MW Super Thermal Power Project, and Reliance Power's 3600MW Thermal power projectSuper Thermal Power Project. A major NTPC
NTPC
NTPC may refer to:* Nam Theun 2 Power Company* National Thermal Power Corporation, in India* Northwest Territories Power Corporation...
township is also coming 10 km from city. Many Steel Plants and other industries are also envisioned due to its proximity to coal, water and power. Damodar Valley Corporation
Damodar Valley Corporation
The Damodar Valley Corporation, popularly known as DVC, is the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. The corporation came into being on July 7, 1948 by an Act of the Constituent Assembly of India . It is modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the USA. Jawaharlal...
has a number of offices in Hazaribagh.
Till now Hazaribagh does not have a railway connection (due to its forested and hilly terrain). Although work is almost complete for its railway link with Koderma station(Grand chord line)
Education
The cool climate and the quiet environs of Hazaribagh attracted educationists to set up institutions in the town. The Dublin Mission has a big presence with educational institutions and a women’s hospital. Activities of the mission were started at Hazaribagh in 1890, under the aegis of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. St. Columba's College was one of the oldest in Bihar. A.F.Markham attached to the college for many years was a legend in his lifetime. He later became vice chancellor of Ranchi University.Hazaribag now has Vinoba Bhave UniversityVinoba Bhave University
The Vinoba Bhave University is located at Hazaribagh, India and is funded by Government of India. University came into existence on the 17th of September,1992 after bifurcation of Ranchi University as a teaching-cum-affiliating university. Being among one of the premier universities of Jharkhand,...
within city limits, named after Saint Vinoba Bhave.It is the 2nd largest university of Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
.St. Columba's College,Medical College of Dhanbad and many Engineering and local colleges are affiliated to this university now.
After independence Roman Catholics,established a girls’ school - Mount Carmel. Parallel to this Reverend Father John Moore, an Australian Jesuit missionary, set up St.Xavier’s in 1952.
Hazaribagh has the Police Training centre of whole of jharkhand. The Border Security Force(BSF) also have huge presence. East India's largest training Centre is here in the forest with hilly terrain.
Hazaribagh has one of the most prestigious school of Jharkhand, Indira gandhi balika vidyalaya. the school is resedential school for girls by the state government.
Demographics
India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Hazaribagh had a population of 127,243. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Hazaribagh has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 70%. In Hazaribagh, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.
The population of the town and the area is over whelmingly Hindi-speaking.There is a sprinkling of Santhali-speaking population mainly in the rural areas. There is a sizeable Muslim population. Bengalis, Marwaris and Punjabis form small minorities.
Politics
Raja of Ramgarh had a big presence in the area, initially during the British period and then after independence when he set up the Janata Party that had a large following in the region for many years. His palace at Padma was a prominent spot on the road to Barhi.Krishna Ballabh Sahay (Born in Khadhaiya, a village in Tandwa Block), the renowned freedom fighter and subsequently chief minister of Bihar belonged to Hazaribagh. As Revenue Minister, he was instrumental in the abolition of zemindaries in Bihar. In 1952 that was the first such legislation in the country. The political rivalry between the Kamakhya Narayan Singh, the Raja of Ramgarh and K.B.Sahay was talk of the town in the fifties of the twentieth century.
In the elections for the first Lok Sabha held in 1951, Nageshwar Prasad Sinha of Congress won the Hazaribagh East seat and Baboo Ram Narayan Singh, an Independent candidate, won the Hazaribagh West seat. In 1957, Lalita Rajya Lakshmi, of the Ramgarh Raj family, won the seat. Basant Narayan Singh, younger brother of Kamakhya Narayan Singh, won the seat four times, in 1962, 1967 and again in 1977 and 1980. Damodar Pandey of Congress had won it in 1984. Yadunath Pandey of BJP won it in 1989. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta of CPI won the seat in 1991 and in 2004. Mahabir Lal Viswakarma of BJP won the seat in 1996. Yashwant Sinha
Yashwant Sinha
Yashwant Sinha is an Indian politician and a former finance minister of India and foreign minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet...
of BJP won the seat in 1998 and went on to become Finance Minister and latter Foreign Minister in the NDA government. He also won the seat in 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta of Communist Party of India (CPI) won the seat in 2004 with the help of seat sharing of the UPA.
Hazaribag Times
Hazaribag Times
Hazaribag Times is a Hindi weekly newspaper published from Hazaribag, Jharkhand. It is one of the oldest newspaper solely published from Hazaribag. The news paper has been started by well known educationist "Subodh Singh Shivgeet" to meet the need of local news...
is a local newspaper.
Tourist attractions
- Hazaribagh National ParkHazaribagh National ParkHazaribagh National Park, about 135 km from Ranchi is also a sanctuary adorned with scenic beauties. The park has also the same features as that of Betla to some extent. The park has tigers, panthers, sambhars, spotted deer, bisons and a number of mammalian faunas. There are some towers which...
is located with hillocks, deep nullahs, thick tropical forests and grassy meadows. The Sanctuary has wild bearBearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s, sambhar, nilgaiNilgaiThe nilgai , sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls...
, chitalChitalThe chital or cheetal , also known as chital deer, spotted deer or axis deer is a deer which commonly inhabits wooded regions of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and in small numbers in Pakistan...
and kakarKakarThe Kakar are a Pashtun tribe, with members living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.-Kakar :Kakar Afghan was one of the grandsons of Qais Abdur Rashid. Kakar's father's name was Dani, son of Gharghasht, who was the son of Qais in the Afghan appendix of tribes. According to Afghan and Muslim historians,...
, sloth bearSloth BearThe sloth bear , also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution...
s, tigerTigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s and leopardLeopardThe leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s. - Canary Hill is a popular spot for nature lovers. There is a guest house and a watch tower on the top of the hills. Recently a proposal has been submitted for setting up a tiger and deer safari at the place.
- Swarnajayanti Cafeteria at Hazaribagh Jheel (Natural Lake)is a major family attraction.
- Panchmandir.
- Budhwa Mahadev Mandir (Lord Shiva Temple)
- Narsingh Temple dedicated to Narsingh avatara (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu.
- Surajkund hot spring which is 60 km away from city on NH2 near Barkattha village.
- Barso Pani Cave is located at Barkagaon in Hazaribagh District.
- Rajrappa Mandir which is 80 km away at the bank of river Damodar is a very sacred place.
- Tillaya (Jhumri Tillaya) Dam 45 km North from Hazaribag.
- Konar Dam situated about 50 km East of Hazaribag.
The specialty is a 20 sq ft (1.9 m²) stone, which is locally named Barso Pani. There is a belief that if any one enters the cave and call Barso Pani, it starts raining.
Contrary to popular beliefs, it does not rain when you clap nor it rains when you shout BARSO PANI. It just rains without any calling. Situated at Jhikjhor Basti on Barkagaon- Hemgir Road, 17 km from Barkagaon block and 50 km from the district headquarters, Barso Pani is a silent obscure place concealed deep in forest. Its a semi-formed cave structure where drops of water fall from the ceiling and gives a fake sense of rain.
An interesting point to note is that only the bottom of the ceiling of this cave remains wet, remaining sides stay dry which makes tourists speculate about the source of those raining drops. There is a small stream just beside the structure but to call it the source would be foolish and a personal visit can only prove why.The place is full of natural beauty and visitors need to trek for almost a kilometer from Jhikjhor.
Nearby places
- hazaribagh cafeteria park is surrounded by jhil'
- Koderma produces the world's 60%-65% of Mica, it is 60 km away from city.
- Tilaiya DamTilaiya DamTilaiya dam was the first of the four multi-purpose dams included in the first phase of the Damodar Valley Corporation. It was constructed across the Barakar River, at Tilaiya in Koderma district in the Indian state of Jharkhand and opened in 1953....
across the Barakar River has beautiful hillocks all around and there also nestles one Sainik School nearby. - Konar DamKonar DamKonar dam is the second of the four multi-purpose dams included in the first phase of the Damodar Valley Corporation.. It was constructed across the Konar River, a tributary of the Damodar River in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand and opened in 1955.Konar Dam is long and high...
is 51 km from Hazaribagh - Surajkund hot springSurajkund hot springSurajkund hot spring is a natural hot spring in Belkapi gram panchayat of Barkatha community development block in Barhi subdivision of Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Hot spring:...
is 72 km from Hazaribagh. The water is boiling hot and benefiacial for the treatment of skin diseases and rheumatism. It is 2 km from Belkappi, near Barakattha, located half way between Barhi and Bagodar on Grand Trunk Road.
External links
- Hazaribag district administration
- http://www.suwidha.com
- Central Coalfields Ltd.
- Damodar Valley Corporation
- Hazaribagh Old Xaverians Association
- Hazaribagh online business directory / yellow pages
- http://sccbiotech.com/default.htm
- The Lovers of Hazaribag group
- Hazaribagh travel guide
Please see travel details -