History of Bihar
Encyclopedia
The history of Bihar
is one of the most varied in India. Ancient Bihar, known as Magadha
, was the center of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. India
's first empire, the Maurya empire
as well as one of the world's greatest pacifist
religion, Buddhism
arose from the region that now makes modern Bihar. Magadha
empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta
dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia
under a central rule. Its capital Patna
, earlier known as Pataliputra
, was an important political, military, and economic center of Indian civilization
during the ancient and classical periods of history. Many of the ancient Indian text, written outside of the religious epics, were written in ancient Bihar
. Abhijñānaśākuntala was the most prominent.
One of the first known republics in the world, Licchavi
, existed in the region since before the birth of Mahavira
(c. 599 BC). The classical Gupta dynasty of Bihar, was known to have been a period of great culture and learning inside India. The Gupta period is known today as the Golden Age of India. The Pala Empire
also made their capital at Pataliputra. After, Bihar played a very small role in Indian affairs, until the emergence of the Suri dynasty during the Islamic period in the 1540s. After the fall of the Suri dynasty in 1556, Bihar again became a marginal player in India and was the staging post for the Bengal Presidency
from the 1750s and up to the war of 1857–58. In 1935, Bihar was carved out as a separate provience in the British Indian Empire. Since 1947, Bihar has been a state in the Indian Union.
habitational remains at Paisra, Munger
. Prehistoric rock paintings have been discoveredv in hills of Kaimur, Nawada
and Jamui
. It was for the first time that a Neolithic
settlement was discovered in the thick of the alluvium
, over the bank of the Ganges at Chirand. The rock paintings depict prehistoric lifestyle and natural environment. The paintings display the sun, moon, stars, animals, plants, trees, rivers and is said to represent love towards nature. Also the paintings highlight daily life of the early humans in Bihar, like hunting, running, dancing, and walking. The rock paintings in Bihar
are not only identical to those which found in central and southern India
but also are akin with those in Europe
and Africa
. The rock paintings of Spain
's Alta Mira and France
's Lascaux
are almost identical to those found in Bihar.
The Magadha Kingdom
was established by semi-mythical king Jarasandha
who was, as it stated in the Puranas
, a king of Brihadrathas dynasty
, one of the descendants of eponymical Puru
. Jarasandha appears in the Mahabharatha as the "Magadhan Emperor who rules all India" and meets with an unceremonious ending. Jarasandha was the greatest among them during epic times. His capital was Rajagriha or Rajgir
is now a modern hill resort in Bihar. Jarasandha's continuous assault on the Yadava
kingdom of Surasena
resulted in their withdrawal from central India to western India. Jarasandha was a threat not only for Yadavas but also for Kurus. Pandava Bhima
killed him in a mace dual aided by the intelligence of Vasudeva Krishna. Thus, Yudhisthira
, the Pandava King, could complete his campaign of bring the whole of India in to his empire. Jarasandha had friendly relations with Chedi
king Shishupala
, Kuru
king Duryodhana
and Anga
king Karna
. His descendants, according to the Vayu Purana
, ruled Magadha for 1000 years followed by the Pradyota dynasty
which ruled for 138 years. However, no sufficient evidence to prove the historicity of this claim. However, these rulers are mentioned in the Hindu texts, Buddhist texts and Jaina texts.
Pradyota dynasty
succeeded the Brihadrathas dynasty
in Magadha. According to the Vayu Purana, Pradyotas ruled Magadha for 138 years from 799–684 BC. Palaka
, the son of the Avanti king Pradyota, conquered Kaushambi, making the kingdom powerful.
In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states, dominated Magadha
. Many of these states have been mentioned during in Buddhist and Jaina
literature as far back as 1000 BCE. By 500 BCE, sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as the Mahajanapadas
—Kasi, Kosala
, Anga
, Magadha
, Vajji
(or Vriji), Malla
, Chedi
, Vatsa
(or Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala
, Machcha (or Matsya), Surasena
, Assaka
, Avanti
, Gandhara
, Kamboja—stretched across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharastra. Anga
and Magadha
is the modern North Bihar and South Bihar respestively. Many of the sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BCE, that is by the time of Siddhartha Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Magadha.
In 537 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama attained the state of "enlightenment
" in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. Around the same time, Mahavira
who was born in a place called Kundalagrama in the ancient kingdom of Lachuar in Jamui District
in modern day Bihar. He was the 24th Jain Tirthankara, propagated a similar theology, that was to later become Jainism. However, Jain orthodoxy believes it predates all known time. The Vedas
are believed to have documented a few Jain Tirthankaras and an ascetic order similar to the sramana movement. The Buddha's teachings and Jainism had doctrines inclined toward asceticism, and were preached in Prakrit
, which helped them gain acceptance amongst the masses. They have profoundly influenced practices that Hinduism and Indian spiritual orders are associated with namely, vegetarianism
, prohibition of animal slaughter and ahimsa
(non-violence).
While the geographic impact of Jainism was limited to India, Buddhist nuns and monks eventually spread the teachings of Buddha
to Central Asia
, East Asia
, Tibet
, Sri Lanka
and South East Asia. Nalanda University and Vikramshila University one of the oldest residential universities were established in Bihar during this period.
According to both Buddhist texts and Jain texts, one of Pradyota tradition was that king's son would kill his father to become the successor. During this time, it is reported that there was high crimes in Magadha
. The people rose up and elected Shishunaga
to become the new king, who destroyed the power of the Pradyotas and created the Shishunaga dynasty
.
(also called King Sisunaka) was the founder of a dynasty collectively called the Shishunaga dynasty
. He established the Magadha empire (in 684 BC). Due in part to this bloody dynastic feuding, it is thought that a civil revolt led to the emergence of the Shishunaga dynasty. This empire, with its original capital in Rajgriha
, later shifted to Pataliputra (both currently in the Indian state of Bihar). The Shishunaga dynasty was one of the largest empires of the Indian subcontinent
.
The Hariyanka dynasty king Bimbisara
was responsible for expanding the boundaries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. The land of Kosala
fell to Magadha in this way. Estimates place the territory ruled by this early dynasty at 300 leagues in diameter, and encompassing 80,000 small settlements. Bimbisara
is contemporary with the Buddha, and is recorded as a lay disciple. Bimbisara
(543–493 BCE) was imprisoned and killed his own son who became his successor, Ajatashatru
(491–461 BCE), under whose rule, the dynasty reached its largest extent.
Licchavi
was an ancient republic
which existed in what is now Bihar state of India, since before the birth of Mahavira
(b. 599 BC), Vaishali
was the capital of the Licchavis and the Vajjian Confederacy
. Its courtesan, Ambapali
, was famous for her beauty, and helped in large measure in making the city prosperous. Ajatashatru
went to war with the Licchavi
several time. Ajatashatru is thought to have ruled from 551 to 519 BC and moved his capital of the Magadha kingdom from Rajagrihato Patliputra
. The Mahavamsa
tells that Udayabhadra eventually succeeded his father, Ajatashatru, and that under him Patliputra became the largest city in the world. He is thought to have ruled for sixteen years. The kingdom had a particularly bloody succession. Anuruddha
eventually succeeded Udaybhadra through assassination, and his son Munda
succeeded him in the same fashion, as did his son Nagadasaka
.
This dynasty lasted till 424 BC, when it was overthrown by the Nanda dynasty
. This period saw the development of two of India's major religions that started from Magadha. Gautama Buddha
in the 6th or 5th century BC was the founder of Buddhism, which later spread to East Asia and Southeast Asia
, while Mahavira
revived and propagated the ancient sramanic religion of Jainism.
Nanda dynasty
was established by an illegitimate son of the king Mahanandin
of the previous Shishunaga dynasty
. The Nanda dynasty
ruled Magadha during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Burma in the east, Balochistan
in the west and probably as far south to Karnataka
. Mahapadma Nanda
of Nanda dynasty, has been described as the destroyer of all the Kshatriya
s. He defeated the Ikshvaku dynasty
, Panchala
s, Kasis, Haihayas
, Kalinga
s, Asmakas
, Kurus, Maithilas, Surasena
s, Vitihotras, etc. He expanded his territory till south of Deccan. Mahapadma Nanda
died at the age of 88 and, therefore, he ruled the bulk of the period of this dynasty, which lasted 100 years.
In 321 BC, exiled general Chandragupta Maurya
with help of Chanakya
founded the Maurya dynasty after overthrowing the reigning Nanda king Dhana Nanda to establish the Maurya Empire
. The Maurya Empire (322–185 BC), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was geographically extensive, powerful, and a political military empire in ancient India
. During this time, most of the subcontinent was united under a single government for the first time. The exceptions were present day Tamil Nadu
and Kerala
(which was a Tamil kingdom
then). The empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (near modern Patna
). The Mauryan empire under Chandragupta Maurya would not only conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, defeating and conquering the satrap
s left by Alexander the Great but also push its boundaries into Persia and Central Asia, conquering the Gandhara
region. Chandragupta Maurya
then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I
, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Chandragupta Maurya
's minister Kautilya Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra
, one of the greatest treatises on economics, politics, foreign affairs, administration, military arts, war, and religion ever produced in history of the world
.
Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by his son Bindusara
, who expanded the kingdom over most of present day India, barring the extreme south and east. At its greatest extent, the Empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas
, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam
. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan
, annexing Balochistan
and much of what is now Afghanistan
. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara
, but it excluded a small portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga
.
The Maurya Empire was inherited by his son Ashoka The Great, has been described as one of the greatest rulers the world has seen. Ashoka initially sought to expand his kingdom but In the aftermath of the carnage caused in the invasion of Kalinga
, he renounced bloodshed and pursued a policy of non-violence or ahimsa
after converting to Buddhism. Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire, and led the empire through more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony and prosperity. Ashoka the Great's response to the Kalinga War
is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka
, one of the oldest preserved historical documents of Indian subcontinent
.
According to Rock Edicts of Ashoka,
The Mauryan Empire under Ashoka was responsible for the proliferation of Buddhist ideals across the whole of East Asia and Southeast Asia, fundamentally altering the history and development of Asia
as a whole. Under Ashoka
, India was a prosperous and stable empire of great economic and military power whose political influence and trade extended across Asia and Europe. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka, on the other hand, embraced of Buddhism. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Mediterranean Europe. The Lion Capital of Asoka
at Sarnath
, is the emblem of India
. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware
(NBPW). The Arthashastra, the Edicts of Ashoka and Ashokavadana
are primary sources of written records of the Mauryan times.
Ashoka was followed for 50 years by a succession of weaker kings. Brihadrata, the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty, held territories that had shrunk considerably from the time of emperor Ashoka, although he still upheld the Buddhist faith. The Sunga dynasty was established in 185 BC, about fifty years after Ashoka's death, when the king Brihadratha, the last of the Mauryan rulers, was assassinated by the then commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces
, Pusyamitra Sunga
, while he was taking the Guard of Honour of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga
then ascended the throne. Pusyamitra Sunga was a Yadava
who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty. Buddhist records such as the Asokavadana write that the assassination of Brihadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of persecution for Buddhists, and a resurgence of Hinduism
. According to John Marshall
, Pusyamitra Sunga may have been the main author of the persecutions, although later Sunga kings seem to have been more supportive of Buddhism. Other historians, such as Etienne Lamotte
and Romila Thapar
, partially support this view.
The Gupta dynasty ruled from around 240 to 550 AD. The origins of the Gupta Dynasty are shrouded in obscurity. The Chinese traveler Hieun-Tsang provides the first evidence of the Gupta kingdom in Magadha. He came to India in 672 AD and heard of 'Maharaja Sri-Gupta
' who built a temple for Chinese pilgrims near Mrigasikhavana. Ghatotkacha
(c. 280–319) AD, had a son named Chandra Gupta I (Not to be confused with Chandragupta Maurya
(340–293 BC), founder of the Mauryan Empire). In a breakthrough deal, Chandra Gupta I was married to a woman from Lichchhavi—the main power in Magadha.
Samudragupta
succeeded Chandra Gupta I in 335, and ruled for about 45 years, till his death in 380. He attacked the kingdoms of Shichchhatra, Padmavati
, Malwas, the Yaudheyas, the Arjunayanas
, the Maduras and the Abhiras, and merged them in his kingdom. By his death in 380, he had incorporated over twenty kingdoms into his realm, his rule extended from the Himalayas to the river Narmada
and from the Brahmaputra
to the Yamuna. He gave himself the titles King of Kings and World Monarch. He is considered the Napoleon of India. Chandra Gupta I performed Ashwamedha Yajna to underline the importance of his conquest.
Chandra Gupta II, the Sun of Power (Vikramaditya
), ruled from 380 till 413. Only marginally less successful than his father, Chandra Gupta II expanded his realm westwards, defeating the Saka
Western Kshatrapas
of Malwa, Gujarat and Saurashtra in a campaign lasting until 409. Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta I
. Known as the Mahendraditya, he ruled until 455. Towards the end of his reign a tribe in the Narmada valley, the Pushyamitras, rose in power to threaten the empire.
Skandagupta
is generally considered the last of the great rulers. He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading Hephthalite
s or Huna, from the northwest. He repulsed a Huna attack c. 477. Skandagupta
died in 487 and was succeeded by his son Narasimhagupta
Baladitya.
The Gupta Empire was one of the largest political and military empires in ancient India
. The Gupta period is referred to as the Classical age of India by most historians. The time of the Gupta Empire was an "Indian Golden Age" in Indian science, technology
, engineering, art
, dialectic
, literature
, logic
, mathematics
, astronomy, religion and philosophy
.
The Gupta Empire had their capital at Pataliputra. The difference between Gupta Empire's and Mauryan Empire's administration was that the in the Mauryan administration power was centralised but in the Gupta administration power was more decentralised. The empire was divided into province
s and the provinces were further divided into district
s. Village
s were the smallest units. The kingdom covered Gujarat, North-East India
, south-eastern Pakistan
, Orissa
, northern Madhya Pradesh
and eastern India with capital at Patliputra
, modern Patna
. All forms of worship were carried out in Sanskrit
.
Rapid strides were made in astronomy
during this period. Aryabhata
and Varahamihira
were two great astronomers and mathematicians. Aryabhata stated that the earth moved round the sun and rotated on its own axis. Aryabhata
, who is believed to be the first to come up with the concept of zero, postulated the theory that the Earth moves round the Sun
, and studied solar and lunar eclipse
s. Aryabhata's most famous work was Aryabhatiya. Varahamihira
's most important contributions are the encyclopedic Brihat-Samhita and Pancha-Siddhantika . Metallurgy also made rapid strides. The proof can be seen in the Iron Pillar of Vaishali
and near Mehrauli
on the outskirts of Delhi
which was brought from Bihar.
This period is also very rich in Sanskrit literature
. The material sources of this age were Kalidasa
's works. Raghuvamsa
, Malavikagnimitram
, Meghadūta, Abhijñānaśākuntala and Kumārasambhava, Mrichchakatika by Shudraka, Panchatantra
by Vishnu Sharma, Kama Sutra
(the principles of pleasure) and 13 plays by Bhasa
were also written in this period.
In medicine, the Guptas were notable for their establishment and patronage of free hospitals. Although progress in physiology and biology was hindered by religious injunctions against contact with dead bodies, which discouraged dissection and anatomy, Indian physicians excelled in pharmacopoeia, cesarean section, bone setting, and skin grafting. Indeed Hindu medical advances were soon adopted in the Arab
and Western worlds. Ayurveda
was the main medical system.
According to historian's work,
The Pala Empire
was a Buddhist dynasty that ruled from the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent
. The name Pala (Modern
pal) means protector and was used as an ending to the names of all Pala monarchs. The Palas were followers of the Mahayana
and Tantric
schools of Buddhism. Gopala
was the first ruler from the dynasty. He came to power
in 750 in Gaur
by a democratic election
. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia
since the time of the Mahā Janapadas
. He reigned from 750-770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of Bengal
as well as parts of Bihar
. The Buddhist dynasty
lasted for four centuries (750-1120 AD).
The empire reached its peak under Dharmapala
and Devapala
. Dharmapala extended the empire into the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent
. This triggered once again the power struggle for the control of the subcontinent. Devapala
, successor of Dharmapala, expanded the empire to cover much of South Asia
and beyond. His empire stretched from Assam
and Utkala in the east, Kamboja (modern day Afghanistan
) in the north-west and Deccan in the south. According to Pala copperplate inscription Devapala exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Huna, and humbled the lords of Pratihara
s, Gurjara and the Dravidas.
The Palas created many temples and works of art as well as supported the Universities of Nalanda
and Vikramashila. Both Nalanda University and Vikramshila University reached their peak under the Palas. The universities received an influx of students from many parts of the world. The Pala Empire
eventually disintegrated in the 12th century under the attack of the Sena dynasty
. Pala Empire
was the last empire of middle kingdoms
whoes capital was Patliputra
(modern Patna
).
Bihar was largely in ruins when visited by Hsüan-tsang, the famous Buddhist monk from China, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders
in the 12th century. With the advent of the foreign aggression and eventual foreign subjugation of India, Bihar passed through very uncertain times during the medieval period. Muhammad of Ghor
attacked this region of the Indian subcontinent many times. Muhammad of Ghor
's armies destroyed many Buddhist structures, including the great Nalanda university.
The Buddhism of Magadha was finally swept away by the Islamic invasion under Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, one of Qutb-ud-Din
's generals destroyed monasteries fortified by the Sena
armies, during which many of the viharas and the famed universities of Nalanda
and Vikramshila
were destroyed, and thousands of Buddhist monks were massacred in 12th century.
During the medieval period, Bihar saw period of glory for about six years during the rule of Sher Shah Suri
, who hailed from Sasaram
. Sher Shah Suri
built the longest road of the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road
, which starts from Calcutta and ends at Peshawar
, Pakistan. The economic reforms carried out by Sher Shah, like the introduction of Rupee and Custom Duties, is still used in the Republic of India. He revived the city of Patna, where he built up his headquarter.
Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya
, the Hindu Emperor, also known as Hemu in the history of India
. The son of a food seller, and himself a vendor of saltpetre
at Rewari
, he rose to become Chief of Army and Prime Minister
under the command of Adil Shah Suri of the Suri Dynasty. He had won 22 battles against Afghans, from Punjab
to Bengal
and had defeated Akbar's forces twice at Agra
and Delhi
in 1556, before acceeding to the throne of Delhi
and establishing 'Hindu Raj' in North India
, albeit for a short duration, from Purana Quila in Delhi. He was killed in the Second Battle of Panipat
.
From 1557 to 1576, Akbar the Great
, the Mughal emperor, annexed Bihar and Bengal to his empire and the region passed through uneventful provincial rule during much of this period. With the decline of Mughals, Bihar passed under the control of Nawabs of Bengal
. This period saw exploitation at the hands of the rulers in the form of high taxes, but the Nawabs of Bengal also allowed trade to flourish in this region. Some of the greatest mela
s of the Indian subcontinent
, viz., Soenpur Mela which is the biggest cattle fair in India, were allowed to continue and even flourish inviting traders from far and near.
Guru Nanak Dev
had visited Patna, stayed at Bhagat
Jaitamal's house
near in Gaighat, Patna
in 1509 AD. and later by Guru Tegh Bahadur along with Patna his family in 1666.
The 10th and the last Guru of Sikhism
, Guru Gobind Singh
was born at Patna Sahib, Patna in 1666. Prince Azim-us-Shan, the grandson of Aurangzeb
came as the governor of Patliputra in 1703. Azim-us-Shan named Patliputra as Azimabad
, in 1704.
After the Battle of Buxar, 1764
, which was fought in Buxar
, hardly 115 km from Patna, the Mughals as well as the Nawabs of Bengal lost effective control over the territories then constituting the province of Bengal, which currently comprises the Indian states
of West Bengal
, Bihar, Jharkhand
, Orissa
, and Bangladesh
. The British East India Company
was accorded the diwani rights, that is, the right to administer the collection and management of revenues of the province of Bengal, and parts of Oudh, currently comprising a large part of Uttar Pradesh
. The diwani rights were legally granted by Shah Alam
, who was then the sovereign Mughal emperor of India
. During the rule of the British East India Company
in Bihar, Patna emerged as one of the most important commercial and trading centers of eastern India, preceded only by Kolkata
.
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. Babu Kunwar Singh
(1777–1858) one of the leaders of the Indian uprising of 1857 belonged to a royal Rajput
house of Jagdispur
, currently a part of Bhojpur district
of Bihar. At the age of 80 years, during India’s First War of Independence, he actively led a select band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the East India Company, and also recorded victories in many battles.
, Bihar particularly Patna gradually started to attain its lost glory and emerged as an important and strategic centre of learning and trade in India. From this point, Bihar remained a part the Bengal Presidency
of the British Raj until 1912, when the province of Bihar and Orissa was carved out as a separate province. When the Bengal Presidency was partitioned in 1912 to carve out a separate province, Patna was made the capital of the new province of Bihâr and Orissa
. The city limits were stretched westwards to accommodate the administrative base, and the township of Bankipore
took shape along the Bailey Road (originally spelt as Bayley Road, after the first Lt. Governor, Charles Stuart Bayley). This area was called the New Capital Area. The houses of the English residents, were all at the west-end at Bankipore. The greater part of the English residences were on the banks of the river, many of them being on the northern side of an open square, which formed the parade ground, and racecourse (present Gandhi maidan). There was also the Gola a wondrous bell-shaped building, one hundred feet high, with a winding outer staircase leading to the top, and a small entrance door at the base, which was intended for a granary, to be filled when there was the expectation of famine, but the plan was found to be, both politically and materially, impracticable.
To this day, locals call the old area as the City whereas the new area is called the New Capital Area. The Patna Secretariat with its imposing clock tower and the Patna High Court
are two imposing landmarks of this era of development. Credit for designing the massive and majestic buildings of colonial Patna goes to the architect, I. F. Munnings. By 1916-1917, most of the buildings were ready for occupation. These buildings reflect either Indo-Saracenic
influence (like Patna Museum
and the state Assembly), or overt Renaissance
influence like the Raj Bhawan and the High Court. Some buildings, like the General Post Office (GPO) and the Old Secretariat bear pseudo-Renaissance influence. Some say, the experience gained in building the new capital area of Patna proved very useful in building the imperial capital of New Delhi.
The British built several educational institutions in Patna like Patna College, Patna Science College, Bihar College of Engineering, Prince of Wales Medical College and the Patna Veterinary College. With government patronage, the Biharis quickly seized the opportunity to make these centres flourish quickly and attain renown. In 1935, certain portions of Bihar were reorganised into the separate province of Orissa. After the creation of Orissa as a separate province in 1935, Patna continued as the capital of Bihar province under the British Raj.
. Most notable are the Champaran movement against the Indigo plantation and the Quit India Movement
of 1942.
After his return from South Africa
, it was from Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi
launched his pioneering civil-disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha
. Raj Kumar Shukla
drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi to the exploitation of the peasants by European indigo
planters. Champaran Satyagraha received the spontaneous support from many Biharis, including Brajkishore Prasad
, Rajendra Prasad
(who became the first President of India
) and Anugrah Narayan Sinha
(who became the first Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister
of Bihar). 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 composed of Dr. Rajendra Prasad
, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha
, Brajkishore Prasad
and Ram Navami Prasad which he handpicked to 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 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
, Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha
, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha
and Brajkishore Prasad
.
Shaheed 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. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar
under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindar
i attacks on their occupancy rights. Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India
. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha
(AIKS) at the Lucknow
session of the Indian National Congress
in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
elected as its first President. This movement aimed at overthrowing the fedual zamindari system instituted by Britishers
. It was being led by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
and his followers Pandit Yamuna Karjee
, Rahul Sankrityayan
and others. Pandit Yamuna Karjee along with Rahul Sankrityayan 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.
Bihar's contribution in the freedom struggle has been immense with outstanding leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
, Shaheed Baikuntha Shukla
, Bihar Bibhuti Anugrah 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
, Upendra Narayan Jha "Azad" and Prafulla Chaki
were also active in revolutionary movement in Bihar. More than hundred of cases were registered in different jails of Bihar like Madhepura, Darbhanga, Saharsa etc. against the great son soil Late Shri Upendra Narayan Jha "Azad".
Towards the end of 1946, between October 30 and November 7, a large-scale massacre of Muslims in Bihar brought Partition
closer to inevitability. Begun as a reprisal for the Noakhali riot
, whose death toll had been greatly overstated in immediate reports, it was difficult for authorities to deal with because it was spread out over a large area of scattered villages, and the number of casualties was impossible to establish accurately: "According to a subsequent statement in the British Parliament
, the death-toll amounted to 5,000. The Statesman
s estimate was between 7,500 and 10,000; the Congress party
admitted to 2,000; Mr. Jinnah claimed about 30,000."
The first Cabinet
of Bihar
was formed on 02nd April 1946, consisting of two members, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha
as the first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha
as Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of Bihar (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation). Other ministers were inducted later. The Cabinet served as the first Bihar
Government after independence in 1947. In 1950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad
from Bihar
became the first President of India
.
was carved out of Bihar in the year 2000. 2005 Bihar assembly elections ended the 15 years of continuous RJD rule in the state, giving way to NDA
led by Nitish Kumar
. Bihari migrant workers have faced violence and prejudice in many parts of India, like Maharashtra
, Punjab
and Assam
.
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
is one of the most varied in India. Ancient Bihar, known as Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
, was the center of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. 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...
's first empire, the Maurya empire
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BC...
as well as one of the world's greatest pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
religion, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
arose from the region that now makes modern Bihar. Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta
Gupta
Gupta is a common surname of Indian origin.According to some academicians, the name Gupta is derived from Sanskrit goptri, meaning military governor. A more direct translation of the Sanskrit word gupta is 'secret' or 'hidden'. According to prominent historian R. C...
dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
under a central rule. Its capital Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
, earlier known as Pataliputra
History of Patna
Patna , the capital of Bihar state, India, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world and the History of Patna spans at least three millennia. Patna has the distinction of being associated with the two most ancient religions of the world, namely, Buddhism and Jainism, and has...
, was an important political, military, and economic center of Indian civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
during the ancient and classical periods of history. Many of the ancient Indian text, written outside of the religious epics, were written in ancient Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
. Abhijñānaśākuntala was the most prominent.
One of the first known republics in the world, Licchavi
Licchavi (clan)
The Licchavis were the most famous clan amongst the ruling confederate clans of the Vajji mahajanapada of ancient India. Vaishali, the capital of the Licchavis, was the capital of the Vajji mahajanapada also. It was later occupied by Ajatashatru, who annexed the Vajji territory into his...
, existed in the region since before the birth of Mahavira
Mahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
(c. 599 BC). The classical Gupta dynasty of Bihar, was known to have been a period of great culture and learning inside India. The Gupta period is known today as the Golden Age of India. The Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
also made their capital at Pataliputra. After, Bihar played a very small role in Indian affairs, until the emergence of the Suri dynasty during the Islamic period in the 1540s. After the fall of the Suri dynasty in 1556, Bihar again became a marginal player in India and was the staging post for the 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...
from the 1750s and up to the war of 1857–58. In 1935, Bihar was carved out as a separate provience in the British Indian Empire. Since 1947, Bihar has been a state in the Indian Union.
Prehistoric era
The earliest proof of human activity in Bihar is MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
habitational remains at Paisra, Munger
Munger
Munger town is the headquarters of Munger district, in the Indian state of Bihar. Historically, Munger is known for its manufacturing of iron articles such as firearms and swords. One of the major institutions in Munger is Bihar School of Yoga. It is one of the foremost learning center in the...
. Prehistoric rock paintings have been discoveredv in hills of Kaimur, Nawada
Nawada
Nawada is a city and a municipality. It is also the headquarters of Nawada district in the Indian state of Bihar.-Geography:Nawada is located at . It has an average elevation of 80 metres...
and Jamui
Jamui
Jamui is a city and a municipality in Jamui district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the district headquarters of Jamui district.-Geography:Jamui is located at...
. It was for the first time that a Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement was discovered in the thick of the alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
, over the bank of the Ganges at Chirand. The rock paintings depict prehistoric lifestyle and natural environment. The paintings display the sun, moon, stars, animals, plants, trees, rivers and is said to represent love towards nature. Also the paintings highlight daily life of the early humans in Bihar, like hunting, running, dancing, and walking. The rock paintings in Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
are not only identical to those which found in central and southern India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
but also are akin with those in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The rock paintings of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's Alta Mira and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
's Lascaux
Lascaux
Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be...
are almost identical to those found in Bihar.
The Magadha Kingdom
Magadha Kingdom
Magadha was a kingdom ruled by non-Vedic kings. Jarasandha was the greatest among them during epic times. His capital was Rajagriha or Rajgir a modern hill resort in Bihar. Jarasandha's continuous assault on the Yadava kingdom of Surasena resulted in their withdrawal from central India to western...
was established by semi-mythical king Jarasandha
Jarasandha
Jarasandha was a great and legendary king of Magadha. He was the son of a vedic king named Brihadratha. He was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. But he is generally held in negative light owing to his enmity with the Yadav clan in the Mahābhārata....
who was, as it stated in the Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
, a king of Brihadrathas dynasty
Legendary Kings of Magadha
The Magadha empire was established very likely by semi-mythical king Jarasandha who was, as it stated in the Puranas, a son of Brihadratha, one of the descendants of eponymical Puru. Jarasandha appears in the Mahabharatha as the "Magadhan Emperor who rules all India" and meets with an unceremonious...
, one of the descendants of eponymical Puru
Puru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
. Jarasandha appears in the Mahabharatha as the "Magadhan Emperor who rules all India" and meets with an unceremonious ending. Jarasandha was the greatest among them during epic times. His capital was Rajagriha or Rajgir
Rajgir
Rajgir is a city and a notified area in Nalanda district in the Indian state of Bihar. The city of Rajgir was the first capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire. Its date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1000 BC have...
is now a modern hill resort in Bihar. Jarasandha's continuous assault on the Yadava
Yadu
Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...
kingdom of Surasena
Surasena Kingdom
Surasena Kingdom was ruled by Yaduvanshi kings as per the epic Mahabharata. It is said to be named after the King Shoorsen. The capital city of this kingdom, Mathura was founded by Shatrughna, the brother of Sri Rama the ruler of Kosala in Treta Yuga. He conquered this region after defeating the...
resulted in their withdrawal from central India to western India. Jarasandha was a threat not only for Yadavas but also for Kurus. Pandava Bhima
Bhima
In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
killed him in a mace dual aided by the intelligence of Vasudeva Krishna. Thus, Yudhisthira
Yudhisthira
In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...
, the Pandava King, could complete his campaign of bring the whole of India in to his empire. Jarasandha had friendly relations with Chedi
Chedi Kingdom
Chedi kingdom was one among the many kingdoms ruled during early periods by Paurava kings and later by Yaduvanshi Rajput kings in the central and western India. It falls roughly in the Bundelkhand division of Madhya Pradesh regions to the south of river Yamuna and along river Betwa or Vetravati...
king Shishupala
Shishupala
Shishupala or Sisupala was son of Damaghosha, king of Chedi, by Srutadeva, sister of Vasudeva. Therefore he was not only cousin of Krishna, but also Krishna's implacable foe, because Krishna had carried off Rukmini, his intended wife...
, Kuru
Kuru Kingdom
Kuru was the name of an ancient kingdom in Vedic India, and later a republican Mahajanapada state. The kingdom was located in the area of modern Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh in India. They formed the first political center of the of the Vedic India, with its capital at Hastinapur. It...
king Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
and Anga
Anga Kingdom
Anga was a kingdom ruled by non-Vedic rulers. Anga king Lomapada was a friend of Kosala king Dasaratha. Kosala Princess Santha, elder to Raghava Rama, lived as the daughter of Lomapada, since he was childless. Duryodhana established Karna as the ruler of Angas. It is believed that there were many...
king Karna
Karna
Karna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...
. His descendants, according to the Vayu Purana
Vayu Purana
The Vayu Purana is a Shaiva Purana, a Hindu religious text, dedicated to the god Vayu , containing about 24,000 shlokas.-Date:Banabhatta refers to this work in his Kadambari and Harshacharita...
, ruled Magadha for 1000 years followed by the Pradyota dynasty
Pradyota dynasty
Pradyota dynasty is an ancient Indian dynasty, which ruled over Avanti in the present-day Madhya Pradesh state, though most of the Puranas say that this dynasty succeeded the Barhadratha dynasty in Magadha. According to the Vayu Purana, Pradyotas ruled Magadha for 138 years from 799-684 BC...
which ruled for 138 years. However, no sufficient evidence to prove the historicity of this claim. However, these rulers are mentioned in the Hindu texts, Buddhist texts and Jaina texts.
Pradyota dynasty
Pradyota dynasty
Pradyota dynasty is an ancient Indian dynasty, which ruled over Avanti in the present-day Madhya Pradesh state, though most of the Puranas say that this dynasty succeeded the Barhadratha dynasty in Magadha. According to the Vayu Purana, Pradyotas ruled Magadha for 138 years from 799-684 BC...
succeeded the Brihadrathas dynasty
Legendary Kings of Magadha
The Magadha empire was established very likely by semi-mythical king Jarasandha who was, as it stated in the Puranas, a son of Brihadratha, one of the descendants of eponymical Puru. Jarasandha appears in the Mahabharatha as the "Magadhan Emperor who rules all India" and meets with an unceremonious...
in Magadha. According to the Vayu Purana, Pradyotas ruled Magadha for 138 years from 799–684 BC. Palaka
Palaka
Palaka is a village in the Doufelgou Prefecture in the Kara Region of north-eastern Togo....
, the son of the Avanti king Pradyota, conquered Kaushambi, making the kingdom powerful.
The Mahajanapadas
In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states, dominated Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
. Many of these states have been mentioned during in Buddhist and Jaina
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
literature as far back as 1000 BCE. By 500 BCE, sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as the Mahajanapadas
Mahajanapadas
Mahājanapadas , literally "great realms", were ancient Indian kingdoms or countries...
—Kasi, Kosala
Kosala
Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present day Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE and its cultural and...
, Anga
Anga
Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
, Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
, Vajji
Vajji
Vajji or Vrijji was one of the principal Mahajanapadas of ancient India. Both the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text Bhagavati Sutra included Vajji in their lists of solasa Maha-Janapadas. The name of this Mahajanapada was derived from one of its ruling clans, the Vṛjis...
(or Vriji), Malla
Malla (India)
Malla was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of ancient India mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya. It was named after the ruling clan of the same name. The Mahabharata mentions the territory as the Mallarashtra . The Malla mahajanapada was situated north of Magadha. It was a small mahajanapada...
, Chedi
Chedi Kingdom
Chedi kingdom was one among the many kingdoms ruled during early periods by Paurava kings and later by Yaduvanshi Rajput kings in the central and western India. It falls roughly in the Bundelkhand division of Madhya Pradesh regions to the south of river Yamuna and along river Betwa or Vetravati...
, Vatsa
Vatsa
Vatsa was one of the solasa Mahajanapadas of Uttarapatha of ancient India mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya....
(or Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala
Panchala
Panchala is an ancient region of northern India, which corresponds to the geographical area around the Ganges River and Yamuna River, the upper Gangetic plain in particular. This would encompass the modern-day states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient times, it was home to a...
, Machcha (or Matsya), Surasena
Surasena
Surasena was an ancient Indian region corresponding to the present-day Braj region in Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya, Surasena was one of the solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE The ancient Greek writers refer the region as Sourasenoi and mention its capital...
, Assaka
Assaka
Assaka , was one of ancient Indian regions . It is one of the solasa mahajanapadas in the 6th century BCE, mentioned in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya....
, Avanti
Avanti (India)
Avanti was an ancient Indian janapada , roughly corresponded to the present day Malwa region. According to the Buddhist text, the Anguttara Nikaya, Avanti was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of the 6th century BCE...
, Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
, Kamboja—stretched across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharastra. Anga
Anga
Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
and Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
is the modern North Bihar and South Bihar respestively. Many of the sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BCE, that is by the time of Siddhartha Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Magadha.
In 537 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama attained the state of "enlightenment
Enlightenment (spiritual)
Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
" in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. Around the same time, Mahavira
Mahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
who was born in a place called Kundalagrama in the ancient kingdom of Lachuar in Jamui District
Jamui District
Jamui is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. The district was formed as a District on 21 February 1991 as a result of its separation from Munger district. It is located at a longitude of 86º-13'E and the latitude is 24º-55'N....
in modern day Bihar. He was the 24th Jain Tirthankara, propagated a similar theology, that was to later become Jainism. However, Jain orthodoxy believes it predates all known time. The Vedas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
are believed to have documented a few Jain Tirthankaras and an ascetic order similar to the sramana movement. The Buddha's teachings and Jainism had doctrines inclined toward asceticism, and were preached in Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
, which helped them gain acceptance amongst the masses. They have profoundly influenced practices that Hinduism and Indian spiritual orders are associated with namely, vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, prohibition of animal slaughter and ahimsa
Ahimsa
Ahimsa is a term meaning to do no harm . The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims – to strike; himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence. It is an important tenet of the Indian religions...
(non-violence).
While the geographic impact of Jainism was limited to India, Buddhist nuns and monks eventually spread the teachings of Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
to Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and South East Asia. Nalanda University and Vikramshila University one of the oldest residential universities were established in Bihar during this period.
According to both Buddhist texts and Jain texts, one of Pradyota tradition was that king's son would kill his father to become the successor. During this time, it is reported that there was high crimes in Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
. The people rose up and elected Shishunaga
Shishunaga
Shishunaga was the founder of the Shishunaga dynasty of the Magadha Empire in the present day northern India. Initially, he was an amatya of the Magadha empire under the Haryanka dynasty. He was placed on the throne by the people who revolted against the Haryanka dynasty rule...
to become the new king, who destroyed the power of the Pradyotas and created the Shishunaga dynasty
Shishunaga dynasty
The Shishunaga dynasty was the third ruling dynasty of Magadha, a kingdom in ancient India. But according to the Puranas, this dynasty is the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, which succeeded the Barhadratha dynasty....
.
The Magadha Empire
ShishunagaShishunaga
Shishunaga was the founder of the Shishunaga dynasty of the Magadha Empire in the present day northern India. Initially, he was an amatya of the Magadha empire under the Haryanka dynasty. He was placed on the throne by the people who revolted against the Haryanka dynasty rule...
(also called King Sisunaka) was the founder of a dynasty collectively called the Shishunaga dynasty
Shishunaga dynasty
The Shishunaga dynasty was the third ruling dynasty of Magadha, a kingdom in ancient India. But according to the Puranas, this dynasty is the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, which succeeded the Barhadratha dynasty....
. He established the Magadha empire (in 684 BC). Due in part to this bloody dynastic feuding, it is thought that a civil revolt led to the emergence of the Shishunaga dynasty. This empire, with its original capital in Rajgriha
Rajgir
Rajgir is a city and a notified area in Nalanda district in the Indian state of Bihar. The city of Rajgir was the first capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire. Its date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1000 BC have...
, later shifted to Pataliputra (both currently in the Indian state of Bihar). The Shishunaga dynasty was one of the largest empires of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
The Hariyanka dynasty king Bimbisara
Bimbisara
Bimbisara was a King, and later, Emperor of the Magadha empire from 543 BC to his death and belonged to the Hariyanka dynasty.-Career:There are many accounts of Bimbisara in the Jain texts and the Buddhist Jatakas, since he was a contemporary of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. He was the king of...
was responsible for expanding the boundaries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. The land of Kosala
Kosala
Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present day Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE and its cultural and...
fell to Magadha in this way. Estimates place the territory ruled by this early dynasty at 300 leagues in diameter, and encompassing 80,000 small settlements. Bimbisara
Bimbisara
Bimbisara was a King, and later, Emperor of the Magadha empire from 543 BC to his death and belonged to the Hariyanka dynasty.-Career:There are many accounts of Bimbisara in the Jain texts and the Buddhist Jatakas, since he was a contemporary of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. He was the king of...
is contemporary with the Buddha, and is recorded as a lay disciple. Bimbisara
Bimbisara
Bimbisara was a King, and later, Emperor of the Magadha empire from 543 BC to his death and belonged to the Hariyanka dynasty.-Career:There are many accounts of Bimbisara in the Jain texts and the Buddhist Jatakas, since he was a contemporary of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. He was the king of...
(543–493 BCE) was imprisoned and killed his own son who became his successor, Ajatashatru
Ajatashatru
Ajatasatru was a king of the Magadha empire in north India. He was the son of King Bimbisara, the Great Monarch of Magadha. He was contemporary to Mahavira and Buddha. He took over the kingdom of Magadha from his father forcefully by imprisoning him...
(491–461 BCE), under whose rule, the dynasty reached its largest extent.
Licchavi
Licchavi (clan)
The Licchavis were the most famous clan amongst the ruling confederate clans of the Vajji mahajanapada of ancient India. Vaishali, the capital of the Licchavis, was the capital of the Vajji mahajanapada also. It was later occupied by Ajatashatru, who annexed the Vajji territory into his...
was an ancient republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
which existed in what is now Bihar state of India, since before the birth of Mahavira
Mahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
(b. 599 BC), Vaishali
Vaishali (ancient city)
Vaiśālī was the capital city of the Licchavi, one of world's first republics, in the Vajjian Confederacy mahajanapada, around the 6th century BC. It was here in 599 BCE the 24th Jain Tirthankara, Bhagwan Mahavira was born and brought up in Kundalagrama in Vaiśālī republic, which make pious &...
was the capital of the Licchavis and the Vajjian Confederacy
Vajji
Vajji or Vrijji was one of the principal Mahajanapadas of ancient India. Both the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text Bhagavati Sutra included Vajji in their lists of solasa Maha-Janapadas. The name of this Mahajanapada was derived from one of its ruling clans, the Vṛjis...
. Its courtesan, Ambapali
Ambapali
Amrapāli, also known as "Ambapālika" or "Ambapali", was a nagarvadhu of the republic of Vaishali in ancient India around 500 BC.. Following the Buddha's teachings she became an arahant...
, was famous for her beauty, and helped in large measure in making the city prosperous. Ajatashatru
Ajatashatru
Ajatasatru was a king of the Magadha empire in north India. He was the son of King Bimbisara, the Great Monarch of Magadha. He was contemporary to Mahavira and Buddha. He took over the kingdom of Magadha from his father forcefully by imprisoning him...
went to war with the Licchavi
Licchavi (clan)
The Licchavis were the most famous clan amongst the ruling confederate clans of the Vajji mahajanapada of ancient India. Vaishali, the capital of the Licchavis, was the capital of the Vajji mahajanapada also. It was later occupied by Ajatashatru, who annexed the Vajji territory into his...
several time. Ajatashatru is thought to have ruled from 551 to 519 BC and moved his capital of the Magadha kingdom from Rajagrihato Patliputra
Patliputra
Pāṭaliputra , modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Ajatashatru in 490 BC as a small fort near the River Ganges, and later the capital of the ancient Mahājanapadas kingdom of Magadha....
. The Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
tells that Udayabhadra eventually succeeded his father, Ajatashatru, and that under him Patliputra became the largest city in the world. He is thought to have ruled for sixteen years. The kingdom had a particularly bloody succession. Anuruddha
Anuruddha
Anuruddha was one of the five head disciples and a cousin of Gautama Buddha.-Early years:Anuruddha was the son of Sukkhodana and brother to Mahanama. Since Sukkhodana was the brother of Suddhodana, king of the Sakyas in Kapilavastu, Anuruddha was cousin to Siddhartha, . He was a kshatriya by...
eventually succeeded Udaybhadra through assassination, and his son Munda
Munda
Munda may refer to:* Munda, an early Hoysala chieftain from Malnad Karnataka* Munda, a village situated near Bilyamin in Lower Kurram Agency, FATA Pakistan....
succeeded him in the same fashion, as did his son Nagadasaka
Nāgadāsaka
Nāgadāsaka was king of Magadha from 437 to 413 BC and son of Munda. He slew his father and ruled for twenty four years. The people deposed him and made Susunāga king in his place....
.
Nanda Dynasty
The Nanda Empire originated from the region of Magadha in Ancient India during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Bengal in the east, to Punjab in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range...
. This period saw the development of two of India's major religions that started from Magadha. Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
in the 6th or 5th century BC was the founder of Buddhism, which later spread to East Asia and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, while Mahavira
Mahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
revived and propagated the ancient sramanic religion of Jainism.
Nanda dynasty
Nanda Dynasty
The Nanda Empire originated from the region of Magadha in Ancient India during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Bengal in the east, to Punjab in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range...
was established by an illegitimate son of the king Mahanandin
Mahanandin
Mahanandin was a king of the Shishunaga dynasty. The dynasty ruled parts of ancient India around the city of Patliputra...
of the previous Shishunaga dynasty
Shishunaga dynasty
The Shishunaga dynasty was the third ruling dynasty of Magadha, a kingdom in ancient India. But according to the Puranas, this dynasty is the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, which succeeded the Barhadratha dynasty....
. The Nanda dynasty
Nanda Dynasty
The Nanda Empire originated from the region of Magadha in Ancient India during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Bengal in the east, to Punjab in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range...
ruled Magadha during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Burma in the east, Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
in the west and probably as far south to Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
. Mahapadma Nanda
Mahapadma Nanda
Mahapadma Nanda was the first king of the Nanda dynasty. He was the son of Mahanandin, a Kshatriya father from the Shishunaga dynasty, with a shudra wife. Sons of Mahanandin from his Kshatriya wives opposed the rise of Mahapadma Nanda, on which he eliminated all of them to claim the throne...
of Nanda dynasty, has been described as the destroyer of all the Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s. He defeated the Ikshvaku dynasty
Ikshvaku dynasty
The Ikshvaku dynasty, in Puranic literature, was a mythical dynasty founded by Ikshvaku, grandson of Vivasvan or Surya and son of Vaivasvata Manu. This dynasty is also known as . The important personalities belonging to this royal house are Harishchandra, Dilīpa, Sagara, Raghu, Rama and Prasenajit...
, Panchala
Panchala
Panchala is an ancient region of northern India, which corresponds to the geographical area around the Ganges River and Yamuna River, the upper Gangetic plain in particular. This would encompass the modern-day states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient times, it was home to a...
s, Kasis, Haihayas
Haihayas
The Haihayas were an ancient confederacy of five ganas , who claimed their common ancestry from Yadu. According to the Harivamsha Purana...
, Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
s, Asmakas
Asmaka Kingdom
Asmaka was a kingdom among the 16 Mahajanapadas mentioned in the Buddhist texts. All other kingdoms were in the north, from Vanga to Gandhara. Some believes that Asmaka was a colony of the Kambojas, and its earlier name was Aswaka...
, Kurus, Maithilas, Surasena
Surasena
Surasena was an ancient Indian region corresponding to the present-day Braj region in Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya, Surasena was one of the solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE The ancient Greek writers refer the region as Sourasenoi and mention its capital...
s, Vitihotras, etc. He expanded his territory till south of Deccan. Mahapadma Nanda
Mahapadma Nanda
Mahapadma Nanda was the first king of the Nanda dynasty. He was the son of Mahanandin, a Kshatriya father from the Shishunaga dynasty, with a shudra wife. Sons of Mahanandin from his Kshatriya wives opposed the rise of Mahapadma Nanda, on which he eliminated all of them to claim the throne...
died at the age of 88 and, therefore, he ruled the bulk of the period of this dynasty, which lasted 100 years.
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
with help of Chanakya
Chanakya
Chānakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta , and the first Indian emperor generally considered to be the architect of his rise to power. Traditionally, Chanakya is also identified by the names Kautilya and VishnuGupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise...
founded the Maurya dynasty after overthrowing the reigning Nanda king Dhana Nanda to establish the Maurya Empire
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BC...
. The Maurya Empire (322–185 BC), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was geographically extensive, powerful, and a political military empire in ancient India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
. During this time, most of the subcontinent was united under a single government for the first time. The exceptions were present day Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
(which was a Tamil kingdom
Ancient Tamil country
The Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
then). The empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (near modern Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
). The Mauryan empire under Chandragupta Maurya would not only conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, defeating and conquering the satrap
Satrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
s left by Alexander the Great but also push its boundaries into Persia and Central Asia, conquering the Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
region. Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I
Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucus I was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire...
, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
's minister Kautilya Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra
Arthashastra
The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with The Arthashastra (IAST: Arthaśāstra) is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and...
, one of the greatest treatises on economics, politics, foreign affairs, administration, military arts, war, and religion ever produced in history of the world
History of the world
The history of the world or human history is the history of humanity from the earliest times to the present, in all places on Earth, beginning with the Paleolithic Era. It excludes non-human natural history and geological history, except insofar as the natural world substantially affects human lives...
.
Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by his son Bindusara
Bindusara
Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor after Chandragupta Maurya. During his reign, the empire expanded southwards. He had two well-known sons, Susima and Ashoka, who were the viceroys of Taxila and Ujjain...
, who expanded the kingdom over most of present day India, barring the extreme south and east. At its greatest extent, the Empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, annexing Balochistan
Balochistan (region)
Balochistan or Baluchistan is an arid, mountainous region in the Iranian plateau in Southwest Asia; it includes part of southeastern Iran, western Pakistan, and southwestern Afghanistan. The area is named after the numerous Baloch tribes, Iranian peoples who moved into the area from the west...
and much of what is now Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara
Bindusara
Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor after Chandragupta Maurya. During his reign, the empire expanded southwards. He had two well-known sons, Susima and Ashoka, who were the viceroys of Taxila and Ujjain...
, but it excluded a small portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga
Kalinga (India)
Kalinga was an early state in central-eastern India, which comprised most of the modern state of Orissa/Utkal , as well as the Andhra region of the bordering state of Andhra Pradesh. It was a rich and fertile land that extended from the river Damodar/Ganges to Godavari and from Bay of Bengal to...
.
The Maurya Empire was inherited by his son Ashoka The Great, has been described as one of the greatest rulers the world has seen. Ashoka initially sought to expand his kingdom but In the aftermath of the carnage caused in the invasion of Kalinga
Kalinga War
The Kalinga War was a war fought between the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka the Great and the state of Kalinga, a feudal republic located on the coast of the present-day Indian state of Orissa. The Kalinga war is one of the major battles in the History of India. Kalinga put up a stiff resistance,...
, he renounced bloodshed and pursued a policy of non-violence or ahimsa
Ahimsa
Ahimsa is a term meaning to do no harm . The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims – to strike; himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence. It is an important tenet of the Indian religions...
after converting to Buddhism. Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire, and led the empire through more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony and prosperity. Ashoka the Great's response to the Kalinga War
Kalinga War
The Kalinga War was a war fought between the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka the Great and the state of Kalinga, a feudal republic located on the coast of the present-day Indian state of Orissa. The Kalinga war is one of the major battles in the History of India. Kalinga put up a stiff resistance,...
is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka
Edicts of Ashoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 269 BCE to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh, India,...
, one of the oldest preserved historical documents of Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
The Mauryan Empire under Ashoka was responsible for the proliferation of Buddhist ideals across the whole of East Asia and Southeast Asia, fundamentally altering the history and development of Asia
History of Asia
The history of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions such as, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe....
as a whole. Under Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
, India was a prosperous and stable empire of great economic and military power whose political influence and trade extended across Asia and Europe. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka, on the other hand, embraced of Buddhism. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Mediterranean Europe. The Lion Capital of Asoka
Lion Capital of Asoka
The Lion capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four "Indian lions" standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the Aśoka pillar at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India by Emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. The pillar, sometimes called the Aśoka Column is still in its original...
at Sarnath
Sarnath
Sarnath or Sārnātha is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India...
, is the emblem of India
Emblem of India
The emblem of India is an adaptation of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.- History :Emperor Ashoka the Great erected the capital atop an Ashoka Pillar to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded...
. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware
Northern Black Polished Ware
The Northern Black Polished Ware culture of South Asia is an Iron Age culture, succeeding the Painted Grey Ware culture...
(NBPW). The Arthashastra, the Edicts of Ashoka and Ashokavadana
Ashokavadana
The Ashokavadana is a 2nd century CE text related to the legend of the Maurya Emperor Ashoka the Great...
are primary sources of written records of the Mauryan times.
Armed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
, Pusyamitra Sunga
Pusyamitra Sunga
Pusyamitra Sunga was the founder and first King of the Sunga Dynasty in Northern India.Pusyamitra Sunga was originally a Senapati of the Mauryan empire. In 185 BCE he assassinated the last Mauryan Emperor during an army review, and proclaimed himself King...
, while he was taking the Guard of Honour of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga
Pusyamitra Sunga
Pusyamitra Sunga was the founder and first King of the Sunga Dynasty in Northern India.Pusyamitra Sunga was originally a Senapati of the Mauryan empire. In 185 BCE he assassinated the last Mauryan Emperor during an army review, and proclaimed himself King...
then ascended the throne. Pusyamitra Sunga was a Yadava
Yadu
Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...
who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty. Buddhist records such as the Asokavadana write that the assassination of Brihadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of persecution for Buddhists, and a resurgence of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
. According to John Marshall
John Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
, Pusyamitra Sunga may have been the main author of the persecutions, although later Sunga kings seem to have been more supportive of Buddhism. Other historians, such as Etienne Lamotte
Étienne Lamotte
Étienne Paul Marie Lamotte was a Belgian priest and Professor of Greek at the Catholic University of Louvain, but was better known as an Indologist and the greatest authority on Buddhism in the West in his time...
and Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar is an Indian historian whose principal area of study is ancient India.-Work:After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London in 1958...
, partially support this view.
Middle Kingdoms
Maharaja Sri-Gupta
Sri Gupta was a pre-imperial Gupta king in northern India and start of the Gupta dynasty. A portion of northern or central Bengal might have been the home of Guptas at that time, but however not much evidence is available....
' who built a temple for Chinese pilgrims near Mrigasikhavana. Ghatotkacha
Ghatotkacha (Gupta Ruler)
Ghatotkacha was a pre-imperial Gupta king in northern India, the son of Maharaja Sri-Gupta, who started the Gupta dynasty. His reign is considered insignificant and he is best known as the father of Chandragupta I, the first Gupta emperor....
(c. 280–319) AD, had a son named Chandra Gupta I (Not to be confused with Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
(340–293 BC), founder of the Mauryan Empire). In a breakthrough deal, Chandra Gupta I was married to a woman from Lichchhavi—the main power in Magadha.
Samudragupta
Samudragupta
Samudragupta , ruler of the Gupta Empire , and successor to Chandragupta I, is considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses in Indian history according to Historian V. A. Smith. His name is taken to be a title acquired by his conquests...
succeeded Chandra Gupta I in 335, and ruled for about 45 years, till his death in 380. He attacked the kingdoms of Shichchhatra, Padmavati
Alamelu
Alamelu also known as Alamelmanga and Padmavati , is a Hindu devi. Believed to be a form of Lakshmi, the Hindu devi of wealth and good fortune, Alamelu is the consort of Sri Venkateshwara...
, Malwas, the Yaudheyas, the Arjunayanas
Arjunayanas
Arjunayana, Arjunavana, Arjunavayana or Arjunayanaka is the name of an ancient republican people located somewhere in Punjab or north-eastern Rajasthan. They emerged as a political power during the Sunga period . In the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta Arjunayana, Arjunavana,...
, the Maduras and the Abhiras, and merged them in his kingdom. By his death in 380, he had incorporated over twenty kingdoms into his realm, his rule extended from the Himalayas to the river Narmada
Narmada River
The Narmada , also called Rewa is a river in central India and the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third largest river that completely flows within India after Ganges and Godavari...
and from the Brahmaputra
Brahmaputra River
The Brahmaputra , also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia. It is the only Indian river that is attributed the masculine gender and thus referred to as a in Indo-Aryan languages and languages with Indo-Aryan influence...
to the Yamuna. He gave himself the titles King of Kings and World Monarch. He is considered the Napoleon of India. Chandra Gupta I performed Ashwamedha Yajna to underline the importance of his conquest.
Chandra Gupta II, the Sun of Power (Vikramaditya
Vikramaditya
Vikramaditya was a legendary emperor of Ujjain, India, famed for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity. The title "Vikramaditya" was later assumed by many other kings in Indian history, notably the Gupta King Chandragupta II and Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya .The name King Vikramaditya is a...
), ruled from 380 till 413. Only marginally less successful than his father, Chandra Gupta II expanded his realm westwards, defeating the Saka
Saka
The Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....
Western Kshatrapas
Western Kshatrapas
The Western Satraps, Western Kshatrapas, or Kshaharatas were Saka rulers of the western and central part of India...
of Malwa, Gujarat and Saurashtra in a campaign lasting until 409. Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta I
Kumara Gupta I
Kumaragupta I ' was a ruler of the Gupta Empire in 415–455 CE. Like his father and predecessor, Chandragupta II, Kumaragupta was an able ruler. He retained, intact, the vast empire, which extended from Bengal to Kathiawar and from the Himalayas to the Narmada. He ruled efficiently for nearly forty...
. Known as the Mahendraditya, he ruled until 455. Towards the end of his reign a tribe in the Narmada valley, the Pushyamitras, rose in power to threaten the empire.
Skandagupta
Skandagupta
Skandagupta was a Gupta Emperor of northern India. He is generally considered the last of the great Gupta Emperors.-Rule:Skandagupta's antecedents remain unclear. Later official genealogies omit his name, and even the inscriptions of his own age omit the name of his mother...
is generally considered the last of the great rulers. He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading Hephthalite
Hephthalite
The Hephthalites or Hephthalite is a pre-Islamic Greek term for local Abdali Afghans, who's famous ruler was Nazak Abdali . Hephthalites were a Central Asian nomadic confederation of the AD 5th-6th centuries whose precise origins and composition remain obscure...
s or Huna, from the northwest. He repulsed a Huna attack c. 477. Skandagupta
Skandagupta
Skandagupta was a Gupta Emperor of northern India. He is generally considered the last of the great Gupta Emperors.-Rule:Skandagupta's antecedents remain unclear. Later official genealogies omit his name, and even the inscriptions of his own age omit the name of his mother...
died in 487 and was succeeded by his son Narasimhagupta
Narasimhagupta
Narasimhagupta Baladitya was a Gupta dynasty ruler of northern India. He was son of Purugupta and probably the successor of Budhagupta. Baladitya along with Yashovarman of Kannauj is credited with driving the Hunas or White Huns from the plains of Northern India. His clay sealing has been found in...
Baladitya.
The Gupta Empire was one of the largest political and military empires in ancient India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
. The Gupta period is referred to as the Classical age of India by most historians. The time of the Gupta Empire was an "Indian Golden Age" in Indian science, technology
Science and technology in ancient India
The history of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent begins with prehistoric human activity at Mehrgarh, in present-day Pakistan, and continues through the Indus Valley Civilization to early states and empires. The British colonial rule introduced some elements of western education in...
, engineering, art
Indian art
Indian Art is the visual art produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium BC to modern times. To viewers schooled in the Western tradition, Indian art may seem overly ornate and sensuous; appreciation of its refinement comes only gradually, as a rule. Voluptuous feeling is...
, dialectic
Languages of India
The languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages...
, literature
Indian literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognized languages....
, logic
Indian logic
The development of Indian logic dates back to the anviksiki of Medhatithi Gautama the Sanskrit grammar rules of Pāṇini ; the Vaisheshika school's analysis of atomism ; the analysis of inference by Gotama , founder of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy; and the tetralemma of Nagarjuna...
, mathematics
Indian mathematics
Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BCE until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics , important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II. The decimal number system in use today was first...
, astronomy, religion and philosophy
Indian philosophy
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...
.
The Gupta Empire had their capital at Pataliputra. The difference between Gupta Empire's and Mauryan Empire's administration was that the in the Mauryan administration power was centralised but in the Gupta administration power was more decentralised. The empire was divided into province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
s and the provinces were further divided into district
District
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
s. Village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s were the smallest units. The kingdom covered Gujarat, North-East India
North-East India
Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...
, south-eastern Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, northern Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
and eastern India with capital at Patliputra
Patliputra
Pāṭaliputra , modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Ajatashatru in 490 BC as a small fort near the River Ganges, and later the capital of the ancient Mahājanapadas kingdom of Magadha....
, modern Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
. All forms of worship were carried out in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
.
Rapid strides were made in astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
during this period. Aryabhata
Aryabhata
Aryabhata was the first in the line of great mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy...
and Varahamihira
Varahamihira
Varāhamihira , also called Varaha or Mihira, was an Indian astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer who lived in Ujjain...
were two great astronomers and mathematicians. Aryabhata stated that the earth moved round the sun and rotated on its own axis. Aryabhata
Aryabhata
Aryabhata was the first in the line of great mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy...
, who is believed to be the first to come up with the concept of zero, postulated the theory that the Earth moves round the Sun
Heliocentrism
Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a stationary Sun at the center of the universe. The word comes from the Greek . Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center...
, and studied solar and lunar eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...
s. Aryabhata's most famous work was Aryabhatiya. Varahamihira
Varahamihira
Varāhamihira , also called Varaha or Mihira, was an Indian astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer who lived in Ujjain...
's most important contributions are the encyclopedic Brihat-Samhita and Pancha-Siddhantika . Metallurgy also made rapid strides. The proof can be seen in the Iron Pillar of Vaishali
Vaishali (ancient city)
Vaiśālī was the capital city of the Licchavi, one of world's first republics, in the Vajjian Confederacy mahajanapada, around the 6th century BC. It was here in 599 BCE the 24th Jain Tirthankara, Bhagwan Mahavira was born and brought up in Kundalagrama in Vaiśālī republic, which make pious &...
and near Mehrauli
Mehrauli
Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in the South West district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is located close to Gurgaon.-History:...
on the outskirts of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
which was brought from Bihar.
This period is also very rich in Sanskrit literature
Sanskrit literature
Literature in Sanskrit begins with the Vedas, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India; the golden age of Classical Sanskrit literature dates to late Antiquity . Literary production saw a late bloom in the 11th century before declining after 1100 AD...
. The material sources of this age were Kalidasa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
's works. Raghuvamsa
Raghuvamsa
Raghuwamsa or Raghu race is a legendary lineage of warrior kings tracing its ancestry to the Hindu solar deity Surya. Kalidasa's famous work, Raghuvaṃśa depicts the legend of this race. The progenitor of the lineage was Raghu, son of the emperor Dileepa. Raghu was father of Aja, and thus...
, Malavikagnimitram
Malavikagnimitram
Mālavikāgnimitram is a Sanskrit play by Kālidāsa. It is his first play.The play tells the story of the love of King Agnimitra, the Shunga king of Vidisha , for the beautiful hand-maiden of his chief queen. He falls in love with the picture of an exiled servant girl named Mālavikā...
, Meghadūta, Abhijñānaśākuntala and Kumārasambhava, Mrichchakatika by Shudraka, Panchatantra
Panchatantra
The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma...
by Vishnu Sharma, Kama Sutra
Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses...
(the principles of pleasure) and 13 plays by Bhasa
Bhasa
Bhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit. However, very little is known about him.Kālidāsa in the introduction to his first play Malavikagnimitram writes -...
were also written in this period.
In medicine, the Guptas were notable for their establishment and patronage of free hospitals. Although progress in physiology and biology was hindered by religious injunctions against contact with dead bodies, which discouraged dissection and anatomy, Indian physicians excelled in pharmacopoeia, cesarean section, bone setting, and skin grafting. Indeed Hindu medical advances were soon adopted in the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
and Western worlds. Ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
was the main medical system.
According to historian's work,
The Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
was a Buddhist dynasty that ruled from the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. The name Pala (Modern
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
pal) means protector and was used as an ending to the names of all Pala monarchs. The Palas were followers of the Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
and Tantric
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
schools of Buddhism. Gopala
Gopala (Pala king)
Gopala was the founder of the Pala Dynasty of Bengal. The last morpheme of his name pala means "protector" and was used as an ending for the names of all the Pala monarchs...
was the first ruler from the dynasty. He came to power
Power (sociology)
Power is a measurement of an entity's ability to control its environment, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to...
in 750 in Gaur
Gaur, West Bengal
Gour, or Gaur , as it is spelt mostly in modern times, or Lakhnauti is a ruined city, in the Malda district of West Bengal, India, on the west bank of the Ganges river, 40 kilometers downstream from Rajmahal.-History:...
by a democratic election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
since the time of the Mahā Janapadas
Mahajanapadas
Mahājanapadas , literally "great realms", were ancient Indian kingdoms or countries...
. He reigned from 750-770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
as well as parts of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
. The Buddhist dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
lasted for four centuries (750-1120 AD).
The empire reached its peak under Dharmapala
Dharmapala of Bengal
Dharama Pala was the second ruler of the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the son and succeessor of Gopala , the founder of the Pala Dynasty. He greatly expanded the boundaries of the Pala Empire founded by his father and made the Palas the most dominant power in...
and Devapala
Devapala
Deva Pala , was a powerful emperor from the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the third king in the line and had succeeded his father, emperor Dharamapala...
. Dharmapala extended the empire into the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. This triggered once again the power struggle for the control of the subcontinent. Devapala
Devapala
Deva Pala , was a powerful emperor from the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the third king in the line and had succeeded his father, emperor Dharamapala...
, successor of Dharmapala, expanded the empire to cover much of South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and beyond. His empire stretched from Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
and Utkala in the east, Kamboja (modern day Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
) in the north-west and Deccan in the south. According to Pala copperplate inscription Devapala exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Huna, and humbled the lords of Pratihara
Pratihara
The Gurjara Pratihara , often simply called Pratihara Empire, was an imperial Indian dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the 6th to the 11th centuries. At its peak of prosperity and power , the Gurajara-Pratihara Empire rivaled or even exceeded the Gupta Empire in the extent of its...
s, Gurjara and the Dravidas.
The Palas created many temples and works of art as well as supported the Universities of Nalanda
Nalanda
Nālandā is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India.The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from the fifth or sixth century CE to 1197 CE. It has been called "one of the...
and Vikramashila. Both Nalanda University and Vikramshila University reached their peak under the Palas. The universities received an influx of students from many parts of the world. The Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
eventually disintegrated in the 12th century under the attack of the Sena dynasty
Sena dynasty
The Sena Empire was a Hindu dynasty that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. At its peak the empire covered much of the north-eastern region in the Indian Subcontinent. They were called Brahma-Kshatriyas, as evidenced through their surname, which is derived from the Sanskrit,...
. Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
was the last empire of middle kingdoms
Middle kingdoms of India
Middle kingdoms of India refers to the political entities in India from the 3rd century BC after the decline of the Maurya Empire, and the corresponding rise of the Satavahana dynasty, beginning with Simuka, from 230 BC...
whoes capital was Patliputra
Patliputra
Pāṭaliputra , modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Ajatashatru in 490 BC as a small fort near the River Ganges, and later the capital of the ancient Mahājanapadas kingdom of Magadha....
(modern Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
).
Medieval Period
Bihar was largely in ruins when visited by Hsüan-tsang, the famous Buddhist monk from China, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders
Mughal (tribe)
The term Mughal is simply a Turkic word and many groups in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh use the term Mughal to describe themselves...
in the 12th century. With the advent of the foreign aggression and eventual foreign subjugation of India, Bihar passed through very uncertain times during the medieval period. Muhammad of Ghor
Muhammad of Ghor
Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori , originally called Mu'izzuddīn Muḥammad Bin Sām , was a ruler of the Ghurid dynasty who reigned over a territory spanning present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.Shahabuddin Ghori reconquered the city of Ghazna Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori...
attacked this region of the Indian subcontinent many times. Muhammad of Ghor
Muhammad of Ghor
Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori , originally called Mu'izzuddīn Muḥammad Bin Sām , was a ruler of the Ghurid dynasty who reigned over a territory spanning present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.Shahabuddin Ghori reconquered the city of Ghazna Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori...
's armies destroyed many Buddhist structures, including the great Nalanda university.
The Buddhism of Magadha was finally swept away by the Islamic invasion under Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, one of Qutb-ud-Din
Qutb-ud-din Aybak
Qutb-ud-din Aibak was a Turkic king of Northwest India who ruled from his capital in Delhi where he built the Qutub Minar and the Quwwat Al Islam mosque. He was of Turkic descent from central Asia, the first Sultan of Delhi and founder of the Slave dynasty of India. He ruled for only four years,...
's generals destroyed monasteries fortified by the Sena
Sena dynasty
The Sena Empire was a Hindu dynasty that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. At its peak the empire covered much of the north-eastern region in the Indian Subcontinent. They were called Brahma-Kshatriyas, as evidenced through their surname, which is derived from the Sanskrit,...
armies, during which many of the viharas and the famed universities of Nalanda
Nalanda
Nālandā is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India.The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from the fifth or sixth century CE to 1197 CE. It has been called "one of the...
and Vikramshila
Vikramshila
University was one of the two most important centers of Buddhist learning in India during the Pala dynasty, along with University. was established by King Dharmapala in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nālandā...
were destroyed, and thousands of Buddhist monks were massacred in 12th century.
During the medieval period, Bihar saw period of glory for about six years during the rule of Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri , birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan , was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire...
, who hailed from Sasaram
Sasaram
Sasaram , sometimes also spelled as Sahasram, is the administrative headquarters of the Rohtas district in the Indian state of Bihar.It is one of the oldest cities in India, and is famous for production of stone chips and for the local quarrying industry...
. Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri , birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan , was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire...
built the longest road of the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road
Grand 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...
, which starts from Calcutta and ends at Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, Pakistan. The economic reforms carried out by Sher Shah, like the introduction of Rupee and Custom Duties, is still used in the Republic of India. He revived the city of Patna, where he built up his headquarter.
Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya
Hemu
Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, Hemu Vikramaditya or simply Hemu was a Hindu Emperor of India during the sixteenth century, in medieval times...
, the Hindu Emperor, also known as Hemu in the history of India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
. The son of a food seller, and himself a vendor of saltpetre
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
at Rewari
Rewari
Rewari is a city and a municipal council in Rewari district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located in south-west Haryana around from Delhi and from Gurgaon.- Etymology :...
, he rose to become Chief of Army and Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
under the command of Adil Shah Suri of the Suri Dynasty. He had won 22 battles against Afghans, from Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
to Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and had defeated Akbar's forces twice at Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
and Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
in 1556, before acceeding to the throne of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and establishing 'Hindu Raj' in North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
, albeit for a short duration, from Purana Quila in Delhi. He was killed in the Second Battle of Panipat
Second battle of Panipat
The Second Battle of Panipat was fought between the forces of Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, popularly called Hemu, the Hindu king who was ruling North India from Delhi, and the army of Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Akbar, on November 5, 1556...
.
From 1557 to 1576, Akbar the Great
Akbar the Great
Akbar , also known as Shahanshah Akbar-e-Azam or Akbar the Great , was the third Mughal Emperor. He was of Timurid descent; the son of Emperor Humayun, and the grandson of the Mughal Emperor Zaheeruddin Muhammad Babur, the ruler who founded the Mughal dynasty in India...
, the Mughal emperor, annexed Bihar and Bengal to his empire and the region passed through uneventful provincial rule during much of this period. With the decline of Mughals, Bihar passed under the control of Nawabs of Bengal
Nawab of Bengal
The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars of the subah of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.-History:...
. This period saw exploitation at the hands of the rulers in the form of high taxes, but the Nawabs of Bengal also allowed trade to flourish in this region. Some of the greatest mela
Mela
Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering' or 'to meet' or a Fair. It is used in the Indian subcontinent for all sizes of gathering and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sports. In rural traditions melas or village fairs were of great importance...
s of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, viz., Soenpur Mela which is the biggest cattle fair in India, were allowed to continue and even flourish inviting traders from far and near.
Guru Nanak Dev
Guru Nanak Dev
Guru Nanak was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.-Early life:Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now...
had visited Patna, stayed at Bhagat
Bhagat
For the Sindhi performance art see Sindhi bhagatIn Sikhism, the Sikh Bhagats were holy men of various sects whose teachings are included in the Sikh holy book the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The word "Bhagat" means devotee, and comes from the Sanskrit word Bhakti, which means devotion and love...
Jaitamal's house
Gurdwara Ghai Ghat
Gurdwara Pahila Bara, commonly known as Gurdwara Ghai Ghat, is dedicated to Guru Nanak Dev, who during his visit in to Patna stayed here. This was Bhagat Jaitamal's house. Jaitamal was a pious man, confectioner by trade, who became the Guru's follower and later converted his house into a...
near in Gaighat, Patna
Gurdwara Ghai Ghat
Gurdwara Pahila Bara, commonly known as Gurdwara Ghai Ghat, is dedicated to Guru Nanak Dev, who during his visit in to Patna stayed here. This was Bhagat Jaitamal's house. Jaitamal was a pious man, confectioner by trade, who became the Guru's follower and later converted his house into a...
in 1509 AD. and later by Guru Tegh Bahadur along with Patna his family in 1666.
The 10th and the last Guru of Sikhism
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
, Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...
was born at Patna Sahib, Patna in 1666. Prince Azim-us-Shan, the grandson of Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
came as the governor of Patliputra in 1703. Azim-us-Shan named Patliputra as Azimabad
Azimabad
Azimabad was an old name of Modern-day Patna., India. Patliputra was sacked by foreign attackers like Bakhtiyar Khilji and other Muslim raiders . This event is arguably seen by modern historians/ scholars as a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India...
, in 1704.
The Company rule
Battle of Buxar
The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor...
, which was fought in Buxar
Buxar
Buxar district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. The district headquarters are located at Buxar.-Mythology:This place was also known as "Siddhashram", "Vedgarbhapuri", "Karush", "Tapovan", "Chaitrath", "VyaghraSar", "Buxar" in ancient history. The History of Buxar dates...
, hardly 115 km from Patna, the Mughals as well as the Nawabs of Bengal lost effective control over the territories then constituting the province of Bengal, which currently comprises the Indian states
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 West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, Bihar, 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...
, Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. The British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
was accorded the diwani rights, that is, the right to administer the collection and management of revenues of the province of Bengal, and parts of Oudh, currently comprising a large part of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. The diwani rights were legally granted by Shah Alam
Shah Alam
Shah Alam is the state capital of Selangor, Malaysia situated within the Petaling District and a small portion of the neighboring Klang District. It is located about west of the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Shah Alam replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of the state of Selangor in 1978...
, who was then the sovereign Mughal emperor of 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...
. During the rule of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
in Bihar, Patna emerged as one of the most important commercial and trading centers of eastern India, preceded only by Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
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
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
(1857), also called the Sepoy Mutiny
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
by some historians. Babu Kunwar Singh
Babu Kunwar Singh
Veer Kunwar Singh , one of the leaders of the Indian rising of 1857 belonged to a royal Kshatriya house of Jagdispur, currently a part of Bhojpur district, Bihar state, India...
(1777–1858) one of the leaders of the Indian uprising of 1857 belonged to a royal Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
house of Jagdispur
Jagdispur
Jagdispur is a sub division of the district Bhojpur of the state of Bihar state in eastern India. Having a golden historical background, this great historical place is related to the Babu Veer Kunwar Singh, the great freedom fighter of 1857...
, currently a part of Bhojpur district
Bhojpur district, Bihar
Bhojpur district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state in eastern India. Arrah town is the administrative headquarters of this district.-History:...
of Bihar. At the age of 80 years, during India’s First War of Independence, he actively led a select band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the East India Company, and also recorded victories in many battles.
The British Raj
Under the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, Bihar particularly Patna gradually started to attain its lost glory and emerged as an important and strategic centre of learning and trade in India. From this point, Bihar remained a part the 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...
of the British Raj until 1912, when the province of Bihar and Orissa was carved out as a separate province. When the Bengal Presidency was partitioned in 1912 to carve out a separate province, Patna was made the capital of the new province of Bihâr and Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
. The city limits were stretched westwards to accommodate the administrative base, and the township of Bankipore
Bankipore
Bankipur is a residential area in Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is located on the bank of the river Ganges. The prime attraction is the Golghar granary that was built by Captain John Garstir in 1786...
took shape along the Bailey Road (originally spelt as Bayley Road, after the first Lt. Governor, Charles Stuart Bayley). This area was called the New Capital Area. The houses of the English residents, were all at the west-end at Bankipore. The greater part of the English residences were on the banks of the river, many of them being on the northern side of an open square, which formed the parade ground, and racecourse (present Gandhi maidan). There was also the Gola a wondrous bell-shaped building, one hundred feet high, with a winding outer staircase leading to the top, and a small entrance door at the base, which was intended for a granary, to be filled when there was the expectation of famine, but the plan was found to be, both politically and materially, impracticable.
To this day, locals call the old area as the City whereas the new area is called the New Capital Area. The Patna Secretariat with its imposing clock tower and the Patna High Court
Patna High Court
Patna High Court is the High Court of the state of Bihar. It was established on 3 February 1916 and later affiliated under the Government of India Act, 1915. The court is headquartered in Patna, the administrative capital of the state.-History of Court:...
are two imposing landmarks of this era of development. Credit for designing the massive and majestic buildings of colonial Patna goes to the architect, I. F. Munnings. By 1916-1917, most of the buildings were ready for occupation. These buildings reflect either Indo-Saracenic
Indo-Saracenic
The Indo-Saracenic Revival was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India...
influence (like Patna Museum
Patna Museum
Patna Museum is the state museum of the Indian state of Bihar. Built in 1917 during the British Raj to house the historical artefacts found in the vicinity of Patna, it is in the style of Mughal and Rajput architecture and is known locally as the Jadu Ghar.Items on display in the multipurpose...
and the state Assembly), or overt Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
influence like the Raj Bhawan and the High Court. Some buildings, like the General Post Office (GPO) and the Old Secretariat bear pseudo-Renaissance influence. Some say, the experience gained in building the new capital area of Patna proved very useful in building the imperial capital of New Delhi.
The British built several educational institutions in Patna like Patna College, Patna Science College, Bihar College of Engineering, Prince of Wales Medical College and the Patna Veterinary College. With government patronage, the Biharis quickly seized the opportunity to make these centres flourish quickly and attain renown. In 1935, certain portions of Bihar were reorganised into the separate province of Orissa. After the creation of Orissa as a separate province in 1935, Patna continued as the capital of Bihar province under the British Raj.
Independence movement
Bihar played a major role in the Indian independence struggleIndian 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...
. Most notable are the Champaran movement against the Indigo plantation and 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.
After his return from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, it was from Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
launched his pioneering civil-disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha
Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha
The first Satyagraha revolutions inspired by Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian Independence Movement occurred in Kheda district of Gujarat and the Champaran district of Bihar between the years of 1918 and 1919...
. Raj Kumar Shukla
Raj Kumar Shukla
Raj Kumar Shukla was an indigo cultivator of Champaran , who met Gandhiji to make him aware of the plight of the cultivators in Champaran and persuaded him to come there...
drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi to the exploitation of the peasants by European indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
planters. Champaran Satyagraha received the spontaneous support from many Biharis, including Brajkishore Prasad
Brajkishore Prasad
Brajkishore Prasad was born in 1877 in a prominent kayastha family in Shrinagar to Ramjivan Lal a zamindar now in Siwan district in Bihar. He had his early education in Chapra and Patna before moving to Presidency College in Calcutta where he completed his legal training. In between he was married...
, 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...
(who became the first President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
) and Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
(who became the first Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister
Finance minister
The finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...
of Bihar). 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
Motihari
Motihari is the headquarters of East Champaran district in the Indian state of Bihar.-History:In 1866 Champaran was made into a district with Motihari as its headquarters. On 1 December 1977 the Champaran district was divided into two districts, and Motihari became the headquarters of East...
, the district headquarters, Gandhiji along with his team of eminent lawyers composed of 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...
, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
, Brajkishore Prasad
Brajkishore Prasad
Brajkishore Prasad was born in 1877 in a prominent kayastha family in Shrinagar to Ramjivan Lal a zamindar now in Siwan district in Bihar. He had his early education in Chapra and Patna before moving to Presidency College in Calcutta where he completed his legal training. In between he was married...
and Ram Navami Prasad which he handpicked to participate in the satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
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
Raj Kumar Shukla
Raj Kumar Shukla was an indigo cultivator of Champaran , who met Gandhiji to make him aware of the plight of the cultivators in Champaran and persuaded him to come there...
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
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
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
Motihari
Motihari is the headquarters of East Champaran district in the Indian state of Bihar.-History:In 1866 Champaran was made into a district with Motihari as its headquarters. On 1 December 1977 the Champaran district was divided into two districts, and Motihari became the headquarters of East...
accompanied by Raj Kumar Shukla
Raj Kumar Shukla
Raj Kumar Shukla was an indigo cultivator of Champaran , who met Gandhiji to make him aware of the plight of the cultivators in Champaran and persuaded him to come there...
. 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 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
Dinabandhu Mitra
Dinabandhu Mitra the Bengali dramatist, was born in 1830 at village Chouberia in Gopalnagar P.S., 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachand Mitra. His given name was Gandharva Narayan, but he changed it to Dinabandhu Mitra.-Early life:Dinabandhu Mitra's education started at a village pathshala...
in Nil Darpan
Nil Darpan
Nil Durpan is a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858-1859...
, a play that was translated by Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Michael Madhusudan Dutta was a popular 19th century Bengali poet and dramatist. He was born in Sagardari , on the bank of Kopotaksho [কপোতাক্ষ] River, a village in Keshobpur Upozila, Jessore District, East Bengal . His father was Rajnarayan Dutt, an eminent lawyer, and...
. This movement by Mahatma Gandhi received the spontaneous support of a cross section of people, 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...
, Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha
Sri Krishna Sinha
Sri Krishna Sinha , known as Bihar Kesari, was the first Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar . Along with the nationalists Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sinha is regarded among the Architects of Modern Bihar...
, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
and Brajkishore Prasad
Brajkishore Prasad
Brajkishore Prasad was born in 1877 in a prominent kayastha family in Shrinagar to Ramjivan Lal a zamindar now in Siwan district in Bihar. He had his early education in Chapra and Patna before moving to Presidency College in Calcutta where he completed his legal training. In between he was married...
.
Shaheed Baikuntha Shukla
Baikuntha Shukla
Baikunth Shukla was an Indian nationalist and revolutionary. He was the nephew of Yogendra Shukla, one of the founders of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association ....
, 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
Sukhdev
Sukhdev Thapar was born in Ludhiana, Punjab. He was an Indian freedom fighter who lived from 15 May 1907 to March 23, 1931) who was involved with Shaheed Bhagat Singh andShivaram Rajguru in the killing of a British police officer J.P...
and Rajguru. Phanindra Nath Ghosh hitherto a key member of the Revolutionary Party
Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party
The Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party was a political party in the Indian state of Manipur. The party launched 23 candidates in the state assembly elections in 2002, out of whom two were elected. In total, the party received 51,916 votes. Post-elections, the party joined the Secular...
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. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the 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...
i attacks on their occupancy rights. Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of 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...
. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha
All India Kisan Sabha
All India Kisan Sabha , was the name of the peasants front of the undivided Communist Party of India , an important peasant movement formed by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati in 1936, and which later split into two organizations, by the same name.-History:...
(AIKS) at the Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
session of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
elected as its first President. This movement aimed at overthrowing the fedual zamindari system instituted by Britishers
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It was being led by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
and his followers Pandit Yamuna Karjee
Pandit Yamuna Karjee
Yamuna Karjee was an Indian independence activist.-Early life and education:Yamuna Karjee was born in a small village name Deopar near Pusa in Darbhanga District of Bihar in 1898 in a Bhumihar Brahmin family. His father Anu Karjee was a farmer who died when Yamuna Karjee was just 6 months old...
, Rahul Sankrityayan
Rahul Sankrityayan
Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan , who is called the Father of Hindi Travel literature, was one of the most widely-traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home. He became a buddhist monk and eventually took up Marxist Socialism...
and others. Pandit Yamuna Karjee along with Rahul Sankrityayan and other Hindi literaries started publishing a Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
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.
Bihar's contribution in the freedom struggle has been immense with outstanding leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
, Shaheed Baikuntha Shukla
Baikuntha Shukla
Baikunth Shukla was an Indian nationalist and revolutionary. He was the nephew of Yogendra Shukla, one of the founders of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association ....
, Bihar Bibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
, Mulana Mazharul Haque
Mulana Mazharul Haque
Mulana Mazharul Haque was born to a rich landlord, Sheikh Ahmedullah, in Bihar in December 1866. An only son, he had two sisters Ghafrunisha and Kaneez Fatma....
, Loknayak 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...
, Satyendra Narayan Sinha
Satyendra Narayan Sinha
Satyendra Narayan Sinha was an Indian statesman, participant in the Indian independence movement, and a former Chief Minister of Bihar...
(Singh), Basawon Singh (Sinha)
Basawon Singh (Sinha)
Basawon Singh has been among the greatest nationalists who joined into the freedom struggle at a tender age of 13 and kept on his struggle for the independence of the country from the colonial yoke and fighting for the rights of the underprivileged, industrial labours and agricultural workers all...
, Yogendra Shukla
Yogendra Shukla
Yogendra Shukla was an Indian nationalist born in Bihar. He served in the Cellular Jail , and he was among the founders of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association...
, Sheel Bhadra Yajee
Sheel Bhadra Yajee
' was a freedom fighter from Bihar who was associated with the non-violent and the violent form of freedom struggle.Yajee's participation in the freedom movement began in 1928 when, as a student, he attended the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. He joined the Congress Socialist...
, Pandit Yamuna Karjee
Pandit Yamuna Karjee
Yamuna Karjee was an Indian independence activist.-Early life and education:Yamuna Karjee was born in a small village name Deopar near Pusa in Darbhanga District of Bihar in 1898 in a Bhumihar Brahmin family. His father Anu Karjee was a farmer who died when Yamuna Karjee was just 6 months old...
and many others who worked for 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...
's freedom relentlessly and helped in the upliftment of the underprivileged masses. Khudiram Bose
Khudiram Bose
Khudiram Bose was a Bengali revolutionary, one of the youngest revolutionaries early in the Indian independence movement...
, Upendra Narayan Jha "Azad" and Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki was a Bengali revolutionary associated with the Jugantar group of revolutionaries who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.- Early life :...
were also active in revolutionary movement in Bihar. More than hundred of cases were registered in different jails of Bihar like Madhepura, Darbhanga, Saharsa etc. against the great son soil Late Shri Upendra Narayan Jha "Azad".
Towards the end of 1946, between October 30 and November 7, a large-scale massacre of Muslims in Bihar brought Partition
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
closer to inevitability. Begun as a reprisal for the Noakhali riot
Noakhali riot
Noakhali genocide also known as the Noakhali Carnage was a series of massacres, rapes, abductions and forced conversions of Hindus and loot and arson of Hindu properties, perpetrated by the Muslim community in the districts of NoakhaliThe then undivided district of Noakhali consisted of the...
, whose death toll had been greatly overstated in immediate reports, it was difficult for authorities to deal with because it was spread out over a large area of scattered villages, and the number of casualties was impossible to establish accurately: "According to a subsequent statement in the British Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, the death-toll amounted to 5,000. The Statesman
The Statesman
The Statesman is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper founded in 1875 and published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. The Statesman is owned by The Statesman Ltd., its headquarters at Statesman House, Chowringhee Square, Calcutta and its national...
s estimate was between 7,500 and 10,000; the Congress party
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
admitted to 2,000; Mr. Jinnah claimed about 30,000."
The first Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
was formed on 02nd April 1946, consisting of two members, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha
Sri Krishna Sinha
Sri Krishna Sinha , known as Bihar Kesari, was the first Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar . Along with the nationalists Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sinha is regarded among the Architects of Modern Bihar...
as the first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
as Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of Bihar (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation). Other ministers were inducted later. The Cabinet served as the first Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
Government after independence in 1947. In 1950, 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...
from Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
became the first President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
.
Modern
The 1974 smallpox epidemic of India occurred primarily in Bihar and a few other Indian states, killing thousands of people. The state of JharkhandJharkhand
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...
was carved out of Bihar in the year 2000. 2005 Bihar assembly elections ended the 15 years of continuous RJD rule in the state, giving way to NDA
National Democratic Alliance (India)
The National Democratic Alliance is a centre-right coalition of political parties in India. At the time of its formation in 1998, it was led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and had thirteen constituent parties. Its convenor is Sharad Yadav, and its honorary chairman is former prime minister Atal...
led by Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumār is an Indian politician currently serving as Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India. He leads the Janata Dal party...
. Bihari migrant workers have faced violence and prejudice in many parts of India, like Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
and Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
.
Timeline for Bihar
- 560–480 BCE: AngaAngaAnga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
, BuddhaBuddhahoodIn Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened... - 490 BCE: Establishment of Patliputra (Modern Patna)
- Before 325 BCE: AngaAngaAnga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
, Nanda clan in MagadhaMagadhaMagadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
, LicchaviLicchavi (clan)The Licchavis were the most famous clan amongst the ruling confederate clans of the Vajji mahajanapada of ancient India. Vaishali, the capital of the Licchavis, was the capital of the Vajji mahajanapada also. It was later occupied by Ajatashatru, who annexed the Vajji territory into his...
s in Vaishali - Before 500 BCE: Foundation of world's first republicRepublicA republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
in VaishaliVaishali (ancient city)Vaiśālī was the capital city of the Licchavi, one of world's first republics, in the Vajjian Confederacy mahajanapada, around the 6th century BC. It was here in 599 BCE the 24th Jain Tirthankara, Bhagwan Mahavira was born and brought up in Kundalagrama in Vaiśālī republic, which make pious &...
. - 450–362 BCE: Emperor Mahapadma NandaMahapadma NandaMahapadma Nanda was the first king of the Nanda dynasty. He was the son of Mahanandin, a Kshatriya father from the Shishunaga dynasty, with a shudra wife. Sons of Mahanandin from his Kshatriya wives opposed the rise of Mahapadma Nanda, on which he eliminated all of them to claim the throne...
is ruler of the Magadh Empire, Nanda DynastyNanda DynastyThe Nanda Empire originated from the region of Magadha in Ancient India during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Bengal in the east, to Punjab in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range...
; Start of the Golden Age of Bihar - 304 BCE: Ashok Maurya born in Patliputra
- 325–185 BCE: Magadh Empire under the Maurya Dynasty
- 340 BCE: General Chandragupta Maurya crowned Emperor of Magadh; Chandragupta is the first Mauryan emperor
- 273 BCE: Ashok Maurya crowned new Emperor of Magadh, Bihari-Magadhi Buddhism is exported to Persian Empire, Greece, China and East Asia
- 273–232: Conquest of 'Indian' region by Ashok the Great (Modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern India, and Gujarat) falls under Magadh territories and taxation system.
- 232 BCE: Death of Emperor Ashok Maurya
- 250 BCE: 3rd Buddhist Council
- 185 BCE–80 CE: The Magadh Empire falls under the Sunga Dynasty after the military coup by General Pusyamitra Shunga.
- 71–26 BC: Magadh Empire falls under the Kanva Dynasty
- 240–600: Magadh Empire falls under the Gupta Dynasty. First ruler is Chandra Gupta
- 375–415: Emperor Chandragupta II
- 500: Attack by Huns weakens the Imperial center in Patliputra. Provinces break away. End of the Bihari Golden Age
- 600–650: Harsha VardhanaHarshaHarsha or Harsha Vardhana or Harshvardhan was an Indian emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 AD. He was the son of Prabhakara Vardhana and younger brother of Rajya Vardhana, a king of Thanesar, Haryana...
empire expands in to Magadh from the Haryana region - 750–1200: The Bengali Pala DynastyDynastyA dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
Expands in to Magadh - 1200: Bakhtiyar Khilji's army destroys the Buddhist universities at NalandaNalandaNālandā is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India.The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from the fifth or sixth century CE to 1197 CE. It has been called "one of the...
and VikramshilaVikramshilaUniversity was one of the two most important centers of Buddhist learning in India during the Pala dynasty, along with University. was established by King Dharmapala in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nālandā...
in Bihar. Start of the Muslim Era. - 1200–1400: Sharp decline of BuddhismBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in Bihar and northern India in general - 1250–1526: Magadh becomes a core part of the Delhi SultanateDelhi SultanateThe Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
e Hind (Hindustan). - 1526–1540: Mughal Emperor, BaburBaburBabur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
, defeats the last Sultan of Delhi, Lodi, and establishes the MughalMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
Dynasty in Delhi and Agra - 1540–1555: New empire from Bihar (Magadh), with Shenshah SherShah Suri (from Sasaram, modern south Bihar). SherShah captures empire from Mughals. (SherShah built the Grand Trunk Road, introduced the Rupee and Custom Duties)
- 1556: Mughal dynasty restored in Agra after the Battle of Panipat, centre of power moves back to Delhi-Agra region
- 1556–1764: Bihar is a wealthy, core territory/ province of the MughalMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
Sultanate-e-Hind (Hindustan) - 1666: Guru Gobind SinghGuru Gobind SinghGuru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...
The 10th and last Sikh Guru, is born in Patna - 1757–1857: The British East India CompanyBritish East India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
expands it rule in to Bihar from Bengal - 1764: Battle of BuxarBattle of BuxarThe Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor...
, Core lands of Mughal Hindustan are put firmly under British Company government. Tax collection rights are now a duty of the Company. - 1764–1920: Migration of Bihari & United Provinces (Eastern Uttar Pradesh) workers across the British Empire by the Company and later Crown Government. Bihari migrant population dominate and settle in GuyanaGuyanaGuyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Surinam, TrinidadTrinidadTrinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
-TobagoTobagoTobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
, FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, MauritiusMauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, and NatalColony of NatalThe Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
-South Africa. Smaller settler colonies also established in Jamaica and West Indies in general. - 1857: Period of the north Indian Rebellion of 1857Indian Rebellion of 1857The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
Bihari, Purvanchli, & Western UP East India Company Sepoys (80% Hindu according to William Daryample in the book "The Last Mughal") declare Bahadur Shah Zafar II Emperor of Hindustan. The region becomes the centre of resistance to the East India Company. End of the Muslim Era. - 1858: MughalMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
Sultanate-e-Hind reorganised to form the new British Indian Empire after the British Government abolishes the East India Company. Start of the British Age - 1877: House of WindsorHouse of WindsorThe House of Windsor is the royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom...
is made the new Imperial Royal Family. Queen Victoria declared the first Emperess of the British Indian Empire - 1912: Province of Bihar and OrissaBihar and OrissaBihar and Orissa was a province of British India which included the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Orissa. The territories were conquered by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were part of the Bengal Presidency, the largest British province in India. Bihar and...
separated from BengalBengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous... - 1913: Start of the dramatic slowdown in wealth creation in India and Bihar
- 1916: Patna High Court founded
- 1917: Mahatama Gandhi arrives in Champaran with a team of eminent lawyers, comprising of Brajkishore PrasadBrajkishore PrasadBrajkishore Prasad was born in 1877 in a prominent kayastha family in Shrinagar to Ramjivan Lal a zamindar now in Siwan district in Bihar. He had his early education in Chapra and Patna before moving to Presidency College in Calcutta where he completed his legal training. In between he was married...
, Rajendra PrasadRajendra PrasadDr. 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...
, Anugrah Narayan SinhaAnugrah Narayan SinhaDr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
and others. The Champaran Satyagraha movement is launched. Establishment of Patna University. - 1925: Patna Medical College Hospital established under the name "Prince of Wales Medical Collage"
- 1935: 1935 Government of India Act federates the Indian Empire and creates a new Bihar. End of the British Age.
- 1936: Sir James David Sifton appointed the first Governor of Bihar.
- 1937: Formation of first Congress government in Bihar under provincial autonomy granted by British rule, Dr. Sri Krishna SinhaSri Krishna SinhaSri Krishna Sinha , known as Bihar Kesari, was the first Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar . Along with the nationalists Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sinha is regarded among the Architects of Modern Bihar...
sworn in as Chief Minister and Dr. Anugrah Narayan SinhaAnugrah Narayan SinhaDr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
became Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister. - 1942: Quit India Movement.
- 1946: First Cabinet of Bihar formed, consisting of two members: Dr. Sri Krishna SinhaSri Krishna SinhaSri Krishna Sinha , known as Bihar Kesari, was the first Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar . Along with the nationalists Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sinha is regarded among the Architects of Modern Bihar...
as first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan SinhaAnugrah Narayan SinhaDr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...
as Bihar's first Deputy Chief Minister cum FinanceMinister(also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation).Other ministers were inducted later. - 1947: Indian Independence; Bihar becomes a state in the new Dominion of IndiaDominion of IndiaThe Dominion of India, also known as the Union of India or the Indian Union , was a predecessor to modern-day India and an independent state that existed between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950...
. Religious violence leads to the migration of millions of Bihari Muslims to the new Pakistani states of SindhSindhSindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
and East PakistanEast PakistanEast Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
(East Pakistan known as BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
since 1971). - 1947–1950: The Dominion of India is replaced by a republic in 1950. Central Government adopts symbols of ancient Imperial Bihar (Ashok Chakra added to the Indian flag, the Lion Pillor is made the symbol of the central government of India, all state governments, reserve bank, and the military, whilst the Bihari Rupee is retained as the currency)
- 1950: Enactment of Land Reforms bill in Bihar, and abolishment of Zamindari system.
- 1952:Many development projects needed for the all round development of the state initiated, be it on irrigation front or on industrial front by the state government. It included several river valley projects right from Koshi, Aghaur and Sakri to several other such river projects.
- 1952-57:Bihar rated as the best administered among the states in the country.
- 1955 The Birla Institute of Technology(BIT) is established at Mesra, Ranchi.
- 1957-62:Second five year plan period, Bihar government brought several heavy industries like Barauni Oil Refinery, HEC plant at Hatia, Bokaro Steel Plant, Barauni Fertiliser Plant, Barauni Thermal Power Plant, Maithon Hydel Power Station, Sulphur mines at Amjhaur, Sindri Fertiliser Plant, Kargali Coal Washery, Barauni Dairy Project, etc. for the all round development of the state.
- 1963–1967: Sri Krishna Ballabh SahayK. B. SahayKrishna Ballabh Sahay was a freedom fighter, who after independence became the Revenue minister of Bihar and then went on to become the Chief Minister of unified Bihar.- Early Life :...
became Chief Minister of Bihar by defeating his contestant Mahesh Prasad Sinha with support of Satyendra Narain Sinha.In his term of government, the state underwent furthur massive industrialization.
- 1973: Indian wealth creation beings to recover; surge in all India GDP starts again.
- 1975–1977: Suspension of the Republican Constitution. Bihar is the centre of resistance against the Emergency. Janata PartyJanata PartyThe Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the state of emergency imposed by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Indian National Congress...
Came to power at Centre and in BiharBiharBihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
; Karpoori Thakur became CM after winning chief minister-ship battle from the then Janata PartyJanata PartyThe Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the state of emergency imposed by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Indian National Congress...
President Satyendra Narayan Sinha. - 1984: Indira GandhiIndira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
Assassination leads to deadly anti-Sikh Riots in northern India, including Bihar - 1988-1990: Unceremonious removal of Bihar CM Bhagwat Jha Azad, Veteran Leader Satyendra Narayan Singh sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad YadavLalu Prasad YadavLalu Prasad Yadav is an Indian politician from Bihar. He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance government, and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party...
became Leader Of Opposition. - 1990–2005: Lalu Prasad/ Rabri Devi term of Government (RJD Party). Period marks the complete collapse of the Bihar economy, massive rise in crime, and the development of mass migration to other states in Indian Union of all classes/ castes and religions.
- 1992: Bihar ecsapes sever rioting after the destruction of Babri Masjid.
- 2000: Bihar divided into two states by NDA central government - The northern part retains the name "Bihar", whilst southern (and more industralised region) becomes the State of JharkhandJharkhandJharkhand 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...
. - 2002–2004: Deadly crime wave grips Patna and Bihar
- 2003: First Bihari-Bhojpuri Immigrant Worker Crisis; Bihari migrants attacked in Mumbai, and hundreds killed and tens of thousands flee Assam
- 2005: In Feb, Lalu Prasad/ Rabri Devi lose power after 15 years, Presidents rule declared after no party wins overall majority in lower house
- 2005: In November, Janta Dal (United) with the BJP wins the state election with a working majority. Nitish Kumar becomes the first NDA Chief Minister of Bihar.
- 2005–2007: Nitish Kumar is declared the best Chief Minister in India by the India Today magazine
- 2007: First Global Meet for a "Resurgent Bihar" was organised in Patna.President APJ Abdul Kalam inaugurated the meet.Bhojpuri cinema hall complex bombed in Punjab. 6 UP and Bihari migrant workers killed.
- 2008: Second Bihari-Bhojpuri Immigrant Worker Crisis: Migrants killed in racially motivated hate attacks in Maharashtra, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland. Hundreads of thousands flee back to Bihar and UP's Purvanchal territory. Bihar economy makes remarkable recovery in Q1 2008, resulting in labour shortages in Punjab, Maharashtra.
See also
- History of IndiaHistory of IndiaThe history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
- History of BengalHistory of BengalThe history of Bengal includes modern day Bangladesh and West Bengal, dates back four millennia. To some extent, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers separated it from the mainland of India, though at times, Bengal has played an important role in the history of India.- Etymology :The exact origin...
- History of Tamil NaduHistory of Tamil NaduThe region of Tamil Nadu in modern India has been under continuous human habitation since prehistoric times, and the history of Tamil Nadu and the civilization of the Tamil people are among the oldest in the world. Throughout its history, spanning the early Paleolithic age to modern times, this...
- Political history of medieval KarnatakaPolitical history of medieval KarnatakaThe political history of medieval Karnataka spans the 4th to the 16th centuries, when the empires that evolved in the Karnataka region of India made a lasting impact on the subcontinent. Before this, alien empires held sway over the region, and the nucleus of power was outside modern Karnataka...
Further reading
- Swami Sahajanand SaraswatiSwami Sahajanand SaraswatiSwami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
Rachnawali (Selected works of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati) in Six volumes published by Prakashan Sansthan, DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, 2003. - Swami Sahajanand and the Peasants of Jharkhand: A View from 1941 translated and edited by Walter HauserWalter HauserWalter Hauser was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902...
along with the unedited HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
original (Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005). - Sahajanand on Agricultural Labour and the Rural Poor translated and edited by Walter HauserWalter HauserWalter Hauser was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902...
(Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005). - Religion, Politics, and the Peasants: A Memoir of India's Freedom Movement translated and edited by Walter HauserWalter HauserWalter Hauser was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902...
(Manohar Publishers, hardbound, 2003). - Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) SharmaPandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) SharmaPandit Yadunandan Sharma was an Indian peasant leader and national liberation figure from the Indian state of Bihar. He had started a movement for the rights of tillers against the zamindars and Britishers at Reora celebrated as the Reora Satyagraha.-Biography:Pandit Yadunandan Sharma was born in...
, 1947, Bakasht Mahamari Aur Uska Achook Ilaaz (Bakasht Epidemic and its Infalliable Remedy) in Hindi, Allahabad. - Indradeep SinhaIndradeep SinhaIndradeep Sinha was a freedom fighter and veteran communist leader. He was born in a Bhumihar Brahmin family at Shakara village in Siwan District of Bihar, India, in July 1914. He had an academic career and secured a gold medal in post-graduation in Economics from Patna University in 1938. He...
, 1969, Sathi ke Kisanon ka Aitihasic Sangharsha (Historic Struggle of Sathi Peasants), in Hindi, Patna. - Das Arvind N., The republic of Bihar, Penguin Books, 1992,
- Mishra Shree Govind, History Of Bihar 1740-1772, Munshiram ManoharlalMunshiram ManoharlalMunshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. is a leading Indian publishing house located in New Delhi, India. Established in 1952 by Manohar Lal Jain, it is one of the oldest and most well-reputed publishing houses in India...
, 1970 - Verma B S, Socio-religious Economic And Literary Condition Of Bihar (From ca. 319 A.D. to 1000 A.D.), Munshiram Manoharlal, 1962
- Naipaul V S, India: A Wounded Civilization, Picador, 1977
- Trevithick Alan, The Revival Of Buddhist Pilgrimage At Bodh Gaya (1811–1949): Anagarika Dharmapala And The Mahabodhi Temple
- Omalley L S S, History Of Magadh, Veena Publication, 2005, ISBN 81-89224-01-8
- Ahmad Qeyamuddin, Patna Through The Ages: Glimpses of History, Society & Economy, Commonwealth Publishers, 1988
- Crindle John W Mc, Ancient India As Described By Ptolemy, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1927, ISBN 81-215-0945-9
- Patra C, Life In Ancient India: As Depicted In The Digha Nikaya, Punthi Pustak, 1996, ISBN 81-85094-93-4
- Hazra Kanai Lal, Buddhism In India As Described By The Chinese Pilgrims AD 399-689, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1983, ISBN 81-215-0132-6
- Mccrindle John W, Ancient India As Described By Megasthenes And Arrian, Munshiram Manoharlal
- Waddell, Austine L., Report On The Excavations At Pataliputra (Patna) - The Palibothra Of The Greeks, Asian Publicational Services, Calcutta, 1903
- Brass Paul R., The politics of India since Independence, Cambridge University Press, 1990
- Askari S. H., Medieval Bihar: Sultante and Mughal Period, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, 1990
- Tayler William, Three Months at Patna during the Insurrection of 1857, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, 2007
- Taylor P.J.O., What really happened during the Mutiny: A day by day account of the major events of 1857-1859 in India, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0 19 564182 5
- Basham A. L., The Wonder that was India, Picador, 1954, ISBN 0 330 43909 X
- Nambisan Vijay, Bihar in the eye of the beholder, Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 9780140294491