Bihar and Its Important Historical Sites

Bihar in the ancient period of India witnessed the rise and fall of janapadas and mahajanapadas of the 6th c. BCE, great empires, cities, rulers and statesmen, literary figures and courtesans. The term Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit word Vihara, meaning Buddhist monastery. It had been the epicentre of shramanic movement of the 6th c. BCE when Buddhism, Jainism, lokayatism, the ajivika sect and other such sects (which disputed the authority of the Vedas) emerged. The earliest empire of India erupted here viz. the Magadha Empire which constituted the rule of three successive dynasties: the Haryanka dynasty, the Shishunaga dynasty and the Nanda dynasty. The Mauryan empire was the first pan-India empire that was founded in c. 322 BCE. Let’s have a look at some of the historically noteworthy locations in Bihar. 

Bhagalpur

• Bhagalpur is known as the Silk City of India. 
• The Vikramashila Maha Vishwavidyalaya was a significant university during the Pala dynasty and had more than 100 teachers to instruct about 1000 students. It was founded by Dharmapala.

Vikramshila Maha Vishwavidyalaya (University)

Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur, Bihar

Source: Dr. Richa Singh

Buxar

• In the Battle of Buxar (1764), the British East India Company emerged victorious. Following this fight, it became evident that the British were the de facto rulers of India when the British army, led by Hector Munro, routed the united armies of Shuja-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Awadh, Shah Alam II, and Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal. The British were able to get the diwani rights to these lucrative territories through the treaties of Allahabad.    

Chausa

• Situated near Buxar, Chausa is extremely significant in the establishment of the second Afghan Empire in India as this is the place where Humayun, the second Mughal Emperor was defeated by Sher Shah Suri (founder of the Suri Dynasty) at the Battle of Chausa in 1539. With great difficulty, Humayun managed to flee from Chausa. After the battle, Sher Shah Suri proclaimed himself as the ruler of India. Later, in 1540 Humayun was defeated again at the Battle of Kanauj and this time, Humayun had to escape from India to Iran where he took refuge with Shah Tahmasp of Persia.   

Champaran

• Gandhi’s first Satyagraha was in Champaran in 1917. Rajkumar Shukla and Ram Lal Shah invited Gandhi and urged him to address the issue of the tinkathiya system which forced the peasants to cultivate indigo on 3/20th of the total land.
• 3 Ashokan pillars were found in:

1. West Champaran: Lauria- Nandangarh (has peacock motif)
2. East Champaran: Laurya Araraj 
3. West Champaran: Rampurva bull capital (which is now in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi)

Chirand

• Chirand located in the Saran district shows continuous archaeological record for settlements from the Neolithic Age (c. 2500-1345 BCE) to the period of the Pal dynasty. It was the first Neolithic culture in the Ganga valley near the confluence of the Ganga and the Ghagra. From the site, the second largest number of Neolithic artefacts after Burzahom (in the Srinagar district of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir) have been excavated. The evidence of rice, wheat, masoor, mung and barley have been found here which suggests that they practiced agriculture.   

Gaya 

• As per the Vishnupuran, Gaya was the kingdom of a demon named Gayasur. 
• Gaywal Brahmins or Gayawal Pandas traced their origin to this place. 
• At Bodh Gaya, Buddha attained enlightenment. The Mahabodhi Temple here marks this event and the place where he attained nirvana. 

The Great Buddha Statue

Built by the Daijokyo Buddhist sect of Japan and unveiled by the Dalai Lama in 1989

Bodh Gaya, Gaya, Bihar

Source: Dr. Richa Singh

• It is a pilgrim center to perform pind-daan by Hindus for their deceased parents or ancestors.  
• The All India Congress Session under the presidency of Chitranjan Das was held in Gaya in December 1922. After the session, on 1 January 1923 Swaraj Dal or Swaraj Party was formed by Motilal Nehru and Chitranjan Das.  

Munghyr

• Mir Qasim moved Murshidabad, his capital, to Munghyr.  

Nalanda 

• Nalanda Mahavishwavidyalaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site was built by a Gupta king named Kumaragupta in the 5th c. It had about 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers.

Ruins of Nalanda Maha Vishwavidyalaya

Nalanda, Bihar

Source: Dr. Richa Singh

• In the district of Nalanda, at a distance from 47 km from Nalanda is located a holy site for Jains as it at Pawapuri that the 24th Jain tirthankara Lord Mahavira, the founder of Jainism attained moksha. The sacred Jal Mandir is built at the funeral site of Mahavira.

Patna

• Patna in ancient times was known by various names: Kusumpur, Pushpapur, Kusumdhyaj, Pataliputra and Azeemabad. 
• Ajatshatru founded a small fort at Pataligram (which had the Patali tree or the yellow snake tree in abundance) at the confluence of the Ganga and the Son which later developed as Pataliputra. 
• Ajatshatru's son, Udayin chose Pataligram as the capital of the Mauryas and shifted from Rajgir. 
• The third Buddhist council was held here and its patron was Ashoka, the Mauryan ruler. During this council, the last section of the Abhidhamma Pitaka called the Kathavatthu was added. The section deals with psychology and metaphysics.  
• At Pataliputra, the first Jain council was organised two hundred years after the death of Mahavira and it was presided over by Sthulabhadra (founder of Shvetambar sect). However, the council was not attended by the monks who returned from Karnataka (in South India) who had earlier left Pataliputra under the leadership of Bhadrabahu when the Mauryan Empire was severely affected by a terrible 12-year famine. They were accompanied by the Magadha ruler, Chandragupta too who abdicated his throne in favour of his son, Bindusara.    
• Strabo, a Greek geographer writes about ancient Patna, 'The largest city in India, named Palimbothra, is in the lands of the Prasians, where is the confluence of the river Erannoboas and the Ganges... Megasthenes says that on one side, the city extends ten miles in length, and that its breadth is one and three-quarters miles; that the city has been surrounded with a ditch in breadth 600ft and in depth 45ft; and that its wall has 570 towers and 64 gates'. 
• Megasthenes visited Patna during the reign of Chandragupta as the ambassador of Selecus Nicator when the city was the capital of the Mauryan Empire. 
• At Kumhrar which is located on the outskirts of the city, some ruins from the Mauryan Age are discovered in 1912-15 and later in the 1950s. Due to the discovery of several red sandstone pillars, many archaeologists are of the opinion that it is the site of the famous 8-pillared hall where the third Buddhist Council was held by Ashoka in 250 BCE.        
• The presiding deity of Pataliputra was Goddess Patan. Patna derives its name from the goddess. 
• It was also the capital city of the Guptas and the Palas. Pataliputra rivaled contemporary great cities like Persepolis and Jerusalem.
• Makhdum Shah Sharafuddin Ahmad Yahya Maneri, famously called Makhdum-e-Jahan who was a Sufi saint of the 13th century was born at Manersharif in the district of Patna. In the forests of Rajgir, he spent about 12 years meditating. He died in Bihar Sharif in Nalanda district and his tomb in located here.   
• Sher Shah Suri, the Afghan ruler annexed it in the 16th c.  
• It is the birthplace of the 10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh and the site of the Har Mandir Sahib, constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab. Guru Gobind Singh, the son of Guru Tegh Bahadur was born in Patna on 22 December in 1666. He spent his early childhood here. He established the khalsa. 
• Azim-ush-Shan who was the son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam I and Amrita Bai (Kishangarh Princess) and the grandson of Aurangzeb. The Mughal prince as the subahdar or governor of Patliputra renamed it after his name and called it Azimabad in 1704. 
• The famed Khuda-Baksha Oriental Library is also located in Patna.   
• Under the leadership of Haji Shariyatullah, Patna developed into a significant hub for the Wahabi movement between 1828 and 1868. The movement was launched by Abdul Wahab in Saudi Arabia.
• Sadaqat Ashram is a museum now dedicated to the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Here you can see the house where he stayed after the retirement and also, his personal belongings.  
• Golghar is a huge granary that was constructed to store grains and use it as a relief measure during the great famines in Bihar and Bengal in the 1770 after the British East India Company was granted the diwani right (right to collect revenue) of the Bengal province (suba). The recurrent famines were one of the features of the East India Company's rule in India.  

Golghar, Patna

Source: Dr. Richa Singh 

Rajgir

• Magadha, the most powerful mahajanapada's first capital was Rajgir (in the Nalanda district in South Bihar). 
• The first Buddhist council was held here right after the demise of the Buddha in 483 BCE under the royal patronage of Ajatashatru and the Chairmanship of Mahakassapa when the Buddhist canons the Sutta Pitaka (collection of the Buddha's sermons related to doctrine and ethics) and the Vinaya Pitaka (Rules of the Order) were composed. 

Son Bhandar Cave

Rajgir, Nalanda, Bihar

Source: Dr. Richa Singh

Sultanganj

• Sultanganj is situated in the district of Bhagalpur. Anga mahajanapada, which dates back to the 16th century, included the present-day districts of Munger and Bhagalpur in Bihar.
• In the epic, the Mahabharata, Karna (the eldest brother of the Pandavas) was made ruler of Anga. 
• Since it formed a part of the Pala kingdom in the early medieval period, who provided royal patronage to Buddhism in the eastern part of India, therefore, many ancient Buddhist relics such as stupas, metal and terracotta sculptures, coins, seals, etc. have been unearthed from here. The Sultanganj Buddha image made of bronze, measuring seven and a half feet in height and weighing over 500 kgs, was discovered in 1861 by E. B. Harris, a Resident Engineer during the construction of the East Indian Railway. The image is shown clad in a diaphanous cloak. It is now housed in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England. It is a marvelous specimen of metal sculpture.   

Vaishali

• Vaishali was the capital of Vajji Mahajanapada of the 6th c. BCE which was a confederacy of eigth republican clans and is believed to be among the earliest republics in the world.
• Kundagram in the Vaishali district is the birthplace of Vardhamana Mahavira. He was born in c. 540 BCE as a prince and the son of Siddhartha. His father was a chief of the Jnatrika clan. His mother named Trishala was the sister of Chetaka, the Lichchavi chief of Vaishali.    

Mahavira, the 24th and the Last Jain Tirthankara 

Jain Museum, Hathising Ni Wadi (Jain Temple) Complex

Shahibag, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Source: Dr. Richa Singh

• The renowned royal courtesan, Amrapali was the nagarvadhu of Vaishali. She became a Buddhist bhikkhu (nun) after the Buddha accepted her as his disciple. She offered the Buddha food on his last visit to Vaishali before his mahaparinirvana.

Amrapali

National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Source: Dr. Richa Singh

• The second Buddhist council was organised one hundred years after the Buddha's death and its venue was at Vaishali under the patronage of Kalashoka and it was presided by Sabakami. During this meeting, the Buddhist sangha was divided into two: the orthodox Sthaviravadins (in Sanskrit) or Theravadins (in Pali) and the unorthodox Mahasanghikas or "Members of the Great Community". 

Thus, Bihar holds a very significant place in the history of India, particularly ancient India. 

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