Bihar

History

Antiquity

The heart of the old kingdom of Magadha was in current Bihar and its capital, Patna, called Pataliputra then, are the center of the Empire maurya which controls the Indian Sous-continent between -325 and -185. The emperor Ashoka is leading the most known of this dynasty. Bihar remains a place important to be able, of culture and education during thousand years until the period of the Moslem invasions which devastate the country. The universities of Nâlandâ and Vikramshila are then famous centers of education in the Asian world.

A ground of religions

Bihar is also the birthplace of several religions, of which the Bouddhisme and the Jainisme. The word Bihar find its origin das besides the word Sanskrit Vihara who means Buddhist Monastère. Bouddha reaches the Illumination with Bodh-Gaya, a city of the State, in the district of Gaya. Mahavira, the founder of the jainism, is originating in Vaishali in Bihar.

Medieval time

With the appearance of the Moslems, Bihar will know various fortunes. Muhammad Khilji, a general of Muhammad Ghûrî seizes Bihar at the 12th century. The country however knows a boom with the reign of Afghan Sher Shâh Sûrî, originating in Sasaram which establishes the greatest way of the sub-continent, the Grand Trunk Road, which crosses of Is in West of Calcutta to Peshawar, Pakistan. Of 1557 with 1576, Akbar, the Emperor moghol, appendix Bihar and the Bengal with its empire and makes of Bihar part of Bengal. Avc the decline of Moghols, Bihar passes under the control of the Nawab S of Bengal.

Modern period

After the Battle of Buxar (1765), the English Compagnie of the Eastern Indies obtains the rights diwani , i.e. those to manage and collect the taxes for Bihar, Bengal and the Orissa. From there, Bihar becomes part of the Présidence of Bengal , administrative structure of the British Raj and this until in 1912, year when Bihar is set up in independent Province. In 1935, certain parts of Bihar are built-in the State of Orissa. Again, in 2000, 18 administrative districts of Bihar are cut off to him to form the State of the Jharkhand.

After its return of South Africa, Gandhi begins its movement for freedom with its Satyagraha in the district of Champaran in Bihar, by supporting peasants forced with the culture of the Indigo, a culture very impoverishing for their ground.

Geography

Bihar is bordered in the east by the Western Bengal, in north by the Nepal, in the south by the Jharkhand and in the West by the Uttar Pradesh. In 2000, Bihar is divided in two States, the southern part taking the name of Jharkhand with for capital Ranchi.

Policy

The chief of the executive (Chief Minister) is Mr. Nitish KUMAR, since November 24th, 2005, and the governor is Mr. R.S. Gavai, since June 22nd, 2006.

Demography

Culture

Except the Bihari, one speaks in Bihar the Maithili near to the Bengali and the Maghadi, an Eastern Hindi dialect which gave the Pali, the religious language of Buddhism of the South.

Tourism

Tourist sites: Bodh-Gaya, the city where the Bouddha knew the illumination is a center of pilgrimage for the Buddhists of the whole world.

Others

The Bihari or inhabitants of Bihar are generally very poor, they are very often exiled in the other States of the Indian federation - Western Bengal, Assam, in particular - to do the hardest work there (construction of the roads in the Himalayan heights, for example). They also emigrate out of India and one finds some with the islands Fiji, with the Mauritius, Trinity-and-Tobago. Others also choose a social exile by joining the groups Maoists Naxalite S present at the Western Bengal and close to the Maoists Nepalese or by integrating the bands of Dacoït S, highwaymen.

External bonds

Official site of the government of Bihar

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Simple: Bihar

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