History of Bihar

The History of Bihar is very rich and eventful. This is due to the fact that Bihar was a center of power, learning and culture. It has been a cradle of Indian civilization and the birth place of two of the major religions that have emanated from India: Buddhism and Jainism. Much of the ancient Indian text written outside of the religious epics have been written in this ancient land: Arthashashtra and Kamasutra being the most prominent. The first known republic, a state without a sovereign king, existed in this region more than two thousand years back.

Ancient

The central region of what is now known as Bihar was called Magadha in ancient days. Its capital Patna, then called Pataliputra, was the capital of the Mauryan empire which ruled over much of the Indian - Subcontinent and extended as far as Iran and Afghanistan to the West. Emperor Ashoka, one of the greatest monarchs in the history of the world, who ruled between 273 BC and 232 BC was the most famous ruler of the Mauryan dynasty.

Just north of Magadha across the river Ganges is the Vaishali region. It is here that the first republic of the lichchvis was established even before the Magadha empire reached its peak of glory.

To the north east of Vaishali is Mithila, the kingdom of the legendary king Janak. Sitamarhi in Mithila is said to be the birth place of King Ram's queen Sita.

Bihar remained an important place of power for about a thousand years. Its importance as the centre of Indian culture and education outlived its importance as the center of Power by another five hundred years or so. Out of the three ancient universities of India, two Nalanda and Vikramshila Universities were located in Bihar, with third being Taxila in present day Pakistan. These ancient centres of learning were destroyed by the maruading early Islamic raiders around 1200 AD.

Religions Originated

Bihar is also the birthplace of many religions, including Buddhism and Jainism. The word "Bihar" has its origin in the Sanskrit word "Vihara", meaning Buddhist Monasteries. Buddha attained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, a town located in the modern day district of Gaya. Buddha started spreading his teaching after attaining the Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, was born in Vaishali, When we speak of Bihar we are remembered of ancient India when Buddhism was evolving into what now is a universal religion. At one time in the epoch of history these "viharas" were strewn all over the landscape of Bihar, around villages and cities alike.

Medieval

With the advent of the foreign aggression and eventual foreign subjugation of India, Bihar passed through very uncertain times during the medieval period. Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, a General of Muhammad Ghori captured Bihar in 12th century and destroyed the ancient seats of learning of this region. During the medieval period, Bihar saw a brief period of glory for about six years during the rule of Sher Shah Suri, who hailed from Sasaram. He built the longest road of the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road, which starts from Calcutta and ends at Peshawar, Pakistan. During 1557-1576, Akbar, 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 melas of the Indian sub-continent, viz., Soenpur Mela which is the biggest cattle fair in India, were allowed to continue and even flourish inviting traders from far and near.

Modern

After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the British East India Company obtained the diwani rights (rights to administer and collect revenue, or tax administration / collection) for Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. 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. In 1935, certain portions of Bihar were reorganised into the separate province of Orissa. Again, in 2000, 18 administrative districts of Bihar were separated to form the state of Jharkhand.

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.

Bihar's contribution in the freedom struggle has been immense with outstanding leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, [cite web
url=http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/freedom/congress/c127.htm
title=Great freedom Fighters
author=Kamat
publisher=Kamat's archive
accessdate=2006-02-25] , 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"

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. 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.

After his return from South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi started the freedom movement in India by his satyagraha in the Champaran District of Bihar at the request of Raj Kumar Shukla-- against the British, who were forcing the local farmers to plant indigo which was very harmful to the local soil.

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 comprising of Dr.Rajendra Prasad, Dr.Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Brajkishore Prasad and Ram Navami Prasad which he handpicked tp 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 of course, 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, who ultimately became the first President of India, Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha who became the first Chief Minister of Bihar, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, who ultimately became the first finance minister of Bihar and Brajkishore Prasad.

In 2000 part of Bihar's southern areas were made into the state of Jharkhand [http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9357251] .