Buxar district

Buxar district is an administrative district in the state of Bihar in India. The district headquarters are located at Buxar. The district occupies an area of 1624 km² and has a population of 1,403,462 (as of 2001).

The town Buxar is located on the bank of river Ganges (Ganga). A road bridge over Ganges connects Buxar with Ballia District of neighboring state Uttar Pradesh. The town is connected to the state capital Patna by rail and road routes. Substantial proportion of trade activities are with well connected towns and cities in Uttar Pradesh such as Varanasi, Ballia and Ghazipur.

Main economic activity of the district is agriculture and related trade. Rice and wheat are main crops. Sugarcane production, once prominent, has come down since closure of the local sugar factory.

History

Battle of Buxar: Mir Kasim (reign:1760 to 1763), attempted to recover Bengal from the hands of British. In 1764, he enlisted the help of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Nawab Shuja Ud Daulah of Oudh (Awadh). On October 23, 1764, Mir Kasim with his army was defeated by the British Major Hector Monro who led a contingent of 857 European soldiers and 6,213 sepoys. This victory paved the way for British Empire in India.

Religious Importance of Buxar

Buxar is a very important place for Hindus. Rishi Vishwamitra conducted his yagya here and brought lord Ram in his childhood from Ayodhya to protect his yagya from the evils of rakshasha, which he did by killing a lady evil named Tarkasur. Her deity is now installed and people usually go to see that. Lord Ram also released Ahilya by touching her through his foot and Ahilya lying in the form of stone converted into the human. Some one kilometer away from the city of Buxar the village at the bank of holy river Ganga AHIROULI is still there which has a small temple of Ahilya. The name Ahirouli of the village seems to be converted from ahilyavali(abode of ahilya). Degree college of Buxar is named on Rishi Vishwamitra established by famous saint late Shri Khaki Baba. This is the place from where lord Ram started his journey to attend the Swayamwar of Devi Sita, daughter of king Janak at Janakpuri in north Bihar, Mithila and married Devi Sita under the noble guidance of rishi Vishwamitra even without the knowledge of his father king Dasarath of Ayodhya. Many people once in a year take round of this religious area called Panchkosi Parikrama. They perform it in five days by halting in night in five villages surrounding Buxar. During this visit they cook their own food called Litti-Bhanta. This recipe is famous in Bihar, especially in the Bhojpuri speaking area. Dried dung cakes are used to prepare this recipe as fuel. It is easily available in whole of the area. Litti is ball like structure made of wheat flour by filling the black gram roasted powder mixed with salt and spices called Sattu. Bhanta (Round Brinjal) roasted in the fire of dung along with potato and tomato. Finally, all are mashed after removing its peel and taken with litti which is also roasted in the same fire. It's very delicious and famous recipe of bhojpuri speaking area. About ten kilometers east to the Buxar City on the Patna main road is the village Bhojpur. A broken and neglected fort of king Bhoj is still there. Perhaps, this is the place which originated the Bhojpuri language. It is said that the lamp light put on the top of this fort was visible in Delhi in night and some mughal emperor did not like the height of such fort and finally he smashed it. Although, this place is Historically very important, needs research to authenticate the references.

Geography

Buxar is located at coor d|25.34|N|83.58|E| [ [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/IN/34/Buxar.html Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Buxar] ] . It has an average elevation of 56 metres (183 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001 India censusGR|India, Buxar had a population of 82,975. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Buxar has an average literacy rate of 68%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 75% and female literacy of 59%. 16% of the population is under 6 years of age.

ee also

*Battle of Buxar
*Districts of Bihar

Gallery

Reference

External links