Bihar

About Bihar in brief

Bihar is the third-largest state by population and twelfth-largest by territory. It is contiguous with Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Bengal to the east, and with Jharkhand to the south. The Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges, which flows from west to east. Three main cultural regions converge in the state: Magadh, Mithila, and Bhojpur. Bihar is also the world’s third-most populous subnational entity. Only 11.3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is the lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, giving Bihar the highest proportion of young people of any Indian state. Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social and economic development. The state government has, however, made significant strides in developing the state. The name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word vihāra, meaning \”abode\”. The region roughly encompassing the present state had many Buddhist vihas, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods. Regions of Bihar are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India – such as Magadha, Mithilla and Anga –. The region was also the centre of the Videha kingdom, which was one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla.

The Haryanka dynasty was the first known republic in India, founded in 684 BC, and ruled from the city of Rajgriha. Later, the Nanda Dynasty ruled a vast tract of India stretching from Bengal to Punjab. The Nanda Empire was replaced by the Maurya Empire, which ruled from Punjab to Punjab, and later by the Gupta Empire. Bihar was declared war and conquered by the Vajji dynasty, which conquered the Punjab and declared it a war-torn state in the 7th century BC. On 15 November 2000, southern Bihar was ceded to form the new state of Jharkshand, making it the first Indian state to be part of the Union of India. Bihar has a population of 1.2 million, with the majority of people living in rural areas. The official languages are Hindi and Urdu, although other languages are common, including Maithili, Magahi, Bhojpuri and other Bihari languages. Bihar’s population is 1.3 million, and the state has an area of 94,163 km2. The population of the state is 2.1 million, which makes it the third most populous sub national entity in the world, after India and Pakistan. Bihar also has the highest percentage of people below 25 years of age, with more than half of its population living in the urban areas than any other state.