Bihar (pronounced [bɪˈɦaːr] ) is a state in eastern India. It borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Bengal to the east, and Jharkhand to the south. Bihar is split by the river Ganges, which flows from west to east. It is the second largest state by population, the 12th largest by area, and the 14th largest by GDP in 2024. The official language on Bihar is Hindi, which shares official status alongside that of Urdu. The main native languages are Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri, but there are several other languages being spoken at smaller levels.
Bihar played a central role in the history and development of Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya at the Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Early Buddhist schools, such as Nalanda and Vikramashila emerged in Bihar as major centres of Buddhist learning, attracting students and scholars from across Asia. Under dynasties including the Mauryas and Guptas, Buddhism received royal patronage and expanded from the region to other parts of Asia.
Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social and economic development. Economists and social scientists claim that this is a direct result of the policies of the central government: such as the freight equalisation policy, its apathy towards Bihar, lack of Bihari sub-nationalism, and the Permanent Settlement of 1793 by the British East India Company. The state government has, however, made significant strides in developing the state. Improved governance has led to an economic revival in the state through increased investment in infrastructure, better healthcare facilities, greater emphasis on education, and a reduction in crime and corruption.
Etymology
The name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word vihāra (Devanagari: विहार), meaning "abode" and usually referred to a Buddhist monastery. The region roughly encompassing the present state had many Buddhist vihāras, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods.
History
Ancient period
Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age (c. 2500–1345 BCE). Regions of Bihar – such as Magadha, Mithila, and Anga – are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India.
Mithila gained prominence after the establishment of the Videha Kingdom. During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. Sita, a daughter of one of the Janakas of Mithila is mentioned as the consort of Rama, in the Hindu epic Ramayana, written by Valmiki. The Videha Kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajjika League which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila. Vajji had a republican form of government where the head of state was elected from the rajas. Based on the information found in texts pertaining to Jainism and Buddhism, Vajji was established as a republic by the sixth century BCE, before the birth of Gautama Buddha in 563 BCE, making it the first known republic in India.
The Haryanka dynasty, founded in 684 BCE, ruled Magadha from the city of Rajgriha (modern Rajgir). The two well-known kings from this dynasty were Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru, who imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. Ajatashatru founded the city of Pataliputra which later became the capital of Magadha. He declared war and conquered the Vajjika League. The Haryanka dynasty was followed by the Shishunaga dynasty. Later, the Nanda dynasty ruled a vast tract stretching from Punjab to Odisha.
The Nanda dynasty was replaced by the Maurya Empire, India's first empire. The Maurya Empire and the religion of Buddhism arose in the region that now makes up modern Bihar. The Mauryan Empire, which originated from Magadha in 321 BCE, was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, who was born in Magadha. It had its capital at Pataliputra (modern Patna). Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, who was born in Pataliputra (Patna), is often considered to be among the most accomplished rulers in world history.
The Gupta Empire, which originated in Magadha in 240 CE, is referred to as the Golden Age of India in science, mathematics, astronomy, commerce, religion, and Indian philosophy. Bihar and Bengal were invaded by Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty in the 11th century.
Medieval period
Buddhism in Magadha declined due to the invasion of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, during which many of the viharas were destroyed along with the universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. Some historians believe that thousands of Buddhist monks were massacred during the 12th century. D. N. Jha suggests, instead, that these incidents were the result of Buddhist–Brahmin skirmishes in a fight for supremacy. After the rule of the Pala Empire, the Karnat dynasty came into power in the Mithila region in the 11th century and they were succeeded by the Oiniwar dynasty in the 14th century. Aside from Mithila, there were other small kingdoms in medieval Bihar. The area around Bodh Gaya and much of Magadha came under the Buddhist Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya. The Khayaravala dynasty were present in the southwestern portions of the state until the 13th century.
Many famous Buddhist and Hindu philosophers and scholars have originated or studied in Bihar during the period from the 5th to 13th century at institutions like Nalanda and Vikramashila including Kamalaśīla, Ratnākaraśānti, Śāntarakṣita, Abhayakaragupta, Udayana and Gaṅgeśa.
Sasaram was also the first capital city of the Sur Empire founded by the ruler of Bihar, Sultan Sher Shah Suri who was Pashtun.
Colonial era
After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the British East India Company obtained the diwani rights (rights to administer and collect tax revenue) for Bihar, Bengal, and Odisha. The rich resources of fertile land, water, and skilled labour had attracted the foreign imperialists, particularly the Dutch and British, in the 18th century. A number of agriculture-based industries had been started in Bihar by foreign entrepreneurs. Bihar remained a part of the Bengal Presidency of British India until 1912, when Bihar and Orissa were carved out of the Bengal Presidency to form a new province.
Pre- and post-Independence
Farmers in Champaran had revolted against indigo cultivation in 1914 (at Pipra) and 1916 (Turkaulia). In April 1917, Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran, where Raj Kumar Shukla had drawn his attention to the exploitation of the peasants by European indigo planters. The Champaran Satyagraha that followed received support from many Bihari nationalists, such as Rajendra Prasad, Shri Krishna Sinha and Anugrah Narayan Sinha.
In the northern and central regions of Bihar, the Kisan Sabha (peasant movement) was an important consequence of the independence movement. It began in 1929 under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati who formed the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS), to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights. The movement intensified and spread from Bihar across the rest of India, culminating in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936, where Saraswati was elected as its first president.
Following independence, Bihari migrant workers have faced violence and prejudice in many parts of India, such as Maharashtra, Punjab, and Assam.
Decades following the independence in 1947 were full of violent conflicts between the landless section of Bihari society and the landed elite who controlled the government at various level. This was an outcome of the failed land reform drive and improper implementation of the land ceiling laws that were passed by Indian National Congress government in the 1950s. Landed castes like Rajput and Bhumihar became suspicious of the land reforms and used their influence in government to hinder the efforts of the land redistribution programme, which may have alleviated the huge caste based income inequalities. Unscrupulous tactics such as absentee landlordism neutralised the reforms which was architected by Krishna Ballabh Sahay.
In the Zamindari areas of Bihar, such as Bhojpur district, the Dalits were also subjected to frequent humiliation and practice of begar existed. This led to first spark of mass scale naxalism to grew up in the plains of Bhojpur. This armed struggle was led initially by Master Jagdish Mahto, a school teacher turned naxalite. Soon, the struggle spread into other parts of Bihar, where the landlords and agricultural labourers locked horns against each other. Between 1950 and 2000, several massacres took place. In Bihar, unlike the other parts of India, the naxalism took the form of caste conflict as the landed section of society belonged primarily to Forward Castes and a section of Upper Backward Castes, on the other hand, the landless were the people belonging to Schedule Castes and a section of Other Backward Castes. Formation of caste based private armies called senas took place in response to violent activities of the naxalites. One of the most dreaded caste army of the landlord was Ranvir Sena, which was involved in massacres of Dalits in Laxmanpur Bathe. The Dalit struggle against these caste armies was led by Indian People's Front and its successor Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, which was controlled at the upper echelon by the middle peasant castes such as the Koeris and Yadavs, with Dalits and Extremely Backward Castes forming its mass support base and activists.
Meanwhile, the 1960s saw the rise of political instability in the state with dwindling power of Indian National Congress and rise of parties like Samyukta Socialist Party. The leaders belonging to Backward Castes became vocal for their political rights. The toppling of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha government by Jagdeo Prasad hastened the end of dominance of Forward Caste backed Indian National Congress in the state.
Geography
Bihar covers a total area of 94,163 km2 (36,357 sq mi), with an average elevation above sea level of 173 feet (53 m). It is landlocked by Nepal in the north, Jharkhand in the south, West Bengal in the east and Uttar Pradesh in the west. It has three parts on the basis of physical and structural conditions: the Southern Plateau, the Shivalik Region, and Bihar's Gangetic Plain. Furthermore, the vast stretch of the fertile Bihar Plain is divided by the Ganges River into two unequal parts – North Bihar and South Bihar. The Ganges flows west–east and, along with its tributaries, regularly floods parts of the Bihar plain. The main northern tributaries are the Gandak and Koshi, which originate in the Nepalese Himalayas, and the Bagmati, which originates in the Kathmandu Valley. Other tributaries are the Son, Budhi Gandak, Chandan, Orhani and Phalgu. Bihar has some small hills, such as the Rajgir hills in center, Kaimur Range in south-west and Shivalik Range in North. Bihar has a forest area of 6,764.14 km2, which is 7.1 per cent of its geographical area. The sub-Himalayan foothills of Shivalik ranges, primary Someshwar and Dun mountain, in West Champaran district are clad in a belt of moist deciduous forest. As well as trees, this consists of brush, grasses and reeds.
Bihar lies completely in the Subtropical region of the Temperate Zone, and its climatic type is humid subtropical. Its temperature is subtropical in general, with hot summers and cold winters. Bihar has an average daily high temperature of only 26 °C with a yearly average of 26 °C. The climate is very warm, but has only a very few tropical and humid months. Several months of the year it is warm to hot at temperatures continuously above 25 °C, sometimes up to 29 °C. Due to less rain the best time for travelling is from October to April. The rainiest days occur from May to September.
Flora and fauna
Bihar has a nature conservation area of 6,845 km2 (2,643 sq mi), which is 7.27% of its geographical area. The sub-Himalayan foothill of Someshwar and the Dun ranges in the Champaran district have belts of moist deciduous forests, mixed with shrubs, grass and reeds. High rainfall (above 1,600 mm [63 in]) promotes forests of Sal (Shorea robusta) in these areas. Other important trees are Sal Cedrela Toona, Khair, and Semal. Deciduous forests also occur in the Saharsa and Purnia districts, with common trees including Shorea robusta (sal), Diospyros melanoxylon (kendu), Boswellia serrata (salai), Terminalia tomentose (asan), Terminalia bellerica (bahera), Terminalia arjuna (arjun), Pterocarpus marsupium (paisar), and Madhuca indica (mahua).
Valmiki National Park covers about 800 km2 (309 sq mi) of forest and is the 18th Tiger Reserve of India, ranked fourth in terms of the density of its tiger population. It has a diverse landscape and biodiversity in addition to sheltering protected carnivores. Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur region is a reserve for the endangered South Asian river dolphin. Other species in Bihar include leopard, bear, hyena, bison, chital and barking deer. Crocodilians including gharials and muggers as well as Gangetic turtles can be found in the river systems. Karkatgarh Waterfall on Karmanasa River is a natural habitat of the crocodilians. In 2016, the government of Bihar has accepted the proposal of the forest authorities to turn the area into a Crocodile Conservation Reserve (CCR). Other notable wildlife sanctuaries include Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary and Gautam Buddha Wildlife Sanctuary. Many varieties of local and migratory bird species can be seen in natural wetland of Kanwar Lake Bird Sanctuary, Asia's largest oxbow lake and only Ramsar site in Bihar, and other notable wetlands of Baraila lake, Kusheshwar Nath Lake, Udaypur lake.
Natural resource
Bihar is the principal holder of the country's pyrite reserves and possesses 95% of all known resources.
In May 2022, a gold mine was found in the district of Jamui. It accounts for more than 44% of the country's gold reserve, approximately 223 million tons.
Demographics
At the 2011 census, Bihar was the third most populous state of India with a total population of 104,099,452. It was also India's most densely populated state, with 1,106 persons per square kilometre. The sex ratio was 1090 females per 1000 males in the year 2020. Almost 58% of Bihar's population was below 25 years age, which is the highest in India. In 2021, Bihar has had an urbanisation rate of 20%. Bihar has an adult literacy rate of 70.9% (79.7% for males and 60.5% for females) in 2017 according to NSC report 2017. According to Bihar caste survey 2023, Bihar's literacy rate grew upto 79.8% (which is 18% increase from 61.18% of Census 2011) showing remarkable growth in education sector from past decades. Population increased to 130,725,310 as per the Bihar caste survey conducted in 2023.
Religion
According to the 2023 census, 81.99% of Bihar's population practised Hinduism, while 17.70% followed Islam. Christianity (0.05%), Buddhism (0.08%), and Sikhism (0.01%) are religious minorities in Bihar. Most of Bihar's population belongs to Indo-Aryan-speaking ethnic groups. It also attracted Punjabi Hindu refugees during the Partition of British India in 1947.
Languages
Hindi is the official language of the state and is spoken natively by 25.54% of the total population. At 8.42%, Urdu is the second official language in 15 districts of the state. However, the majority of the people speak one of the Bihari languages, most of which were classified as dialects of Hindi during the census. The major ones are Bhojpuri (24.86%), Maithili (12.55%) and Magahi (10.87%). Angika and Bajjika, two other notable Bihari languages, are not represented in the census. Maithili is a recognised regional language of India under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. Proponents have called for Bhojpuri, Magahi, Angika, and Bajjika to receive the same status. Smaller communities of Bengali and Surjapuri speakers are found in some parts of the state, especially in the eastern districts and urban areas.
Government and administration
Under the Constitution of India, the Governor is the head of the government of Bihar, and is appointed by the President of India. The Chief minister is the executive head of the government who, with its cabinet ministers, makes all important policy decisions. The political party or coalition of political parties having a majority in the Bihar Legislative Assembly forms the government.
The Chief Secretary is the head of the bureaucracy of the state, under whom a hierarchy of officials is drawn from the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service, and different wings of the state civil services. The judiciary is headed by the Chief Justice of the High Court. Bihar has a high court in Patna, which has been functioning since 1916. All the branches of the government are located in the state capital, Patna.
The state is administratively divided into nine divisions and 38 districts. Each division consists of several districts, overseen by a Divisional Commissioner, a senior IAS officer. Each district is headed by a District Magistrate–cum–Collector, an IAS officer appointed by the government. The district is further divided into subdivisions, which consist of tehsils for land revenue administration, headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Tehsildar, respectively. Districts are also divided into blocks, primarily for rural development administration.
The police administration in a district is headed by a Superintendent of Police (SP), an IPS officer appointed by the government.
For the governance of urban areas, Bihar has 19 municipal corporations, 89 nagar parishads (city councils), and 154 nagar panchayats (town councils).
For the governance of rural areas, Bihar has Panchayati Raj Institutions, comprising 8,053 gram panchayats (village councils), 533 panchayat samitis (block-level councils), and 38 zila parishads (district councils).
Divisions
Note
* Population data obtained from the sum of the populations of the districts.
Politics
The politics of Bihar have been based on caste since the onset of Indian independence. The important castes with political presence and influence in Bihar includes: Yadav, Koeri, Kurmi, Rajput, Bhumihar, and Brahmin. Before 1990, politics was dominated by Forward Castes– Brahmin, Rajput, Bhumihar, and Kayastha. The numerous Other Backward Class group was only given a token representation in the government. This over representation of upper castes was due to their dominance in the Indian National Congress, which dominated the politics of the state for three decades after the independence of India. According to political scientist Sanjay Kumar: "Using their dominant role in state's government, in the period before 1990, the Forward Castes deliberately subverted the 'land reforms', which could have helped Backward Castes and the Scheduled Castes". The upper backwards relied on the political parties of Lok Dal and later Janata Dal for increasing their political representation. The year of 1989–90 saw the implementation of Mandal Commission's recommendation by V. P. Singh's government, which reserved 27% per cent seats in government jobs and educational institutions for the members of Other Backward Class. This event mobilised them against the "politics of religion" of the Bhartiya Janata Party, which was backed by the Forward Castes. Important figures such as Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar took a leading role in this mobilisation, and by 1990, the upper backwards– Koeri, Kurmi, Yadav became the new political elites of the state.
Historically, a caste troika consisting the three communities, Kushwaha, Kurmi and Yadav also led an anti-upper caste agitation in the state of Bihar, pushing them to the prominence in the state's politics.
However, the tipping point of this Backward Caste unity came in 1995 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, when the dominant OBC castes, who were at the forefront in the collective struggle against the Forward Castes, were divided into two rival political camps. While one of these camps was led by Yadavs under Janata Dal, the other camp was led by Koeri and Kurmis, who assembled under the Samata Party. According to Sanjay Kumar, this was the election in which the caste divide in the state was most evident not between the Forward and Backward Castes, but rather between two groups of Backward Castes itself. It was this election from which the Forward Castes felt completely marginalised in Bihar's electoral politics and from then onwards, no longer held any significant role in the state's politics.
By 2004, The Economist magazine said that "Bihar [had] become a byword for the worst of India, of widespread and inescapable poverty, of corrupt politicians indistinguishable from mafia-dons they patronise, caste-ridden social order that has retained the worst feudal cruelties". In 2005, the World Bank believed that issues faced by the state were "enormous" because of "persistent poverty, complex social stratification, unsatisfactory infrastructure and weak governance".
As of 2023, there are two main political formations: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which comprises Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP); and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Janata Dal (United) (JDU) and Indian National Congress (INC). There are many other political formations. The Communist Party of India had a strong presence in Bihar at one time, which has since weakened. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) and CPM and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) have a minor presence, along with the other extreme leftist parties.
Nitish Kumar has been chief minister of Bihar for 13 years between 2005 and 2020. In contrast to prior governments, which emphasised divisions of caste and religion, his political platform was based on economic development, reduction of crime and corruption, and greater social equality. Since 2010, the government confiscated the properties of corrupt officials and redeveloped them into school buildings. They also introduced the Bihar Special Court Act to curb crime. It also legislated a two-hour lunch break on Fridays, to enable Muslim employees to pray and thereby reduce absenteeism. The government has prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol in the state since March 2016, which has been linked to a drop in tourism and a rise in substance abuse.
Public health
Bihar generally ranks among the weakest in health outcomes in comparison to other Indian states because it lacks adequate health care facilities. While the National Health Mission, the Clinical Establishments Act of 2010, and the formation of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) provide federal funds to expand and improve healthcare services, Bihar's ability to fully utilise this funding is lacking.
Research indicates that Bihar relies on privatised hospitals to provide healthcare to the masses, with the second-highest ratio among Indian states for private to public spending and high levels of corruption. These factors are associated with slower healthcare delivery and steep healthcare costs. Corruption is enabled as Bihar lacks continuity and transparency of health reporting as required by the Clinical Establishments Act of 2010. In turn, this prevents the government from making evidence-based conclusions about policy changes and hospital effectiveness, resulting in patterns of ill-informed spending and inconsistent hiring.