The history of Bihar is one of the most varied in India. Ancient Bihar, known as Magadha, was the center of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. India's first empire, the Maurya empire as well as one of the world's greatest pacifist religion, Buddhism arose from the region that now makes modern BiharMagadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule.Its capital Patna, earlier known as Pataliputra, was an important political, military, and economic center of Indian civilization during the ancient and classical periods of history. Many of the ancient Indian text, written outside of the religious epics, were written in ancient Bihar. Abhijñānaśākuntalawas the most prominent.
One of the first known republics in the world, Licchavi, existed in the region since before the birth of Mahavira (c. 599 BC).The classical Gupta dynasty of Bihar, was known to have been a period of great culture and learning inside India. The Gupta period is known today as the Golden Age of India. The Pala Empire also made their capital at Pataliputra. After, Bihar played a very small role in Indian affairs, until the emergence of the Suri dynasty during the Islamic period in the 1540s. After the fall of the Suri dynasty in 1556, Bihar again became a marginal player in India and was the staging post for the Bengal Presidency from the 1750s and up to the war of 1857–58. On 22 March 1912, Bihar was carved out as a separate provience in the British Indian Empire. Since 1947, Bihar has been a state in the Indian Union.
Prehistoric era
The earliest proof of human activity in Bihar is Mesolithic habitational remains at Paisra, Munger. Prehistoric rock paintings have been discoveredv in hills of Kaimur, Nawada and Jamui. It was for the first time that a Neolithic settlement was discovered in the thick of the alluvium, over the bank of the Ganges at Chirand. The rock paintings depict prehistoric lifestyle and natural environment. The paintings display the sun, moon, stars, animals, plants, trees, rivers and is said to represent love towards nature. Also the paintings highlight daily life of the early humans in Bihar, like hunting, running, dancing, and walking.The rock paintings in Bihar are not only identical to those which found in central and southern India but also are akin with those in Europe andAfrica. The rock paintings of Spain's Alta Mira and France's Lascaux are almost identical to those found in Bihar.
The Magadha Kingdom Pradyota dynasty succeeded the Brihadrathas dynasty in Magadha. According to the Vayu Purana, Pradyotas ruled Magadha for 138 years from 799–684 BC. Palaka, the son of the Avanti king Pradyota, conquered Kaushambi, making the kingdom powerful.
The Magadha Kingdom was established by semi-mythical king Jarasandha who was, as it stated in the Puranas, a king of Brihadrathas dynasty, one of the descendants of eponymical Puru. Jarasandha appears in the Mahabharatha as the "Magadhan Emperor who rules all India" and meets with an unceremonious ending. Jarasandha was the greatest among them during epic times. His capital was Rajagriha or Rajgir is now a modern hill resort in Bihar. Jarasandha's continuous assault on the Yadava kingdom of Surasena resulted in their withdrawal from central India to western India. Jarasandha was a threat not only for Yadavas but also for Kurus. Pandava Bhima killed him in a mace dual aided by the intelligence ofVasudeva Krishna. Thus, Yudhisthira, the Pandava King, could complete his campaign of bring the whole of India in to his empire. Jarasandha had friendly relations with Chedi king Shishupala, Kuru king Duryodhana and Anga king Karna. His descendants, according to the Vayu Purana, ruled Magadha for 1000 years followed by the Pradyota dynasty which ruled for 138 years. However, no sufficient evidence to prove the historicity of this claim. However, these rulers are mentioned in the Hindu texts, Buddhist texts and Jaina texts.
In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states, dominated Magadha. Many of these states have been mentioned during in Buddhist and Jaina literature as far back as 1000 BCE. By 500 BCE, sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as theMahajanapadas—Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji (or Vriji), Malla, Chedi, Vatsa (or Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala, Machcha (or Matsya), Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara, Kamboja—stretched across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharastra. Anga and Magadha is the modern North Bihar and South Bihar respestively. Many of the sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BCE, that is by the time of Siddhartha Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Magadha.
While the geographic impact of Jainism was limited to India, Buddhist nuns and monks eventually spread the teachings of Buddha toCentral Asia, East Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. Nalanda University and Vikramshila University one of the oldest residential universities were established in Bihar during this period.
According to both Buddhist texts and Jain texts, one of Pradyota tradition was that king's son would kill his father to become the successor. During this time, it is reported that there was high crimes in Magadha. The people rose up and elected Shishunaga to become the new king, who destroyed the power of the Pradyotas and created the Shishunaga dynasty
The Magadha Empire
Shishunaga (also called King Sisunaka) was the founder of a dynasty collectively called the Shishunaga dynasty. He established the Magadha empire (in 684 BC). Due in part to this bloody dynastic feuding, it is thought that a civil revolt led to the emergence of the Shishunaga dynasty. This empire, with its original capital in Rajgriha, later shifted to Pataliputra (both currently in the Indian state of Bihar). The Shishunaga dynasty was one of the largest empires of the Indian subcontinent.
The Hariyanka dynasty king Bimbisara was responsible for expanding the boundaries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. The land of Kosala fell to Magadha in this way. Estimates place the territory ruled by this early dynasty at 300 leagues in diameter, and encompassing 80,000 small settlements. Bimbisara is contemporary with the Buddha, and is recorded as a lay disciple. Bimbisara (543–493 BCE) was imprisoned and killed his own son who became his successor, Ajatashatru (491–461 BCE), under whose rule, the dynasty reached its largest extent.
Licchavi was an ancient republic which existed in what is now Bihar state of India, since before the birth of Mahavira(b. 599 BC),Vaishali was the capital of the Licchavis and the Vajjian Confederacy. Its courtesan, Ambapali, was famous for her beauty, and helped in large measure in making the city prosperous.Ajatashatru went to war with the Licchavi several time. Ajatashatru is thought to have ruled from 551 to 519 BC and moved his capital of the Magadha kingdom from Rajagrihato Patliputra. The Mahavamsa tells that Udayabhadra eventually succeeded his father, Ajatashatru, and that under him Patliputra became the largest city in the world. He is thought to have ruled for sixteen years. The kingdom had a particularly bloody succession. Anuruddhaeventually succeeded Udaybhadra through assassination, and his son Munda succeeded him in the same fashion, as did his son Nagadasaka.
This dynasty lasted until 424 BC, when it was overthrown by the Nanda dynasty. This period saw the development of two of India's major religions that started from Magadha. Gautama Buddha in the 6th or 5th century BC was the founder of Buddhism, which later spread to East Asia and Southeast Asia, while Mahavira revived and propagated the ancient sramanic religion of Jainism.
Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by his son Bindusara, who expanded the kingdom over most of present day India, barring the extreme south and east. At its greatest extent, the Empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is nowAssam. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, annexing Balochistan and much of what is now Afghanistan. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded the republic of Kalinga.
In 321 BC, exiled general Chandragupta Maurya with help of Chanakya founded the Maurya dynasty after overthrowing the reigning Nanda king Dhana Nanda to establish the Maurya Empire. The Maurya Empire (322–185 BC), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was geographically extensive, powerful, and a political military empire in ancient India. During this time, most of the subcontinent was united under a single government for the first time. The exceptions were present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala (which was a Tamil kingdom then). The empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (near modern Patna). The Mauryan empire under Chandragupta Maurya would not only conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander the Great but also push its boundaries into Persia and Central Asia, conquering the Gandhara region. Chandragupta Maurya then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Chandragupta Maurya's minister Kautilya Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra, one of the greatest treatises on economics, politics, foreign affairs, administration, military arts, war, and religion ever produced in history of the world.
The Maurya Empire was inherited by his son Ashoka The Great, has been described as one of the greatest rulers the world has seen. Ashoka initially sought to expand his kingdom but In the aftermath of the carnage caused in the invasion of Kalinga, he renounced bloodshed and pursued a policy of non-violence or ahimsa after converting to Buddhism. Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire, and led the empire through more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony and prosperity. Ashoka the Great's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka, one of the oldest preserved historical documents of Indian subcontinent.
| “ | Beloved-of-the-Gods [Ashoka], King Priyadarsi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. 150000 were deported, 100000 were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dhamma, a love for the Dhamma and for instruction in Dhamma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas." | ” |
According to Rock Edicts of Ashoka,
The Mauryan Empire under Ashoka was responsible for the proliferation of Buddhist ideals across the whole of East Asia and Southeast Asia, fundamentally altering the history and development of Asia as a whole. Under Ashoka, India was a prosperous and stable empire of great economic and military power whose political influence and trade extended across Asia and Europe. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka, on the other hand, embraced of Buddhism. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Mediterranean Europe. The Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath, is the emblem of India. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW). The Arthashastra, the Edicts of Ashoka and Ashokavadana are primary sources of written records of the Mauryan times.
Middle Kingdoms Samudragupta succeeded Chandra Gupta I in 335, and ruled for about 45 years, until his death in 380. He attacked the kingdoms of Shichchhatra, Padmavati, Malwas, theYaudheyas, the Arjunayanas, the Maduras and the Abhiras, and merged them in his kingdom. By his death in 380, he had incorporated over twenty kingdoms into his realm, his rule extended from the Himalayas to the river Narmada and from the Brahmaputra to theYamuna. He gave himself the titles King of Kings and World Monarch. He is considered theNapoleon of India. Chandra Gupta I performed Ashwamedha Yajna to underline the importance of his conquest.
Ashoka was followed for 50 years by a succession of weaker kings. Brihadrata, the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty, held territories that had shrunk considerably from the time of emperor Ashoka, although he still upheld the Buddhist faith. The Sunga dynasty was established in 185 BC, about fifty years after Ashoka's death, when the king Brihadratha, the last of the Mauryan rulers, was assassinated by the then commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces, Pusyamitra Sunga, while he was taking the Guard of Honour of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga then ascended the throne. Pusyamitra Sunga was aYadava who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty. Buddhist records such as the Asokavadana write that the assassination of Brihadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of persecution for Buddhists,and a resurgence of Hinduism. According to John Marshall,Pusyamitra Sunga may have been the main author of the persecutions, although later Sunga kings seem to have been more supportive of Buddhism. Other historians, such as Etienne Lamotte and Romila Thapar, partially support this view.
The Gupta dynasty ruled from around 240 to 550 AD. The origins of the Gupta Dynasty are shrouded in obscurity. The Chinese traveler Hieun-Tsang provides the first evidence of the Gupta kingdom in Magadha. He came to India in 672 AD and heard of 'Maharaja Sri-Gupta' who built a temple for Chinese pilgrims near Mrigasikhavana. Ghatotkacha (c. 280–319) AD, had a son named Chandra Gupta I (Not to be confused with Chandragupta Maurya (340–293 BC), founder of the Mauryan Empire). In a breakthrough deal, Chandra Gupta I was married to a woman from Lichchhavi—the main power in Magadha.
Chandra Gupta II, the Sun of Power (Vikramaditya), ruled from 380 until 413. Only marginally less successful than his father, Chandra Gupta II expanded his realm westwards, defeating the Saka Western Kshatrapas of Malwa, Gujarat and Saurashtra in a campaign lasting until 409. Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta I. Known as theMahendraditya, he ruled until 455. Towards the end of his reign a tribe in the Narmada valley, the Pushyamitras, rose in power to threaten the empire.
Skandagupta is generally considered the last of the great rulers. He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading Hephthalites or Huna, from the northwest. He repulsed a Huna attack c. 477. Skandagupta died in 487 and was succeeded by his son Narasimhagupta Baladitya.
The Gupta Empire was one of the largest political and military empires in ancient India. TheGupta period is referred to as the Classical age of India by most historians. The time of the Gupta Empire was an "Indian Golden Age" in Indian science, technology, engineering, art,dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy.
The Gupta Empire had their capital at Pataliputra. The difference between Gupta Empire's and Mauryan Empire's administration was that in the Mauryan administration power was centralised but in the Gupta administration power was more decentralised. The empire was divided into provinces and the provinces were further divided into districts. Villages were the smallest units. The kingdom covered Gujarat, North-East India, south-eastern Pakistan,Orissa, northern Madhya Pradesh and eastern India with capital at Patliputra, modern Patna. All forms of worship were carried out in Sanskrit.
Rapid strides were made in astronomy during this period. Aryabhata and Varahamihira were two great astronomers and mathematicians. Aryabhata stated that the earth moved round the sun and rotated on its own axis. Aryabhata, who is believed to be the first to come up with the concept of zero, postulated the theory that the Earth moves round the Sun, and studied solar and lunar eclipses. Aryabhata's most famous work was Aryabhatiya. Varahamihira's most important contributions are the encyclopedic Brihat-Samhita and Pancha-Siddhantika (Pañcasiddhāntikā). Metallurgy also made rapid strides. The proof can be seen in the Iron Pillar of Vaishali and near Mehrauli on the outskirts of Delhi which was brought from Bihar.
This period is also very rich in Sanskrit literature. The material sources of this age were Kalidasa's works. Raghuvamsa, Malavikagnimitram, Meghadūta,Abhijñānaśākuntala and Kumārasambhava, Mrichchakatika by Shudraka, Panchatantra by Vishnu Sharma, Kama Sutra (the principles of pleasure) and 13 plays by Bhasa were also written in this period.
In medicine, the Guptas were notable for their establishment and patronage of free hospitals. Although progress in physiology and biology was hindered by religious injunctions against contact with dead bodies, which discouraged dissection and anatomy, Indian physicians excelled in pharmacopoeia, cesarean section, bone setting, and skin grafting. Indeed Hindu medical advances were soon adopted in the Arab and Western worlds. Ayurveda was the main medical system.
According to historian's work,
| “ | The Gupta Empire is considered by many scholars to be the "classical age" of Hindu and Buddhist art and literature. The Rulers of theGupta Empire were strong supporters of developments in the arts, architecture, science, and literature. The Gupta Empire circulated a large number of gold coins, called dinars, with their inscriptions. The Gupta Dynasty also left behind an effective administrative system. During times of peace, the Gupta Empire system was decentralized, with only taxation flowing to the capital at Pataliputra. During times of war however, the government realigned and fought its invaders. The system was soon extinguished in fighting off the Hunnic Invasions. |
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The empire reached its peak under Dharmapala and Devapala. Dharmapala extended the empire into the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent. This triggered once again the power struggle for the control of the subcontinent. Devapala, successor of Dharmapala, expanded the empire to cover much of South Asia and beyond. His empire stretched from Assam and Utkala in the east, Kamboja(modern day Afghanistan) in the north-west and Deccan in the south. According to Pala copperplate inscription Devapala exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Huna, and humbled the lords of Pratiharas, Gurjara and theDravidas.
The Palas created many temples and works of art as well as supported the Universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. Both Nalanda University and Vikramshila University reached their peak under the Palas. The universities received an influx of students from many parts of the world. The Pala Empire eventually disintegrated in the 12th century under the attack of the Sena dynasty. Pala Empire was the last empire of middle kingdoms whoes capital was Patliputra (modern Patna).
Medieval Period
Bihar was largely in ruins when visited by Hsüan-tsang, the famous Buddhist monk from China, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders in the 12th century.[34] With the advent of the foreign aggression and eventual foreign subjugation of India, Bihar passed through very uncertain times during the medieval period. Muhammad of Ghor attacked this region of the Indian subcontinent many times. Muhammad of Ghor's armies destroyed many Buddhist structures, including the great Nalanda university.
During the medieval period, Bihar saw period of glory for about six years during the rule of Sher Shah Suri, who hailed from Sasaram.Sher Shah Suri built the longest road of the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road, which starts from Calcutta and ends atPeshawar, Pakistan. The economic reforms carried out by Sher Shah, like the introduction of Rupee and Custom Duties, is still used in the Republic of India. He revived the city of Patna, where he built up his headquarter.
Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, the Hindu Emperor, also known as Hemu in the history of India. The son of a food seller, and himself a vendor of saltpetre at Rewari, he rose to become Chief of Army and Prime Minister under the command of Adil Shah Suri of the Suri Dynasty. He had won 22 battles against Afghans, from Punjab to Bengal and had defeated Akbar's forces twice at Agra and Delhi in 1556, before acceeding to the throne of Delhi and establishing 'Hindu Raj' in North India, albeit for a short duration, from Purana Quila in Delhi. He was killed in the Second Battle of Panipat.
From 1557 to 1576, Akbar the Great, 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 subcontinent, viz., Soenpur Mela which is the biggest cattle fair in India, were allowed to continue and even flourish inviting traders from far and near.
Guru Nanak Dev had visited Patna, stayed at Bhagat Jaitamal's house near in Gaighat, Patna in 1509 AD. and later by Guru Tegh Bahadur along with Patna his family in 1666. The 10th and the last Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh was born at Patna Sahib, Patna in 1666. Prince Azim-us-Shan, the grandson of Aurangzeb came as the governor of Patliputra in 1703.Azim-us-Shan named Patliputra as Azimabad, in 1704.
The Company rule
After the Battle of Buxar, 1764, which was fought in Buxar, hardly 115 km from Patna, the Mughals as well as the Nawabs of Bengal lost effective control over the territories then constituting the province of Bengal, which currently comprises the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Bangladesh. TheBritish East India Company was accorded the diwani rights, that is, the right to administer the collection and management of revenues of the province of Bengal, and parts of Oudh, currently comprising a large part of Uttar Pradesh. The diwani rights were legally granted by Shah Alam, who was then the sovereign Mughal emperor of India. During the rule of the British East India Company in Bihar, Patna emerged as one of the most important commercial and trading centers of eastern India, preceded only by Kolkata.
The British Raj
Under the British Raj, Bihar particularly Patna gradually started to attain its lost glory and emerged as an important and strategic centre of learning and trade in India. 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. When the Bengal Presidency was partitioned in 1912 to carve out a separate province, Patna was made the capital of the new province of Bihâr and Orissa. The city limits were stretched westwards to accommodate the administrative base, and the township of Bankipore took shape along the Bailey Road (originally spelt as Bayley Road, after the first Lt. Governor,Charles Stuart Bayley). This area was called the New Capital Area. The houses of the English residents, were all at the west-end at Bankipore. The greater part of the English residences were on the banks of the river, many of them being on the northern side of an open square, which formed the parade ground, and racecourse (present Gandhi maidan). There was also the Gola a wondrous bell-shaped building, one hundred feet high, with a winding outer staircase leading to the top, and a small entrance door at the base, which was intended for a granary, to be filled when there was the expectation of famine, but the plan was found to be, both politically and materially, impracticable.
To this day, locals call the old area as the City whereas the new area is called the New Capital Area. The Patna Secretariat with its imposing clock tower and the Patna High Court are two imposing landmarks of this era of development. Credit for designing the massive and majestic buildings of colonial Patna goes to the architect, I. F. Munnings. By 1916-1917, most of the buildings were ready for occupation. These buildings reflect either Indo-Saracenic influence (like Patna Museum and the state Assembly), or overt Renaissance influence like the Raj Bhawan and the High Court. Some buildings, like the General Post Office (GPO) and the Old Secretariat bear pseudo-Renaissance influence. Some say, the experience gained in building the new capital area of Patna proved very useful in building the imperial capital of New Delhi.
The British built several educational institutions in Patna like Patna College, Patna Science College, Bihar College of Engineering, Prince of Wales Medical College and the Patna Veterinary College. With government patronage, the Biharis quickly seized the opportunity to make these centres flourish quickly and attain renown. In 1935, certain portions of Bihar were reorganised into the separate province of Orissa. After the creation of Orissa as a separate province in 1935, Patna continued as the capital of Bihar province under the British Raj.
Bihar played a major role in the Indian independence struggle. Most notable are the Champaran movement against the Indigo plantation and the Quit India Movement of 1942.
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."
After his return from South Africa, it was from Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi launched his pioneering civil-disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha.[56]Raj Kumar Shukla drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi to the exploitation of the peasants by European indigo planters. Champaran Satyagraha received the spontaneous support from many Biharis, including Brajkishore Prasad, Rajendra Prasad (who became the first President of India) and Anugrah Narayan Sinha (who became the first Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister of Bihar).[57] 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 atMotihari, the district headquarters, Gandhiji along with his team of eminent lawyers composed of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha,Brajkishore Prasad and Ram Navami Prasad which he handpicked to 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.
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 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, Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Brajkishore Prasad.
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. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights.Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at theLucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first President.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. Bihar's contribution in the freedom struggle has been immense with outstanding leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati,[60] 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, Dr. Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi 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".
Towards the end of 1946, between October 30 and November 7, a large-scale massacre of Muslims in Bihar brought Partition closer to inevitability. Begun as a reprisal for the Noakhali riot, whose death toll had been greatly overstated in immediate reports, it was difficult for authorities to deal with because it was spread out over a large area of scattered villages, and the number of casualties was impossible to establish accurately: "According to a subsequent statement in the British Parliament, the death-toll amounted to 5,000. The Statesman's estimate was between 7,500 and 10,000; the Congress party admitted to 2,000; Mr. Jinnah claimed about 30,000."
The first Cabinet of Bihar was formed on 2 April 1946, consisting of two members, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha as the first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha as Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of Bihar (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation).Other ministers were inducted later. The Cabinet served as the first BiharGovernment after independence in 1947. In 1950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad from Bihar became the first President of India.
Modern
The 1974 smallpox epidemic of India occurred primarily in Bihar and a few other Indian states, killing thousands of people. The state of Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in the year 2000.2005 Bihar assembly elections ended the 15 years of continuous RJD rule in the state, giving way to NDA led by Nitish Kumar. Bihari migrant workers have faced violence and prejudice in many parts of India, like Maharashtra, Punjab and Assam. To mark the separation of Bihar from Bengal on March 22, 1912, the completion of 100 years of existence is being celebrated in the name of Bihar Shatabadi Celebration Utsav.