Bihar

Area: 103,006 square km
Capital: Patna
Main language: Hindi
Population: 82,878,796 (2004)

The northern state of Bihar is one of the most backward and depressed in India. Its tightly packed population scratches a bare living from rice growing. For travellors, Bihar is usually little more than a place to be crossed, with perhaps a pause in Patna if they are heading for Nepal by land.

25 centuries ago this was the capital of the greatest empire in India for Ashoka ruled his kingdom from Pataliputra, where Patna is today. Furthermore Bihar was a great religious centre for Jains, Hindus and, most important, Buddhists. It was at Bodhgaya that the Buddha sat under the Bo tree and attained enlightenment and a descendant of that original tree still flourishes there today. Nearby Nalanda was a world famous university for the study of Buddhism in the 5th century AD while Rajgir was associated with both the Buddha and with the Jain apostle Mahavira.

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