Bhojpur Darshan

History of Bhojpur district

The present district of Bhojpur came into existence in 1992. Earlier this district was the part of old Shahabad district. In the year 1972 Shahabad district was bifurcated in two parts namely Bhojpur and Rohtas. Buxar was a sub-division of old Bhojpur district. In 1992 Buxar became a separate district and rest of Bhojpur district has now three sub-divisions-Ara Sadar, Jagdishpur and Piro. Ara town is the headquarters of the district and also its principal town. The district is bounded on the north by the district of Saran ( Bihar ) and Balia district of Uttar Pradesh; on the south by the district of Rohtas; on the West by the district of Buxar and on the East by the district of Patna, Jahanabad and Arwal.
                         Bhojpur district has a close linkage with that of its parent district of Shahabad, which had an old and interesting history. In the pre-historic days also there is evidence of the area being inhabited. The 1961 Census report of Shahabad describes the history of the district in following manner.
                         It is said that Ara, the present headquarters of the district derives its name from the Sanskrit word 'ARANYA', which means forest. It suggests that the entire area around modern Ara was heavily forested in old days. According to mythology, sage Vishwamitra, the Guru of RAMA , had his 'Ashram' somewhere in this region.
                         In the old days, Shahabad formed part of the ancient kingdom of Magadh which also contained portions of the present Patna & Gaya district. Though included in the kingdom of Emperor ASHOKA , the general absence of Buddhists' monuments from a greater part of the district suggests that it remained almost immune from the Buddhist influence of the time”.
                         The famous Chinese pilgrim, HIEUN-TSANG, who journeyed through the country in the seventh century A.D., paid a visit to Mo-Ho-Solo in Shahabad. This place has been identified with the present village Masarh, 10 k.m. west of Ara on Ara-Buxar road. The Chinese pilgrim found that the inhabitants were all Brahmins who did not respect the law of Buddha. He, therefore, felt disappointed and did not proceed to any other place in the district.
                         Not much is known about the history of the district after the fall of Guptas. In all probability it relapsed into the hands of the aboriginal tribes and came under control of petty chieftains. The most dominant people during this period were Cheros. They ruled over the greater portion of the district. Then came the Rajputs from Ujjain in the province of Malwa . Raja Bhoj was their king and the term 'Bhojpur' now applicable to the area is derived from him.
                         While encamping at Ara in 1529 after his victory over the Afghan rulers, Babar proclaimed his sovereignty over Bihar . In commemoration of this event, the place was called Shahabad, which literally means 'the city of Emperor '. This name was later applied to the Sarkar within which Ara was included and eventually toe entire district.
                         Akbar, after his accession, includes the district of Shahabad in his empire, though the control was not very tight. Akbar's General Man Singh, made efforts to organize the revenue administration of the district on a sound footing. But the local chiefs continued to resist. The Rajas of Jagdishpur and Bhojpur defied the Mughals. The Raja of Bhojpur rebelled against Jahangir. His successor Raja Pratap, was done to death by Shahjahan and the Queen was forced to many a muslim courtier. This finally quietened the Bhojpur family but stray troubles continued till the last days of Mughals. After this the District had a very uneventful history till 1857 when Kunwar Singh revolted against the Britishers in line with the Mutineers.

BHOJPURI Language

Bhojpuri  is a dialect of Hindi spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. It is spoken in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh(UP), as well as adjoining parts of the Nepal Terai. Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. The variant of Bhojpuri of the Surinamese Hindustanis, is also referred to Sarnami Hindi or just Sarnami and has experienced considerable Creole and Dutch lexical influence. More Indians in Suriname know Bhojpuri compared to Guyana and Trinidad where the language is largely forgotten.
Bhojpuri is part of the Eastern-Hindi or Bengali continuum of languages which once extended from Assam and Bengal to Benaras. While the rest of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh slowly adopted the new Hindi standard (Khadi Boli), the language remained strong in the areas between Patna and Benaras.
Bhojpuri and several closely related languages, including Maithili and Magadhi, are together known as the Bihari languages. They are part of the Eastern Zone group of Indo-Aryan languages which includes Bengali and Oriya.
The scholar, polymath and polyglot Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan wrote some works in Bhojpuri. Other eminent writers include Viveki Rai. The number of Bhojpuri writers is small compared to the number of speakers. Some other notable Bhojpuri personalities are legendary freedom fighter Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, first president of India Rajendra Prasad, Manoj Bajpai, and former Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Chandra Shekhar. Bihar Kokila Padma Shri Sharda Sinha is a famous Bhojpuri folk singer.

BHOJPURI PEOPLE

Bhojpuri people started settling down to different part of the world as early as late eighteenth century for the their livelihood as farm labourer in Oceania, Africa, Latin America and in Caribbean islands under Imperial Power of Europe. These people took in their blood the great Indian Bhojpuri Culture, the Spirituality, the love for humanity and compassion, the religious tolerance and a longing for better and prosperous life. Bhojpuri people are characterised by their love for the mother land. Their straightforwardness, simple and spiritual life. These people are normally content with what they have. They are hard working people. They are the mainstay of Indian Construction/Real Estate Industry. They are the elite and main ruling class in Fiji, Surinam, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and they are main king maker in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar. Almost 75% of ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar come from this region.

Of late the software professionals, technocrats, doctors, technicians, masons, skilled, semi-skilled workers, construction workers from this area are going abroad to USA, Canada, UK, France, Holland, Australia, Singapore, Japan etc. for better opportunity as Bhojpuri area is the one of most under developed area in terms of economic development, industrialisation. There is no large scale industries in these areas where people can get employment, in turn they leave for the other places for greener pastures.

Bhojpuri region is the land of Ram and his Ramayan. It is also land of Vishnu avatar Bhagwan Mahatma Buddha and Bhagawan Mahaveer, who were born in this region much before the evolution of Hindi/Bhojpuri and spread the messages of Peace, Non violence and Love to the mankind of whole world and laid the foundation of two world religions Jainism and Buddhism, both offshoot of Hinduism. 

Later Shershah Suri from this region (also known as Sher khan from Ara) challenged the might of Moghuls in Buxur Battle, and became the Emperor of India. He is considered the greatest Administrator of all the emperor of India and laid the foundation of unification of whole India, which were later achieved by British rulers, by constructing the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Lahore.(now NH-2 & 1) and other infrastructures. He also led the foundation of the modern city of Patna, the capital of Bihar at the site of ancient Patliputra, the first capital city of India.
The pioneer of first freedom struggle of India, Mangal Pandey belonged to this region, an ordinary sepoy in British Army, challenged the might of British ruler. Mangal Pandey ignited the spark of revolt which engulfed the whole of north India. Later Veer Kunwar Singh from Ara joined this struggle and taught a good lesson to the ruler. An eighty year old man, Veer Kunwar Singh remained invincible and could not be captured by British. While crossing the Ganges, he was shot in his left hand. As the saying goes, he cut his arm and offered it to the River Ganga. Such was the his valour and Courage.  Later on this tradition of bravery culminated into patriotism of highest order of Amar Shaheed Chadrasekhar Azad, who was born near Varanasi, spiritual capital of India.


Dr Rajendra Prasad from Chapra, the first President of India was a genius and never studied a book twice. He used to memorise whatever he read. He broke all the records of all the school and colleges wherever he studied. Be it Zila School  Chapra or Presidency College Calcutta. He is the only student in the history who has got this remark, ''Examinee is better than Examiner". He was a great Gandhian and worked for the social cause.


Sri Chandrasekhar, Ex PM of India from Ballia, is a great socialist leader and was known as young Turk of  Indian Politics and has selflessly devoted whole of his life for betterment of India & Indian Politics. He along with  Jai Prakash another bhojpuri challenged the might congress rule and broght about a new era in Indian Polity of which all other non-congress politicians  of  today were associates. The story is endless ....... and the list is never ending .......


Jaya Prakash Narayan
Jaya Prakash was born in a respectable middle-class Bihari kayasta family. His childhood was unspectacular, but while studying in the United States he came into contact with radical socialist thinking. On his return to India he found himself drawn to Gandhi and his charismatic disciple Jawaharlal Nehru. Jaya Prakash took inspiration from them and plunged into the freedom movement.
But it was in 1974, at the unlikely age of 72, that JP really became a mass leader. JP's `Total Revolution' borrowed from Gandhi in that it envisaged a process of change, both in the individual and in society, with moral values and decentralisation of economic and political power being at its core.
The call for revolution was a turning point that ousted Indira Gandhi from power and ushered in the first-ever non-Congress government at the Center. Students flocked to JP's side, among them being Arun Jaitley and Laloo Prasad Yadav, as did men as varied as Charan Singh and Morarji Desai, L.K. Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh. But for JP, who became the focal point of all those opposed to the increasingly authoritarian rule of Indira Gandhi, it is doubtful if the Janata Party would have held together for as long as it did.
Laloo Prasad Yadav * 
Laloo Prasad Yadav is a symbol: of both the subversion and the impotence of the system, of the fact that however low politicians sink, there will always be someone who will sink lower in a bid to hold on to power.
Yet when he began, Laloo Yadav had some ideals and was seen as the quintessential grassroots man. He seemed to want to end corruption and make public servants accountable. There were raids upon police stations, hospitals, the electric supply and public departments. He punished, passed edicts, ate with the villagers and looked after his cows.
He has a thorough grasp of political gamesmanship. In making his wife Rabri Devi chief minister when pushed off the brink, he can claim a difference of degree more than an absence of precedent; he could point to the Nehru-Gandhis, the NTRs, the MGRs; also the Bandarnaikes and the Bhuttos as examples of typical rule in the region.