Darbhanga

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Darbhanga
दरभंगा
capital of mithilanchal
Metropolitan City
Darbhanga
Location in Bihar, India
Coordinates: 26°10′N 85°54′E / 26.17°N 85.9°E / 26.17; 85.9Coordinates: 26°10′N 85°54′E / 26.17°N 85.9°E / 26.17; 85.9
Country  India
State Bihar
District Darbhanga
Elevation 52 m (171 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 3,921,971
 • Density 1,721/km2 (4,460/sq mi)
Languages
 • Official Hindi, Urdu, Maithili
 • Other English,Bengali, Marwari, Sindhi, Punjabi, Nepali
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 8460xx
Telephone code 06272
Vehicle registration BR 07
Sex ratio 910:1000 ♂/♀
Lok Sabha constituency Darbhanga
Vidhan Sabha constituency Darbhanga, Darbhanga Rural
Website darbhanga.bih.nic.in

Darbhangā is a municipal corporation and the Town of old Darbhanga Raj and present headquarters of Darbhanga district and Darbhanga Division in the state of Bihar, India.Darbhanga has been developing rapidly.Darbhanga is 5th largest city after Patna,Gaya,Bhagalpur & Muzaffarpur in Bihar.Darbhanga is unofficial capital of Mithilanchal. It is one of the most important district and city of north Bihar situated in the very heart of Mithilanchal.[1] Darbhanga is also the headquarters of Darbhanga division. According to the latest 2011 census, the total population of the district is 3,921,971, of which about 91.30% live in rural areas. There are 511,125 people in scheduled castes, while there are only 841 people in scheduled tribes; together, they account for 15.53% of the total population. The total male population is 2,053,043, with the female population being 1,868,928. The population density is as high as 1,721 per km2 and the sex ratio is 910.[2] 290,889 families were below the poverty line, with 1,745,334 people (66.28% of the population).

History

The history of Darbhanga dates back to the Ramayana and Mahabharata periods; it is among the oldest cities of Bihar. According to the Vedic sources, the Videhas first migrated to the area from the banks of Saraswati in Punjab, they were guided to the east of Sadanira (Gandak River) by Agni, the God of Fire. Settlements were established and, thus, flourished the kingdom of the Videhas, the Selfless.

In the course of time Videhas came to be ruled by a line of kings called Janaks. In this line of kings there was a very famous king named Mithi. To commemorate his greatness the territory was named as Mithila. Another famous king was Janak Sirdhwaja, father of Sita. The legends speak of various learned men patronized by Janak Sirdhwaja, who himself was an erudite scholar. Prominent among them were Yagyavalkya, who codified the Hindu law in his Yagyavalkya Smriti and Gautam, who had various valuable philosophical treatises to his credit. King Janak was himself a great philosopher and his ideas have been eternally enshrined in the Upanishads, especially in the Brihad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣada.

The name Darbhanga is the mutated form of "Dwarbanga". That is, it is the combination of words "Dwar"(Gate) and "Banga" (Bengal) meaning "Gateway of Bengal". If one notices Bengali and Maithili, he will find many a phonetic similarities particularly in the main verbs of both the languages which ends with word sounding "Chhe".

Some scholars say that Darbhanga was named after Dar (Dwar) and Bhangaa which means broken gates. It is assumed that the gates of the Qila (at Qilaghat probably) were broken (by cannons or elephants) in 1326 AD when Tughlak forces attacked the last independent North Indian Hindu king

Hindus began to flock to this town since the beginning of 19th century when the Maharaja of Darbhanga shifted his residence to this town and was granted the title Maharaja by East India Company. It was the biggest town of North Bihar for centuries, but after Muzaffarpur was connected to broad gauge railway in mid-1970s, the latter overtook Darbhanga due to shift of trade, commerce, business and transport to some extent. Once part of the Brahman kingdom of Mithila, Darbhanga passed to the Tughlaks in the 14th century. The British assumed control in 1765.

Darbhanga was an ancient city of Mithila, which is an ancient cultural region of North India lying between the lower ranges of the Himalayas and the Ganges River. The Nepal border cuts across the top fringe of this region. The Gandak and Kosi River are rough western and eastern boundaries of Mithila.

It was seat of the Maharaja of Darbhanga. During Akbar's reign in the sixteenth century, a second Maithil Brahmin family came to rule as the Khandavala Dynasty. During this period, Akbar also planted 100,000 mango trees in Darbhanga, at a place now known as Lakhi Bagh[3] In British times, their estate, Darbhanga Raj, was the largest and richest of the great zamindari estates. Their capital was in Bhaur village in Madhubani, later shifted to the town of Darbhanga. They controlled most of Mithila until after Independence when the Republic of India abolished zamindari (Maharaja of Darbhanga was actually a zamindar entitled to add the title Maharaja in his name, besides the British title : KCIE (Knight Commander of Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire).

“ Maharajah Sir Lakhmeshwar Singh, K.C.I.E., of Darbhanga, who was only in his forty-third year at the time of his death in 1898, was in every sense the best type of the Indian nobleman and landlord. He was the leading zamindar in India, where he owned no less than 2,152 square miles (5,570 km2) with a net yearly rental of 30 lakhs, and was the recognized head of the orthodox Hindu community. His philanthropy and his munificent contributions to all public movement won him the esteem of all classes and creeds. He took an active part in public life and enjoyed a high reputation as a progressive and liberal minded statesman. With but slight interruptions he was a member of the Supreme Legislative Council from the year 1883 until his death, and latterly he sat in that body as the elected representative of the non-official members of the Bengal Council.[4] ”

The Maharaja of Darbhanga, Sir Kameshwar Singh was also an integral part of the Constituent Assembly of India and was instrumental in campaigning for retention of privy purses and land rights for rulers. He single handedly negotiated rights of various rulers and nawabs.

Maharaja of Darbhanga also spent much time in today's called kolkata, Bengal. It can be seen in various places as he has built various important places for Bengal, as in Calcutta University Building is "Darbhanga Building" Dalhousie Square and various important buildings there is also made by him. He has made great contributions to Bengal and Indian Education and society.

Search of Truth is tradition of Mithilanchal—

Languages and religion

The language spoken in this district is Maithili, however Hindi is used for official documentation[citation needed]. Maithili-Urdu in a unique style spoken by locale Muslim Community. In Darbhanga City local residents speaks a relaxed style of Maithili. Other languages spoken by their respective speakers are Bengali, Marwari, Punjabi, Sindhi and Nepali.

Religions in Darbhanga
Religion Percent
Hindus
  
 71%
Muslims
  
 27%
Christians
  
 0.2%
Jains
  
 1.4%
Others†
  
 0.4%
Distribution of religions
†Includes Sikhs (0.2%), Buddhists (<0.2%).

Demographics

As per data released by Govt. of India for Census 2011, Darbhanga is an Urban Agglomeration coming under category of Class I UAs/Towns. The Darbhanga UA region is situated in state of Bihar. The total population of Darbhanga UA/Metropolitan region is 306,089. The male population of which is 161,346 while female population is 144,743. Total Literates: 205,203. Male literates: 115,620.Female literates: 89,583.Sex ratio: 898,Child Sex Ratio: (0-6 Years)905 and Effective Literacy State Rate (7+ Pop): total Persons: 80.88,Male: 86.43,Female: 74.68, Compare to 2001 India census,[citation needed] Darbhanga City had a population of 294,116 while the district had a population of 3,295,789. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Darbhanga has an average literacy rate of 64%, which is higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 72% and, female literacy is 56%. In Darbhanga, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. Darbhanga is a place where people of different languages and religions live. There are many lingual minorities which have contributed to the development of Darbhanga.

Climate

Darbhanga has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa).

Climate data for Darbhanga
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 30.4
(86.7)		 33.9
(93)		 39.9
(103.8)		 42.0
(107.6)		 41.9
(107.4)		 43.4
(110.1)		 39.1
(102.4)		 38.4
(101.1)		 39.6
(103.3)		 39.2
(102.6)		 33.9
(93)		 29.9
(85.8)		 43.4
(110.1)
Average high °C (°F) 22.1
(71.8)		 25.8
(78.4)		 31.0
(87.8)		 34.1
(93.4)		 35.0
(95)		 34.9
(94.8)		 32.5
(90.5)		 32.8
(91)		 32.5
(90.5)		 31.6
(88.9)		 28.0
(82.4)		 24.8
(76.6)		 30.43
(86.76)
Average low °C (°F) 9.2
(48.6)		 11.0
(51.8)		 15.1
(59.2)		 19.1
(66.4)		 21.2
(70.2)		 22.9
(73.2)		 23.8
(74.8)		 24.2
(75.6)		 23.8
(74.8)		 21.2
(70.2)		 15.8
(60.4)		 10.6
(51.1)		 18.16
(64.69)
Record low °C (°F) −0.2
(31.6)		 −0.2
(31.6)		 3.9
(39)		 9.2
(48.6)		 10.4
(50.7)		 15.9
(60.6)		 18.7
(65.7)		 19.4
(66.9)		 18.9
(66)		 12.7
(54.9)		 7.2
(45)		 2.4
(36.3)		 −0.2
(31.6)
Precipitation mm (inches) 13.0
(0.512)		 14.0
(0.551)		 9.0
(0.354)		 29.0
(1.142)		 76.0
(2.992)		 139.0
(5.472)		 353.0
(13.898)		 254.0
(10)		 193.0
(7.598)		 73.0
(2.874)		 6.0
(0.236)		 7.0
(0.276)		 1,166
(45.905)
Avg. rainy days 1.6 1.7 1.6 2.6 4.6 7.6 16.4 12.2 10.5 3.4 0.5 1.0 63.7
% humidity 68 63 49 56 60 70 78 79 79 73 66 67 67.3
Source: NOAA (1971-1990)[5]

Geography

Darbhanga is located in the northern part of Bihar.

 Madhubani,
Muzaffarpur, Saharsa,
   Darbhanga  
Samastipur,

Transport

Darbhanga is well connected via rail and road services.

Railways

night view of darbhanga railway station

Darbhanga Junction is an A1+ category railway junction and a model station on the East Central Railway and is one of the most important railway junction of the state and is the busiest station of Samastipur Division as it is connected directly to all the major cities of India, viz., Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Amritsar, Patna, Nagpur, Kanpur, Ranchi, Pune, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Raipur, Bilaspur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Siwan, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Raxaul etc. The Darbhanga Junction connects very large part of North Bihar and Tarai of Nepal with rest of India as major Rail head.It is the main station of Darbhanga & Madhubani.Some main trains from Darbhanga. 1.Bagmati Express to Banglore City. 2.Bihar Sampark Kranti Superfast to New Delhi. 3.Darbhanga Puri Express to Puri. 4.Mumbai LTT Express to Lok Manya Tilak Terminal. 5.Swatantrata Senani Express to New Delhi. 6.Kolkata Express to Kolkata. 7.Darbhanga Hyderabad to Hyderabad. 8.Darbhanga Pune to Pune.etc...


One more railway station of the city is known as Laheriasarai Railway Station. Laheriasarai is the famous for the jewellary .

Roadways

Darbhanga is well connected to other parts of India through national and state highways,darbhanga is also connected to the madhubani which is located at Nepal boarder and also connected to the sitamadhi .

Bus services are available from Darbhanga to all the nearby major cities viz. Ranchi, Patna, Gaya, Forbesgunj, Kolkata, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Jamshedpur.

East-West Corridor express way, which connects the Porbandar, Gujarat to Silchar, Assam passes through Darbhanga.

Local transport

For local transport, the commuters have the options of city bus and auto-rickshaw. Auto rickshaws are the popular mode of local commuting.

Airport

Darbhanga Airport is a Longest runway airport of Bihar serving Indian Air Force at present. It is spread over a 200 acre area of the city. This was built exclusively for the use of Maharajah of Darbhanga's aeroplanes.This Airport is presently under the control of Indian Air Force. Spirit Air Pvt. Ltd started operations from Darbhanga in 2009 was forced to withdraw due to its smaller strip.Very soon Skyfisher Airways would start air service from Darbhanga to Ranchi, Kathmandu, Raxaul and Varanasi as well.


Darbhanga Aviations was a private Indian airline started by Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga. Darbhanga Aviation was started in 1950 with three Aeroplanes and became defunct by 1962.

Education

Medical College

Engineering & Technology College

University

College

Schools

Notable People From Darbhanga

Current Vice President of Nepal hails From Darbhanga

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://darbhanga.bih.nic.in/
  2. ↑ http://www.census2011.co.in/census/district/67-darbhanga.html
  3. ↑ "National Fruit". Govt. of India Official website. 
  4. ↑ Cotton, H.E.A., (1909/1980) Calcutta Old and New, pp 335-336, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  5. ↑ "Zahedan Climate Normals 1971-1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved December 22, 2012. 
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