Bihari people
Biharis (Bhojpuri/Hindi: बिहारी, Urdu: بِہاری) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group originating from the state of Bihar in India with a history going back three millennia. Biharis speak Hindi, Urdu, Magahi, Bhojpuri, Maithili and other local dialects. They can trace their ancestry to the early Indo-Aryans, as well as Austro-Asiatic Munda inhabitants of the region. Besides Bihar, Biharis can be found throughout North India, West Bengal, Maharashtra and also in the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Pakistan. A large number of people from Bihar travelled to various parts of the world in the 19th century to serve as indentured labour on sugarcane and rubber plantations in Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, Mauritius and Natal-South Africa. During partition of India in 1947, many Biharis of the Islamic faith migrated to East Bengal (later East Pakistan and subsequently Bangladesh).
Pre-history
Mythological stories claim that Bihar was the place where King Satyavrata (सत्यव्रत) of the Pandya Dynasty resided after the flood in his kingdom, with the help of Vishnu-Avatar Matsya.[ P. 1543 Encyclopaedia of Hinduism By Nagendra Kumar Singh ] A king of the Yadavas, nicknamed "Mahabali" ruled over this last in the very ancient times. He was impotent. His guru was Maharishi Dirghatamas. Mahabali had many wives and so Maharishi Dirghatamas with the permission of his king impregnated Mahabali's chief queen Sudeshna.[ Chakravarti, P. 99 The Concept of Rudra-Śiva Through the Ages] Queen Sudeshna bore five children or "Kshetrajas" (rulers of lands), one of them was King Anga, which is modern-day Bihar. From Anga sprang Anapana Anapana.[ Political History of Pre-Buddhist India By Asim Kumar Chatterjee ]
According to the historian Asim Maitra, the history of Magadha from the earliest times to the dawn of the Buddhist age is not well known. The entire Vedic literature displays open hostility and disgus towards Magadha, because Magadha was a great stronghold of the pre-Aryans and refused to be absorbed in the sterotyped Brahmanical pattern. Before the discovery of the ruins of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, the cyclopen walls on the hills of Rajagriha were an ancient archaeological remains in India. [Maitra Asim, Magahi culture, Cosmo Publication, 1983, pp. 45]
History
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Bihar was called "Magadha" in ancient times. From Magadha arose two traditions, Jainism and Buddhism. The first Indian empire, the Maurya empire, originated from Magadha, with its capital at Patliputra (modern Patna) in 325 BC. The Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka, is believed to be one of the greatest rulers in the history of India and the world. After seeing all the carnage that war causes he was placed on the path of Lord Buddha by his spiritual guide Manjushri.[ A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, by Fa-hsien (chapter27) ]
According to indologist A.L. Basham, the author of the book The Wonder that was India,
Bihar remained an important place of power, culture and education during the next one thousand years. The Gupta Empire, which again originated from Magadha in 240CE, is referred to as the Golden Age of India in science, mathematics, astronomy, religion and Indian philosophy. The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. Historians place the Gupta dynasty alongside with the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Roman Empire as a model of a classical civilization. The capital of Gupta empire was Pataliputra, present day Patna. The Vikramshila and Nalanda Universities, were among the oldest and best centres of education in ancient India. Some writers believe the period between the 400 CE and 1000 CE saw gains by Hinduism at the expense of Buddhism.[Online BBC News Article: Religion & Ethics - Hinduism,BBC News, 2 January 2007][Pathak Prabhu Nath,Society and Culture in Early Bihar, Commonwealth Publishers, 1988, pp. 134-140][Thakur U.,Studies in Jainism and Buddhism in Mithila, pp. 150][Chaudhary R. K.,Bihar the Home-land of Buddhism, Patna, 1956, pp. 87] Although the Hindu kings gave much grants to the Buddhist monks for building Brahmaviharas. A National Geographic edition[ January 2008, VOL. 213, #1 ] reads, "The essential tenants of Buddhism and Hinduism arose from similar ideas best described in the Upanishads, a set of Hindu treatises set down in India largely between the eighth and fourth centuries B.C."
The Buddhism of Magadha was finally swept away by the Muhammadan invasion under Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, during which many of the viharas and the famed universities of Nalanda and Vikramshila were destroyed, and thousands of Buddhist monks were massacred in 12th century C.E.[Gopal Ram, Rule Hindu Culture During and After Muslim, pp. 20, "Some invaders, like Bakhtiar Khilji, who did not know the value of books and art objects, destroyed them in large numbers and also the famous Nalanda ..."][The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 8) ][Omalley L.S.S., History of Magadha, Veena Publication, Delhi, 2005, pp. 35, "The Buddhism of Magadha was finally swept away by the Muhammadan invasion under Bakhtiyar Khilji, In 1197 the capital, Bihar, was seized by a small party of two hundred hoursemen, who rushed the postern gate, and sacked the town. The slaughter of the "shaven-headed Brahmans," as the Muhammadan chronicler calls the Buddhist monks, was so complete that when the victor searched for some one capable of explaining the contents of the monastic libraries, not a living man could be found who was able to do so. "It was discovered," it was said, "that the whole fort and city was a place of study." A similar fate befell the other Buddhist institutions, against which the combined intolerance and rapacity of the invaders was directed. The monasteries were sacked and the monks slain, many of the temples were ruthlessly destroyed or desecrated, and countless idols were broken and trodden under foot. Those monks who escaped the sword flied to Tibet, Nepal and southern India; and Buddhism as a popular religion in Bihar, its last abode in Northern India, was finally destroyed. Then forward Patna passed under Muhammadan rule."][ Smith V. A., Early history of India]
The region saw a brief period of glory for six years (1540 -1546 CE) during the rule of Sher Shah Suri, who built the longest road of the Indian subcontinent, the Grand Trunk Road. 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.[Omalley L.S.S., History of Magadha, Veena Publication, Delhi, 2005, pp. 36, "Sher Shah on his return from Bengal, in 1541, came to patna, then a small town dependent on Bihar, which was the seat of the local government. He was standing on the ban of the Ganges, when, after much reflection, he said to those who were standing by - 'If a fort were to be built in this place, the waters of the Ganges could never flow far from it, and Patna would become one of the great towns of this country. The fort was completed.. Bihar for that time was deserted, and fell to ruin; while Patna became one of the largest cities of the province.. In 1620 we find Portuguese merchants at Patna; and Tavernier's account shows that a little more the a century after its foundation it was the great entrepot of Northern India "the largest town in Bengal and the most famous for trade..."][Elliot, History of India, Vol 4] During 1557-1576, Akbar, the Mughal emperor, annexed Bihar and Bengal to his empire.[Omalley L.S.S., History of Magadha, Veena Publication, Delhi, 2005, pp. 37] With the decline of the Mughals, Bihar passed under the control of the Nawabs of Bengal. Thus, the medieval period was mostly one of anonymous provincial existence.
The 10th and the last Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh was born in Patna.
After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the British East India Company obtained the diwani rights (rights to administer, and collect revenue or tax) for Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. 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. In 1935, certain portions of Bihar were reorganised into the separate province of Orissa.
Babu Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur and his army, as well as countless other persons from Bihar, contributed to the India's First War of Independence (1857), also called the Sepoy Mutiny by some historians. Resurgence in the history of Bihar came during the struggle for India's independence. It was from Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi launched his pioneering civil-disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha. 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 Sri Krishna Sinha, the first Chief Minister of Bihar, Rajendra Prasad, who became the first President of India and Anugrah Narayan Sinha who ultimately became the
In North and Central Bihar, peasants movement was an important side effect of the freedom movement. This movement aimed at overthrowing the feudal (zamindari) system instituted by Britishers. It was being led by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and his followers Pandit Yamuna Karjee, Rahul Sankrityayan, Pandit Karyanand Sharma, Baba Nagarjun and others. Pandit Yamuna Karjee along with Rahul Sankritayan and a few others 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.
Bihar's contribution in the Indian freedom struggle has been immense with outstanding leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sri Krishna Sinha, Dr.Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Brajkishore Prasad, Mulana Mazharul Haque, Jayaprakash Narayan, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Basawon Singh, Rameshwar Prasad Sinha, Yogendra Shukla, Baikuntha Shukla, Sheel Bhadra Yajee, Pandit Yamuna Karjee and many others who worked for India's freedom relentlessly and helped in the upliftment of the underprivileged masses.
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.
Cuisine
The cuisine of Bihar for the Hindu upper and middle classes is predominantly vegetarian, although some of the Hindu classes do eat meat. The Muslims in Bihar however do generally eat meat as well as vegetables. The staple food is bhat (boiled rice), dal, roti, tarkari and achar. It is prepared from rice, lentils, wheat flour, vegetables, and pickle. The traditional cooking medium is mustard oil. Khichdi, a broth of rice and lentils seasoned with spices and served with several accompanying items, constitutes lthe mid-day meal for most Hindu Biharis on Saturdays. The favourite dish among Biharis is litti-chokha. Litti is made up of sattu and chokha is made of smashed potatoes, tomatoes, and brinjals.
Chitba and Pitthow which are prepared basically from rice, are special foods of the Anga region. Tilba and Chewda of Katarni rice are also special preparations of Anga. Kadhi bari is a popular favorite and consists of fried soft dumplings made of besan (gram flour) that are cooked in a spicy gravy of yoghurt and besan. This dish goes very well with plain rice.
Bihar offers a large variety of sweet delicacies which, unlike those from Bengal, are mostly dry. These include Anarasa, Belgrami, Chena Murki, Motichoor ke Ladoo, Kala Jamun, Kesaria Peda, Khaja, Khurma, Khubi ki Lai, Laktho, Parwal ki Mithai, Pua & Mal Pua, Thekua, Murabba and Tilkut. Many of these originate in towns in the vicinity of Patna. Several other traditional salted snacks and savouries popular in Bihar are Chiwra, Dhuska, Litti, Makhana and Sattu.
There is a distinctive Bihari flavor to the non-vegetarian cuisine as well, although some of the names of the dishes may be the same as those found in other parts of North India. Roll is a typical Bihari non-vegetarian dish. These are popular and go by the generic name Roll Bihari in and around Lexington Avenue (South) in New York City.
Islamic culture and food, with Bihari flavor are also part of Bihar`s unique confluence of cultures. Famous food items include Biharee Kabab, Shami Kabab, Nargisi Kufte, Shabdeg, Yakhnee Biryanee, Motton Biryani, Shaljum Gosht, Baqer Khani, Kuleecha, Naan Rootee, Sawee ka Zarda, Qemamee Sawee, Gajar ka Halwa, Ande ka ZfraniHalwa etc.
Clothing
The traditional dress of Bihari people includes the dhoti, kurta-pyjama, and sari.
Language & literature
Hindi and Urdu are the official languages of the state, whilst the majority of the people speak one of the Bihari languages - Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili or Angika. Bihari languages were once mistakenly thought to be dialects of Hindi, but they has been more recently shown to be descendant of the language of the erstwhile Magadha kingdom - Magadhi Prakrit, along with Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya.
The number of speakers of Bihari languages are difficult to indicate because of unreliable sources. In the urban region most educated speakers of the language name Hindi as their language because this is what they use in formal contexts and believe it to be the appropriate response because of unawareness. The uneducated and the rural population of the region return Hindi as the generic name for their language. [Jain Dhanesh, Cardona George, The Indo-Aryan Languages, pp500, "..the number of speakers of Bihari languages are difficult to indicate because of unreliable sources. In the urban region most educated speakers of the language name Hindi as their language because this is what they use in formal contexts and believe it to be the appropriate response because of unawareness. The uneducated and the rural population of the region return Hindi as the generic name for their language."]
Despite of the large number of speakers of Bihari languages, they have not been constitutionally recognized in India. Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters in Bihar.[History of Indian languages,"Bihari is actually the name of a group of three related languages—Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Magahi—spoken mainly in northeastern India in Bihar. Despite its large number of speakers, Bihari is not a constitutionally recognized language of India. Even in Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters."] These languages was legally absorbed under the subordinate label of HINDI in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerments.
The first success for spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the sole official language of the province. In this struggle between competing Hindi and Urdu, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region - Magahi, Bhojpuri and Maithili were ignored. After independence Hindi was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950. [ Brass Paul R., The Politics of India Since Independence, Cambridge University Press, pp. 183] Urdu became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar on 16 August 1989.
Bihar has produced a number of writers of Hindi, including Raja Radhika Raman Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksh Benipuri, Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Gopal Singh "Nepali" and Baba Nagarjun. Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, the great writer and Buddhist scholar, was born in U.P. but spent his life in the land of Lord Buddha, i.e., Bihar.Hrishikesh Sulabh is the prominent writer of the new generation. He is short story writer, playwright and theatre critic. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional languages also have produced some prominent poets and authors. Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who is among the greatest writers in Bangla, resided for some time in Bihar. Of late, the latest Indian writer in English, Upamanyu Chatterjee also hails from Patna in Bihar. Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such as Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Vidyapati Thakur is the most renowned poet of Maithili (c. 14-15th century).
Religion
Hinduism is the majority religion of the Bihari people although a large Muslim and a smaller Christian minority exists among the ethnic group.
Among the Hindus, the Bhumihar Brahmins, other Brahmins, Rajput, Kurmi, Yadav, Banias, and Kayastha castes are well represented.
Mauritius, Guyana, Fiji, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago
A large number of people from Bihar travelled to various parts of the world in the 19th century to serve as indentured labour on sugarcane and rubber plantations in Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, Mauritius and Natal-South Africa.
Pakistan and Bangladesh
In 1947, at the time of Partition, many Muslim Biharis moved to what was then East Bengal adjacent to their Bihar province in eastern India. In 1971, when war broke out between West Pakistan and East Pakistan (or Bangladesh), the Biharis sided with the military of West Pakistan.
However, when East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh in December 1971, the Biharis were left behind as the Pakistani army and civilians evacuated and the Bihari population in Bangladesh found themselves unwelcome in both countries. Pakistan feared a mass influx of Biharis could destabilize a fragile and culturally mixed population, and Bangladeshis scorned the Biharis for having supported and sided with the West during the war.
With little or no legal negotiation about offering the Biharis Pakistani citizenship or safe conduit back home to their native Bihar in India, the Biharis (called stranded Pakistanis by politically biased Bangladeshi politicians) have remained stateless for 33 years. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not addressed the plight of the Biharis. An estimated 600,000 Biharis live in 66 camps in 13 regions across Bangladesh, and an equal number have acquired Bangladeshi citizenship.
In 1990, a small number of Biharis were allowed to immigrate to Pakistan due to the efforts of MQM, which is still campaigning for their return. Their arrival caused much resentment among the Sindhi and Punjabi Pakistanis who are averse to bringing in more Urdu speaking people into the country despite following the same religion. This is an interesting reversal of positions in light of the fact that Pakistan was created as a homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent, and therefore over 4-5 million Muslims from India migrated to Pakistan under great duress and difficulty during the late 1940s and 1950s. These immigrants provided the main backbone for economic survival of Pakistan during the early years.
The arrival of the Biharis also aggravated the ethnic tensions existing in Pakistan. Pakistan has reiterated that as the successor state of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) , as well as having greater cultural and linguistic similarities with Bengalis, Bangladesh should accept the Biharis as full citizens. While current Pakistani politicians and government officials of Sindhi, Punjabi and Pathan origin have refused to accept these nearly 600,000 stranded Pakistanis of Bihari origin, the very same politicians welcomed over 6 million Afghanis for over 30 years as refugees during the 1980s and 1990s. Thus, the Pakistani argument that the stranded Biharis would be a burden on Pakistan was weak.
The majority of Biharis in Pakistan live in Karachi, where Orangi Town has the highest concentration of them while those in Bangladesh are allowed to live in specific camps only mostly within Dhaka city. Due to not having citizenship, most engage in odd jobs of various sorts but considerable crime and thefts has also been attributed to them.
In May 2008, a Bangladeshi court ruled that Biharis who were either minors in 1971 or born after 1971 are Bangladeshi citizens and have the right to vote.
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