IMPORTANT PLACES

VAISHALI DISTT-

Vaishali derives its name from King Vishal of the Mahabharata age. Even before the advent of Buddhism and Jainism, Vaishali was the capital of the vibrant republican Licchavi state since before the birth of Mahavira (c. 599 BC), which suggests that it was perhaps the first republic in the world, similar to those later found in ancient Greece.[1] In that period, Vaishali was an ancient metropolis and the capital city of the republic of the Vaishali state, which covered most of the Himalayan Gangetic region of present-day Bihar state, India. Very little is known about the early history of Vaishali. The Vishnu Purana records 34 kings of Vaishali, the first being Nabhaga, who is believed to have abdicated his throne over a matter of human rights and believed to have declared: "I am now a free tiller of the soil, king over my acre." The last among the 34 was Sumati, who is considered a contemporary of Dasaratha, father of the Hindu god, Lord Rama.

Numerous references to Vaishali are found in texts pertaining to both Jainism and Buddhism, which have preserved much information on Vaishali and the other Maha Janapadas. Based on the information found in these texts, Vaishali was established as a republic by the 6th century BC, prior to the birth of Gautama Buddha in 563, making it the world's first republic.

In the republic of Vaishali, Lord Mahavira was born. Gautama Buddha delivered his last sermon at Vaishali and announced his Parinirvana there. Vaishali is also renowned as the land of Ambapali (also spelled as Amrapali), the great Indian courtesan, who appears in many folktales, as well as in Buddhist literature. Ambapali became a disciple of Buddha.

A kilometre away is Abhishek Pushkarini, the coronation tank. The sacred waters of the tank anointed the elected representatives of Vaishali. Next to it stands the Japanese temple and the Vshwa Shanti Stupa (World Peace Pagoda) built by the Nipponzan Myohoji sect of Japan. A small part of the Buddha's relics found in Vaishali have been enshrined in the foundation and in the chhatra of the Stupa. Near the coronation tank is Stupa 1 or the Relic Stupa. Here the Lichchavis reverentially encased on of the eight portions of the Master's relics, which they received after the Mahaparinirvana. After his last discourse the Awakened One set out for Kushinagar, but the Licchavis kept following him. Buddha gave them his alms bowl but they still refused to return. The Master created an illusion of a river in spate which compelled them to go back. This site can be identified with Deora in modern Kesariya village, where Ashoka later built a stupa. Ananda, the favourite disciple of the Buddha, attained Nirvana in the midst of the Ganga outside Vaishali.

IARI-

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) is the country's premier national Institute for agricultural research, education and extension. It has served the cause of science and society with distinction through first rate research, generation of appropriate technologies and development of human resources. In fact, the Green Revolution was born in the fields of IARI and our graduates constitute the core of the quality human resource in India's agricultural research and education. The Institute has all along been adjusting and improving its policies, plans and programmes to effectively respond to the needs and opportunities of the nation. During the fifties, the advancement of scientific disciplines constituted the core programme and provided the base for its fast expansion in the 1960's and 1970's in all its three interactive areas, namely, research, education and extension. Besides basic research, applied and commodity research gained great importance resulting in the development of several popular high yielding varieties of almost all major crops and their associated management technologies, which brought about an unprecedented increase in the national food and agricultural production.

DARBHANGA-

he 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-âraṇyaka Upaniṣada.

Traditions also speak of Kapila's relationship with this area that propounded the Sankhya philosophy. The association of this area with the Pandavas is also evident by the popular belief that they stayed here during their period of exile.

The learned men like Vidyâpati, Kumâril Bhatt, Mandan Mishra, and Nâgârjun belonged to this region.

Darbhanga is a town with a population of nearly 3 lakhs. Darbhanga was named after Dar (Dwar) + Bhangaa which means gates+broken ; it is guessed that 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 Harisinghdeva (of the Karnaata Chalukya dynasty from Karnataka) who ruled over North Bihar and most of Nepal. Historians guess that the capital of Harisinghdeva was situated near foothills of Himalayas, Haraahi pond in Darbhanga is named after Harisinghdeva and the pond Gangaasarar is named after his ancestor Gangadeva who was son of Naanyadeva, the founder of this dynasty; Naanyadeva was a chieftain of Chalukya king Vikramaditya-VI of Karnatak who had successfully invaded North India in the end of 11th century. 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, and gradually Hindus surpassed Muslims in population, but Muslims still constitute over 36% of population of this town. 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 Rivers are rough western and eastern boundaries of Mithila. In the year 1326 Mithila was invaded by Afghans, who deposed the Kshatriya ruler and placed a Maithil Brahman in control of land revenues over much of this region. This family soon began calling themselves kings, distributing land to other members of their caste, so that gradually land passed into the control of Maithil Brahmans. It is a noteworthy seat of the Maharaja of Darbhanga. During Akbar's reign in the sixteenth century, a second Maithil Brahman family came to rule as the Khandavala Dynasty. By 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 zanindar entitled to add the title Maharaja in his name, besides the British title KCIE).

The Maharaja of Darbhanga, 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.

Darbhanga city is essentially a twin city with Darbhanga tower and Laheriasarai tower at its two ends. Laheriasarai has been named after the famous Lahri walas whose traditional occupation was to weave textiles and make bangles especially of Lah, imported from Ranchi and other places.