CULTURE OF BIHAR
Bihar has a
unique culture among all the states of INDIA starting from the ancient
history and culture to traditions,folks,languages and all other aspects.
There is a typical word "BIHARI" for the people of Bihar,people of
Bihar live in their own joyful world with their unique language and
traditions,their characters and humanism depends on the different
persons thinking about them as Biharis have a little different
language
tone then in other states of the country. Bihar is famous for
literature,visual art,unique language and moreover great festivals.
LANGUAGES OF BIHAR
The official language of Bihar is HINDI, URDU is given the second preference for the official language of Bihar, before 1989 URDU and HINDI both were recognized as the official language of Bihar. Despite this Bhojpuri,Magahi and Maithli were also given preference but the race ended with Hindi as official language,Maithili language has a great origin and is most sophisticated for the people of Bihar but is confined to Mithila and in the area of Nepal across the nation's border. Other local and famous known languages of Bihar are BHOJPURI, MAITHILI, ANGIKA(oldest language), MAGAHI, and URDU.
People of Bihar mostly speak BHOJPURI and MAGAHI along with MAITHILI.,nowadays BHOJPURI movies are also made as a result of which actors from Bihar are growingg and they don't need to go to cities like Mumbai(bollywood city) to show their tallent and earn from it,as
Bihar is connected through many borders with Nepal,people there have
acquired the language as a result of migration and other factors.For Bihari's it doesn't matter that what type of language is being used to speak,they use to see the tone of the language and the temper of the person, language of the person standing infront must be heart wining if this is so then they can do anything for you,this is the speciality of Bihari's.
RELIGIONS IN BIHAR
Bihar mainly contains the people
who are HINDU, most of the population in Bihar is acquired by HINDUS,
MUSLIMS are also the second largest religion while others are very minor
and less in numbers,Muslim community are mainly found in town areas of Bihar as a huge belt in that region,both the religion are integrated with each other and give respect to each other for social causes. Both the religions live with brotherhood relationship and work continuously and dedicately for the growth of Bihar,people of both the religions participate in each others festivals with total devotion and respect for the other religion. People from Christian community can be also seen in Bihar but less in number,obviously there are some christian missionaries and charitable trusts in Bihar but this thing is confined only to the school based where teachers and other members are imported from south India as in south India there are huge no. of christians. Religion had nothing to do with Bihar nor it is now,all people with different religions are treated equal in Bihar. This community has never put religion change effects in Bihar as other religions are well established and do not need support of others to survive. There is no history of riot in Bihar based on the religion but other states do have as a political issue or more than that .
FOLK DANCE
There are very famous folk dances of Bihar based on different communities and in the festivals they are used.
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JAT JATIN DANCE |
JAT JAATIN is a folk dance of Bihar mainly,JHOOMAR NACH, GOND NACH,
KATHGHORWA NACH(famous one), DHOBI NACH, JITIYA NACH based on a festival
JITIYA, MOR MORNI NACH, DOM DOMIN NACH, BHUIBABA NACH, LAUNDA NACH,NATUA
NACH,SOHRAI NACH, BAMAR NACH, BIDAPAD NACH, JHIJHIYA NACH, JHARANI
NACH, MANJHI NACH and many other dances are from this state. Here a
typical Indian word is used "NACH" which means DANCE in Indian hindi
language.
FOOD CULTURE OF BIHAR
Bihar has an ancient
culture of cuisine food with its long history,the main course of food
is RICE which is a staple food for Biharis,Rice is consumed by everyone
in Bihar but the thing which differs is the quality of Rice, rich people consume superior quality of Rice.
The Bihari food consists of mainly Bhat(rice), Daal(lentil), Tarkari(vegetable), Achaar(pickle) and Chutney.
There is a very famous fast food called
LITTI CHOKHA,this is consumed by all the age groups.
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LITTI CHOKHA |
There are also other types of specialised food in Bihar-
PITTHA(cake of rice),
PUA(prepared from milk,powdered rice,added sugar, honey and special ghee),
TILKUTA(prepared from sesame seeds,most famous is of GAYA district ),
KHAJJA(preapared from flour and sugar),
PERA(sweetmeat made from sugar and milk product),
LAI(from beaten rice and sugar).
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PITTHA |
Some home products are-
Paratha, Sattu, Kheer, Seek kabab, Curry, Khichdi, Halwa, Keema, Sewai etc..
In Makar Sakranti festival people of Bihar have a special tradition to eat TILKUTA and LAI which are home made.Non veg items from Bihar are Goat meat, Pig meat, Deer meat(rare), Peacock meat, Fish, Cock meat and many more.
FESTIVALS OF BIHAR
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DURGA PUJA |
There are various festivals which are celebrated in Bihar, the most important is
CHHATH PUJA in which arghya is given to the SUN considering it as GOD as it provides us light, various types of vitamins and kills germs,CHHATH PUJA is the biggest festival for the people of Bihar as it is celebrated with whole devotion,it is said about CHHATH PUJA that a mother does this worship to protect his beloved son from any type of danger or for the long life of his son,this indicates that how much a mother loves his son in Bihar and how affectionate she is because there is a two day fast which a mother keeps for the long life of his son without drinking a drop of water.
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CHHATH PUJA |
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DEEPAWALI |
Other important festivals are DEEPAWALI(festival of
small clay lamps), HOLI(festival of colours), DURGA PUJA(festival of
lordess DURGA),
RAKSHA BANDHAN(festival of thread of protection), JITIYA, TEEJ, KARWA CHAUTH(for long liveness of husbands of women),
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SARASWATI PUJA |
MAKAR SANKRANTI, SARASWATI PUJA, NAG PANCHAMI, BHAIYA DOOJ, GOVARDHAN PUJA, RAMNAVAMI, SHIVRATRI, IED, BAKRID, CHRISTMAS,
MADHUSHRAVANI, BIHULA, SAMA CHAKEVA and many other.
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KARWA CHAUTH |
All these festivals are celebrated with joy and passion,most of the festivals are related with the ancient GOD AND GODDESS.
SCHOLARS AND GREAT PERSONS FROM BIHAR
ARYABHATTA- The great mathematician who invented ZERO,he was a great astronomer too.
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ARYABHATTA
THE GREAT MATHEMATICIAN |
MAHARSHI VALMIKI- He
isknown as Adi kavi,he wrote the epic RAMAYANA an the ancient time,he
was a great guru of all,and is known as the father of Sanskrit language.
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MAHARSHI VALMIKI |
GODDESS SITA-Former
wife of Lord RAM of the RAMAYANA,the birth place is in Bihar i.e.
Punaura dham,sitamarhi district,while ploughing the field king Janak
found her in a matka,she is known as Dharatiputri.
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GODDESS SITA |
MAHAVIRA-He is the idol of the religion JAIN,he was born in vaishali district of Bihar.
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MAHAVIRA |
BUDDHA- He was a great spritual
teacher on whose teachings Buddhism was founded,he meditated under the
Banayan tree and devoted his whole life to GOD,it is said that he earned
the knowledge under that tree. He was being treated as god.
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LORD GAUTAM BUDDHA |
VATSAYANA- He was a hindu philospher in Vedic traditions,he is known as the mythical creator as well as the GOD of erotic science who wrote kama sutra.
PANINI-
He was the great sanskrit gramarian who formulated 3959 rules in
grammar making his lifetime acheivement which our people read today
also.
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PANINI |
CHANAKYA- A student of the
ancient TAKSHSHILA UNIVERSITY,who was a great economist,political leader
and advisor in the Maurya empire,he is credited for the establishment
of Maurya empire which is the oldest empire and has ruled the whole
India.
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CHANAKYA |
CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA- He was the
founder of the MAURYA empire,he conquered almost all the subcontinents
of India and is also known as the first unifier of India as well as its
genuine empire. There is a great history behind him.
ASHOKA
THE GREAT- Ashoka the great was a great emperor of India who ruled over
whole India and had conquered many states in India. At last he followed
the teachings of Gautam Buddha after winning the battle of Kalinga(a
place in Orissa).
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ASHOKA THE GREAT |
KALIDASA-
He was the great dramatarian and greatest poet of sanskrit language,he
had written many plays,is known as classical writer of sanskrit,he was
believed to have the extraordinary power of poetry as a gift from
kalidasa when he was gong to sucide.
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KALIDASA |
SAMUDRAGUPTA- He was the ruler
of Gupta dynasty ,he acquired his name likely from the ocean and was the
succesor of his father to rule the kingdom even after his so many elder
brothers. He was a great king of his time who conquered and ruled over
several kingdoms.
GONU JHA- He was a maithil brahmin ,the
famous comedian and most intelligent scholar at the time of the king
Hari Singh in his state. He used to solve the toughest problems within
seconds,he was having an extra brilliant knowledge about trade.
RAJENDRA
PRASAD- The first PRESIDENT of India was from Bihar,home was Jeeradei
in the district of siwan. He was the one in whose answer sheet the
teacher wrote "EXAMINEE IS BETTER THEN EXAMINER", that answer sheet is
still kept in the museum.
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DR. RAJENDRA PRASAD |
NAVINCHANDRA RAMGOOLAM- The great politician from
Bihar and was the prime minister of Mauritius,he is a great medical
surgeon trained from Royal college of surgeons,Dublin,Ireland.
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DR NAVINCHANDRA RAMGOOLAM |
ANEROOD JUGNAUTH- President of Mauritius and was prime minister too,great politican of mauritius from jugnauth family.
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ANEROOD JUGNAUTH |
KABIR-Kabir was brought up by a muslim
weaver family and there he spend his childhood in Lehartara, Ramananda
was the guru of Kabir since his childhood. Kabir is famous for hid
DOHA'S and now also his dohas are taught in different schools and
spiritual places because it had much of knowledge including practical
life and the way of living.
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KABIR |
VASHISHTHA NARAYAN SINGH-He is from BHOJPUR district of BIHAR in the village of VASANTPUR. He is a great mathematician of BIHAR, he solves the problems of Maths with a minimum of 12 methods,there is a long story about him,the story ends with this thing that he got mentally unfit due to his wife after she destroyed all his documents in anger. He always has a Flute,Pen and a copy with him 24 hours.
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Vashishth Narayan Singh |
RAHIM
SHER SHAH SURI
GURU GOVIND SINGH
JAYPRAKASH NARAYANA
BIDHAN CHANDRA ROY
BISMILLAH KHAN
JANKI BALLABH SHASHTRI
ASHOK KUMAR
TAPAN SINHA
PARMANAD JHA
BALMIKI PRASAD SINGH
SWAMI SHAHJANAND SARASWATI
RAM SHARAN SHARMA
BALMIKI PRASAD SINGH
VIDYAPATI
RAMDHARI SINGH DINKAR
DEVKI NANDAN KHATRI
NAGARJUN
RAMBRIKSH BENIPURI
KALANATH MISHRA
RAJKAMAL JHA
GEORGE ORWELL
The
list is very long so sorting the best of them and mentioning above
Bihar is a very great state with ancient heritage and traditions.Bihar
has the biggest SULPHUR store under the mountains in RAJGIR,the central
government is deciding to take those sulphur out of the mountains as it
will be very helpful to Indian economy but the traditions and religious
group of India is not letting them to do so due to various factors.
NALANDA UNIVERSITY -
BIGGEST AND LARGEST UNIVERSITY OF THE WORLD IN ANCIENT TIMES
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SEAL OF THE NALANDA
UNIVERSITY |
The first university of the world biggest
and largest was about 89 kms south east of Patna,capital of Bihar this
university was located in NALANDA district. An ancient center for higher
learning and education,this university was famous all over the world
for its exraordinary quality education,it was mainly a Buddhist center
of higher learning from 5th CE to 1197 CE,the whole university was
founded and made by red bricks,and at present its ruins occupy an area
of about 14 hectares,though the university was very big as the students
used to get training on the herbs and regions of the mountains,about one
tenth of the university is only excavated and known to us as 14
hectares.
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A PLAN OF NALANDA UNIVERSITY |
Students from all over the world like
China,Tibet,Greece,Japan,Bhutan,Nepal,Sri lanka,Persia and many other
countries were attracted towards this university for higher learning.
The university was destroyed by an Turkic invader Bakhtiyar Khilji in in
the year 1193 and the library was set to burn,Nalanda university had
the biggest store of quality and extra knowledgeble books in the world,
invader transported important books to their country but
the library burnt for around 6 months ,such was the library of great NALANDA UNIVERSITY .
Thousands of monks were burned alive and many others were beheaded
as Bakhtiyar khilji wanted to totally demolish the buddhhism,but this
was a milestone to the decline of the great Buddhism in India.
The
university was invaded two times before its final destruction but was
unsuccesful,the two invaders were HUNS but Skandagupta(455-467AD) proved
to be good for the university as he restored the university with new
greater buildings and large area of stores then the building survived
even more days,the second invasion was done by GAUDAS in early 7th
century but this time also the university was revived by hindu king
HARSHVARDHANA(606-648 AD).
The
library contained thousands of volumes buddhist books and the education
was given for the all aspect of life all available branches including
Philosphical, Medical, Engineering, History, Law, Metallurgy,
Architectecture, Linguistics, ASTRONOMY, Arts and many other known
branches too,surgerical aspect of the study was famous of Nalanda
university.
IT had more
then 10,000 students from all over the world with 2,000 extra tallented
faculties from the globe,the education of the university had set a
history to best doctors, engineers, lawers, architects, philosphers,
astronomers and others from Bihar.
I salute to such a great state which is still developing and is the
second largest growing state of India. I invite you all to have a visit
in such state see the culture and traditions.
WELCOME TO BIHAR!!
THANK YOU