Bihar

One of the states in modern northern
India, sandwiched between Uttar
Pradesh and West Bengal, with Nepal
on its northern border. Bihar has an
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Bihar
incredibly rich history; it was the ancestral homeland of the Maurya dynasty,
which ruled over much of the Indian
subcontinent between the fourth and
third centuries before the common era.
The capital city was at Pataliputra, identified with modern Patna. Bihar also
contains the town of Bodh Gaya, where
the Buddha attained enlightenment,
in addition to many other places
associated with events in his life.
Despite this lush past, modern Bihar
is an extremely difficult place to live;
illiteracy and infant mortality rates are
very high, life expectancy is fairly low,
and social conditions can best be
described as feudal. Most of its citizens
can barely make a living and do so
through agriculture, while a small percentage are fabulously wealthy. Bihar is
also a textbook example of what modern
Indians call the “criminalization of politics,” in which known criminals are
either agents for politicians or are themselves holding political office. Although
Bihar has abundant mineral resources,
its pervasive corruption virtually ensures
that their benefits will reach only a few.
Despite all of these disadvantages, Bihar
does have well-known sacred sites
(tirthas). One of these is the town of
Gaya, famous as a place to perform
funerary rites (antyeshthi samskara).
Another sacred place is the temple at
Vaidyanath, which is one of the twelve
jyotirlingas, a group of sites especially
sacred to the god Shiva. For general
information about Bihar and all the
regions of India, an accessible reference
is Christine Nivin et al., India. 8th ed.,
Lonely Planet, 1998.