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Darbhanga

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Darbhanga
दरभंगा,دربھنگہ
Metropolitan City
Nickname: 
Medical city
CountryIndia
StateBihar
DistrictDarbhanga
Elevation
52 m (171 ft)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total306,089
Languages
 • OfficialHindi, Urdu, Maithili
 • OtherEnglish, Bengali, Marwari, Sindhi, Punjabi, Nepali
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
8460xx
Telephone code06272
Vehicle registrationBR 07
Sex ratio910:1000 ♂/♀
Lok Sabha constituencyDarbhanga
Vidhan Sabha constituencyDarbhanga, Darbhanga Rural
Websitedarbhanga.bih.nic.in

Darbhangā is a city and municipal corporation in Bihar, India. It is the headquarters of Darbhanga district and Darbhanga division. Darbhanga is fifth largest city of Bihar & has been developing rapidly. Historically, it was the seat of Darbhanga Raj.Currently It is one of the most backward region of India.

History

See also: Raj Darbhanga

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.

Shyama Temple in Darbhanga

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 the 19th century when the Maharaja of Darbhanga shifted his residence to the town and was granted the title Maharaja by the East India Company. It was the biggest town of North Bihar for centuries, but after Muzaffarpur was connected to broad-gauge railway in the 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.[1] 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).

Statue of Maharajadhiraj at Chaurangi Square Darbhanga City

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.[2]

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.

Languages and religion

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

Demographics

As per data released by the government of India for the 2011 census, Darbhanga is an Urban Agglomeration coming under category of Class I UAs/Towns. 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
(93.0) 		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
(93.0) 		29.9
(85.8) 		43.4
(110.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 22.1
(71.8) 		25.8
(78.4) 		31.0
(87.8) 		34.1
(93.4) 		35.0
(95.0) 		34.9
(94.8) 		32.5
(90.5) 		32.8
(91.0) 		32.5
(90.5) 		31.6
(88.9) 		28.0
(82.4) 		24.8
(76.6) 		30.4
(86.8)
Mean daily minimum °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) 		18.2
(64.7)
Record low °C (°F) −0.2
(31.6) 		−0.2
(31.6) 		3.9
(39.0) 		9.2
(48.6) 		10.4
(50.7) 		15.9
(60.6) 		18.7
(65.7) 		19.4
(66.9) 		18.9
(66.0) 		12.7
(54.9) 		7.2
(45.0) 		2.4
(36.3) 		−0.2
(31.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 13.0
(0.51) 		14.0
(0.55) 		9.0
(0.35) 		29.0
(1.14) 		76.0
(2.99) 		139.0
(5.47) 		353.0
(13.90) 		254.0
(10.00) 		193.0
(7.60) 		73.0
(2.87) 		6.0
(0.24) 		7.0
(0.28) 		1,166
(45.9)
Average 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
Average relative humidity (%) 68 63 49 56 60 70 78 79 79 73 66 67 67
Source: NOAA (1971–1990)[3]

Geography

Darbhanga is located in the northern part of Bihar.

Transport

Darbhanga is well connected via rail and road services.

Railways

File:Darbhanga Junction.jpg
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 (mysore) (ajmer)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.

  • Bagmati Express to Banglore City
  • Bihar Sampark Kranti Superfast to New Delhi
  • Darbhanga Puri Express to Puri
  • Mumbai LTT Express to Lok Manya Tilak Terminal
  • Swatantrata Senani Express to New Delhi
  • Kolkata Express to Kolkata
  • Darbhanga Hyderabad to Hyderabad
  • Darbhanga Pune to Pune

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

Roadways

Darbhanga is connected to other parts of India by National Highway 57 and Bihar State highways 50, 56, 88 and 75. Darbhanga is also connected to the Madhubani which is located at Nepal border and Sitamarhi.

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

The city has two bus stands – Darbhanga Bus Stand and Laheriasarai Bus Stand – and a new bus stand is under construction for the city. Bus services are available from Darbhanga to all the nearby major cities viz. Patna, Gaya, Kolkata, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Ranchi, Jamshedpur.

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. The City Bus Service is also in the city by BSRTC.

Airport

Darbhanga Airport is the longest runway airport of Bihar,[clarification needed] and is operated by the Indian Air Force at present. It is spread over a 200-acre area of the city. It was built exclusively for the use of Maharajah of Darbhanga's aeroplanes. Spirit Air started operations from Darbhanga in 2009, but 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.

Darbhanga Aviations was a private Indian airline started in 1950 by Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga. It had three aircraft and became defunct by 1962.

Air services from Darbhanga started on 15th June 2015 by Bangalore based firm DTDS.

Media and communications

All India Radio has a 20 kW medium-wave radio station in Darbhanga which transmits various programs of mass interest. Doordarshan has one DD National and one DD News LPT relay transmitters.

Education

Medical colleges

University

Engineering and technology colleges

Polytechnic colleges

  • Darbhanga Polytechnic (Bihar Govt)
  • MANUU Polytechnic (A Central University branch)

I T I colleges

  • Govt. I T I Ramnagar
  • IMTI MAHDAULI

Management institute and college

  • Institute of Business Management, Delhi More, Bela, On East-West Corridor (LNMU)

Law college

  • C M LAW College Darbhanga (LNMU)

Teacher training colleges

  • Dr Zakir Hussan Techer's Training College
  • Oriental College of Education
  • Swami Vivekananda B.Ed Techer's Training College
  • Dr. Gouri Brahmanand Techer's Training College
  • S M Zaheer Alam Teacher's Training College

Colleges

Schools

Notable people From Darbhanga

Current Vice President of Nepal hails From Darbhanga

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Fruit". Govt. of India Official website.
  2. ^ Cotton, H.E.A., (1909/1980) Calcutta Old and New, pp 335-336, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  3. ^ "Zahedan Climate Normals 1971-1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
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