Darbhanga

History

The city was the capital of the Darbhanga Raj, an estate established in the 16th century, containing the Anandbagh Palace. It was constituted as a municipality in 1864. Darbhanga is home to the Kameshwara Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University (established 1961), which is located on the grounds of the palace, and the Lalit Narayan Mithila University (established 1972). Darbhanga has a museum housing archaeological materials, as well as historical and handicrafts exhibits. Darbhanga has been a centre for music since the late 18th century and has produced multiple well-known dhrupad (an ancient form of Indian classical music) musicians. A major rail and road junction, Darbhanga trades in agricultural produce, mangoes, and fish. In addition to food processing, the city has a light manufacturing industry. Darbhanga is situated on a vast alluvial plain, with low-lying areas containing marshes and lakes. Grains, oilseeds, tobacco, sugarcane, and mangoes are important crops in the region. Under the British Raj, Darbhanga was a part of Sarkar Tirhut until 1875, when it was constituted into a separate district. Its subdivisions had been constituted earlier – Darbhanga Sadar in 1845, Madhubani in 1866, and Samastipur (then known as Tajpur) in 1867. The city of Darbhanga is said to have been founded by one Darbhangi Khan, about whom practically nothing is known. It is also held that the name Darbhanga is derived from Dwar Banga or Dar-e-Banga, meaning the 'door of Bengal'. This etymology does not appear to be accurate as the division between Bengal and Bihar has always been held to be further to the east. Nonetheless, the region has a linguistic and cultural affinity with Bengal. Excavation at Balirajgarh revealed brick fortifications dating back to the 2nd century BC.

Geography

Darbhanga is located in the northern part of Bihar. It lies between 25.53 degrees - 26.27 degrees N and 85.45 degrees - 86.25 degrees E at an average elevation of 171 feet (52 m). Darbhanga district covers an area of 2,279 km2. Darbhanga is bounded by Madhubani district in the north, Samastipur district in the south, Saharsa district in the east, Sitamarhi district, Muzaffarpur district in the west and Khagaria district in south-east. Being located in Mithilanchal, Darbhanga district has a vast fertile alluvial plain devoid of any hills. It has a gentle slope from north to south direction having a depression in the centre. Darbhanga experiences a humid subtropical climate. It experiences three main seasons which are winter, summer, and rainy seasons. May is the hottest month when the temperature reaches up to 43 °C. Darbhanga district receives an average of 1142.3 mm rainfall and almost 92% of the annual rainfall is received during monsoon.

Most-observed species

• House Crow

  Corvus splendens Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  27
• Indian Pond-Heron

  Ardeola grayii (Sykes, 1832) · Aves
  26
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  23
• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  18
• Large-billed Crow

  Corvus macrorhynchos Wagler, 1827 · Aves
  15
• Little Cormorant

  Microcarbo niger (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  15
• Spotted Dove

  Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  14
• Little Egret/Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2015-04-26
  34 km N of Janakpur, Nepal