BEHAR AND ORISSA or BIHAR, a province of British India created in 1912 by separation from western Bengal, bounded on the north by Nepal and the Bengal district of Darjeeling, on the east by Bengal, on the south by the sea and the Madras presi dency, and on the west by the Central Provinces and the United Provinces. Area (including Feudatory States) 111,702 square miles. Pop. (1931) 42,3 29,583. Capital, Patna.
Geology and Physical Aspects.—This heterogeneous prov ince comprises the north-east coign of the Deccan plateau with a lowland alluvial fringe round about it. The plateau has a basis of gneissic, schistose and granitic rocks which received a covering of lower Gondwana rocks, including coal-bearing strata, at the end of the Palaeozoic period. The plateau was subjected to heavy faulting and denudation before the upper Gondwana series was laid down, and in consequence the lower Gondwana layers, includ ing coal measures, are found chiefly along east to west bands towards the northern edge of the plateau, where they have been faulted in and thus preserved. The Karharbari coalfield and the Rajmahal hills have lavas traversing the beds in dykes in the former, but interbedded in the latter, though both are said to be of the same age.
The coign of the plateau is deeply dissected by streams fed by monsoon rains, mostly relatively short and running low in the dry season, but the Son, a tributary of the Ganges, has a catch ment area of 21,000 square miles. The Rajmahal hills in the east and their outliers cover about 2,000 square miles. The northern part of the plateau includes parts of South Behar and Chota Nag pur with the peak of Parasnath (4,4 7 9f t.) and numerous flat topped hills, e.g., Neturhat Pat with a summit of 4 by 22 miles. In Orissa are the peaks of Malayagiri (3,895ft.) and Meghasani (3,824ft.), the latter rich in iron ore.
The whole coign stands out into alluvial lowland, of the Ganges on the north, the Ganges delta on the east, and the coastal plain with the far spreading Mahanadi delta on the south-east. The province spreads in a long tongue south-westwards in the valley of the Tel, a feeder of the Mahanadi, separated from the coast by a continuation of the eastern Ghats, mainly in the Madras Presi dency but including Bankasamo (4,18 2 f t.) , which is in Orissa.
The province thus includes (a), the alluvial plain between Nepal and the Ganges (North Behar) ; (b) the Son valley and the north ward slopes of the plateau (South Behar) ; (c) the plateau and forested valleys of Chota Nagpur; (d) and the inland forested hills of the feudatory states of Orissa as well as (e) the coastal alluvium of Orissa, with a teeming population but serious flood dangers due to the fact that deposit of silt has lifted the rivers above the general level of the land.
Climate.—The climate depends on the province's position on the western side of the head of the Bay of Bengal with the summer monsoon blowing in and turning up the Ganges valley. Sea breezes become important on the Orissa coast by May and the average temperature, though high, is less so than farther west in central India, altitude for altitude. The plateau and hills accumu late cloud in the day time and dissipate it at night, and this limits rises of temperature to some extent. Nine-tenths of the total rain fall comes from the summer monsoon between June and October, the cool dry season is delightful in Behar but much less marked in Orissa where, at Puri, the temperature ranges only from 77° to 86,° while in Behar, though in the hot season the temperature may rise to 118°, the average night temperature is S7° and the lowest recorded 34°. Total rainfall in Orissa is about S9in., in Chota Nagpur S3in., in South Behar (somewhat in a rain-shadow) 44in., and at Purnea, north-east Behar, 68 inches. Chilka lake, in Orissa, the only one in the province, has an area of .344sq.m. in the dry, and 45osq.m. in the rainy season.
People.—The contrasts in peoples and civilizations are as marked as those in physical geography. The Khonds of the Khondmals (in Angul) offered human sacrifices till 1847 and since that time buffaloes have been substituted for human victims, and the Khonds have found the earth-goddess easily propitiated. In the Mundas and Oraons rose under Birsa, believed to be an incarnation of the deity, whose followers alone would escape universal destruction by flood and in the meantime be proof against rifle fire. Since then Christianity has spread owing to mis sionary efforts and there are now nearly 416,000 converts in this district. Again, in 1917 an act was passed establishing a university at Patna, and three years later another act prohibited a species of serfdom found in some areas. Behar contains a race of sturdy agriculturists with the same social organization as the people of the United Provinces. Their language is Bihari, which the Hindus call Hindi and the Mohammedans Urdu. In Orissa the distinct race of Oriyas is found, speaking the Oriya language, which is of an archaic type, both in form and vocabulary, and was written till little over a century ago on strips of palm leaves with an iron stylus. They are mainly Hindus and long isolation from the rest of India—railway communication was not established till has helped to preserve their cult and caste-system, and they are devout Vaishnavas, whose reverence is concentrated on Jagannath. The Chota Nagpur plateau, on the other hand, is the home of various groups of descendants of the earliest known inhabitants of India, many of whom still use bows and arrows. Physically they are distinguished by short stature, black skins, long heads and broad, almost negritic, noses. The chief peoples are the San tals, Oraons, Mundas, Hos, Khonds, Kharia, Bhumij and Maler or Sauria Paharids. They have retained very numerous tribal dialects, and the animistic beliefs and practices of their primitive ancestors are still prevalent among them. Of the total population 83% are Hindus ; 9% are Mohammedans, of whom one-fourth are resident in Purnia; 6% are Animists, nearly all in the Chota Nagpur plateau, which also contains most of the 416,00o Chris tians found in the province. Nearly half (205,00o) are Roman Catholics, 120,000 are Lutherans and 50,000 are converts to Angli can missions. Chota Nagpur is sparsely populated, but every available acre of land is under cultivation in Behar, while the del taic portion of Orissa is also thickly populated. The density of the rural population rises in parts of Behar and in the central parts of Orissa to i,000 to the square mile. As a result of pressure on the soil emigration is active. Excluding contiguous parts of other provinces, it was found at the census of 1921 that nearly 2 million inhabitants of Behar and Orissa had left the province since the last census. The great majority, however, are only temporary migrants, who go to earn the wages of labour in industrial and other centres when their crops are off the ground and return to their homes when active cultivation recommences.
Agriculture.—No less than four-fifths of the population is supported by agriculture. The staple crop is rice, which occupies nearly half the cultivated area. The alluvial plains of both Behar and Orissa are the chief centres of cultivation, but rice is also grown in the Chota Nagpur plateau, both on terraces laboriously cut out of the slopes and in depressions between the ridges. The chief harvest is that of winter rice; about one-quarter consists of autumn rice. The next most important food-crops are wheat, barley, maize and grain, all spring crops occupying one-fifth of the area under cultivation. Another one-fifth is devoted to other food grains, such as pulses, and to fodder crops. The balance is under oil-seeds, sugar cane, tobacco and minor crops. Jute is of importance only in Purnea where it is grown on 250,000 acres. Tobacco is cultivated chiefly in North Behar. The cultivation of indigo, once extensive in the latter area, has declined owing to the competition of the synthetic dye ; the area under its cultivation fell from 2 70,000 acres in 1900-01 to iio,000 acres ten years later, and was reduced to 13,000 acres in 1925-26. The rainfall is nor mally ample for the crops, but it is sometimes capricious and un evenly distributed. The Orissa canal system affords an insurance against consequent crop failures in the seaboard districts of Orissa, the Sonal canal system in Shahabad and part of Gaya and the Tribini and Dhaka canals in Champaran.
Next to coal mining, metallurgical industries are the most im portant owing to the establishment at Jamshedpur of the Tata Iron and Steel Co., which employs directly over 25,000 persons and in 1925-26 produced 470,00o tons of steel, S73,000 tons of pig iron and 139,00o tons of rails and beams. Subsidiary industries have been established in Jamshedpur and its neighbourhood, e.g., the manufacture of tin-plates, cables, wire, etc. The work shops of the East Indian railway at Jamalpur, near Monghyr, em ploy over 1 1,00o hands, and at Monghyr itself there is a large factory with about 3,00o hands for the manufacture of cigarettes. In spite of a temporary revival during the World War the manu facture of indigo has been nearly destroyed by the competition of the artificial dye, but sugar has largely taken its place and large factories, with up-to-date machinery for making white sugar, have been established in North Behar; nearly 23,00o tons of white sugar were produced in 1925-26.
Shellac is now produced in Chota Nagpur. Saltpetre was form erly produced on a large scale in Behar, but the industry has suf fered from the artificial product of the nitrates of South America and the development of German potash deposits. Of the cottage industries, handloom weaving, which supports nearly half a million persons, is still facile princeps in spite of the imports of cheap piece-goods.
Railways.—South Behar is served by the East Indian rail way, which also traverses Chota Nagpur, and North Behar by the Bengal and North-Western railway, which at Katihar establishes connection with the Eastern Bengal State railway. The Bengal Nagpur railway runs through Orissa, which is thus linked with Calcutta and Madras, and has also branches to Ranchi and the coalfields. These railways have Calcutta as the centre of their sys tem and direct railway communication between Behar and Orissa has hitherto been lacking. Large schemes of railway extensions which centre on the coalfields have been undertaken of late years and will do much to open up Chota Nagpur. The Talcher line, completed at the end of 1926, connects the Talcher field, and some of the Feudatory States, hitherto difficult of access, with the Bengal-Nagpur line from Calcutta to Madras. The Barkakhana Chandil Chord line gives the Karanpura field an outlet to Jam shedpur and the south. The Central India coalfields railway will open up that field and the Bokharo field, providing an outlet on the west, where it will connect with Daltonganj and by the East Indian Railway line with the whole railway system to Bombay.
The province of Behar corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha, which comprised the country now included in the dis tricts of Patna, Gaya and Shahabad, south of the Ganges. The origin of this kingdom, famous alike in the political and religious history of India, is lost in antiquity. The first authentic dynasty is that of the Saisunaga, founded by Sisunaga (c. 600 B.c.), whose capital was at Rajagaha (Rajgir) in the hills near Gaya; and the first king of this dynasty of whom anything is known was Bim bisara (c. 528 B.c.). It was in the reign of Bimbisara that Vard hamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, and Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, preached in Magadha, and Buddhist missionaries issued thence to the conversion of China, Ceylon, Tibet and Tartary. To this day Behar remains a sacred spot in the eyes of Buddhist nations.
Bimbisara was murdered by his son Ajatasatru, who succeeded him, and whose bloodthirsty policy reduced the whole country between the Himalayas and the Ganges under the suzerainty of Magadha. The remaining history of the dynasty is obscure. A son of Mahapaoma Nanda, a usurper, was reigning at the time of the invasion of Alexander the Great (326 B.c.), who was in formed that the king of Magadha could oppose him with a force of 20,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry, 2,000 chariots, and 3,000 or 4,000 elephants. In 321 B.C. Chandragupta Maurya seized the throne, which his dynasty occupied for 137 years (see INDIA : His tory). After the death of the great Buddhist king, Asoka (c. 231), the Maurya empire began to break up, and it was finally destroyed about 5o years later by Pushyamitra Sunga. Descendants of Asoka continued, however, to subsist in Magadha as subordinate rajas for many centuries. The reign of Pushyamitra, who held his own against Menander and succeeded in establishing his claim to be lord paramount of northern India, is chiefly notable as marking the be ginning of the Brahmanical reaction and the decline of Buddhism. The Sunga dynasty, which lasted 112 years, was succeeded by the Kanva dynasty, which after 45 years was overthrown (c. 27 B.c.) by the Andhras or Satavahanas. In A.D. 236 the Andhras were overthrown, and, a century later (A.D. Chandragupta I. established his power at Pataliputra and founded the famous Gupta empire (see INDIA), which survived till it was overthrown by the Ephthalites (q.v.), or White Huns, at the close of the 5th century. In Magadha itself the Guptas continued to rule as trib utary princes for some centuries longer. About the middle of the 8th century Magadha was conquered by Gopala, who founded the imperial dynasty known as the Palas of Bengal. They were zealous Buddhists, and under their rule Magadha became once more an active centre of Buddhist influence. Gopala built a great monastery at Udandapura, or Otantapuri, which has been identi fied by Sir Alexander Cunningham with the city of Behar, where the later Pala kings established their capital. Under Mahipala (c. 1026), the ninth of his line, and his successor Nayapala, missionaries from Magadha succeeded in re-establishing Bud dhism in Tibet.
In the I 1 th century the Pala empire was partly dismembered by the rise of the "Sena" dynasty in Bengal; and at the close of the 12th century both Palas and Senas were swept away by the Mohammedan conquerors, the city of Behar itself being captured in 1193 in a surprise attack by the Turki free-lance Mohammed i-Bakhtyar Khilji, with a party of 200 horsemen. "It was dis covered," says a contemporary Arab historian, "that the whole of the fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindi tongue they call a college Bihar." Most of the monks were massacred, and those who survived were scattered. Buddhism in Magadha never recovered : it lingered awhile in obscurity and then vanished com pletely.
Behar now came under the rule of the Mohammedan governors of Bengal. About 1330 the southern part was annexed to Delhi, while north Behar remained for some time longer subject to Ben gal. In 1397 the whole of Behar became part of the kingdom of Jaunpur ; but a hundred years later it was annexed by the Delhi emperors, by whom—save for a short period—it continued to be held. Behar came into the possession of the East India Company in 1765, when the province was united with Bengal. In 1857 two zemindars, Umar Singh and Kumar Singh, rebelled against the British Government, and for some months held the ruinous fort of Rohtas against the British.
See Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908), s.v. "Bihar" and "Bengal"; Aryangar, Ancient India (191I) ; V. A. Smith, Early History of India (revised by S. M. Edwardes, x924), and Oxford History of India (1919I.