Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

in the Indian state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

situated centrally in Mithila region. Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstwhile Khandwala Zamidaar dynasty Under Mughals. It was the capital of Mithila. It is considered the Medical Capital of North bihar. It has DMCH & second AIIMS Hospital in the State Only after Capital Patna. Darbhanga is one of the oldest cities in India. Musical, folk art, and literary traditions in Sanskrit, Maithili and Urdu have been passed down generations in Darbhanga and constitute the city's strong cultural background.

History

The city was the capital of the Darbhanga Raj, an estate established in the 16th century, and contains the Anandbagh Palace. It was constituted a municipality in 1864. Darbhanga is home to the Kameshwara Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University (1961), which is located on the grounds of the palace, and the Lalit Narayan Mithila University (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 The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, 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 very correct 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.

Demographics

The

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

recorded Darbhanga as an Urban agglomeration with a population of 380,125 while the surrounding district has 3 million people. It is the 5th largest city in Bihar in terms of the urban population. The city has 196,573 males (52.6%) and 183,552 females (47.4%). Darbhanga has an average literacy rate of 79.40%, with male literacy at 85.08% and female literacy at 73.08%. However, as per the document published on 6 March 2021 by the office of District Magistrate Darbhanga, the urban population of Darbhanga stands 380,125

Transport

Railways

Darbhanga Junction lies on the

East Central Railway The East Central Railway (abbreviated ECR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hajipur and comprises Sonpur, Samastipur, Danapur, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, and Dhanbad divisions. History First set up on 8 Se ...

. It is connected directly to all the major cities of India. Of the beginning of railway in Darbhanga and its neighbouring areas, '' The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' noted:

Darbhanga Airport

Darbhanga also has its own commercial airport which is connected with all the major cities of India. Darbhanga Airport (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

: DBR, ICAO: VE89) is a civil enclave at the Darbhanga Air Force Station of the Indian Air Force, 6 kilometres from Darbhanga City near the NH-105 and NH-57 East-West Corridor Expressway which passes through Darbhanga. The civil enclave is operated by the

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...

(AAI). The foundation stone for the project was laid by Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unit ...

and then Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu in the presence of state Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha on 24 December 2018. Commercial flights started on 8 November 2020.

Roadways

Darbhanga is connected to other parts of India by National Highway 27, National Highway 527B and Bihar State highways 50, 56, 88 and 75. Darbhanga is also connected to

Mehsi Mehsi is a High Deployment City and Urban Headquarter Kasba Mehsi located in the Mehsi It is a part of the Tirhut Division. in the Indian state of Bihar. Mehsi is an entry point of East Champaran when traveling from Patna, Darbhanga to De ...

, Madhubani and Sitamarhi. The East-West Corridor expressway, which connects Porbandar in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

to Silchar in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, passes through Darbhanga.

Geography

Darbhanga is located in the northern part of

Climate

Darbhanga has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cwa'').

Education

Notable educational institutions include:

Medical colleges

* All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Darbhanga( Under Construction ) *

Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital is a government medical college having hospital facilities at Darbhanga, Bihar. It was established in the year 1946. College is currently affiliated with Aryabhatta Knowledge University. History The m ...

Mithila Minority Dental College and Hospital Mithila Minority Dental College And Hospital(MMDCH)( hi, मिथिला अल्पसंख्यक डेंटल कॉलेज और अस्पताल) is the second-oldest dental college in the Indian state of Bihar and the ol ...

University

* Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Regional Centre * Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University * Lalit Narayan Mithila University * Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) Regional Centre

Engineering and technology colleges

Darbhanga College of Engineering Darbhanga College of Engineering (DCE Darbhanga) is a government-owned engineering (B.Tech.) college in Bihar, India. It was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, in 2008. It is affiliated with the Aryabhatta Knowledge Uni ...

* Women's Institute of Technology

Colleges

* C. M. Science College, Darbhanga * Kunwar Singh College * Marwari College * Millat College, Laharaisharai, Darbhanga

Schools.

* D.A.V. Public School *

Darbhanga Public School Darbhanga Public School is an Indian CBSE affiliated English medium co-educational school of the district (Darbhanga) and Mithila, established on 5 January 2000. The region has been an ancient seat of learning. The school was established by a te ...

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) is a system of central schools for talented students predominantly from rural areas in India. They are run by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Noida, an autonomous organization under the Department of School Educa ...

, Darbhanga * Jesus & Mary Academy * Madonna English School *

Rose Public School Rose Public School, also known as RPS is a private secondary school in the Mithilanchal region of the Indian state of Bihar. It was established by Dr. Rajiv Ranjan, and is presently being run by a trust set up by him. It is a co-educational da ...

Tourism

Darbhanga has various tourist attractions and is among the oldest cities of

. Tourist spots include: * Chandradhari Museum *

Darbhanga Fort Darbhanga Fort is also called ''Ram Bagh Fort'', because it is situated in Rambagh Palace inside the fort. Rambagh campus is surrounded by walls and spreads in about 85 acres of land. But when the construction of the fort was completed on thr ...

- It is a very famous tourist spot in Darbhanga. *

Maharajadhiraja Lakshmishwar Singh Museum The Maharajadhiraj Lakshmishwar Singh Museum is situated at Darbhanga in India, the Indian state of Bihar. It has the largest collection of ivory craft items in India. History It was established by the Government of Bihar in 1979. Most of the ob ...

Ahilya Sthan In Hinduism, Ahalyā ( sa, अहल्या, IAST: Ahalyā) also known as Ahilya, is the wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi. Many Hindu scriptures say that she was seduced by Indra (the king of gods), cursed by her husband for infidelit ...

* Kusheshwar Asthan Bird Sanctuary * Shyama Kali Temple

Media and communications

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

has a 20 kW medium-wave radio station in Darbhanga which transmits various programmes of mass interest and covers a part of North Bihar as well as the Terai of Nepal. Doordarshan has one

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television chann ...

and one DD News LPT relay transmitters.

Notable people

Kameshwar Singh Maharajadhiraj Sir Kameshwar Singh Goutam Bahadur , K.C.I.E. (28 November 1907 – 1 October 1962) was the Maharaja of Darbhanga. He held his title over his family estates in the Mithila region from 1929 – 1952, when such titles were abolish ...

Maharaja * Lakshmeshwar Singh Maharaja *

Rameshwar Singh Rameshwar Singh Thakur (16 January 1860 – 3 July 1929) was the Maharaja of Darbhanga in the Mithila region from 1898 to his death. He became Maharaja on the death of his elder brother Maharaja Sir Lakshmeshwar Singh, who died without issue. ...

Maharaja * Sanjay Mishra, Bollywood actor * Veena Devi, politician and member of the 17th Lok Sabha * Abdul Bari Siddiqui, MLA * Badri Narain Sinha, IPS *

Bhawana Kanth Bhawana Kanth is one of the first female fighter pilots of India. She was declared as the first combat pilot along with two of her cohort, Mohana Singh, and Avani Chaturvedi. The trio was inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron in ...

, first female fighter pilot of India *

Binod Bihari Verma Binod Bihari Verma (1937–2003) was a Maithili writer and military doctor. He is known for ''Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan'', his work on ancient genealogical charts known as Panjis, as well as his depiction of rural poor of the ...

, writer *

Binodanand Jha Binodanand Jha (17 April 1900 – 1971), also known as Pandit Binodanand Jha was an Indian politician originally from the district of Deoghar, Bihar (Baidyanathdham Deoghar), now in Jharkhand. He was educated at the Central Calcutta College, ( ...

, former MP * Gangesha Upadhyaya, mathematician and philosopher * Gonu Jha Pratyutpannamati *

Gopal Jee Thakur Gopal Jee Thakur (born 15 October 1969) is an Indian Politician. He is a member of 17th Lok Sabha, representing Darbhanga (Loksabha constituency). He represented the Bihar legislative assembly from the Benipur constituency as a member of the Bha ...

, former MLA and current MP * Dr. Ashok Kr. Yadav, MP from Madhubani Lok Sabha constituency *

Gul Mohammad Khan Ustad Gul Mohammad Khan (1876–1979) was a Bangladeshi musician. He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1977 by the Government of Bangladesh. Background Khan's father, Ustad Ahmad Khan, was a singer in the court of the Maharaja. His grandfather, Usta ...

, Bangladeshi musician * H. C. Verma, physicist *

Hukmdev Narayan Yadav Hukmdev Narayan Yadav (born 17 November 1939) is a politician from Bihar, who has been Union Minister of State. He is the recipient of Padma Bhushan India's third highest civilian award. He represented the Madhubani constituency of Bihar 1977 ...

, former MP * Imtiaz Ali (director), Bollywood director * Kirti Azad, former MP and cricketer * M J Warsi,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

Nagarjun Vaidyanath Mishra (30 June 1911 – 5 November 1998), better known by his pen name Nagarjun, was a Hindi and Maithili poet who has also penned a number of novels, short stories, literary biographies and travelogues, and was known as ''Janakavi ...

, poet, writer, essayist, and novelist * Narayan Das, politician * Nigamananda Saraswati, Hindu monk *

Prabhat Jha (politician) Prabhat Jha is an Indian politician. He has been a member of the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh state in India. He used to be the Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party President in 2010 until December 2012. Presently he is the National Vice P ...

, politician * Parmanand Jha, first vice president of Nepal * Ram Chatur Mallick, musician * Ramnandan Mishra, Indian nationalist who fought for India's freedom from British rule *

Sultan Ahmad Sultan Ahmed Mirza was the eldest son of Abu Sa'id Mirza on whose death he became the Timurid ruler of Samarkand and Bukhara from 1469 until 1494. During his rule, he successfully repelled at least one invasion attempt by the Kara Koyunlu, and f ...

, former MLA * Sanjay Saraogi, MLA * Dr. Murari Mohan Jha, MLA from Keoti Vidhan Sabha Assembly Constituency * Satya Narayan Sinha, politician *

Surendra Jha 'Suman' Surendra Jha 'Suman' (10 October 1910 – 5 March 2002), also referred to as 'Suman Ji' or Acharya Surendra Jha 'Suman', was a Maithili poet, writer, publisher, editor and elected member of legislative assembly and parliament. He is also ...

, poet, freedom fighter, politician, essayist, literary critic, journalist, publisher and academician * Jyoti Kumari, Sirhulli, cyclist and Bal Puraskar recipient 2021 * Tariq-ur-Rehman, cricketer *

Tochi Raina Tochi Raina (born 2 September 1971) is an Indian singer, composer and philosopher, best known as a playback singer in Hindi films. His most notable works include the songs ''Kabira'' for the movie "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani", "Iktara" from "Wake U ...

, singer, composer, and philosopher * Yamuna Karjee, Indian independence activist * Betty von Fürer-Haimendorf, ethnologist *

Ritviz Vishal 'Ritviz' Srivastava (born 24 July 1996) is an Indian singer-songwriter, electronic musician and record producer from Pune,Maharashtra, India. He is known for his song "Udd Gaye" featured on A.I.B.'s official YouTube channel after becom ...

, electronic singer *

Manas Bihari Verma Manas Bihari Verma (29 July 1943 – 4 May 2021) was an Indian aeronautical scientist instrumental in the development of the light combat aircraft, Tejas. In 2018, he was conferred the Padma Sri civilian honour by the President of India. Aft ...

, Padam Shri decorated Aeronautical scientist, LCA Tejas

References

External links

* {{Indian Air Force Cities and towns in Darbhanga district