Nawada is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is also the headquarters of the

Nawada district Nawada district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. Nawada is its administrative headquarters. The district is the easternmost district of the Magadh division, one of the nine administrative divisions of Bihar. Th ...

. It is the headquarters of the subdivision of the same name, lying on both sides of the Khuri River( also known as Sakri river in some parts) at 24º 53’ N and 85º 33’ E. The name evolved from Nau-wada, meaning the new town. On 26 January 1973, Nawada was formed as a separate district from Gaya.

History

Nawada is a part of the ancient

Magadh Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

division of south

. The origin of the name Nawada is from Sanskrit Nava Avad, which means "new town" which was earlier known as ‘The Eliot Market (Bazaar)’. Before its acquisition by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, Nawada was ruled by the nearly independent Rajas of

Hisua Hisua is a city and a municipality in Nawada district in the India state of Bihar. It is situated on the right bank of the Tilaiya river along Gaya and Nawada road, west of Nawada and east of Gaya. The city lies adjacent to the Tilaiya J ...

who ruled over the Muslim

Mayi clan The Mayi were a clan of Muslim Rajputs which controlled the Narhat-Samai chieftaincy in modern-day Nawada district of Bihar. History The progenitor of the Mayi clan was Nuraon Khan whose family arrived in South Bihar in the 17th century from Delhi ...

. After its acquisition, Nawada was in great disorder until 1845, when it became the headquarters of the newly created subdivision. The elements of disorder resurfaced again during the Mutiny of 1857, when Nawada was over run by marauding parties. The local offices were destroyed, but Government records were saved by the native officials who hid them in a cave on a neighboring hill. These are the only available public records dating back to an era before 1857 in the district. Two miles to the north, there is a Jain temple standing in the middle of a large water tank to the west of the public road, but the city itself contains no important building and has little historical interest. The city contains one of the two Satyagraha ashrams in the country established by Gandhi ji. It was also the birthplace and workplace of Indrabhuti Gautama, the Chief disciple of Lord Mahavir in Jainism. The modern town is only 40 kilometers from Nalanda University, the oldest university in the world. Nawada is southernmost district of Bihar and its neighbouring next state Jharkhand. Over the years when all other districts in Bihar has seen development, Nawada still struggling for basic needs. One of the major problem in district is corruption. Town has enormous encroachment and government authorities are not doing much to keep this city clean and encroachment free. Source (www.nawada.info)

Geography

Nawada is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city is divided into two blocks by the Khuri River, the left bank being the older section, while the right bank is the modern section with public offices, a sub-jail, dispensary and schools.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Nawada City has a population of 109,141. Nawada has a ratio of 957 females for every 1,000 males. The average literacy rate is 74%, higher than the national average of 63.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 67%. In Nawada, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.http://nawada.bih.nic.in/

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

Magahi The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives. ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Patna Railway Station → Gaya Railway Station → Nawadah Railway station #

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

→

Kanpur Central Kanpur Central (formerly known as Cawnpore North Barracks, station code: CNB) is a central and junction railway station in the city of Kanpur and is one of the five central Indian railway stations. It is third busiest in country after Howrah ...

→ Prayagraj Jn. → Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn. →

Sasaram Sasaram ()sometimes also spelled as Sahasram, is an ancient historical city and a municipal corporation region in the Rohtas district of the Bihar state in eastern India, with a history that goes to thousands of years. During the prehistoric ag ...

→ Gaya Jn. → Nawadah

Road network

# From Meethapur Bus Stand, Patna or Gandhi Maidan Bus Stand, Patna to Nawada Bus Stand via NH 20.

Air

By air, Nawada is well connected to several airports of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal: #

Gaya Airport Gaya Airport is an international airport serving Gaya, Bihar, India. This airport is 12 kilometres south-west of Gaya and 5 kilometres away from the temple city of Bodh Gaya, from where Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment. Overview Gaya ...

Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport Jayprakash Narayan International Airport is an international airport serving Patna, the capital of Bihar, India. It is named after the independence activist and political leader, Jayprakash Narayan. It is the 14th busiest airport in India. ...

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

# Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi #

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is an international airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and is the aviation hub for eastern and northeastern India. It is located approximatel ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Deoghar Airport Deoghar Airport is a domestic airport serving Deoghar in the state of Jharkhand, India. It is situated approximately 12 kilometres (7.4 mi) from the city centre. The airport has been primarily developed to serve the region of North-Easte ...

167 kilometres (103.769 mi)

Tourist places

Historians believe this place was a reputed religious center for the Hindus in the

Palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval ''Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson ...

period. Nawada has a museum of national importance, the Narad Museum, which was established in 1974. Some other significant temples and religious spots within the city are The Surya Narayana Mandir, Shobhnath Mandir, Sankat Mochan and Gonawa Jal Mandir, dedicated to the first Jain guru. The Surya Narayana Mandir of Handiya is the earliest and it is supposed to be of Dvapara Yuga. The Surya Narayana Mandir of Handiya was constructed by the King of Magadha Jarasandha. Jarasandha’s daughter Dhaniya was suffering from leprosy, and used to stay at this holy place every day for devotion. The Myth says that she used to bathe in the nearby pond and was cured. Soon after Dhaniya established a place of worship, Maa Bhagwati, in a nearby village, and a Shivalinga at Dhaniya hill, which is just a ways from the main temple . Handiya is surrounded to the north side by Rajgir Mountain, and to the south by a river. Each year, thousands of people come to visit this holy place. The Surya Narayana Mandir is also known for

betel nuts The betel (''Piper betle'') is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The betel plant is native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel p ...

Pan. Apart from these, other tourist places like Kakolat Falls,

Bodhgaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( ...

Pawapuri Pawapuri or Pavapuri (also called Apapapuri, meaning "the sinless town") is a holy site for Jains located in the Nalanda district of Bihar state in Eastern India. It is located about 19 kilometers from Rajgir and 101 kilometers from Patna, th ...

, Nalanda, Kauwakol (Sadakat Ashram) and

Rajgir Rajgir, meaning "The City of Kings," is a historic town in the district of Nalanda in Bihar, India. As the ancient seat and capital of the Haryanka dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Brihadratha dynasty and the Mauryan Empire, as well as the d ...

can be reached by traveling on the road within 1–2 hours. People visit sufi shrines & Dargah of Khawaja Syed Abdullah Chishti Chota Sheikhpura, Hazrat Sarwar Sultan Lakhi Diwan (Hasua), Hazrat Dariya Shaheed ( Ansar Nagar), Hazrat Jalal Bukhari ( Nawada), Hazrat Nemat Shaheed, Bari Dargah, Nawada, Hazrat Sufidullah and two hundred years old Khanquah Afzalia Faridia Asdaqiah at Sherpur, Nawada and centuries old (in the reign of akbar) Khanquah Chishtia at Chota Sheikhpura, Narhat, Nawada.

References

{{Magadh Division Nawada district Cities and towns in Nawada district