Supaul is a town 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 ...

that is headquarters of Supaul district in the

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 ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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 ...

. Supaul is the administrative headquarters of this district.

History

Supaul, which was previously a part of

Saharsa district Saharsa is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar, India. Saharsa city is the administrative headquarters of this district. Saharsa district is a part of the Kosi Division and it became a district on 1 April 1954 and has subsequently become ...

, is part of the Mithila region. Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by

Indo-Aryan peoples Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse collection of Indo-European peoples speaking Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent. Historically, Aryan were the Indo-European pastoralists who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia and int ...

who established the Mithila Kingdom (also called Kingdom of the Videhas). During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called

Janaka Janaka is a character who appears in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He is an ancient Hindu king of Videha, which was located in the Mithila region. His name at birth was Sīradhvaja, and he had a brother named Kushadhvaja. His father's name was Hras ...

s. The Videha Kingdom was later incorporated into the

Vajjika League The Vajjika (Pāli: ) or Vrijika (Sanskrit: ) League, Confederacy, or Sangha, also called simply Vajji (Pāli: ) or Vriji (Sanskrit: ), was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribal league which existed during the later Iron Age period in north-east South ...

, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.

Transport

Air

Rajbiraj Airport is the nearest airport roughly 76 km away through NH 327A - NH 57 - Western Koshi Embankment Road - Dagmara - Kunauli .

Shree Airlines Shree Airlines Pvt. Ltd. ( ne, श्री एयरलाइन्स) is an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal, operating domestic services within Nepal, including chartered helicopter flights. The airline also conducts charter and non-charter ...

and

Buddha Air Buddha Air Pvt. Ltd ( ne, बुद्ध एयर) is an airline based in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, Nepal, near Patan. It operates domestic as well as international services within Nepal and India, serving mainly large towns and cities in Ne ...

operates their daily flights between

Rajbiraj Rajbiraj ( ne, राजविराज) is a mid-sized municipality located in the south-eastern part of Madhesh Province of Nepal. Rajbiraj is the district headquarters of Saptari and is the eighth largest city in the province. The township of ...

and

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, the capital city of Nepal. But in India,

Darbhanga Airport Darbhanga Airport is a domestic airport and an Indian Air Force Station, serving Darbhanga, Bihar, India. It is located just at the outskirts of the city near the NH-105 and NH-57 highways, which pass through Darbhanga. The airport is op ...

roughly 120 km is the nearest operational airport.

Road

passes through Supaul. It connects Supaul to

Purnia Purnia ()(also romanized as Purnea) is a city that serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia division in the Indian state of Bihar. Total geographical area of Purnia Urban Agglomeration is which is nex ...

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian state of West Bengal. Known as the ' ...

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

in the east and Darbhanga,

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth ...

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. ...

and

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...

in the west. Another state highways connect Supaul to its divisional headquarter

Saharsa Saharsa is a city and Municipal corporation in the Saharsa District in the eastern part of the state of Bihar, India. It is situated near the eastern banks of the Kosi River. It serves as the administrative headquarters for Saharsa District a ...

and the nearest pilgrim sites, Singheshwar and

Madhepura Madhepura is a municipality in Madhepura district in the Indian state of Bihar. It stands at the centre of Kosi ravine, It was called ''Madhyapura-'' a place centrally situated which was subsequently transformed as Madhipura into present Madhep ...

Rail

Supaul railway station lies on Barauni-Katihar, Saharsa and Purnia sections. Train service started from Supaul station in 2020.

Geography

Supaul is located at . It has an average elevation of 34 metres (111 feet).

Demographics

India census, Supaul had a population of 2,228,397 of which male and female were 1,157,815 and 1,070,582 respectively. The initial provisional data suggest a density of 919 in 2011 compared to 714 of 2001.

College and University

* University **

Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University (B. N. Mandal University) is the state government university situated at district headquarters, Madhepura. B. N. Mandal University, Madhepura came into existence on the 10th of January, 1992. It acts as an af ...

Notable people

* R.K.Singh, Raj Kumar Singh is a former Indian bureaucrat and a current Minister of State in the Government of India. * Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, politician, national spokesperson of

Bharatiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

and former cabinet minister * Govind Kumar Singh, Indian Fashion Designer * Dileshwar Kamait * Anup Lal Yadav, member of parliament from

constituency *

Ranjeet Ranjan Ranjeet Ranjan (born 7 January 1974) also known as Ranjeeta is an Indian politician serving as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh. She was member of the 14th Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament from Supaul, Bihar from the Ind ...

, member of parliament from Supaul constituency and Spokesperson of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

References

{{Kosi basin Cities and towns in Supaul district