Bankipur is a neighbourhood and residential area in
Patna
Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...
, in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n state of
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
. It is located on the bank of the river
Ganges
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
. The prime attraction is the
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library is one of the national libraries of India, located in Patna, Bihar. It was opened to public on 29 October 1891 by Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh with 4,000 manuscripts, of which he inherited 1,400 from his father Maulvi ...
built by
Khan Bahadur
Khan Bahadur – a compound of ''Khan'' "Leader" and ''Bahadur'' "Brave" – was an honorary title in British India conferred on Indian subjects who were adherents of Islam or Zoroastrianism. The equivalent title for Hindus, Buddhists and India ...
Khuda Bakhsh
Sir Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh Order of the Indian Empire, OIE Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, FRAS (2 August 1842 – 3 August 1908) was an Indian people, Indian advocate, judge, philosopher, Resistance movement, revolutiona ...
in 1891 and
Golghar
The Golghar or Gol Ghar (गोलघर), ("Round House") is a large granary located to the west of the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, capital city of Bihar state, India.
History
According to a contemporary inscription at its base, the Golghar in ...
granary that was built by Captain
John Garstin in 1786.
Patna Dental College and Hospital is also located here.
History
Until the early twentieth century, Bankipore (or Bankipur, or Banki Bazaar) was the administrative centre of the
Patna Division
Patna Division is one of the nine administrative units of Bihar, a state in the east of India. Patna is the headquarters of the division. Established in 1829, it is one of the oldest divisions of the state.
History of administrative districts ...
of
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
, which came under the rule of the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
(EIC) following the
battle of Buxar
The Battle of Buxar was fought between 22 and 23 October 1764, between the forces of the British East India Company, under the command of Major Hector Munro, against the combined armies of Balwant Singh, Maharaja of the Benaras State; Mir Qa ...
in 1764. Bankipore lies along an east–west axis on the south bank of the
Ganges
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
, some four kilometers west from the
medieval Patna City, or
Azimabad
Azimabad (, ) was the name of modern-day Patna during the eighteenth century, prior to the British Raj. Today, Patna is the capital of Bihar, a state in North India. In ancient times, Patna was known as Pataliputra. This was the capital of the M ...
.
The site is almost certainly the location of the ancient Magadhan and
Maurya
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...
capital of
Pataliputra
Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliput ...
. Its identification with Pataliputra was first noticed by Sir William Jones who was informed that Bankipore lay on the former confluence of the
River Sone
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it run ...
with the
Ganges
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
, a site that has shifted some distance upstream now-and one that matches
Megasthenes
Megasthenes ( ; , died 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, indologist, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but has been partially reconstructe ...
' description.
In 1774 the EIC ceded Banki Bazaar to the Austrian
Ostend Company
The Ostend Company (; ), officially the General Company Established in the Austrian Netherlands for Commerce and Navigation in the Indies () was a chartered trading company in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) in the Holy Roman Empir ...
.
Among the principal remains of the
colonial period in Bankipore are the District Collectorate, the
Civil Court
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons
* Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law
** Private la ...
, and mansions such as the impressive
Darbhanga House (now the
PG Deptt.Patna University, Patna), built in the late 19th century by the great philanthropist, the
Maharaja of Darbhanga
The Darbhanga Raj, also known as Raj Darbhanga and the Khandwala dynasty, was a chieftaincy located within the Mughal province of Bihar which controlled territories, not all contiguous, that were part of the Mithila region, now divided between ...
,
Lachmaneshwar Singh. The
Bankipore cemetery, which has the graves of minor Company officials and indigo planters, the
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, founded by
Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh in 1891, and the Catholic Mission, are among the other historic sites of Bankipore. Bankipore is also notable for its several ghats, which include the old Jahaz Ghat, from where plied the daily ferry across the river, and the
Darbhanga Ghat.
One of the earliest educational institutions of the erstwhile Bengal Presidency, Rammohun Roy Seminary, a High English School, was set up at Bankipur in 1892 under the charge of Satis Chandra Chakravarti, a worker of the Bankipur Ashram of the Sadharan
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj ( ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement during the Bengal Renaissance.
It was one of the most influential religious movements in India and made a significant contribution to ...
.
In 1912, Indian National Congress held its 27th session at Bankipore under the Presidency of
Rao Bahadur Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar from
Amravati
Amravati (/Marathi phonology, əmᵊɾɑʋᵊt̪iː/) is a city in Maharashtra located in the Vidarbha region. It is the ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India & second largest city in the Vidarbha region in terms of population. It is the ...
of
Central Provinces and Berar
The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the ...
.
The name of this place goes to Islamic invader
Mir Banki who attacked Bengal in 15th century and came to Patna in his campaign.
In fiction
The author
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author. He is best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910) and '' A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous shor ...
states
["A Passage to India"E.M.Forster, Edited by Oliver Stallybrass 1978, Penguin Books Limited, Reprinted in Penguin Modern Classics 1982, p.338] that the city of
Chandrapore, in his novel ''
A Passage to India
''A Passage to India'' is a 1924 novel by English author E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of 20th-century English liter ...
'' (1924), "was suggested geographically by the town of Bankipore". The Marabar Hills of the novel corresponds to the
Rajgir hills, a few miles away from
Patna
Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...
and the site of ancient
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
-
Mauryan
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...
remains.
References
{{Neighbourhoods of Patna
Neighbourhoods in Patna