Saran district is one of the 38

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

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 ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chhapra district after the headquarters of the district,

Chhapra Chhapra (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Chaparā'') is a city and headquarters of the Saran District in the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara River and the Ganges River. Chhapra grew in importance as a river-based mar ...

. It is considered as one of the richest zamindaris of Bihar after

Raj 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 betwee ...

Hathwa Raj Hathwa Raj also known as the Kalyanpur chieftaincy was a chieftaincy established in what is now Saran division of Bihar. It comprised 1,365 villages across Chhapra, Siwan, and Gopalganj districts of Bihar, with a population exceeding 391,000 ...

, Bettiah Raj and Raj Najarganj, Saran Raj.

Typonym

It is said that "Saran" is a corrupted version of the word ''Sarangaranya'' (forest of deer). According to legend, earlier it was a dense forest full of deer and the home of Rishi Sarangi. Another suggestion is that the name is corruption of ''Sakra-aranya'' (the forest of Indra).

History

Chirand Chirand is an archaeological site in the Saran district of Bihar, India, situated on the northern bank of the Ganga River. Evidences of wheat were found. It has a large pre-historic mound which is known for its continuous archaeological record ...

, 10 kilometres east of Chhapra, is a stratified

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

, and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

settlement, which is known for its continuous archaeological record from the Neolithic age (about 2500–1345 BC) to the reign of the Pal dynasty who ruled during the pre-medieval period. The archaeological records suggest transitions in human habitation patterns in

dating from 2500 BC to 30 AD.

was a

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

dynasty in the Saran division of Bihar belonging to

Bhumihar Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, a Hindu Indian caste system, caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila (region), Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya ...

s, which encompassed 1,365 villages, was inhabited by more than 391,000 people, and produced an annual rental of almost a million rupees. The Hindi version of Saran Gazetteer titled as ''Srijan'' was released in September 2016.

Geography

Saran district occupies an area of , equivalent to

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the Netherlands. The district of Saran is situated between 25°36' and 26°13' north latitude and 84°24' and 85°15' east longitude in the southern post of the Saran Division of North Bihar. The

Ganges river 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 ...

provides the southern boundary of the district, beyond which lie the districts of Bhojpur and Patna. To the north of Saran lie the districts of Siwan and Gopalganj. The Gandak river forms the dividing line with the Vaishali and Muzaffarpur districts in the east. To the west of Saran lie the districts of Siwan and Balia in Uttar Pradesh. The Ghaghra river forms a natural boundary between Saran and Ballia. The district is shaped like a triangle; its apex is the confluence of the boundary of the Gopalganj district and the GandakGanges river. The district is made up entirely of plains, but several depressions and marshes create three broad natural divisions: * The alluvial plains along the big rivers, which are subject to periodic inundation. * The uplands away from the rivers, not subject to floods. * The riverbed diara areas. India's biggest double-decker flyover is being constructed in

. This long double-decker flyover from Gandhi Chowk to Nagarpalika Chowk, is being constructed at the cost of 411.31 crore from the central road fund (CRF) under engineering procurement construction (EPC) mode by Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited (BRPNNL). It is longer than the double-decker flyover in

Santa Cruz–Chembur Link Road Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring gifts during the ...

. Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...

laid the foundation stone of this double-decker flyover in July 2018, which is set to be completed by June 2022. The width of the flyover will be 5.5 meters. The double-decker flyover will be constructed from the eastern side of Bhikhari Thakur roundabout on NH- 19 crossing the police lines, Gandhi Chowk, Mouna Chowk, Nagarpalika (Rajendra) Chowk, bus stand and end at Daroga Rai Chowk near Zila school on the western side of

. The upper portion of the double-decker flyover bridge would be long and the lower portion .

Politics

Economy

Saran was earlier called a 'money order economy' district, as people used to send remittances in money order to their families there. It is one of the 38 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF). It is a primarily agriculture based rural and suburban region with little industrial output. This can partly be attributed to the non business friendly socialism inspired governments led by

RJD The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Othe ...

in the region from 2001 to 2014. That period was marked by unethical election practices.

Government

The present collector and District Magistrate of Saran is IAS Aman Samir. The Divisional Commissioner is Gopal Meena (I.A.S). The district has three subdivisions, 20 community development blocks and 1,807 villages.

Subdivisions

Marhaura Marhaura (also spelt as Marhowrah) is a town and an administrative sub-divisional area in Saran district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is Marhaura (Vidhan Sabha constituency). Marhaura was the industrial hub of Saran in the 1980s. Geography ...

* Sonpur

Blocks

Amnour Amnour is a block in Saran district of Bihar state, India. Amnour's block headquarters is Amnour town. It belongs to Saran division. It is located 32 km north of the district headquarters Chhapra, and 52 km south of the state capital ...

* Baniyapur *

* Dariyapur *

Dighwara Dighwara is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in the Saran district, state of Bihar, India. The name probably derives from 'Dirgh-dwar', literally "large gate", as Dighwara is claimed to be the entrance to the mythological city of king Daksha. Durin ...

* Ekma * Garkha * Ishupur *

Jalalpur Jalalpur is a town, tehsil and a municipal board in Ambedkar Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Geography Jalalpur is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city is directly connected to Azamgarh, Akbarpu ...

* Lahladpur * Maker * Manjhi *

Mashrakh Mashrakh is a Block and town of Saran District in the western part of Bihar, India. It is located on the right bank of Ghoghari river. It is situated at 40 km from Chhapra and 98 km from state capital Patna. There are 17 Panchayats in M ...

Nagra Nagra is a brand of portable audio recorders produced from 1951 in Switzerland. Beginning in 1997 a range of high-end equipment aimed at the audiophile community was introduced, and Nagra expanded the company's product lines into new markets. O ...

* Panapur * Parsa *

Revelganj Revelganj is a town and one of the oldest nagar panchayat in Saran district in the Indian state of Bihar. Nagar Panchayat The Nagar Panchayat of Rivilganj is considered as one of the oldest Nagar Panchayat of Bihar. History Rivilganj was the ...

* Sonpur * Taraiya

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Saran district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 3,951,862, roughly equal to the nation of

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

or the US state of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. This gives it a ranking of 60th in India (out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 21.37%. Saran has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 949

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

for every 1,000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 68.57%. 8.94% of the population lives in urban areas. * Population: total: 3,951,862; rural: 3,598,660; urban: 35,883 * SC population: total: 474,066 (12.00%); rural: 438,183; urban: 240,89 * ST population: total: 36,786 (0.93%); rural: 35,885; urban: 901

Languages

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 93.16% of the population in the district spoke

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

, 4.45%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and 2.28%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

as their first language. Languages include

, a tongue in the

Bihari language Bihari languages are a group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The Bihari languages are mainly spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, and also in Nepal.Brass, Paul R. (1974). ''Language, Religion and Politic ...

group with almost 40 million speakers, written in both the

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

and

Kaithi Kaithi (), also called Kayathi (), Kayasthi (), or Kayastani, is a Brahmic script historically used across parts of Northern and Eastern India. It was prevalent in regions corresponding to modern-day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand. The s ...

scripts.

Transport

The nearest airport to Saran District is Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport 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, ...

, approximately 74 kilometres (46 mi) away.

Notable people

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

Bhikhari Thakur Bhikari Thakur (18 December 1887 – 10 July 1971) was an Indian Bhojpuri language poet, playwright, lyricist, actor, folk dancer, folk singer and social activist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Bhojpuri language ...

Chitragupt (composer) Chitragupt Shrivastava (16 November 1917 – 14 January 1991), better known as Chitragupt, was an Indian film music director in Hindi cinema and Bhojpuri cinema. Personal life He was born in Sawreji, a village located in Gopalganj district in ...

Anand–Milind Anand–Milind is an Indian music composer duo consisting of brothers Anand Srivastava and Milind Srivastava. Born to composer Chitragupt, they have composed music for over 200 Bollywood films. The brothers debuted in 1984 with '' Ab Ayega Mazaa ...

* Abdul Ghafoor * Lachhimi Sakhi *

Ram Dulari Sinha Ram Dulari Sinha (8 December 1922 – 31 August 1994) was a nationalist, freedom fighter, Congress parliamentarian, Union Minister, and Governor. She was the first woman in Bihar to have master's degree and she was also the first woman from Bih ...

Ramchandra Manjhi Ramchandra Manjhi (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Rāmcaṃdra māṃjhī, Bhojpuri language, Bhojpuri: 𑂩𑂰𑂧𑂒𑂢𑂹६ 𑂧𑂰𑂖𑂹𑂕𑂲; 1925 – 7 September 2022) was an Indian Bhojpuri folk dance ...

* Dharni Das *

Prabhunath Singh Prabhunath Singh is a politician from Bihar, India and was a member of the 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabha. Singh represented the Masrakh assembly constituency from 1985 to 1995, and the Maharajganj Lok Sabha constituency of Bihar from 1998 to 2 ...

*Yuvraj Sudhir Singh

References

External links

Official websiteSaran Information Portal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saran District Saran division 1976 establishments in Bihar Districts of Bihar