Studies in the History of Modern Bihar

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Foreword

Certain important changes had started taking shape in the history of Bihar in the twentieth century. The creation of the State of Bihar and Orissa and then delinking of Orissa from Bihar, may together be taken to mark the beginning of a new period in Indian history in general and the history of Bihar in particular. This was a change which gave new shape to various spheres of life political, economic, social, religious and so on. Recent researches on modern history of Bihar show quite vividly that the society in the region and the social organizations during the one hundred years (20th century) was extremely vibrant and responsive to changes taking place in the realms of economy, polity and ideas. The most important of recent trends in the writing of history of Bihar is the ever increasing output by young scholars. This is a natural, healthy, commendable tendency, the inevitable result of a desire to draw attention to their heritage- In recent years urban history has drawn the attention of historians, sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists.

Historians working on urban history have begun to address this work with most serious attention. Trailblazers in one sense, because they have shown what could be done with historical material from the medieval Punjab, have been J.S.Grewal. Indu Banga and Anirudha Ray with their work on Punjab and Bengal. Trailblazers in another sense, because they have shown the potential of materials generated in Bihar, are Late Vijay Kumar Thakur, Anil Kumar and A.K. Mishra. Their may be some more works and on going researches devoted to specific areas or regions.

Dr A.K. Jha's, Studies in the History of Modern Bihar fits neatly into this scholarly trend. No one who has studied the history of Bihar and particularly of Mithila can fail to be aware of the vibrancy and response of the region to the emerging ideas and trends. The medieval doyen of history, Abul Fadl has paid his tribute to Mithila as, "centre of Indian intellect." Most of the papers included in the present volume deals with the process of urbanisation and urban history which directly or indirectly is related to Mithila region. In doing so the author is justified as this happens to be his area of specialisation and field of research.

Dr. Jha is to be congratulated on opening up a major new area of study in the urban and political history of Bihar.

Introduction

The present effort is the collection of my papers, presented to the different sessions of the Indian History Congress and other national and regional seminars. These papers cover a considerable range and focus on the different aspects of the history of Bihar. The time frame covered in these papers is the twentieth century. In the beginning of the twentieth century modern Bihar was curved out from the Bengal Presidency as a separate administrative unit. This creation marks significant changes in the socio-economic and political life of Bihar.

My basic field of specialization is urban history, so much of the papers are based upon the urban studies. Process of urbanization, its problems and prospects, the role of urban centres in the socio-political life of this state are reflected in these articles.

The first article is related with the role of rural industries in the growth of urban cnetres in Bihar. The time-frame taken in this study is the nineteenth century. In this period the new administrative units were created by the East-India company to control this region, and these units into the later years, in due course of development, emerged as the urban centres. These urban centres which used to control the surplus production of the rural indsutrial activities, played a significant role in the socio-economic history of Bihar.

The second paper of this collection is related with the emergence of consciousness of regionalism in the urban centres. The emergence of this consciousness played a vital role in the creation of Modern Bihar. Not only Bengal elite but also the primacy of Calcutta city dominated the socio-economic life of Bihar, which accelerated the regional consciousness here. As a result the demand for separate statehood for Bihar emerged. The urban Bihar offered the leadership to the separation movement, which was supported by the rural Bihar. Lastly in 1912, Bihar was curved out from Bengal to satisfy the 'Bihari identity, language and ethnicity'.

Next one deals the process of urbanization and its different factors in the flood-prone area of Bihar. Economically this area lag-behind the rest Bihar. The annual devastating floods of the Kosi and its tributatories used to damage the road-rail communications and to create havoc in this region. The Kosi region is predominantly agricultural area, with very limited other economic activities. The urban settlement system of this zone is of decentralized or polynucleated distribution nature. Almost all the towns of this zone are overgrown villages and they lack in the proper civic facilities and town-planning.

The fourth one deals the process of urbanization which gave a new face to the society of Bihar. The lower castes got a new social identification and caste consciousness developed among them to create new social order. The members of the lower castes made frequent petitions to the census authorities to enhance their social order. They formed castesabhas to organize themselves and to uplift the socio-economic status of their castemates and tried to educate their caste-members. The urban centres played a significant role in the emergence of this caste-consciousness.

The fifth paper is related with Gandhi. It was Bihar, which projected Gandhi as a leader of the mass, and first time in Bihar (Champaran) the mass took interest in Gandhi. We can say, Bihar made Gandhi as a national leader in true sense. Bihar also played a vital role in changing the character of the congress led freedom movement, now not only English educated urban middle class was participant but the mass took interest in the freedom movement. Champaran to 1942, Bihar enthusiastically participated in the Gandhian movements.

Next one is focused on the first violent Ghandhian movement, the Quit India Movement of 1942. The intensity of this movement was maximum in Bihar, there was a greater popular participation in Bihar than any other place. I had some warm affection and curicity with this movement, as my father, late Sanwalia Vihari Jha, a resident of Harinagar village of then Singhia Thana, along with his best friend late Giriwardhari Chaudhury alias 'Karo Babu' of Ber village of the same thana, were chief designers of the seizure of Singhia thana and they both were accused of the killing of the officer in charge of this thana. Under family pressure and on advice of late Karo Babu, my father escaped to Purnea, where he joined the government service. Police made frequent radis to capture him but unanimously the whole village reported to Police that there were two persons of the same name, and one of them was government servant at Kishanganj (Purnea District) and another was escaping since few weaks. The Sub-divisional officer of Kishanganj, who was one of his close friends, helped him to join the service and protected him. Karo Babu was captured and sent to jail. However, after joining the service and to prevaricate himself, he left the national movement and active politics and remained in the government service. Most of these informations were narrated to me by Karo Babu and my mother.

J.P. was one of the most dynamic personality of the Indian politics of the Gandhian era. Perhaps he is the best political thinker of the modern Bihar. He led an active and long political life, which was unique and unparallel in the galaxy of modern Indian politicians. He ruled over the minds of the millions of young people for nearly half a century. This paper is focused on J.P.'s views on widespread social and political relationship. His ideas of rural government and individuals are discussed in the present paper along with the two other Indian thinkers Gandhi and M.N.Roy. I had tried to present a close comparison of there three thinkers.

As urbanization is a global phenomenon and natural extension of the growing rural economy, the migration is the reality of this process. 'Village-to town' migration is the parameter of the pace of urbanization and 'town-to- village' migration denotes the process of deurbanization. Thus migration, village to town, is the positive face of the 'development economy.' Migration, whether temporary or permanent, has a number of socio-economic, cultural and political effects at the places of origin as well as destination. In search of better livelihood, skilled and unskilled labourers used to migrate to the distant places. The Bihari labourers migrated willingly or forcibly to other countries also. In present time, the migration plays a strong economic role in the rural areas of Bihar "What changes occurred due to these migrations, whether social or economic," to evaluate these questions, I had selected a village of Darbhanga district of Bihar and carefully tried to note these changes.

The second last paper included in the present collection deals the process of urbanization with its problems and prospects Mithila has a distinct cultural identity in the history of India. It remained a cultural expression than political one. The process of urbanization took place in the usual course of history, but the quality of urbanization never remained attractive. And after independence there is complete negligence of the planned development, so a lop-sided development took place. The urban centers of this zone never served the proper civic facilities and nor touched the minimum 'standard of the modern urban centre'. But in the way of expansion of economy, the urbanization supported by other factors took place. Purnea and Darbhanga, the two towns of this zone had their historical linkage and traditions, but in absence of proper town planning they also lack in the adequate civic facilities.