Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region.
Darbhanga | |
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Metropolitan city | |
Darbhanga City | |
Nickname: Capital Of Mithila | |
Darbhanga Darbhanga (India) Show map of IndiaDarbhanga Darbhanga (Asia) Show map of Asia | |
Coordinates: 26.17°N 85.9°E / 26.17; 85.9 | |
Country | India |
State | Bihar |
Region | Mithila |
District | Darbhanga |
Founded by | Darbhangi Khan |
Named for | Darbhangi Khan |
Government | |
• Type | Municipal Corporation |
• Body | Darbhanga Municipal Corporation |
• Mayor | Munni Devi |
• Deputy Mayor | Bharat Sahani |
• Municipal commissioner | Manesh Kumar Meena, IAS[1] |
• MP | Gopal Jee Thakur, BJP |
• MLA | Sanjay Saraogi, BJP |
Area | |
• Total | 19 km2 (7 sq mi) |
Elevation | 52 m (171 ft) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 380,125 |
Demonym | Darbhangiya |
Languages | |
• Official | Hindi urdu |
• Additional official | Urdu[3] |
• Regional Language | Maithili[4] |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | |
Telephone code | 06272 |
ISO 3166 code | IN-BR |
Vehicle registration | BR-07 |
Sex ratio | 910:1000 ♂/♀ |
Lok Sabha constituency | Darbhanga |
Vidhan Sabha constituency | Darbhanga, Darbhanga Rural, Bahadurpur, Keoti, Jale, Kusheshwar Asthan, Gaura Bauram, Benipur, Alinagar, Hayaghat |
Website | darbhanga |
Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstwhile Khandwala Zamidaar dynasty Under Mughals. It was the capital of Mithila.
It is considered the Medical Capital of North bihar. It has DMCH & second AIIMS Hospital in the State Only after Capital Patna.
Darbhanga is one of the oldest cities in India. Musical, folk art, and literary traditions in Sanskrit, Maithili and Urdu have been passed down generations in Darbhanga and constitute the city's strong cultural background.[7]
The city was the capital of the Darbhanga Raj, an estate established in the 16th century, and contains the Anandbagh Palace. It was constituted a municipality in 1864. Darbhanga is home to the Kameshwara Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University (1961), which is located on the grounds of the palace, and the Lalit Narayan Mithila University (1972). Darbhanga has a museum housing archaeological materials, as well as historical and handicrafts exhibits. Darbhanga has been a centre for music since the late 18th century and has produced multiple well-known dhrupad (an ancient form of Indian classical music) musicians. A major rail and road junction, Darbhanga trades in agricultural produce, mangoes, and fish. In addition to food processing, the city has a light manufacturing industry.
Darbhanga is situated on a vast alluvial plain, with low-lying areas containing marshes and lakes. Grains, oilseeds, tobacco, sugarcane, and mangoes are important crops in the region.[8]
Under the British Raj, Darbhanga was a part of Sarkar Tirhut until 1875, when it was constituted into a separate district. Its subdivisions had been constituted earlier – Darbhanga Sadar in 1845, Madhubani in 1866, and Samastipur (then known as Tajpur) in 1867. The city of Darbhanga is said to have been founded by one Darbhangi Khan, about whom practically nothing is known. It is also held that the name Darbhanga is derived from Dwar Banga or Dar-e-Banga, meaning the ‘door of Bengal’. This etymology does not appear to be very correct as the division between Bengal and Bihar has always been held to be further to the east. Nonetheless, the region has a linguistic and cultural affinity with Bengal.[9]
Excavation at Balirajgarh revealed brick fortifications dating back to the 2nd century BC.[10]
Religions in Darbhanga Town | ||||
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Religion | Percent | |||
Hindus | 71.76% | |||
Muslims | 27.76% | |||
Christian | 0.18% | |||
Sikh | 0.11% | |||
Buddhist | 0.01% | |||
Jain | 0.01% | |||
Not Stated | 0.16% |
The 2011 Census of India recorded Darbhanga as an Urban agglomeration with a population of 380,125 while the surrounding district has 3 million people.[11] It is the 5th largest city in Bihar in terms of the urban population.[12] The city has 196,573 males (52.6%) and 183,552 females (47.4%). Darbhanga has an average literacy rate of 79.40%, with male literacy at 85.08% and female literacy at 73.08%.[13] However, as per the document published on 6 March 2021 by the office of District Magistrate Darbhanga, the urban population of Darbhanga stands 380,125[14]
Darbhanga Junction lies on the East Central Railway. It is connected directly to all the major cities of India.
Of the beginning of railway in Darbhanga and its neighbouring areas, The Imperial Gazetteer of India noted:
The famine of 1874 gave a great impetus to the construction of railways, and the District is on the whole well off in the matter of communications. Its southwest corner is traversed for 29 miles by the mainline of the Bengal and North-Western Railway, and also by 25 miles of the new chord-line from Hajipur to Bachwara, which runs parallel to the Ganges embankment from east to west. From Samastipur a line runs to Darbhanga town and there branches off in two directions, the first north-west to Sitamarhi through Kamtaul and Jogiara, and the other due east to Khanwa Ghat on the Kosi (Old Stream) near Pratapganj. The total length of the line within the District is 146 miles. Most of the earthwork for a line from Sakri to Jainagar on the Nepal frontier was completed as relief work during the famine of 1897; and the line, which has now been opened, should tap a large grain supply from Nepal.[15]
Darbhanga also has its own commercial airport which is connected with all the major cities of India.
Darbhanga Airport (IATA: DBR, ICAO: VE89) is a civil enclave at the Darbhanga Air Force Station of the Indian Air Force, 6 kilometres from Darbhanga City near the NH-105 and NH-57 East-West Corridor Expressway which passes through Darbhanga. The civil enclave is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The foundation stone for the project was laid by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and then Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu in the presence of state Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha on 24 December 2018. Commercial flights started on 8 November 2020.[16]
Darbhanga is connected to other parts of India by National Highway 27, National Highway 527B and Bihar State highways 50, 56, 88 and 75. Darbhanga is also connected to Madhubani and Sitamarhi.
The East-West Corridor expressway, which connects Porbandar in Gujarat to Silchar in Assam, passes through Darbhanga.
Darbhanga is located in the northern part of Bihar.
Places adjacent to Darbhanga | ||||||||||||||||
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Darbhanga has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa).
Climate data for Darbhanga (1971–1990, extremes 1901–1998) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 30.6 (87.1) |
34.1 (93.4) |
40.6 (105.1) |
43.9 (111.0) |
44.1 (111.4) |
43.6 (110.5) |
39.3 (102.7) |
38.6 (101.5) |
38.6 (101.5) |
39.4 (102.9) |
34.1 (93.4) |
36.6 (97.9) |
44.1 (111.4) |
Average high °C (°F) | 23.1 (73.6) |
25.8 (78.4) |
31.0 (87.8) |
35.1 (95.2) |
35.0 (95.0) |
34.9 (94.8) |
32.5 (90.5) |
32.8 (91.0) |
32.5 (90.5) |
31.6 (88.9) |
29.0 (84.2) |
24.8 (76.6) |
30.7 (87.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 16.2 (61.2) |
18.4 (65.1) |
23.0 (73.4) |
27.1 (80.8) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.8 (83.8) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.4 (83.1) |
28.2 (82.8) |
26.5 (79.7) |
22.4 (72.3) |
17.7 (63.9) |
24.4 (75.9) |
Average low °C (°F) | 9.2 (48.6) |
11.0 (51.8) |
15.1 (59.2) |
19.4 (66.9) |
21.2 (70.2) |
22.9 (73.2) |
23.8 (74.8) |
24.2 (75.6) |
23.8 (74.8) |
21.2 (70.2) |
15.8 (60.4) |
10.6 (51.1) |
18.2 (64.8) |
Record low °C (°F) | 0.0 (32.0) |
0.0 (32.0) |
4.1 (39.4) |
9.4 (48.9) |
10.6 (51.1) |
11.0 (51.8) |
13.5 (56.3) |
15.5 (59.9) |
13.5 (56.3) |
10.0 (50.0) |
7.2 (45.0) |
2.6 (36.7) |
0.0 (32.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 13 (0.5) |
14 (0.6) |
9 (0.4) |
29 (1.1) |
76 (3.0) |
139 (5.5) |
353 (13.9) |
254 (10.0) |
193 (7.6) |
73 (2.9) |
6 (0.2) |
7 (0.3) |
1,166 (45.9) |
Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 4.6 | 7.6 | 16.4 | 12.2 | 10.5 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 63.7 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 68 | 63 | 49 | 56 | 60 | 70 | 78 | 79 | 79 | 73 | 66 | 67 | 67 |
Source 1: NOAA (1971–1990)[17] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: India Meteorological Department[18] |
Notable educational institutions include:
Darbhanga has various tourist attractions and is among the oldest cities of Bihar. Tourist spots include:
This section contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate. (July 2022) |
All India Radio has a 20 kW medium-wave radio station in Darbhanga which transmits various programmes of mass interest and covers a part of North Bihar as well as the Terai of Nepal.[citation needed]
Doordarshan has one DD National and one DD News LPT relay transmitters.[citation needed]
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National libraries | |
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Cities and towns in Darbhanga Division | |
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Darbhanga district | |
Madhubani district |
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Samastipur district |
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See also |
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Cities and towns in other Divisions |
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State of Bihar | |
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