Sita-Kund

A village about 6-kms east of the Munger town contains a hot spring known as the Sita-Kund spring, which is so called after the well-known episode of the Ramayana. Rama, after rescuing his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana, suspected that she could not have maintained her honor intact, and Sita, to prove her chastity, agreed to enter a blazing fire. She came out of the fiery ordeal unscathed, and imparted to the pool in which she bathed, the heat she had absorbed from the fire. The hot spring is now enclosed in a masonry reservoir and is visited by large numbers of pilgrims, especially at the full moon of Magh. The water is beautifully clear and limpid, and sends up numerous bubbles from its rocky bed. The temperature of his spring varies in a remarkable manner and goes to the highest of 138� F and even above.

Shringhrishi

One of the peaks of the Kharagpur group of hills, situated 32-kms to the southwest of Munger near Kajara, is named after the famous Rishya Sringa of the Ramayana, who performed a Yajna sacrifice at the instance of King Dashrath in order that the latter might have offspring. It is a much-frequented place of pilgrimage especially on the Shivaratri day in February. There is a spring here in a gorge among the hills that issues in six or seven places from below a high cliff of quartzite and forms a considerable stream lower down. A small reservoir has been constructed at the foot of the cliff, and is used for bathing. It is believed to have miraculous properties, the story being that whoever goes into it, whether child or adult, short or tall, finds the water only waist deep. The water is hardly lukewarm. There is also a temple dedicated to lord Shiva. The surrounding is full of beautiful natural scenery.

Rishikund

This is a hot spring situated about 9-kms south of Sitakund at the head of a picturesque little valley between two ridges of the Kharagpur hills. It has been made a place of worship and a reservoir, about 140� square, has been built to collect the water. The bottom is in some places sandy, in other rocky; and the water seems to issue all along the western side from numerous crevices in the rock. Bubbles rise from the whole extent of the pool near the hill, and where the gas issues from among sand, it forms cavities like minute craters. Temperature of the water varies from 110� to 114�F.

Ha-Ha Punch Kumari

It is on the western side of Rameshwar Kund. It is a waterfall coming from the hills with straight drop. The natural scenery is beautiful. This fall is named after the five girls of a Hindu King of Kharagpur whose daughters committed suicide by jumping from the hilltop to escape capture by the Muslim invaders.

Uren

The village is situated about 8-kms west of Kajra railway station on the main line of the Eastern Railway. In about 1892 Colonel Waddell first discovered and examined the ruins and brought to notice their significance amongst the Buddhist ruins in Bihar

Buddhist Ruins

A little below the southeastern side of the summit of the solitary hill near the village is a spot as Lorik-ka-ghar. It is surrounded on three sides by vaguely columnar rock, slightly suggestive of rude walls. Lorik is one of the most famous legendary heroes known to the folklore of Bihar. Col. Waddell, however, identified the spot with the house of the man-eating Yaksha - Bakula - of the Buddhist tradition, which claims that Buddha ultimately converted the Yaksha. Hiuen-T-Siang, the Chinese traveler also refers to this tradition and to the stupa, which was erected, to mark the spot of conversion. In further support of his view Waddell mentions the prevailing worship of the image of Ban-Bakura-Nath or Savage Lord Bakura at the village Jalalabad 12-kms away. The other Buddhist ruins discovered by Waddell on the same hill, which are referred, to below, also tend to confirm Waddell�s identification.

Foot print mark and rock inscriptions

A little to the north of the spot called Lorik-ka-Ghar, Waddell noticed there a number of traces of inscriptions on the rock but they were illegible. According to him the footprint was originally intended to represent the footprint of the Buddha.

Stupa ruins near the footprint mark

At a short distance from the above spot, there is a small brick mound with traces of thickly plastered walls. It appears that on the top of the mound a Hindu shrine was built in later times, the traces of which were also observed by Col. Waddell. According to Waddell this was the site of the stupa, which marked the spot of Bakul�s conversion by the Buddha.

The rock carvings near the Stupa site

Nearby the stupa some figures of stupas or chaityas of most elaborate patterns on the rock was observed, supplemented in some cases with figures of lota or water vessel, the latter being very specially and prominently displayed. These are besides on the rock, other carvings representing some religious marks and emblems.

Rajaona

This village is situated about 3-kms northwest of Lakhisarai and is surrounded by numerous mounds. It was one of the mahals of Sarkar Munger in the time of Akbar. The ruins have furnished several miles of brick ballast to the railway. There used to be numerous Buddhist statues and sculptures here, but nearly all have been carried off to different temples and the Indian Museum. Some statues still exist at an ancient mound called Raghugarh, viz., Ganesha, Harihara, Durga, Vishnu, the seven mothers, the nine planets, etc., as well as a few imperfect Buddhist figures.

Buddhist Monastery site at northeastern foot of the hill

The rocky spur of the hill on this side is seen divided into various terraces, which were seen littered with bricks, pieces of Buddhist images, hewn stones, door-lintels and frames etc. The mounds of ruins are locally known to represent the site of the fort of King Indradyumna, the last Hindu king of the region ruling at the time of Mohammedan invasion. The ruins cover a very extensive area.

Bhaduria-bhur

There is a hot spring about 3-kms from Rishikund, on the other side of the Kharagpur range of hills, not far from the village of Dariyapur in the Jamalpur P.S. The name means the cleft of Bhaduria Hill, and the spring is much cooler than the Rishikund spring of which it is locally believed to be a branch. It emerges at the foot of the Bhaduria Hill from among masses of quartzite rocks, accompanied by a free discharge of gaseous bubbles, devoid of smell and uninflammable. Men and cattle drink the water of this hot spring. Its temperature goes up to 98.5� F.

Bhimbandh

The green forests in the Munger Sadar sub-division, about 20-kms southwest of Kharagpur and 6-kms north of Duddih is called Bhimbandh and is a game sanctuary. It is the home of a variety of wildlife such as Tiger, Panther, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Wild Boar, Sambar, Langur and Nilgai. Close to the forest village are some hot springs, called Tatal-pani, which are by far the finest in the district. The first spring is situated about 300 yards to the north of the village immediately under a small detached hill named Mahadeva, from whose base the water issued in a fine stream at a temperature of 147� F. A few hundred yards farther to the north, at the foot of the hornstone hill Damadama, we come upon a region of hot springs. Hot water appears to be spouting from the ground in every direction; the principal springs, of which there are eight or ten, have uniform temperature of 145� F, all rising with a space of about 300 yards square.

Malnipahar

This is a hill situated about 10-kms northeast of Bhimbandh. There are several springs, known as Janamkund, at the bottom of this hill, which form the source of the Anjan River. One spring issues at all seasons of the year directly from a crevice in the rock .Its temperature vary from 147.2� to 149� F. A second series of springs occur along the bed of the Anjan for about 150 yards, at a quarter kilometer from the source. Their highest temperature yet observed is 140�F.

Deoghara

This is a village in Sangrampur named after the Deoghara hill situated off the Sangrampur-Gangta road. There is a small masonry temple of Lord Shiva at the summit of the hill, which is approachable with some difficulty. Another, stone and brick built temple is located at a lower height.

Sangrampur

The village derives its name from a battle waged between the insurgent Santhals and the British troops towards the middle of the 19thcentury. Sultanganj is the nearest railway station.

Pir Pahar

About 5-kms east of the town is a hill called Pir Pahar, from the top of which a fine view of the surrounding country is obtained. The hill is called after an old Mohammedan saint or Pir. There are two old tombs side by side at the foot of the hill, on one of which there is an inscription to the memory of one Mary Anne Beckett, who died in 1832, while the other has a damaged inscription showing, till a few years ago, that it is in memory of a person named D�Oyly; the portion containing the name has now disappeared.

Rameshwar Kund

It is situated on the northwest corner of the Kharagpur Lake. The legend goes that during the Muslim invasion one of the Generals camped at this site and dug the earth for water and accidentally a hot water spring came out.

Kharagpur Lake

This lake is situated 3-kms west of Kharagpur town and is famous for its scenic beauty. It is a big reservoir, formed by a dam, which is built across the river �Man�. It also provides irrigation to a vast area of land.

Rock carving

The rock is situated about a kilometer off from the fort. It contains a carving on stone representing two feet, which are supposed to be impressions of the feet of Lord Krishna, when he touched the rock while crossing the Ganges. The rock is called locally as Manpatthar and contains some temples also.

Chandi Asthan

This spot, with the shrine thereon, is mentioned as Vikrama Chandi, which is, but a hole in a rock sacred to Chandi, the Gramadevata (the village deity) of the place and covered by a small building of brick. It is with this spot that the famous legend of kings Karna and Vikrama is associated.

Kashtaharni Ghat

The river Ganges takes a bend here towards north, i.e., it becomes Uttar-Vahini, a fact that had made the spot especially sacred to the Hindus. The sanctity of the place may be of considerable antiquity as is perhaps indicated by the inscription of the Gahadvala king Govind Chandra of Kannauj, which records a grant made by the king after bathing in the Ganges at Mudgagiri on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya festival. The various legends regarding the sage Mudgala, and the story of Rama are primarily associated with this spot. There are some temples on the ghat having been built at various dates in the last century.

Tomb of Mulla Muhammad Said

This is situated on the top of the bastion at the southwest angle of the fort. The Mulla was a Persian poet and had come to India from Mazandran near the Caspian Sea, during the reign of the Emperor Aurangazeb, who employed him as a tutor to his daughter Zibunnisa Begum. The Mulla died in 1704 A.D. and his tomb existed till the early years of this century, when it was demolished and the grave removed.

Palace of Shah Suja

This building occupies one of the finest sites in the fort and has now been converted into a jail. To west of the jailor�s office is a roofless hammam or Turkish bath, consisting of a bathroom and a dressing room. West of the hammam, outside the palace, there is another large well, now bricked up, which was connected with the river by a door.

Tomb of Pir Shah Nufa

The building is raised inside the southern gate of the fort on the top of a small mound, about 25� high, which represents the ruins of some Buddhist structure. The building of the tomb consists of a domed tomb chamber with a prayer room or mosque and a rest room attached to it. A few carved stones, apparently representing ruins of some Hindu shrine, are to be seen embedded in the low platform to the south of the tomb, and disfigured with unsightly holes or depressions made by those who believed in their efficacy to cure certain diseases of children.

Munger Fort

The most important of the monuments at Munger is the ancient fort, built on a rocky eminence projecting into the river Ganges that protects it from west and partly from the north, the other sides being defended by a deep moat. The rampart was provided with four gateways, one on each side, and with circular or octagonal bastions, at regular intervals, carrying the usual battlements. Of the gates only the northern gate, called Lal Darwaza, is somewhat preserved, with some carved stones built into it, which originally belonged to some Hindu or Buddhist structure.

Bihar Yoga Bharti

It is located within the Ganga Darshan Complex in Munger on a powerful energy center, about 172-kms from Patna. It is on the top of a hill overlooking the river Ganges and is pinpointed to become a spiritual oasis in the technological desert of the 21st century.

Being unparallel center of International repute for learning of the Indian Yoga Science, it offers scholars, scientists, doctors and Yoga aspirants from all over the world an opportunity to work together in order to formulate a scientific basis for the integration of Yoga into modern society.

Swami Shivananda first had the vision of a Yoga University when he established the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy, in Rishikesh. Paramahamsa Satyananda who established the Ganga Darshan complex in Munger carried his inspiration forward. And now, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, with the blessings of his predecessors has fully founded and established the Bihar Yoga Bharti in order to preserve and regenerate the total scope of Yogic science, with the objective of combining academic and scientific methodology with spiritual vision.

The institution has gained a great respect within among people world over and attracts and trains up them with their Indian counterparts.

This institution is being conducted along the lines of the great spirit of University of Nalanda and Vikaramshila and is the first institute of its kind in the world that eventually imparts comprehensive Yogic education with provision for M.A., M. Sc., M. Phil., PhD, D.Sc., and D.Litt. Along with Yogic education the student imbibes dedication, compassion and the spirit of selfless service.

It is essential for Yoga aspirants that they obtain prior permission from the Assistant Registrar (General), Bihar Yoga Bharti, Ganga Darshan, Fort Munger, Bihar-811201 (India) for attending any course for which a nominal fee is charged.

Bihar Yoga Bharti,Munger

It is located within the Ganga Darshan Complex in Munger on a powerful energy center, about 172-kms from Patna. It is on the top of a hill overlooking the river Ganges and is pinpointed to become a spiritual oasis in the technological desert of the 21st century.

Being unparallel center of International repute for learning of the Indian Yoga Science, it offers scholars, scientists, doctors and Yoga aspirants from all over the world an opportunity to work together in order to formulate a scientific basis for the integration of Yoga into modern society.

Swami Shivananda first had the vision of a Yoga University when he established the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy, in Rishikesh. Paramahamsa Satyananda who established the Ganga Darshan complex in Munger carried his inspiration forward. And now, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, with the blessings of his predecessors has fully founded and established the Bihar Yoga Bharti in order to preserve and regenerate the total scope of Yogic science, with the objective of combining academic and scientific methodology with spiritual vision.

The institution has gained a great respect within among people world over and attracts and trains up them with their Indian counterparts.

This institution is being conducted along the lines of the great spirit of University of Nalanda and Vikaramshila and is the first institute of its kind in the world that eventually imparts comprehensive Yogic education with provision for M.A., M. Sc., M. Phil., PhD, D.Sc., and D.Litt. Along with Yogic education the student imbibes dedication, compassion and the spirit of selfless service.

It is essential for Yoga aspirants that they obtain prior permission from the Assistant Registrar (General), Bihar Yoga Bharti, Ganga Darshan, Fort Munger, Bihar-811201 (India) for attending any course for which a nominal fee is charged.

Munger Or Maudagalyagiri

The territory included within the district of Munger once formed part of the Madhya Desha or Midland of the first Aryan settlers. It has been identified with Modagiri, a place mentioned in the Mahabharata, which was the capital of a kingdom in Eastern India near Vanga and Tamralipta. It was also known as Maudagalyagiri after Maudgalya, a disciple of Buddha, who converted a rich merchant of this place into Buddhism. At the dawn of history, the present site of the town was apparently comprised within the kingdom of Anga, the capital of which was at Champa near Bhagalpur. Anga was the country to the east of Magadha and west of the chieftains who dwelt in the Rajmahal hills. A portion of the west of the present district was included within the limits of the kingdom of Magadha. Anga comprised the old districts of Bhagalpur and Munger and also extended northwards up the river Kaushiki and included the western portion of the district of Purnea. The area lying north of the river Ganges was known as Anguttarap. Kashyapa Vibhandaka had his hermitage on the river Kaushiki. His son Rishyasringa was beguiled by the courtesans of Anga into a boat and brought down the river to the capital - Modagiri and Kaushiki Kachcha- that had rulers who are distinguished from Karna, whose realm (Anga) clearly lay between the Magadhans and the Parvatavasins. The Anga dominion at one time included Magadha and the Shanti-parva of the epic Mahabharata refers to an Anga King who sacrificed at Mount Vishnupada. In the epic period Modagiri finds mention as a separate State. The success of Anga did not last long and about middle of the sixth century B.C. Bimbisara of Magadha is said to have killed Brahmadatta, the last independent ruler of ancient Anga. Henceforth Anga becomes an integral part of the growing empire of Magadh.

There is a gap in the history of the district for a few centuries after Hiuen-T-siang's visit. In the ninth century A.D., it passed under the rule of Pala kings, of whose dynasty there is an interesting relic in a copper plate known as the Munger Plate, which was discovered among some ruins at Munger in 1780 and translated in 1781. The inscription, which is in Sanskrit opens with the name of Gopala who was a pious Buddhist. It also mentions his son Dharampala, who resided in Munger about 830 A.D.

Till the advent of the Muslim rule in India, Munger was under the sway of the Hindu rulers. Munger does not figure prominently in the first Muslim conquests of Bihar under Ikhtiyar Khan Khilji; though it appears in 1330 A.D. it was part of the kingdom of Muhammad Tughlaq of Delhi. After this it was variously under the kings of Jaunpur and the Bengal Sultans; till, when Babar invaded Bihar in about 1530 Munger had become the headquarters of the Bihar army under the Bengal kings. In about 1533-34 Sher Shah conquered Munger, which seems to have continued to remain under the Afghan rule till Bihar became part of the Mughal Empire under Akbar in about 1563. Todar Mal, the famous statesman and general under Akbar, had camped at Munger for quite a long time to quell the Afgan rebellion and in the course of his stay, it is said, he repaired and improved the fortifications. Hundred years later Munger had become the center of the rebellions activities of Shah Shuja against his brother, Aurangazeb, who had subsequently usurped the throne. In the next century Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal made Munger his capital, which continued to remain till 1763, when the British finally defeated the Nawab. Some years later, when the fort was occupied by the East India Company's troops, it was a scene of an outbreak of European officers, known as the White Mutiny, which was quelled by Lord Clive. After this, though a small force garrisoned the fort, the fortifications were not maintained and were allowed to fall into disrepair, the buildings inside being gradually converted to civilian use.

Now Munger is a separate district in the Bihar State having its headquarters in the town of the same name. This historical town, besides for its religious and antiquarian importance, is also known for important industrial establishments among which Cigarette and Arms factories are most prominent.