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The ancient name of Bihar was "Vihara" which means monastery. It is located in
the eastern part of India. Area wise
Bihar is the twelfth largest state and the third most populated state in India.
The flora and fauna of this state is
enriched by the river Ganges that flows through Bihar before getting distributed
in Bengal's deltoid zone. Bihar also
has a vast forest land that covers an area of 6,764 km2. This state is linguistically
potent too as several languages are
spoken here, like the Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika and Angika. The capital
city of Bihar is Patna which was
earlier called Pataliputra. Bihar became the epicenter of power, culture and learning
under the rule of some of the
greatest emperors of India, namely Samudragupta, Chandragupta Maurya, Vikramaditya
and Asoka. It was also
home to the two great centers of learning at that time, Vikramshila and Nalanda
University. Even today one can find
several ancient monuments all over Bihar which are a living proof of the state's
3,000 years old history; these
monuments are visited by millions and millions of tourists all over the world. The
Mahabodhi Temple located in this
state has been declared as a heritage site by the UNESCO.
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