🗺 State & UT profiles
Bihar
🗺 Geography
⛰ Land and rivers
Physiographic divisions: The Northern Plain (most of the state)
Rivers: Ganga, Son, Gandak, Kosi (Sapt Kosi)
🌿 Protected areas and natural heritage
Ramsar wetlands (6): Kabartal Wetland, Nagi Bird Sanctuary, Nakti Bird Sanctuary, Gokul Jalashay, Udaipur Jheel, Gogabil Lake
Tiger reserves (1): Valmiki
🏭 Resources and economy
Crops: Rice, Wheat, Maize, Sugarcane, Jute
Industries: Sugar
📜 History
👑 Who held this land
Kingdoms, empires and cultures whose territory, as drawn on our map, covered a large part of today’s Bihar, or that were based here. Extents are approximate, so treat this as a guide to who held the region — not as exact borders.
📅 Events in Bihar
- c. 800 BCE Early Upanishads composed · Videha
- c. 599 BCE Birth of Vardhamana Mahavira · Kundagrama, Vaishali
- c. 540 BCE Bimbisara annexes Anga · Champa
- c. 528 BCE The Buddha's enlightenment at Bodh Gaya · Bodh Gaya
- c. 527 BCE Mahavira's nirvana at Pavapuri · Pavapuri
- c. 492 BCE Ajatashatru becomes king of Magadha · Rajagriha
- c. 483 BCE First Buddhist Council at Rajagriha · Rajgir
- c. 468 BCE Ajatashatru defeats the Vajji confederacy · Vaishali
- c. 460 BCE Pataliputra becomes Magadha's capital · Pataliputra
- c. 413 BCE Shishunaga dynasty replaces the Haryankas · Magadha
- c. 383 BCE Second Buddhist Council at Vaishali · Vaishali
- c. 345 BCE Mahapadma Nanda founds the Nanda dynasty · Pataliputra
- c. 321 BCE ★ Chandragupta Maurya overthrows the Nandas · Pataliputra
- c. 302 BCE Megasthenes at Pataliputra writes the Indica · Pataliputra
- c. 268 BCE Ashoka's accession · Pataliputra
- c. 250 BCE Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra · Pataliputra
- c. 232 BCE Death of Ashoka · Pataliputra
- c. 185 BCE ★ Pushyamitra Shunga assassinates Brihadratha · Pataliputra
- c. 28 BCE Satavahanas end the Kanva dynasty · Magadha
- c. 240 CE Sri Gupta founds the Gupta line · Magadha
- c. 319 CE ★ Gupta era begins · Pataliputra
- c. 320 CE Chandragupta I marries the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi · Pataliputra
- c. 335 CE Samudragupta becomes emperor · Pataliputra
- c. 405 CE Faxian travels in India · Pataliputra
- c. 415 CE Kumaragupta I becomes emperor · Pataliputra
- c. 427 CE ★ Nalanda Mahavihara founded · Nalanda
- c. 467 CE Death of Skandagupta · Pataliputra
- 499 CE ★ Aryabhata writes the Aryabhatiya · Kusumapura (Pataliputra)
- c. 550 CE ★ Fall of the imperial Guptas · Magadha
- c. 636 CE Xuanzang studies at Nalanda · Nalanda
- c. 800 CE Vikramashila university founded · Vikramashila
- c. 1200 Destruction of Nalanda · Nalanda
- c. 1203 Destruction of Vikramashila · Vikramashila
- 1764 ★ Battle of Buxar · Buxar
- 1816 ★ Treaty of Sugauli · Sugauli
- 1908 Khudiram Bose executed · Muzaffarpur
- 1917 Champaran Satyagraha · Champaran
🏛 Historic places
🎨 People and culture
👥 2011 Census
- Population
- 103,804,637
- Share of India’s population (%)
- 8.58
- Density (per sq km)
- 1,102
- Decadal growth 2001–11 (%)
- 25.07
- Urban population (%)
- 11.3
- Work participation rate (%)
- 33.4
Geography: features are those on our Geography map that cover a good part of the state (or that NCERT places in it); hazards, reserves, crops, minerals, industries and ports are where NCERT, UNESCO or the Ramsar list name or place them. Census figures are for 2011, as NCERT prints them.
How this is made: nothing here is new — it is YugMap’s own map data sorted by today’s states. A kingdom is listed if its territory on our map covered at least 40% of the state at some point, or if its centre or capital lies here; events and places are listed where their map point falls inside the state. State outlines follow India’s official map.