ABSTRACT
The State of Bihar lies in northern India, at the eastern end of the Gangetic plain, between the mighty Himalayas and the Chotanagpur plateau to the south (part of the state until 2000). The state, the name of which is derived from the word vihara (monastery), has an international frontier with Nepal to the north. To the west of Bihar is Uttar Pradesh, further up the plains, and to the east is West Bengal, where the Ganga (Ganges) enters its delta. On higher ground to the south and south-east is Jharkhand, formerly the Vananchal or ‘forest region’ of Bihar-it was separated from the original state in November 2000, ending an administrative association dating back before independence (Bihar and Orissa was made a province separate from the Bengal presidency in 1911 and Orissa was separated in 1936; Bihar state lost some border districts to West Bengal upon the linguistic reorganization of the states in 1956). Bihar now has an area of 94,163 sq km (36, 370 sq miles).
