Report of a Tour through the Bengal Provinces/Bihár
BIHÁR.
Bihár is the chief city in the important sub-district of Bihár, and still retains something of its ancient importance. The remains here are numerous, but the place has been described and the remains examined by so many zealous inquirers, that it is only necessary for me to supplement the information already available. The papers that may be consulted regarding Bihár are to be found in various volumes of the Journal, Asiatic Society, the last and most interesting being Mr. Broadley’s paper in the volume for 1872. General Cunningham’s reports also furnish a condensed mass of accurate and valuable information.
Among the various writers on Bihár, it is remarkable that no one has noticed its ancient name of Dandpur. Tradition states that before the Muhammadan invasion Bihár used to be called Bihár Dandi or Dand Bihár, an obvious contraction or Dandpur Bihár . If now we remember that Bihár is not a proper name, but means merely a monastery, being only the corrupted form of "Vihâra," it will be clear that the proper name of the town was Dandpura, and tradition has even preserved the memory of the origin of this name, explaining it by asserting that it was called Dandpur from the great collection of dandis (religions mendicants) who made this their head-quarters.
It is therefore clear that previous to, and at the time of, the Muhammadan invasion, Bihár was really named Dandpur, and being at the same time the seat of a well-known monastery, it naturally was known as Dand Bihár; and tradition further states that when the Muhammadans conquered the place, the Governor caused by proclamation the name of Dand Bihár to be changed into Subah Bihár, the name current at this day.
I must now mention that the ancient name of Silao was Vikramasila, and I will subsequently show why.
These being premised, we now turn to Târanâth's Tibet, where we learn that the monasteries of Otantapura and Vikramasila were burned down. The mention of these two places together shows that the two were close to each other.
Now, I must allude to the inscription which mentions Udandapura Desa, showing that the name Udandapura or Otantapura or Dandpura was not only the name of a city, but of a district. (Rep., III, 118.)
The place, therefore, which imposed its name on a district, or vice versâ, must have boon the chief city of that district. Further, we know that the place was near Nalanda. (Reports, III, 129.)
General Cunningham has hazarded the conjecture that the name Udandapura may refer to Bishanpur Tandwa, but Bishanpur Tandwa never was a place of the importance thus implied, and General Cunningham was evidently unaware of the tradition which makes the ancient name of Bihár Dandpur Bihár.
From the whole of the above but one conclusion can be drawn, that Bihár was anciently named Udandapura.
General Cunningham also suggests that the ancient name of Bihár may have been Yasovarmmapura. The following legend may help to throw some light on this question.
The Kahâr caste is divided into various clans, of which the Ramáni is the acknowledged head. The name Ramáni is said to have been derived from Ramanpura, a place near Râjgir, where the chief of the Kahàrs used to reside before the caste became split up into clans. It happened that at a certain time very long ago the then chief of the Kahârs married two wives, but the two women were constantly quarrelling and gave their husband no peace, so the man removed one of them to Jaspur, and her descendants are known to this day as Jaswâr Kahârs.
What connects Jaspur with Bihár is the circumstance that the Kahârs about Bihár are mostly Jaswâr Kahârs, while those about Giriyak are Ramánis.
So that it is not improbable that Bihár, or some place not far from it, was named Jaspur, which is only the spoken form of Yasovarmmapura.
I conclude my notice of Bihár with a legend which accounts for the toleration which Hindus are said to have enjoyed in Bihár after the Muhammadan conquest.
When the Muhammadans took Bihár they destroyed all Hindu shrines, and for a long time Hindus were not allowed to go into the city (fort?). At last, after many years, a jogi named Mani Râm contrived to get in and establish himself, and when the Muhammadans heard of it, they at once proceeded to turn him out; but he was a great magican, and they could not prevail against him, and allowed him to remain. This man naturally used to blow the sankh, as is customary with Hindus in performing their religious ceremonies. One day the sound happened to reach the ears of Aulia Makhdum Sah, who lived on the hill, and he having ascertained the particulars regarding the jogi and the vain attempt to turn him out, determined to destroy his caste by artifice. He accordingly prepared tasty dishes of cooked beef and sent them with a polite message to the jogi. On the arrival of the presents and the polite message, the jogi desired the dishes to be at once carried back, saying, "In intention I thankfully accept the pir's present, and send these back now in return." These dishes on being brought back unopened to the pir were found to contain, not beef, but sweet-meats. The pir now felt much respect for the jogi, and proceeded to visit him in person, seated on a tiger. When the jogi saw the pir approach, he happened to be seated on a wall brushing his teeth with the usual native tooth-brush; he stuck this in the ground and said to the wall he was seated on, "Don't you see the pir coming? Why do you not advance and receive him with due respect?" The wall thereupon advanced with the jogi on it towards the pir; they met in a friendly spirit, and the pir, acknowledging the power of the jogi, agreed that thenceforth they should live in peace with each other, the Hindus consenting to hear the Muazzin’s call to prayer, and the Muhammadans the sound of the shell, without offence, and thenceforth there has been peace between the followers of the two religions. The tooth-brush stuck in the ground grew up to a nim tree, and an old nim tree is now pointed out as the identical one that grew out of the jogi’s tooth-brush.