Lably
Skip to content

Munger

City in Bihar, India

  • 7 min read
  • 9 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Municipal corporation, Bihar and East India

Lab · Class 8East India CompanyLab · Class 6–9The Chola Empire

Historically, Munger is known for being an ancient seat of rule. The twin city comprises Munger and Jamalpur situated on the southern bank of the river Ganges. It is situated 8 km (5.0 mi) from Jamalpur Junction, 180 km (110 mi) east of capital city Patna and 430 km (270 mi) from Kolkata the capital of West Bengal.

Munger is said to have been founded by the Guptas (4th century CE) and contains a fort that houses the tomb of the Muslim saint Shah Mushk Nafā (died 1497). In 1763, the Nawab of Bengal Mir Qasim made Munger his capital and built an arsenal and several palaces. It was constituted a municipality in 1864.

History

In classical period (4th-5th century), Munger was known as "Guptagadh" or "Guptagarh". The inscription was found inscribed on a rock at the kasta-harani ghat at the north-western side of the present fort. Guptagadh was founded by Chandragupta Vikramaditya. In early medieval times, Munger was known as Mudgagiri (Sanskrit Mudgagiri, with no diacritics). The name is derived from Sanskrit mudga, referring to the mung bean, plus giri, meaning hill. Mudgagiri was a royal residence of the Pala Empire. Sometime in the mid-800s, there was a significant battle fought at Mudgagiri between the Palas (possibly under Narayanapala) and the Pratiharas, possibly under Mihira Bhoja. Another Pratihara dynast, a feudatory ruler named Kakka, also took part in the battle, which was part of a Pratihara invasion of Bengal. Later, Munger was mentioned (as Mudgiri) as the residence of the Pala ruler Ramapala. In the 1100s, Mudgagiri seems to have been under Sena rule. A copper plate grant of the Gahadavala ruler Govindachandra indicates that he advanced as far as Mudgagiri in April 1146, and bathed in the Ganges here on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. According to R. D. Banerji, Govindachandra was likely leading a military expedition to Bengal at that point, and the expedition was evidently unsuccessful, leaving eastern Magadha under Sena control.

Historically, Munger was located at a strategic bottleneck controlling the main route into Bengal from the west. To the south, travel was impeded by the steep hills; to the north, the numerous Ganges tributaries were the main obstacle.

At the end of 12th century, Munger, along with Patna, was conquered by Bakhtiyar Khalji. The region served as a province of Bengal until 1330 before its annexation by Muhammad Tughlaq. From 1397 Munger was part of the Jaunpur Sultanate till Sikander Lodi overrun Bihar before 1499. Treaty was concluded between Delhi and Bengal, which allowed Alauddin Hussain Shah to retain the region of Bihar. In 1521, Nusrat Shah annexed few forts of Munger. Later it was captured by Sher Shah Suri. From 1545 till Akbar's invasion of Bengal, Munger remained in the hands of Karrani dynasty. The region remained under Muslim rule until British occupation of Bihar in 1760's.

Maharshi Nagendranath Bhaduri pursued intense spiritual practices in solitude, especially Hathayoga and Pranayam, in a lonely cave in Monghyr and attained salvation there. He also known as Bhaduri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi famously referred to as "The Levitating Saint" by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi.The chapter which describes Bhaduri Mahasaya is titled "The Levitating Saint".

Sign in to keep reading

8 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in India

MuslimsAdherents of IslamPresidencies and provinces of British India1612–1947 British directly-ruled administrative divisions in IndiaStates and union territories of IndiaIndia is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 sSikhsReligious groupInternational Alphabet of Sanskrit TransliterationTransliteration scheme for Indic scriptsPrime Minister of IndiaHead of government