Hazaribagh

Not to be confused with Hazaribagh Thana.

Hazaribagh हज़ारीबाग़
city
Hazaribagh Location in Jharkhand, India
Coordinates:
Country	India
State	Jharkhand
District	Hazaribagh
Elevation	610 m (2,000 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	186,139
Languages
• Official	Hindi, Santali
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	825301
Website	hazaribag.nic.in

Hazaribagh is a city and a municipality in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is famous as a health resort and for Hazaribagh National Park (17 km from city). It is represented in the Indian Lok Sabha by its Member of Parliament Jayant Sinha.

Etymology

The word 'Hazaribagh' is made of two Persian words: Hazar meaning 'one thousand' and bagh meaning 'garden'. Hence the meaning of Hazaribagh is 'city of a thousand gardens'. According to Sir John Houlton, however, the town takes its name from the small villages of Okni and Hazari – shown in old maps as Ocunhazry. The last syllable in its name probably originated from a mango grove which formed a camping ground for troops and travellers marching along a military road from Kolkata to Varanasi, constructed in 1782 and the following years. The Grand Trunk Road subsequently replaced this military road in the mid-9th century, but the layout differed at places, particularly around Hazaribagh. A dilapidated watch tower meant to guard the military road is still visible on Tower Hill, near Silwar.

File:Hazaribagh Map.jpg

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Geography

Konar River, a tributary of Damodar River, flows past the town. Hazaribagh has been a thick forest earlier and is still surrounded by forests.

Travelling times

Air

The nearest airport is Birsa Munda Airport Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, (91 km). Ranchi is connected with New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow by regular service of many airlines.

Rail

A new 80 km long railway line has been constructed from Koderma to Hazaribagh and became operational in February 2015. Two trains run between Koderma and Hazaribagh Town railway station (not to be confused with Hazaribagh Road railway station). The railway line from Hazaribagh to Barkakana junction has been partly completed to connect the Jharkhand state capital Ranchi with Koderma. The newly constructed Hazaribagh Town railway station is one of the most beautiful railway station of Jharkhand.

Road

Hazaribagh is situated on NH 33 and the road distances to major cities are: Ranchi 91 km, Dhanbad 128 km (via GT road), Bokaro 116 km (via Ramgarh), Gaya 130 km, Patna 235 km, Daltonganj 198 km, and Kolkata (via Asansol-Govindapur-Barhi) 434 km. Regular bus service connects Hazaribagh to all these places.

History

In ancient times the district was covered with inaccessible forests inhabited by tribes who remained independent. The entire territory of Chhotanagpur, known as Jharkhand (meaning forest territory) was presumably beyond the pale of outside influence in ancient India. Throughout the Turko-Afghan period (up to 1526), the area remained virtually free from external influence. It was only with the accession of Akbar to the throne of Delhi in 1556 that Muslim influence penetrated Jharkhand, then known to the Mughals as Kokrah. In 1585, Akbar sent a force under the command of Shahbaj Khan to reduce the Raja of Chotanagpur to the position of a tributary. After the death of Akbar in 1605, the area presumably regained its independence. This necessitated an expedition in 1616 by Ibrahim Khan Fateh Jang, the Governor of Bihar and brother of Queen Noorjehan. Ibrahim Khan defeated and captured Durjan Sal, the 46th Raja of Chotanagpur. He was imprisoned for 12 years but was later released and reinstated on the throne after he had shown his ability in distinguishing a real diamond from a fake one.

In 1632, Chotanagpur was given as Jagir (endowment) to the Governor at Patna for an annual payment of Rs.136,000. This was raised to Rs.161,000 in 1636. During the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719–1748), Sarballand Khan, the Governor of then Bihar, marched against the Raja of Chotanagpur and obtained his submission. Another expedition was led by Fakhruddoula, the Governor of Bihar in 1731. He came to terms with the Raja of Chotanagpur. In 1735 Alivardi Khan had some difficulty in enforcing the payment of the annual tribute of Rs.12,000 from the Raja of Ramgarh, as agreed to by the latter according to the terms settled with Fakhruddoula.

This situation continued until the occupation of the country by the British. During the Muslim period, the main estates in the district were Ramgarh, Kunda, Chai and Kharagdiha. Subsequent to the Kol uprising in 1831 that, however, did not seriously affect Hazaribag, the administrative structure of the territory was changed. The parganas of Ramgarh, Kharagdiha, Kendi and Kunda became parts of the South-West Frontier Agency and were formed into a division named Hazaribag as the administrative headquarters.

In 1854 the designation of South-West Frontier Agency was changed to Chota Nagpur Division, composed of five districts - Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Palamau, Manbhum, and Singhbhum. The division was administered as a Non-regulation province under a Commissioner reporting to the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. In 1855-56 there was the great uprising of the Santhals against the British but was brutally suppressed.

During British rule, one had go by train to Giridih and then travel in a vehicle called push-push to Hazaribagh. It was pushed and pulled by human force over hilly tracts. It was exciting journey across rivers and through dense forests infested with bandits and wild animals. Rabindranath Tagore travelled in a push-push along the route in 1885. He has recorded the experience in an essay, Chotanagpur families. When the Grand Chord railway line was opened in 1906, Hazaribagh Road railway station became the link with the town. For many years, Lal Motor Company operated the rail-cum-bus service between Hazaribagh town and Hazaribagh Road railway station.

In 1912, a new province of Bihar and Orissa was split from Bengal Province. In 1936, the province was split into separate provinces of Bihar and Orissa, with the Chota Nagpur Division part of Bihar. Bihar's boundaries remained mostly unchanged after Indian Independence in 1947.

After 1991 census, the district of Hazaribagh has been divided into three separate districts, viz., Hazaribagh, Chatra and Koderma. The two sub-divisions namely Chatra and Koderma were upgraded to the status of independent districts.

In 2000, Jharkhand was separated from Bihar to become India's 27th state.

Hazaribagh town

The town became a cantonment in 1790, the Ramgarh battalion having been raised ten years earlier. It was then part of Ramgarh district. It became a district headquarters in 1834. Hazaribagh was constituted as a municipality in 1869. The military cantonment, south-east of the town, flourished until 1874, when, after an outbreak of enteric fever in 1874, the troops were mostly withdrawn, except for a small detachment to mind the penitentiary. This resulted in a planned old city. This part of the town is known as Boddam Bazar, after the officer who laid it out. Many Englishmen settled in Hazaribagh during the British period. They built large bungalow-type houses, quite often with sloping roofs. Many of them were great hunters and hunting stories abound in the town by word of mouth. Most of them left after India became independent. Tutu Imam topped the list of hunting legends in the town along with Prof. Rajendra Pandey. A century back it was common for tigers and leopards to poach upon livestock in the outskirts of the town.

The town had a population of 15,799 in the 1901 census. It was described in as "little more than a cluster of hamlets, with intervening cultivation, which sprang up round the former military bazar."

Hazaribagh Central Jail housed many leaders of the Indian freedom movement, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, later the first President of India. The popular leader Jayaprakash Narayan was put under arrest in this jail during the Quit India Movement of 1942. His escape from this high security prison(with the help of 53 dhotis (sheets) to cross the wall of jail) and the support he received from the local people is one of the legends of the Indian Independence movement.

During the early years of World War II an internment camp ("parole camp") for German civilians was established in the town. In June 1942 it housed 36 women, 5 men and 16 children of which 21 females with 13 children had been transferred on 25 February 1942 from Diyatalawa. In autumn they were transferred to the family camps at Purandhar or Satara.

Early Bengali settlers

A small but effective Bengali community settled at Hazaribagh in the 19th century when the area was in Bengal Presidency and the British administration was looking for people with English education. The small community contributed considerably towards the development of the place.

Rai Bahadur Jadunath Mukhopadhay (Mukherjee) one of early settlers is much talked about. He was the first Government Pleader of Hazaribagh. He is always remembered for charity and also for the up liftment of the poor. His house in Hazaribagh Town played host to a galaxy of eminent persons including Sanjiv Chattopadhaya (of Palamau fame), Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose. He established the Hazaribagh Brahmo Samaj, donating his own land through a trust he set up. He also helped in setting up the Durga Puja mandap, the Keshav Hall/Union Club and Library and the first girls’ school in the town donating his own land and admitting his daughter as its first student, which is now named after him. Chanchala Niyogi made significant contribution to keep the school going around 1895. Those were the days when people thought that by educating their daughters they were paving the way for their widowhood. Around 1920, the new school building was built with the initiative of Braja Kumar Niyogi with funds mainly from the estate of Raja of Ramgarh. Ray Bahadur Jadunath Mukherjee left behind a large family. Great Scholars such as Mahesh Chandra Ghosh, and Dhirendranath Choudhury, made the town their home. The poet Kamini Roy lived in the town for some years. Manmathanath Dasgupta, a Brahmo missionary spent many years in Hazaribagh working amongst the down trodden. Sarat Kumar Gupta contributed towards the development of the town in many ways. Doctors such as Mandindra Bhushan Banerjee (Panna Babu), Bikash Kumar Sen, Sambhu Nath Roy and Benoy Chandra Chatterjee were prominent personalities. The noted Bengali author and writer for many Hindi films like SUJATA, Subodh Ghosh was born and brought up in Hazaribagh. Many of his stories are set in the region.

Keshub Chunder Sen, the great Brahmo Leader, accompanied by Trailokyanath Sanyal, had visited Hazaribagh in 1874 to recoup his health. He wrote many pieces during his short stay and participated in Bhadrotsav celebrations. After his death in 1884, a public hall on the Main Road was named Keshub Hall in his memory. Amongst the Brahmo missionaries who visited Hazaribagh regularly was Pramathalal Sen.

Rai Bahadur Kalipada Sarkar was a leading advocate. He was the chairman of Municipality, chairman of District Board, President Bar Association and also member of council. Incidentally, KP Sarkar was the first Indian to be the chairman of Hazaribag Municipality.

Another notable Bengali of the first half of the 20th century was Rai Bahadur Surendra Nath Roy, the noted government Pleader and a patron of the arts. Suren babu migrated from village Raghunathpur (Nadia, Bengal), where he was a zamindar (জমিদার) and the title 'Rai Bahadur' was conferred on him by the British, in 1902 to practice law in the Civil Court at Hazaribagh. For a time he was President Bar Association and was the co-founder of Annada High School (Bengali School). He also acted as the custodian of the minor Kamakhya Narayan Singh, the erstwhile Raja of Ramgarh Ramgarh Raj.

Economy

Coal fields and power centre

Hazaribagh has the second highest coal reserve in Jharkhand (Dhanbad region has the first), and it is still largely intact. Recently there has been a spurt in the coal mining activities in the region by Central Coalfields Ltd., a subsidiary of Coal India Limited. Work is currently going on for the development of NTPC's 3000 MW and Reliance Power's 3600 MW Super Thermal Power Projects. A major NTPC township is also coming 10 km from the city. Many downstream steel plants and other industries are also envisioned due to its proximity to coal, water and power. Damodar Valley Corporation has a number of offices in Hazaribagh.

Education

The cool climate and the quiet environment of Hazaribagh attracted educationists to set up institutions in the town and now it has become an education hub of Jharkhand. The Dublin Mission has a big presence with educational institutions and a women’s hospital. Activities of the mission were started at Hazaribagh in 1899, under the aegis of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. St. Columba's College was one of the oldest in Bihar. A.F. Markham attached to the college for many years was a legend in his lifetime. He later became vice chancellor of Ranchi University. Other prominent persons associated with the college were Dr. S.C. Banwar, Dr. J.S. Shaw and Prof. Gautam Kumar Pandeya who served in various capacities including Principal. Hazaribag now has Vinoba Bhave University within city limits, named after Saint Vinoba Bhave. It is the 2nd largest university of Jharkhand. St. Columba's College, Medical College of Dhanbad and many Engineering and local colleges are affiliated to this university now. Jajnery Institute of Technology, Hazaribag is one of the prominent College for Polytechnic, Management & IT.

After independence, Roman Catholics established a girls’ school - Mount Carmel. Parallel to this Reverend Father John Moore, an Australian Jesuit missionary, set up St. Xavier’s School in 1952. D.A.V Public School Hazaribagh started in 1992 and run by D.A.V College Managing Committee (New Delhi), is another major educational center of the city. The school has made immense progress in the past 20 years and has a Modern state of the art building located on the foothills of famous Kanheri Hill. Ashok Srivastava (Principal) has been one of the pioneers in taking this school to this level. Mount Egmont School is one of the finest boarding school in the area. National Public School, Hazaribagh started since 1977 is a fast-growing school and now affiliated to CBSE, it is managed by L.K.C memorial education society. Mount Litera Zee School and Kidzee, Hazaribagh is also a fast growing school of the region. It is located at Katgarah Village, opposite of firing range, Meru Hazaribgh and its city office is situated near by Mission Hospital. It is a network of Zee learn.

Hazaribagh has the police training centre for the whole of Jharkhand. The Border Security Force (BSF) also has a large presence. East India's largest training centre is here in the forest with hilly terrain. The Central Reserved Police Force is also present in the town near the lake.

Institutions

• Datapro Computer Institute
• University Law College
• University College of Engineering and Technology
• National Institute of Finance & Technology
• Mother Teresa College (MTC)
• K.B. Women's College
• Markham College of Commerce
• Annada College, Hazaribag
• St. Columba's College
• Hindu High School
• St. Xavier's School
• DAV Public School
• St. Columba's Collegiate School (Mission School)
• Mount Egmont School
• Saraswati Shishu/Vidya Mandir

Demographics

As per the 2011 Census of India, Hazaribagh Urban Agglomeration had a total population of 153,599, of which males were 80,095 and females 73,504.Hazaribagh Urban Agglomeration is composed of Hazaribagh (Nagar Parishad) and Okni (Census Town).

As per the 2011 Census of India, Hazaribag Nagar Parishad had a total population of 142,489, of which 74,132 were males and 68,357 females. Scheduled Castes numbered 7,987 and Scheduled Tribes numbered 2,708.

See also: List of cities in Jharkhand

As of 2001 India census, Hazaribagh had a population of 127,243. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Hazaribagh has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 70%. In Hazaribagh, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The population of the town and the area is overwhelmingly Hindi-speaking. There is a sprinkling of Santhali-speaking population mainly in the rural areas. There is a sizeable Muslim population. Bengalis, Marwaris and Punjabis form small minorities.

Literacy

As per the 2011 census, the total number of literates in Hazaribagh UA was 122,881 (90.14 per cent of total population) out of which 66,602 (93.82 percent of males) were males and 56,279 (86.14 percent of females) were females.

As per the 2011 census, the total number of literates in Hazaribag Nagar Parishad was 112,533, out of which 60,840 were males and 51,693 were females.

Politics

The Raja of Ramgarh had a big presence in the area, initially during the British period and then after independence when he set up the Janata Party that had a large following in the region for many years. His palace at Padma was a prominent spot on the road to Barhi.

Krishna Ballabh Sahay (born in Khadhaiya, a village in Tandwa Block), the renowned freedom fighter and subsequently chief minister of Bihar, belonged to Hazaribagh. As revenue minister, he was instrumental in the abolition of zemindaries in Bihar. In 1952 that was the first such legislation in the country. The political rivalry between the Kamakhya Narayan Singh, the Raja of Ramgarh and K.B. Sahay was talk of the town in the 1950s.

In the elections for the first Lok Sabha held in 1951, Nageshwar Prasad Sinha of Congress won the Hazaribagh East seat and Baboo Ram Narayan Singh, an Independent candidate, won the Hazaribagh West seat. In 1957, Lalita Rajya Lakshmi, of the Ramgarh Raj family, won the seat. Basant Narayan Singh, younger brother of Kamakhya Narayan Singh, won the seat four times, in 1962, 1967 and again in 1977 and 1980. Damodar Pandey of Congress had won it in 1984. Yadunath Pandey of BJP won it in 1989. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta of CPI won the seat in 1991 and in 2004. Mahabir Lal Viswakarma of BJP won the seat in 1996. Yashwant Sinha of BJP won the seat in 1998 and went on to become Finance Minister and latter Foreign Minister in the NDA government. He also won the seat in 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta of Communist Party of India (CPI) won the seat in 2004 with the help of seat sharing of the UPA.

Jayant Sinha, senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the son of former Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, defeating the closest rival Saurabh Narayan Singh of the Indian National Congress by a huge margin of 1,59,128 votes.

Hazaribag Times is a local newspaper.

Tourist attractions

• Barso Pani Cave, located at Barkagaon in Hazaribagh District
• Budhwa Mahadev Mandir (Lord Shiva Temple)
• The Chadwa Dam, about 15 km away from the town, is another picnic spot.
• The lake of Hazaribag is also famous as a cafeteria which is the picnic spot in the heart of the town.
• Hazaribagh National Park has hillocks, deep nullahs, thick tropical forests and grassy meadows. The sanctuary has wild bears, sambhar, nilgai, chital and kakar, sloth bears, tigers and leopards.
• Hazaribagh railway station is also a great source of soharai art and one of the most beautiful railway stations of the state.
• Kanheri Hill (meaning bow-arrow shaped in Santhali), not to be confused with Canary, is a popular spot for nature lovers. There is a guest house and a watch tower on the top of the hills. Recently a proposal has been submitted for setting up a tiger and deer safari at the place.
• Khutra is a village known and famous for historical jama masjid.
• Konar Dam, situated about 50 km east of Hazaribag
• Narsingh Temple, dedicated to Narsingh avatara (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu
• Panchmandir
• Rajrappa Mandir, 80 km away at the bank of river Damodar, is a very sacred place.
• Saheed Nirmal Mahto Park, 2 km away from Dist. Board Chowk Hazaribagh o NH33
• St. Stanislaus Sitagarha, a mango and lichi orchard with a 94-year-old Spanish architectural building
• Surajkund hot spring, 60 km away from city on NH2 near Barkattha village
• Swarnajayanti Cafeteria at Hazaribagh Jheel (Natural Lake) is a major family attraction.
• Tillaya (Jhumri Tillaya) Dam, 45 km north from Hazaribag

Notable residents

• Capt. A. E. J. Collins (18 August 1885 – 11 November 1914) - born in Hazaribagh, made the highest-ever recorded score in cricket as a 13-year-old schoolboy at Clifton College, Bristol, where he scored 628 not out over four afternoons in June 1899
• Subodh Ghosh -renowned journalist and writer, born at Hazaribag in 1909; also studied in St. Columbus College
• Yashwant Sinha - an Indian politician and a former finance minister of India (1990–1991) under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and March 1998 – July 2002 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) and foreign minister (July 2002 – May 2004) in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet

Nearby places

• Koderma produces 60%-65% of the world's mica; it is 60 km away from the city.
• Konar Dam, 51 km from Hazaribagh
• Surajkund hot spring is 72 km from Hazaribagh. The water is boiling and is beneficial for the treatment of skin diseases and rheumatism. It is 2 km from Belkappi, near Barakattha, located halfway between Barhi and Bagodar on Grand Trunk Road.
• Tilaiya Dam across the Barakar River has beautiful hillocks all around and there also nestles one Sainik School nearby.

External links

• Hazaribag district administration
• Tales of Hazaribagh
• Hazaribagh travel guide
• Incredible Jharkhand

See also

• Hazaribag travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Hazaribagh (community development block)