Bhagalpur Silk

Silk is very closely related to Bhagalpur since a very long period. Most of the villages of Bhagalpur are still continuing their traditional family business of silk making using primitive method. It's true that some modernisation in processing are being introduced these days but Bhagalpur Silk is famous for it's traditional process.

Usual Process:

Normally the cocoons are exposed to heat & sun-dried. For some quality, cocoons are immersed into boiling water bath to soften the gum (sericin) before reeling. The reeler takes filaments from several cocoons in order to form raw silk thread. Certain varieties of silk (e.g., Eri, Ghicha) is spun instead of reeling.

For Yarn-dyed fabrics, natural yarn is degummed, bleached & dyed before weaving. For greige fabrics natural yarn is used.

Fabrics are woven mainly in Handloom. However, certain qualities are also woven on Powerloom these days.

Woven fabric is inspected thoroughly for any defect and specification like width, reed, pick etc.

Greige fabric is degummed, bleached & dried.

Bleached Fabric is dyed on certain delicate Jigger machines.

Dyed fabric after thorough inspection, undergoes different finishing processes to ensure softness & lustre. One of the important finishing process of is called Kundi in local term which consists of beating the fabric (sprayed with appropriate chemicals/reagents) by wooden mallets.

The fabric is then calendered and other finishing processes are carried out.

Bhagalpur Fact

As of 2001 India census, Bhagalpur had a population of 340,349. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Bhagalpur has an average literacy rate of 64%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 58% of the males and 42% of the females literate. 14% of the population is under 6 years of age. Bhagalpur also has some of the best schools in the country, which may not be very famous, but provide quality education.

Some More Facts

1. The oldest poetry of the Hindi language (e.g., poetries written by Saraha, also known by the name Sarahapa) were written in the Angika language during the 8th century.

2. Angas and the Vangas are ranked as one of the first groups of Aryan people in the world.

3. Anga was one of the sixteen great nations (solas Mahajanapadas) which had flourished in central and north-west India in sixth century BCE.

4. The capital of Anga was Champa (Today's Champanagar). According to Mahabharata and Harivamsa, Champa was formerly known as Malini. Champa was located on the right bank of river Ganga near its junction with river Champa. It was a very flourishing city and is referred to as one of six principal cities of ancient India.

5. Champa was noted for its wealth and commerce. It was also a great center of trade and commerce and its merchants regularly sailed to distant Suvarna-bhumi (South east Asia) for trading purposes. The ancient name of region and kingdom of Champa of central Vietnam (Lin-yi in Chinese records) apparently has its origin in this east Indian Champa.

6. The temple of Angkor (in Angkorwat), largest religious structure of the world (According to Guinness World Records), is named so by the traders arriving from Anga Mahajanpada in India. For over 500 years from the ninth to the fifteen century, the monuments at the heart of the Khmer empire, Angkor Thome, were constructed by Anga-inhabitants (People belonging to Ang Mahajanpada of ancient India whose language was Angika.)

7. Angika is the only one of the oldest known languages which can be used in the Google Search Engine, Google-Angika has been available since 2004.

8. Angika is spoken by more than 30 million of Indian and around 50 million population

worldwide.

9. Vikramasila University was one of the two most important centers of Buddhist learning in India, along with Nalanda University. Vikramasila was established by King Dharampal of Bengal (783 to 820) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda. Atisha, the renowned pandita, is sometimes listed as a notable abbot.

10. Mahabharata (I.104.53-54) and Puranic literature (Matsya Purana: 48.19) attest that the name Anga had originated eponymously from the name of prince Anga, the founder of the kingdom. Matsya Purana describes the father of this eponymous hero as the chief among the demons (danavarshabhah).

11. The success of Angas did not last long. About the middle of sixth century BCE, Bimbisara, the crown prince of Magadha had killed Brahmadatta, the last independent king of Anga and seized Champa. Bimbisara made it as his head-quarters and ruled over it as his father's Viceroy. Thenceforth, Anga became an integral part of growing Magadha empire (PHAI, 1996).

12. Kadambini Ganguly (Born 1861 Bhagalpur) was the first female physician of South Asia to be trained in European medicine.

13. One of the best novelists of Bengali language, SharatChandra spent his boyhood in Bhagalpur with maternal relatives. Many of his novels are inspired by characters from his troubled boyhood, including ChandraMukhi of Devdas, who was supposedly a dancer called Kali from Bhagalpur's Budhanath/Jogsar area.

Overbridge Collapses on Howrah-Jamalpur Express

An unfortunate accident on 02.12.2006 that at about 07:45 hrs. when 3071 Up Howrah – Jamalpur Express was about to reach Bhagalpur Station, at that very time, debris of ‘Ulta Pul’ which was under dismantling fell on the S-8 coach of the train. In this accident, 47 passengers lost their lives, 12 passengers were grievously injured and 4 passengers suffered simple injuries.

According to people near the accident site, a portion of the damaged bridge was hanging loosely but trains continued to ply underneath it, knowing well that their reverberations could pose danger to the structure.
As the Howrah-Jamalpur Superfast Express passed under it, a portion of it gave way, smashing down on a coach of the moving train.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has ordered an inquiry into the accident to be conducted by the Railway Safety Commissioner. He has said that a criminal case would be lodged against those found guilty of negligence leading to bridge collapse.

"Such an incident has never happened before and should never happen again. The whole railway department seems to lack leadership," said Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister.

Bhagalpur Blinding

Bhagalpur blindings is the incident of 1979 and 1980 in Bhagalpur in India when the police blinded 31 undertrials (or convicted criminals, according to some versions), by pouring acid into their eyes. The incident became infamous as Bhagalpur blindings. The incident was widely debated and discussed by several human rights organisations. In 2003, a Bollywood movie loosely based on the incident and starring Ajay Devgan was released. It was titled Gangaajal (roughly translated as The holy waters of Ganga).

The Bhagalpur blinding case had made criminal jurisprudence history by becoming the first in which the Supreme Court had ordered compensation for violation of basic human rights.

Police’s extra-judicial attempt to control crime in a small town has come alive on the screen as Gangaajal, from the name the event acquired in the Bhagalpur blinding case — Operation Gangaajal.Director Prakash Jha has assembled Ajay Devgan, Mohan Agashe and Gracy Singh, among others, to explore the uneasy relationship between the police and society, exemplified by this dark chapter in Bhagalpur’s crime history.

Bhagalpur Riot : 1989

Communal disturbances between Hindus and Muslims have been a part of the history of Bhagalpur and riots had occurred in 1924, 1936, 1946 and 1967. However, Bhagalpur became notorious after the riots in October 1989, and the name Bhagalpur riots usually refers to the 1989 riots. According to various accounts, some 1100 to 1891 people were killed, a majority of them muslims. According to some accounts, stoning of a Durga puja procession by some muslims triggered the riots. As a fall-out of the riots, the silk-weaving industry suffered a decline.

A Bhagalpur local court on May 12, 2005 sentenced 10 accused in the infamous 1989 Bhagalpur communal riots case to life imprisonment.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Navneet Kumar Sinha, who had convicted the 10 men on May 9, announced the sentence.
Thirteen other accused in the case were acquitted.
The convicted are charged with being involved in the killing of five people at Kamarganj village under Sultanganj police station on October 14, 1989.
A case was registered against the accused following a complaint by Badrul Islam.
The 10 men awarded life imprisonment are Dhruv Bhagat, Jaijai Yadav, Tarkeshwar Yadav, Ramvilas Yadav, Harikishore Yadav, Nero Yadav, Siyaram Yadav, Rajkishore Yadav, Arun Mandal and Saryu Mandal.

History of Bhagalpur

Bhagalpur is known as silk city as it is famous worldwide for its silk production. The silk industry in this city is hundreds of years old and a whole clan exists that has been producing silk for generations. There is a Silk Institute and Agricultural college here, as well as a University, and Engineering, Medical and Homeopath colleges.Bhagalpur is a town and the administrative headquarters of Bhagalpur district, Bihar state in the eastern part of India.Bhagalpur is a divisional town of historical importance situated on the southern bank of the Ganga river. Situated 220km east of state capital Patna and 410 km north west of Calcutta is well connected by rail and road.References to Bhagalpur can be found in Indian epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata where Bhagalpur has been described as the kingdom of Anga. Mandar Hill, situated 52 km south from Bhagalpur, is believed to have been used as Churner during Samudra-Manthan by God and Danav according to Hindu mythology. Ancient cave sculptures of Emperor Ashoka's regime (274 BC-232 BC) are found in the neighbourhood and at Sultanganj, 20 km west of Bhagalpur, a temple of the Gupta period (320-500) still exists. The tomb of Suja, brother of Moghul emperor Aurangzeb, in the heart of the Bhagalpur town is reminiscent of the city's association with the Mughal period.Ruins of ancient Vikramshila University are located 44 km east of Bhagalpur. It was the medieval centre to the conservation and propagation of Buddhist education, established by King Dharampal of Bengal (783-820) at the end of the 8th century.The gangetic plains are very fertile and the main crops include rice, wheat, maize, barley, and oilseeds. The economy of Bhagalpur is dependent mainly on agriculure and silk.