Chapra

Chapra
Chapra
Coordinates: 25°46′25″N 84°43′39″E / 25.77346, 84.72747
Time zone
IST (UTC+5:30)
Area• Elevation
• 36 m (118 ft)
District(s)
Chapra
Population
178,835 (2001)
Coordinates: 25°46′25″N 84°43′39″E / 25.77346, 84.72747 Chapra is a city and headquarters of Saran district in the state of Bihar, India.
Contents
1 History
2 Geography
3 Famous Personalities
4 Tourism
5 References
History
Chapra town, administrative headquarters of Saran district, in Bihar state and in north eastern part of India is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara and The Ganges rivers. Chapra grew in importance as a river mart in the 18th century when the Dutch, French, Portuguese, and English established saltpeter refineries there. It was constituted a municipality in 1864. The town has major rail and road connections with all over India.
In ancient days, Modern Chapra, formed a part of KOSALA country. The history of Chapra is bound to be history of Kosala which included portions other than present limit of Saran Division. The kingdom of Kosala was bounded on the west by Panchala, by the river Sarpika(sai) in the south, on the east by Gandak and on the north by Nepal. The Kosala consisted of modern Faizabad, Gonda, Basti, Gorkhapur, Deoria in UP and Saran in Bihar. The historical background of the district- as available in the 'Ain-E-Akbari records Saran as one of the six Sarkars(Revenue Divisions) constituting the province of Bihar. At the time of grant of Diwani to the East India company in 1765, there were eight Sarkars including Saran and Champaran. These two were later combined to form a single unit named Saran. Saran(along with Champaran) was included in the Patna Division when the Commissioner's Divisions were set up in 1829. It was separated from Champaran in 1866 when it (Champaran) was constituted into a separate district. Saran was made a part of Tirhut Division when latter was created in 1908. By this time there were three subdivisions in this district namely Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj. In 1972 each subdivision of the old Saran district became an independent district. The new Saran district after separation of Siwan and Gopalganj still has its headquarters at Chapra.
Various hypothesis have been put forward about the origin of the name SARAN. General Cunningham suggested that Saran was earlier known as SARAN or asylum which was a name given to a stupa (Pillar) built by emperor Ashoka. Another view holds that the name SARAN has been derived from SARANGA- ARANYA or the deer forest, the district being famous for its wide expanses of forest and deer in prehistoric times. The earliest authentic historical fact or record concerning this district may perhaps be related to 898 AD which suggest that the village of Dighwara dubauli in Saran had supplied a copper plate issued in the reign of king Mahendra paldeva.
Saran(Chapra) has ancient and great history. Maharshi Dadhichi belongs to Saran who had donated his bone to Gods for manufacturig of arms. Cottage of Dronacharya was also situated in Saran. Gautamasthan, 8 km from chapra town, is used to be Maharshi Gautam's ashrama. Lord Rama has provided Devi ahiylya, wife of Maharshi Gautam who become stone due to a curse(by her mistake), her life back. Currently, there is a temple and Vishnupad preserved. The fight of "Gaj" (Elephant) and "Grah" (Corcodial) was made at Sonepur in Saran also. Presently, Sonpur is well known for Asia's biggest cattle Fair on Kartik Purnima(October-November) every year. Ambica Sthan (Ami,Dighwara) is famous for goddess Durga.
The famous Ashoka Pillar is located about 33 km from Chapra town (5 km from Maker Village). This is the place where Lord Buddha made his 13th stop on his way to attaining 'Nirvana'. He converted "Amrapali" - a local courtesan/powerful prostitute into a saint. This is now a major tourist attraction for Buddhists all over the world and is well maintained by the archaeological survey of India. At Chirand near Chapra ancient (primitive) bones were found and are placed in the Chapra Museum. It is famous for King Maurayadhwaj who was ready to sacrifce his only son to Vaman Avatar Lord Vishnu.
It is also famous for its Bhojpuri heritage। The famous "Bhikhari Thakur" is a famous person from Saran, and is often referred to as the "Shakespeare of Bhojpuri"। "Mahendra Misir" also a famous person in Bhojpuri Folk songs. He had specially invented the "Purvi" a style of Bhojpuri Folk song. He was the master in playing of several types of instruments.Bhojpuri is dialect of this place. Ara (Arrah), Ballia (Balia), Chapra and Deoria, the Bhojpuri heartland, are known as "ABCD" of India due to their people's congruence of language and culture. People of this "ABC" region has taken Bhojpuri across the Indian boarder to far away places in Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad & Tobago, Surinam and Guyana when their forefathers were settled there as indentured labourer by Imperial forces. They have adopted there new homeland but still have Bhojpuri in their blood.

Geography
Chapra is located at 25.773460° N 84.727470° E.[1] It has an average elevation of 36 metres (118 feet).
The district of Saran is situated between 25°36' and 26°13' North latitude and 84°24' and 85°15' East longitude in the southern post of the newly created Saran Division of North Bihar. The Ganges constitute the Southern boundary of the district beyond which lie the districts of Bhojpur and Patna. To the north of Saran lie districts of Siwan and Gopalganj. The Gandak forms the dividing line with vaishali and Muzaffarpur district in the east. To the west of Saran lies district of Siwan and the district of Balia in Uttar Pradesh, the Ghaghra constituting a natural boundary between Saran and Ballia.
The district is shaped like a triangle with its apex at the confluence of boundary of Gopalganj district and Gandak-Ganga river there are three rivers namely the Ganga, Ghaghra, Gandak which encircle the district from south north east and western side respectively. The district is entirely constituted of plains but there are quite a few depressions and marshes, which cause the formation of three broad natural divccccccc I. The alluvial plains along the big rivers which are subjected to periodic inundation and prone to floods.
II. The region of uplands away from the rivers and not subject to floods.
III. The diara areas in the beds of the great rivers.
Out of twenty blocks in the districts, Six blocks viz Sonepur, Dighwara, Revelganj, Chapra, Manjhi and Dariyapur are affected by floods regularly. There are six partially flood affect Parsa, Marhoura, Amnaur, Jalalpur, and Ekma. The remaining blocks are free from floods. The soil of the district is alluvial. No mineral of economic value is found in the district. Located just above the Ghaghara River's junction with the Ganges, its 1991 population was 136,877 people. Chapra is a road and rail hub, as well as a center for trade in agricultural products.
Famous Personalities
CHAPRA is the home of Jai Prakash Narayan, Rajendra Prasad (First President of India),Mazaharul Haq,etc. Jaiprakash Narayan University has been opened in the name of Jai Prakash Narayan "stalwart of Indian politics". Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of India, a renowned scholar and statesman was a native of Ziradei village near Siwan (Now in Siwan District). Chapra was the headquarter of great district called Saran. Later, the district was divided into three separate districts: Chapra, Siwan, and Gopalganj.Chitragupta, the famous music composer of Bollywood, hailed from CHAPRA and his Music Director duo son Anand-Milind are still bringing glory to this place.
Names of Famous Personalities of CHAPRA
Jai Prakash Narayan, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Shobhna Narayan, Mazaharul Haque,Rev.S.A. Ismail,Abdul Gafur, Swami Adbhutanand, Dr. Harihar Nath Saran, Musician Chitragupta, Bhikhari Thakur, Khuda Baksh Khan, Ram Yatan Ojha, Paramhans Dayal Swami, Bindeshwari Pd. Verma, Maheshwar Prasad Singh, Ram Sunder Das, Amiya Nath Chatterjee,Dr Govind Sharan,Rahul Sankrityan,etc.
national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 72% and female literacy of 48%. 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Tourism
Aami
The place is situated about 37 km east of Chapra and 4 km west of Dighwara. It is said that in ancient times there was a Dirgh dwar near Dighwara Railway station and the place came to be known as Dighwara. In Aami there is an old temple known as Amba asthan. Near the temple there is a garden and a deep and broad well in which water remains all over the year and it never dries up. The believer from far off come to pay oblation in the established in her memory over this Yagya Kunda. The believers from far off come to pay oblation in the Navratra of April and October. Water offered here by lacs of People vanishes in the Kunda.
Sonepur
Internationally famous for the large fair held on the occasion of Kartik Purnima, it is also the head quarters of Sonepur Anchal. Sonepur is a Nagar Panchayat and is noted for its Railways platform which is one of the largest in India. So far as religious aspect of Sonepur Mela is concerned, special significance is owing to the temple of shree Hariharnath and the site of the battle of Gaj-Grah and rescue of the former by Hari During Kartik Purnima Ganga Snan or ceremonial bathing in the Ganga is held by Hindus to be unusually efficacious. On the day of full moon (Kartik Purnima) immense crowd assembles and take bath. The Mela commences on that day and lasts for more than a fortnight. The Shiva temple, Kali temple and other temples and historical religious monuments are situated here and social and economical activities are at the highest peak during the Mela period. People come here to pay their oblation to the lords and thus its importance is not within Sonepur of Bihar rather it is of India and world fame.
Dhorh Ashram
This place is situated towards north of Parsagarh where many exhibits of archaeological importance can be seen. On the bank of river Gandaki and ancient temple of Bhagwan Dhadheswar nath is situated in which a gigantic Shiv Ling of stone is there.
Gautam Asthan
The Ashram of Gautam Rishi is situated 5 km west of Chapra As per religious belief the purification of Ahalya was meted out here. In the epic Ramayan, there is mention of Gautam Rishi who had cursed his wife who turned into stone.
Silhauri
This is an important place as per the child Episode of Shiv Puran and Ram charitra Manas. The mohbhan of Narad depicts the place to be here. This ancient place is 28 km away from Marhowra. On every Shivratary mela is organized here during which the devotes of Baba Shilanath come to pay their obeisances.
Chirand
Chirand is situated 11 km south east of the district headquarter near Doriganj Bazar at the north bank of river Ghaghra. The result of the excavation there reveals about four thousand years old developed culture of Pashan age. Inhabitants of Chirand were engaged in Animal Husbandry, agriculture and hunting. In whole of India new Pashan age culture was firstly revealed here. Chirand had become an important urban place.

Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose, (January 23, 1897 – presumably August 18, 1945 [although this is disputed]note), generally known as Netaji (lit. "Respected Leader"), was one of the most prominent and highly respected leaders of the Indian Independence Movement against the British Raj.
Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms but resigned from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure India's independence, and advocated violent resistance. He established a separate political party, the All India Forward Bloc and continued to call for the full and immediate independence of India from British rule. He was imprisoned by the British authorities eleven times.
His stance did not change with the outbreak of the second world war, which he saw as an opportunity to take advantage of British weakness. At the outset of the war, he fled India and travelled to the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan seeking an alliance with the aim of attacking the British in India. With Japanese assistance he re-organised and later led the Indian National Army, formed from Indian prisoners-of-war and plantation workers from Malaya, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia, against British forces. With Japanese monetary, political, diplomatic and military assistance, he formed the Azad Hind Government in exile, regrouped and led the Indian National Army to battle against the allies in Imphal & Burma during the World War II
His political views and the alliances he made with Nazi and other militarist regimes opposed to the British Empire have been the cause of arguments among historians and politicians, with some accusing him of Fascist sympathies and of Quislingist actions, while most others in India largely sympathetic towards his inculcation of realpolitik as a manifesto that guided his social and political choices. He is believed to have died on 18 August 1945 in a plane crash over Taiwan. However, contradictory evidence exists regarding his death in the accident.
Early life
Bose in his youth
Subhas Chandra Bose was born in 1897 to an affluent Bengali family in Cuttack, Orissa in India. His father, Janakinath Bose, was a public prosecutor who believed in orthodox nationalism, and later became a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. Bose was educated at Ravenshaw Collegiate School, Cuttack, Scottish Church College, Calcutta and Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University. In 1920, Bose took the Indian Civil Services entrance examination and was placed fourth with highest marks in English. However, he resigned from the prestigious Indian Civil Service in April 1921 despite his high ranking in the merit list, and went on to become an active member of India's independence movement. He joined the Indian National Congress, and was particularly active in its youth wing.
Still, Bose's ideals did not match those of Mahatma Gandhi's single belief in non-violence[citation needed]. He therefore returned to Calcutta to work under Chittaranjan Das, the Bengali freedom fighter and co-founder (with Motilal Nehru) of the Swaraj Party.
Subhash Chandra Bose
In 1921, Bose organised a boycott of the celebrations to mark the visit of the Prince of Wales to India, which led to his imprisonment. In April 1924, Bose was elected to the post of Chief Executive Officer of the newly constituted Calcutta Corporation, In October that year, Bose was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. At first, he was kept in Alipore Jail and later he was exiled to Mandalay in Burma (where earlier Bal Gangadhar Tilak had spent 6 years in prison). On January 23, 1930, Bose was once again arrested for leading an "independence procession", protesting against British rule in India. After his release from jail on September 25, he was elected as the Mayor of the City of Calcutta.
Over a span of 20 years, Bose was incarcerated eleven times by the British, either in India or in Rangoon. During the mid 1930s he was exiled by the British from India to Europe, where he championed India's cause and aspiration for self-rule before gatherings and conferences.
After his father's death, the British authorities allowed him to land at Calcutta's airport only for the religious rites, which would be followed by his swift departure. He traveled extensively in India and in Europe before stating his political opposition to Gandhi. During his stay in Europe from 1933 to 1936, he met several European leaders and thinkers.He came to believe that India could achieve political freedom only if it had political, military and diplomatic support from outside, and that an independent nation necessitated the creation of a national army to secure its sovereignty. Subhash Chandra Bose married Emilie Schenkl, an Austrian born national, who was his secretary, in 1937. According to Schenkl, she and Bose were secretly married in Bad Gastein on 26 December 1937. They had one daughter, Anita, born in 1942. Bose wrote many letters to Schenkl during the period 1934–1942, of which many have been published in the book Letters to Emilie Schenkl, edited by Sisir Kumar Bose and Sugata Bose.
Bose at AICC meeting in 1939
Bose became the president of the Haripura Indian National Congress in 1938, against Gandhi's wishes. Gandhi commented "Pattavi's defeat is my own defeat. Anyway, Subhas Bose is not an enemy of the country" . Gandhi's continued opposition led to the latter's resignation from the Working Committee, and the possibility that the rest of the CWC would resign. In the face of this gesture of no-confidence, Bose himself resigned, and was left with no alternative but to form an independent party, the All India Forward Bloc. Bose also initiated the concept of the National Planning Committee in 1938.
Actions during the Second World War
Bose advocated the approach that the political instability of war-time Britain should be taken advantage of—rather than simply wait for the British to grant independence after the end of the war (which was the view of Gandhi, Nehru and a section of the Congress leadership at the time). In this, he was influenced by the examples of Italian statesmen Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini.
His correspondence reveals that despite his clear dislike …for British subjugation, he was deeply impressed by their methodical and systematic approach and their steadfastly disciplinarian outlook towards life. In England, he exchanged ideas on the future of India with British Labour Party leaders and political thinkers like Lord Halifax, George Lansbury, Clement Attlee, Arthur Greenwood, Harold Laski, J.B.S. Haldane, Ivor Jennings, G.D.H. Cole, Gilbert Murray and Sir Stafford Cripps . He came to believe that a free India needed Socialist authoritarianism, on the lines of Turkey's Kemal Atatürk, for at least two decades. Bose was refused permission by the British authorities to meet Mr. Ataturk at Ankara for political reasons. It should be noted that during his sojourn in England, only the Labour Party and Liberal politicians agreed to meet with Bose when he tried to schedule appointments. Conservative Party officials refused to meet Bose or show him the slightest courtesy due to the fact that he was a politician coming from a colony, but it may also be recalled that in the 1930s leading figures in the Conservative Party had opposed even Dominion status for India. It may also be observed here that it was during the regime of the Labour Party (1945-1951), with Attlee as the Prime Minister, that India gained independence.
The Escape
The car that Bose used during his escape
On the outbreak of war, Bose advocated a campaign of mass civil disobedience to protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's decision to declare war on India's behalf without consulting the Congress leadership. Having failed to persuade Gandhi of the necessity of this, Bose organised mass protests in Calcutta calling for the 'Holwell Monument' commemorating the Black Hole of Calcutta, which then stood at the corner of Dalhousie Square, to be removed[citation needed]. A reasonable measure of the contrast between Gandhi and Bose is captured in a saying attributable to him: "If people slap you once, slap them twice". He was thrown in jail by the British, but was released following a seven-day hunger strike. Bose's house in Calcutta was kept under surveillance by the CBI, but their vigilance left a good deal to be desired. With two court cases pending, he felt the British would not let him leave the country before the end of the war. This set the scene for Bose's escape to Germany, via Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Bose had never been to Afghanistan, and could not speak the local tribal language (Pashto).
Bose escaped from under British surveillance at his house in Calcutta. On January 19, 1941, accompanied by his nephew Sisir K. Bose, Bose gave his watchers the slip and journeyed to Peshawar. With the assistance of the Abwehr, he made his way to Peshawar where he was met at Peshawar Cantonment station by Akbar Shah, Mohammed Shah and Bhagat Ram Talwar. Bose was taken to the home of Abad Khan, a trusted friend of Akbar Shah's. On 26 January 1941, Bose began his journey to reach Russia through India's North West frontier with Afghanistan. For this reason, he enlisted the help of Mian Akbar Shah, then a Forward Bloc leader in the North West Frontier Province. Shah had been out of India en route to the Soviet Union, and suggested a novel disguise for Bose to assume. Since Bose could not speak one word of Pashto, it would make him an easy target of Pashto speakers working for the British. For this reason, Shah suggested that Bose act deaf and dumb, and let his beard grow to mimic those of the tribesmen.
Cancelled passport of Bose
Supporters of the Aga Khan helped him across the border into Afghanistan where he was met by an Abwehr unit posing as a party of road construction engineers from the Organization Todt who then aided his passage across Afghanistan via Kabul to the border with Soviet Russia. Once in Russia the NKVD transported Bose to Moscow where he hoped that Russia's traditional enmity to British rule in India would result in support for his plans for a popular rising in India. However, Bose found the Soviets' response disappointing and was rapidly passed over to the German Ambassador in Moscow, Count von der Schulenburg. He had Bose flown on to Berlin in a special courier aircraft at the beginning of April where he was to receive a more favorable hearing from Joachim von Ribbentrop and the Foreign Ministry officials at the Wilhelmstrasse.
Assassination Attempts
In 1941, when the British learned that Bose had sought the support of the Axis Powers, they ordered their agents to intercept and assassinate Bose before he reached Germany. A recently declassified intelligence document refers to a top-secret instruction to the Special Operations Executive (SOE) of British intelligence to murder Bose. In fact, the plan to liquidate Bose has few parallels, and appears to be a last desperate measure against a man who had thrown the British Empire into a panic.

In Germany
Having escaped incarceration at home by assuming the guise of a Pashtun insurance agent ("Ziaudddin") to reach Afghanistan, Bose traveled to Moscow on the passport of an Italian nobleman "Count Orlando Mazzotta". From Moscow, he reached Rome, and from there he traveled to Germany, where he instituted the Special Bureau for India under Adam von Trott zu Solz, broadcasting on the German-sponsored Azad Hind Radio. He founded the Free India Centre in Berlin, and created the Indian Legion (consisting of some 4500 soldiers) out of Indian prisoners of war who had previously fought for the British in North Africa prior to their capture by Axis forces. The Indian Legion was attached to the Wehrmacht, and later transferred to the Waffen SS; its members swore their allegiance to both Hitler and Bose to secure India's independence. He was also, however, prepared to envisage an invasion of India via the U.S.S.R. by Nazi troops, spearheaded by the Azad Hind Legion; many have questioned his judgment here, as it seems unlikely that the Germans could have been easily persuaded to leave after such an invasion, which might also have resulted in an Axis victory in the War.
The lack of interest shown by Hitler in the cause of Indian independence eventually caused Bose to become disillusioned with Hitler and he decided to leave Nazi Germany in 1943. Bose had been living together with his wife Schenkl in Berlin from 1941 until 1943, when he left for south-east Asia. He travelled by the German submarine U-180 around the Cape of Good Hope to Imperial Japan (via Japanese submarine I-29). Thereafter the Japanese helped him raise his army in Singapore. This was the only civilian transfer across two submarines of two different navies in World War II.