SONEPUR MELA.......................asia's largest cattle fair

Sonepur Mela is the one of largest cattle fairs of the world. It is a historical and ancient event celebrated every year on bank of pious confluence of Gandak and the Ganges river, on the back drop of Harihar Nath Temple. On Kartik Purnima (the full moon ) lacs of Devotees flock to offer prayer at this temple after taking a holy dip in the river.
The mela has its origins during ancient times. This is when Chandragupta Maurya used to buy elephants and horses across the river Ganges. The Sonepur Cattle Fair once used to attract traders from places as distant as Central Asia.


 Nearly all animals can be bought at the Sonepur mela from all breeds of dogs to camels to buffaloes, donkeys, ponies, monkeys, chimps, Persian horses, sheep, rabbits, bears, cats, and guinea pigs. All varieties of birds, poultry and fishes are also available. The area that attracts all, however, is the one where elephants are lined up for sale. The Sonepur Fair is the only one where such a large number of elephants are sold. Numerous stalls are also set up at the grounds of the Sonepur Fair. You will find a wide variety of goods in these stalls, ranging from garments, to weapons and furniture to toys, utensils and agricultural implements to jewelry and handicrafts. Another major attraction is the sight of numerous elephants, beautifully decorated for the purpose of sale.


Originally, the venue of the fair was Hajipur and only the performance of the puja used to take place at the Harihar Nath temple of Sonepur. However, under the rule of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the venue of the fair got shifted to Sonepur. The temple of Harihar Nath is believed to have been originally built by Lord Rama, on his way to the court of King Janak to win the hand of Mata Sita. It is further said that Raja Man Singh later got the temple repaired. The Harihar Nath temple, as it stands today, was built by Raja Ram Narain, an influential person during the late Mughal period.

Gajendhra Moksha legend is associated with the temple in Sonepur. It involves the story of king Indra Yamuna and the Gandharva chief Huhu, who were turned into an elephant and a crocodile respectively by the curse of great sages Agasthya and Dewala Muni. One day the elephant's leg was bitten by the crocodile. It is said that both of them fought hard for many years with their herds. But ultimately the King Elephant lost his strength and prayed to the Supreme God Vishnu (Hari) to save him. Vishnu heard his prayer and cut down the crocodile with his Chakra. But the touch of the chakra released Huhu from the curse. Vishnu also released Indra Yamuna from his curse and took him to his aboard Vaikuntha.

Sonepur is well connected by road to the nearby City of Chapra, Hajipur, and cities. Sonepur is 25 kilometers from Patna, which is well connected by air, rail and road to the other parts of the country. Sonepur is well connected by Rail links and it is one of main Junction on north eastern railways connecting New Delhi to Guwahati.
The Mela is administered by Chapra District Administrator with due support from Bihar Govt. The promotion of Mela is done by the Tourism Ministry of Bihar. The administration arranges sanitation, drinking water facilities, health and welfare camps for the visitors.

Sonepur Mela gets very wide publicity in media world wide. Foreign news agencies provide good coverage of all the activities.

Getting to Sonepur mela:

Air: Take a flight to Patna airport and book in a hotel. Some good hotels include;

Rail: Alternatively get to Patna Station and stay at one of the below hotels.

Also could go to Hajipur that is the nearest railway station.

From Patna you could hire a taxi (autos, the famous 3 wheeler) from the railway station or anywhere that will take you across the Ganges to the Sonepur mela.

Hotel Maurya: South Gandhi, Maidan Patna, Patna, Bihar (5 star)

Samrat International: Fraser Road, Patna, Bihar (3 Star)

Patliputra Ashoka: Beer Chand Patel Path, Patna, Bihar (2 Star)

Chankya: Bir Chand Patel Path, Patna, Bihar (4 Star)

Kautilya Vihar: Beer Chand Patel Path, Patna (Govt. owned)

Hotel Republic: Exhibition Road, Patna, Bihar (2 Star)

Hotel President: Fraser Road, Patna, Bihar (2 Star)

Or if you prefer you could check in some smaller hotels in and around the Patnarailway station such as the Marwari Awas Griha (Near the D-Lal retail shop near Dak Banglow), Hotel Bhagwat, Station road, Karbighaiya.

HAJIPUR..............the place of lord Budhha & hindu god Vishnu

Hajipur  is the headquarters of Vaishali district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous for producing bananas, and has a modern railway zonal office. Patna, the capital of Bihar is only 10 km from Hajipur. Mahatma Gandhi Setu, one of the longest bridges in the world, links it to Patna.

Hajipur is located at 25.68°N 85.22°E

                                                                     In the ancient time, it was known as Ukkacala and was the first village to come after crossing River         Ganga at Patna. The village of Hajipur gained significance, as it was the venue of one of the discourses given by Lord Buddha. Buddha preached the Cula Goplalaka Sutta, a Middle Length Discourse, here. Along with that, it is also of interest because a portion of Ananda's ashes were enshrined in the town, the closest disciple of Lord Buddha.Ananda acted as the Buddha's personal attendant for twenty years and outlived him by several decades. Hajipur, earlier in British India was a small town in muzaffarpur district of bengal situated on the confluence of ganges and gandak. Hajipur figures conspicuously in the history of struggles between Akbar and his rebellious Afghan governors of bengal , 

being twice besieged and captured by the imperial troops . Within the limits of the old fort is a small stone mosque, Called Pathar ki masjid, very plain, but of peculiar architecture, and attributed to "'HAJI ILIYAS, its (Haji Pur) traditional founder (c. 1350).

Hajipur(Vaishali)-find its origin way back in history from the mahabharata period. It is the place where democracy found its origin around 600BC.Ancient Lichhavi republic was established in this land only. It is 

the place where Lord Mahavir took birth and Gautam Buddha delivered his last sermon and announced his Parinirvana. It is also renowned as the land of Ambapali (Amrapali), the great Indian courtesan.

Origin of name

The town is known by the name of Hajipur as it was founded by a King of Bengal named Haji Ilyas Shah who ruled between 1345 to 1358 A.D. Inside the fort built by this king in Hajipur there is a mosque called Jami Masjid now  

 "Pathar ki masjid "

 a plain building measuring 84.5 ft (25.8 m) long and 33.5 ft (10.2 m) broad.

Place of interest

   

   A Hindu temple, Pataleshwara Nath is situated on the western outskirts of Hajipur. Go to the centre of town and ask for the way to Ramchaura. The temple on the top of the stupa is called Ramchaura Mandir. A few years ago it was made the zonal office of East Central Railways. A famous temple named Budi Maai is in Ismailpur village of Hajipur

other places  :

kaun Haara ghat (Gaja-Graah):

Nepali Mandir, Hajipur

Jamia Masjid(pathar ki masjid)

mamu bhanja mazar;

badi mai;

Mahatma Gandhi Setu;

Geography

IT has an average elevation of 46 metres (150 ft). Hajipur is the district headquarter of Vaishali after its separation from Muzaffarpur on 12/10/1972. The district has 3 subdivisions, 16 blocks, 191 Gram Panchyat & 1638 villages and is surrounded by Muzaffarpur (East), Patna (South), Samastipur (East) and Saran (West). The Hajipur town being bounded by Narayani Gandak river in the west and holy Ganga in the south, has scope of further expansion in east and north direction only. Very Good network of rail, road and water transport exists in the town connecting it with other parts of district as well as state and country. Famous Mahatma Gandhi Setu (5575m long, Prestressed box culvert type RCC bridge) over river Ganga connects it with Patna, the state capital while another rail and road bridge over Gandak connects it with Sonepur, headquarter of a railway sub-division under ECR, . The plain terrain of town and its nearby places is famous for banana, Litchi and mango plantations. The region looks green with plants and trees growing in semi-tropical monsoon climate. However, months of May-June are extremely hot and December-January are very cold.

VAISHALI............World's First Republic

An effort has been made in this work to deal with the political process that was at work in Vaishali, where democracy had been practised since time immemorial. It had not been possible there if there had not been balance of power between all the branches of government that had always functioned on the 'checks and balances' which kept the Lichchavi constitution going on. The work enumerates too the factors that helped all the three branches of government function in concord, even while giving over-all details of their distinct roles, including that of the bureaucracy which was responsible for the whole gamut of public administration. The work also specifically deals with the question as to how the republic of Vaishali was structured and run, especially as the 'Samgha' of eight states. The republic was not at all structured of eight clans, but it was rather an 'organic whole' in which all of them had willingly merged their identities. As the 'Samgha' was working well, all of them wanted to remain its members. The work concisely depicts the political scenario as obtaining in the rural as well as urban areas of the republic. It is worth noting here that Vaishali was known for its successful grassroots democracy that helped it reach the zenith of its greatness. The Panchayats perforce, kept on doing a lot for the welfare and development of the villages and regions. The work also delineates as to how the Government at Vaishali functioned and what its exact nature and form were. The 'Executive council' apparently was the working government of the polity. But the fact remains that whatever it did, it did in accordance with the wishes of the 'gana' (assembly) that had always been responsible for rendering justice to all the people, regardless of their religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The government was fully authorized by the constitution to act freely and independently, provided it remained accountable to the assembly, the repository of sovereign power.  Etymology: Vaishali  was the capital city of the Licchavi, one of world's first democratic republics, in the Vajjian Confederacy (Vrijji) mahajanapada, around the 6th century BC. It was here in 599 BCE the 24th Jain Tirthankara, Bhagwan Mahavira was born and brought up in Kundalagrama in Vaishali republic, which make pious & auspicious pilgrimage to Jainist. AlsoGautama Buddha preached his last sermon before his death in ca 483 BCE, then in 383 BCE the Second Buddhist council was convened here by King Kalasoka, making it an important place in both Jain & Buddhist religions. At the time of the Buddha, Vaishali, which he visited on many occasions, was a very large city, rich and prosperous, crowded with people and with abundant food. There were 7,707 pleasure grounds and an equal number of lotus ponds. Its courtesan, Amrapali, was famous for her beauty, and helped in large measure in making the city prosperous[4]. The city had three walls, each one gávuta away from the other, and at three places in the walls were gates with watch towers. Outside the town, leading uninterruptedly up to the Himalaya, was the Mahavana, a large, natural forest. Nearby were other forests, such as Gosingalasála. The city finds mention in the travel accounts of Chinese explorers, Fa Hian (4th century CE) and Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) (7th century CE), which were later used in 1861 by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham to first identify Vaishali with the present village of Basrah in Vaishali District, Bihar. Vaishali derives its name from King Vishal of the Mahabharata age. The city was also called Visálá Buddhaghosa, the a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar says, that Vesali was so called because it was extensive or Vishal.

VAJJIKA

VAJJIKA LANGUAGE
Bajjika is a Bihari language which is spoken by millions of people living in Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, western part of Samastipur and Madhubani district of Bihar. It is the mother tounge of people residing in Sarlahi and Rotahat district of Nepal. Bajjika serves as the transition between Bhojpuri and Maithili in North-Western Bihar and terai belt of Nepal. The main city in the area is Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Sitamarhi and Janakpur.

Origin

The language has its root in ancient time when Powerful Lichhavi and Vajji clan were ruling the republic of Vaishali during 6th centuri BC. Nearly 2500 years ago, the republic of Vaishali was ruled by Ashtkul (eight clans). They were- Lichhavi, Vajji, Gyatrik, Ugra, Bhog, Ikshwaku and Kaurav. Vajjis were the important clan and the language spoken by them became lingua-franca. The vocabulary of Vajjika or Bajjika have been enriched with Sanskrit and Prakrit. Bajjika has been classified under east Bihari language group falling under Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-Aryan languages.


Geographical Distribution

Bajjika in India:
The distribution of Bajjika speaking people spreads mainly in north central part of Bihar. Approximately 11,500,000 people in the district of Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Samastipur and Madhubani speak Bajjika at their home. Those people who have migrated to other part of the country or elsewhere also spreak Bajjika as their mother tounge.

Bajjika in Nepal:
It is also the main language in the adjoining terai regions of Nepal. According to the 2001 Census of Nepal, Bajjika is the mother tongue of 238,000 individuals, primarily in the Sarlahi and Rautahat district. This constitutes 1.05% of total population. The local language of historical and religious town of Janakpur is Bajjika.

Literature and Writers

Literary tradition in Bajjika is very old but nourishment has remained poor. Reference of early literature written by Gaydhar and Haldhar Das dates back to 10th & 15th century respectively. Three books viz. Mangniram ki Sakhi, Ramsagar Pothi and Anmol Ratan were written by Mangni Ram (circa 1815 AD). In recent years, several authors have shown their interest in Bajjika and many books were published. The Bajjika-Hindi Shabd Kosh (Bajjika-Hindi Dictionary) was compiled by Surendra Mohan Prasad. Renowned scholar and poet of Bajjika late Dr. (Prof.) Awadheshwar Arun wrote Bajjika Ramayan. Similarly, other scholars have enriched wealth of Bajjika both in this dialect as well as in Hindi.

reference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia