Baliraajgadh is an archaeological site located in

Madhubani district Madhubani district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar, India, and is a part of Darbhanga division. Its administrative headquarters are located in Madhubani. The district has an area of and has a population of 4,487,379 (as of 2011 ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It has been claimed by some scholars to be the location of the ancient city of

Mithila Mithila may refer to: Places * Mithilā, a synonym for the ancient Videha state ** Mithilā (ancient city), the ancient capital city of Videha * Mithila (region), a cultural region (historical and contemporary), now divided between India and Nepal ...

. The headquarter of the

Ancient Mithila University Ancient Mithila University was an Indian historical university famous for Nyaya, Nyaya Shastra and logical sciences. Background Gurukuls of the Vedic period in India can be called the ancient form of university because they had a system of h ...

was at the court of King Janaka in Mithila. Therefore, Balirajgadh is also the possible site of the

. It is the place from where most of the schools of the ancient Indian philosophy emerged. Nyaya Shastra, Logical sciences, Samkhya Shastra, Mimansa Shastra and many more Indian philosophy emerged from the Ancient Mithila University.

Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...

's record, two clans were linked with Vajji/Mithila by 646: Vaishali and Vrijji. Vaishali was both Buddhist and Hindu while Vrijji was predominantly Hindu and the capital of it ''Zhanshuna'' (占戍挐, possibly from Sanskrit "Cemśoṇa/Cansuna").

Excavations

In 1938 Archeological Survey of India declared the ancient site of Balirajgadh as a site of national importance under the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904. The first excavation of the site was conducted in 1962-1963 by the Archeological Survey of India. The second and third excavations was conducted by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Bihar, in 1972-73 and 1974-75. In 2013-2014, Archeological Survey of India, Bihar circle again started the excavation of the site but due to the negligence of the government no proper results were there.

Archeological Remains

Archeologists have found many archeological remains from the site by excavations conducted by them. They excavated 2300 years old iron nail from the site. More than 400 antiquities were excavated from the site including human & animal figurines and beads of terracotta, bangle fragments and ceiling. The sizes of the bricks found at the ruins of the site are double compared with the sizes of the modern times bricks. The size of the bricks found here are generally 1 Feet × 1.5 Feet × 4 Inch in dimension.

History

According to historians and local residents, it was the capital of ancient King Bali. King Bali was the son of Virochan and grandson of

Prahlad Prahlada () is an asura king in Hindu mythology. He is known for his staunch devotion towards the preserver deity, Vishnu. He appears in the narrative of Narasimha, the man-lion avatar of Vishnu, who rescues Prahlada by slaying his wicked fa ...

. King Bali was very famous for his donations to poors,

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

s, Scholars and any one who came to his kingdom in expectations for financial help. He is known as a great donar. Many scholars claimed that it was the capital of King

Janaka Janaka is a character who appears in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He is an ancient Hindu king of Videha, which was located in the Mithila region. His name at birth was Sīradhvaja, and he had a brother named Kushadhvaja. His father's name was Hrasva ...

. According to

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

, Lord

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

and Guru

Vishwamitra Vishvamitra ( sa, विश्वामित्र, ) is one of the most venerated rishis or sages of ancient India. According to Hindu tradition, he is stated to have written most of the Mandala 3 of the Rigveda, including the Gayatri Mant ...

went to the Kingdom of Mithila from

Gautam Ashram Gautam Ashram () was a gurukul of the ancient Indian philosopher Gautama. It is located at the west bank of Khiroi river in Brahmpur village of Jale block of Darbhanga district in Bihar. It is only at a seven kilometres distance from Kamtaul rai ...

in the direction of North-East direction. This site is in the North-East direction from the

. In the Ramayana, the capital of the Kingdom of Mithila is also known as Mithilapuri. So, it is also believed as the site of ancient Mithilapuri in

. According to the historian Sahadev Jha, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Shakaditya in the 1st Century BC. Shakaditya was the younger brother of King

Vikramaditya Vikramaditya (IAST: ') was a legendary king who has been featured in hundreds of traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi'' and ''Singhasan Battisi''. Many describe him as ruler with his capital at Ujjain (Pataliputra or Pratis ...

. In the 11th century AD, it was the capital of King

Ballal sen Ballal (also spelt as Ballala) is a surname from coastal Karnataka in India. It is found among Hindu Samantha Arasu, Bunt and Jain Royal communities. History The origin of the title 'Ballal' is reflects a claim of descent from the Hoysala dynasty ...

Sen dynasty The Sena dynasty was a Hindu dynasty during the early medieval period on the Indian subcontinent, that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. The empire at its peak covered much of the north-eastern region of the Indian subco ...

. Some of the remains of

Maurya The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

period were also found here. So some scholars believe that some of the parts of this site may be built during

period

References

Archaeological sites in Bihar {{asia-archaeology-stub