Bettiah is a city and administrative headquarters of

West Champaran West Champaran is an administrative district in the state of Bihar in India, located just west of Birgunj. It is the largest district in Bihar with an area of 5,228 km²(2,019sq mi). It is a part of Tirhut Division. The district headquarte ...

district ( Tirhut Division) - (

Tirhut Mithila (), also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothill ...

), near Indo-Nepal border, north-west of

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

, in

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 ...

state of India.

History

In 1244 A.D., Gangeshwar Dev, a

Bhumihar Brahmin Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal. The Bhumihars claim Brahmin statu ...

of "Jaitharia" clan, settled at Jaithar in Champaran. One of his descendants, Agar Sen, acquired large territory in the reign of Emperor Jehangir and was bestowed the title of 'Raja' by Emperor Shah Jahan. In 1659, he was succeeded by his son Raja Guj Singh, who built the palace of the family at Bettiah. He died in 1694 A.D. The palace stands today but serves as marketplace. In 1765, when the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

acquired the ''

Diwani Diwani is a calligraphic variety of Arabic script, a cursive style developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks (16th century - early 17th century). It reached its height of popularity under Süleyman I the Magnificent (1520–1566) ...

'', Bettiah Raj held the largest territory under its jurisdiction. It consisted of all of

Champaran Champaran is a region of Bihar in India. It is now divided into an East Champaran district and a West Champaran district. Notable people * Manoj Bajpai – Indian film actor * Dinesh Bhramar – poet and noted figure in Hindi and Bhojpuri l ...

except for a small portion held by the Ram Nagar Raj (also held by

Bhumihar Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal. The Bhumihars claim Brahmin stat ...

family). Maharaja Sir Harendra Kishore Singh was the last king of Bettiah Raj. He was born in 1854 and succeeded his father, the late Maharaja Rajendra Kishore Singh Bahadur in 1883. In 1884, he received the title of Maharaja Bahadur as a personal distinction and a Khilat and a sanad from the hands of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, Sir Augustus Rivers Thompson. He was created a

Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appo ...

on 1 March 1889. He was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of Bengal in January 1891. He was also a member of

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

. He was the last ruler of Bettiah Raj. Maharaja Sir Harendra Kishore Singh Bahadur died heirless on 26 March 1893, leaving behind two widows, Maharani Sheo Ratna Kunwar and Maharani Janki Kunwar. There are a few institutions named after the queen Maharani Janki Kunwar, such as M.J.K College and M.J.K Hospital. The Bettiah Gharana was one of the oldest style of vocal music. Madhuban was part of the erstwhile 'Bettiah Raj'. Internal disputes and family quarrels divided the Bettiah Raj in course of time. Madhuban Raj was created as a consequence. A section of

Dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South In ...

singers of Dilli Gharana (

Delhi Gharana The Delhi or Dilli Gharana, is a tabla discipleship tradition known for being the oldest. This tradition was founded by Sidhar Khan Dhadi in the early-18th Century. The tradition is regarded for establishing a distinction from pakhawaj repertoi ...

) from Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s court had migrated to Bettiah under the patronage of Bettiah Raj and thus was sown the seed of Bettiah Gharana. The famous Dagar brothers had praised the Bettiah

singers and some of them were invited to the Bharat Bhavan in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

to perform with other accomplished singers in 1990. On 26 December 2020, Bettiah became a municipal corporation. It includes Tola San Saraiya, Banuchapar, Kargahiya east and nearby area for its upgradation.

Geography

Climate

The climate of Bettiah is characterised by high temperatures and high precipitation especially during the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

season. The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

sub-type for this climate is " Cfa" (Humid Subtropical Climate).

Connectivity

Railway

Bettiah is connected to different cities of India through railways. Bettiah railway station is the main railway station serving the city. Direct trains are available to all the major destinations across India like Patna, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahemdabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Jammu & Katra, etc. Prajapati Halt railway station, also known as Bettiah Cant Railway station, is another railway station serving the city.

Roadway

National Highway 727 , 139W , 28B and State Highway 54 passes through the city. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has notified a new Patna-Bettiah road as National Highway 139W, setting the state for construction of a high-quality four-lane road between the two towns that would reduce the distance between them to 167 kilometres from the current 200-odd km and travel time to around two hours. Tola San Saraiyan new town aided village. The new Gopalganj-Bettiah Road passed through this new town aided village. Through this new road a distance of become shorten for Gopalganj-Bettiah.

Airway

The nearest airport is

Kushinagar International Airport Kushinagar International Airport is an international airport serving Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. In August 2021, the airport was licensed to operate as a customs notified airport, facilitating the movement of international passengers and ...

which is about from Bettiah. The nearest airport in bihar is Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport located in

which is about via Muzaffarpur and via areraj.

Demographics

As of

2011 Indian Census The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, Bettiah NP had a total population of 132,209, of which 69,529 were males and 62,680 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 18,995. The total number of literates in Bettiah was 91,298, which constituted 69.1% of the population with male literacy of 72.7% and female literacy of 64.9%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Bettiah was 80.6%, of which male literacy rate was 85.0% and female literacy rate was 75.8%. The

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

population was 8,266 and 828 respectively. Bettiah had 24463 households in 2011. As per 2011 census, the Bettiah Urban Agglomeration had a total population of 156,200, with 82,663 males and 73,537 females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 22,067 and the effective literacy (literacy of people above the age of 7) was 80.89. The urban agglomeration includes Bettiah (municipal corporation), Tola Mansaraut (census town), Kargahia Purab (census town) and Hat Saraiya (census town). On 26 December 2020, Bettiah became a municipal corporation. It included Tola San Saraiya, Banuchapar, Kargahiya east and nearby area for its upgradation. The total population 414,453

Education

Schools

* Alok Bharati Shikshan Sansthan English Medium School, Bettiah * Amna Urdu High School, Bettiah * Assembly of God Church School, Bettiah * Bipin High School, Bettiah * Delhi Public School, Bettiah * Jawahar Navoday Vidyalaya, Vrindavan, Bettiah *

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of central government schools in India that are instituted under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,248 schools in India, and three abroad in Moscow ...

, Bettiah * Khrist Raja High School, Bettiah * Kidzee Play School, Bettiah * Krishna International Public School, Bettiah * National Public Higher Secondary School, Bettiah * Notre Dame Public School, Bettiah * Raj Enter Secondary School, Bettiah * R.L international School, Bettiah * S.S. Girls High School, Bettiah * Sacred Heart High School, Bettiah * Sarsawati Vidya Mandir, Bettiah * St. Joseph’s School, Bettiah * St. Mary/Remijius High School, Bettiah * St. Michael’s Academy. Bettiah * St. Teresa's Girls' Senior Secondary School, Bettiah * St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School, Bettiah File:St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School Bettiah.jpg, St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School File:St joseph bth building.jpg, St. Joseph's School File:St. Michael's Academy Bettiah.jpg, St. Michael's Academy File:Khrist Raja High School.jpg, Khrist Raja High School File:Assembly of God Church School Bettiah.jpg, Assembly of God Church School

Colleges

* Government Medical College, Bettiah * Government Engineering College, West Champaran *Maharani Janki Kunwar College, Bettiah *Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav College, Bettiah *Gulab Memorial College, Bettiah *MRRG College, Bettiah *MNM Mahila College, Bettiah *St. Teresa Primary Teachers Training College, Bettiah *Chanakya College of Education, Bettiah *Raj Inter College, Bettiahhttps://xn--11bunzmsdr5h2fbz.com/%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE/Alpaha/30.1.137/Raj_Inter_College_Bettiah/1654964734549271/ File:Inside of of GMC Bettiah.jpg, Inside view of Government Medical College File:Administrative block of Government Engineering College Bettiah W.Champaran.jpg, Administrative block of Government Engineering College Bettiah, W.Champaran File:Chanakya College of education Bettiah.jpg, Chanakya College of education

Notable people

Manoj Bajpai Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...

, Indian film actor *

Prakash Jha Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), '' Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaj ...

, Indian film producer, director, and screenwriter * Renu Devi, first female and 7th Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar * Sanjay Jaiswal, politician and president of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

, Bihar *

Damodar Raao Damodar Raao (born 21 August 1977) is an Indian composer, singer, record producer, and live performer. His music genre is about acoustic folk with some traces of Indian classical music. Career In 2000, Raao got his first break as a singer in t ...

, Indian film Music Director, Singer, Producer, and Lyrics writer * Krishna Kumar Mishra, former member of Legislative assembly, Chanpatia (Bihar) * Vikas Mishra, former Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University * Gopal Singh Nepali,

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

poet and Bollywood lyricist * Gauri Shankar Pandey, former member of Legislative assembly, Bettiah (Bihar) *

Kedar Pandey Kedar Pandey (14 June 1920 – 3 July 1982) was an Indian freedom fighter and Indian National Congress politician, who remained the Chief Minister of Bihar from March 1972 to 2 July 1973, and Minister of Railways in the Union Cabinet from 12 ...

, 14th Chief Minister of Bihar *

Raj Kumar Shukla Raj Kumar Shukla (23 August 1875 – 20 May 1929) was the person who convinced Mahatma Gandhi to visit Champaran which later led to the Champaran Satyagraha. Shukla at the time worked under Hafiz Din Mohammad and was sent to meet Gandhi. Earl ...

Indian independence activist The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of a many methods. This is a l ...

References

External links

West Champaran Information Portal

Official Website of Tirhut Division

Galaxy International School Bettiah-GEG Group

{{Authority control Cities and towns in West Champaran district