Manihari is a town and a

notified area A nagar panchayat (town panchayat; ) or Notified Area Council (NAC) in 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, ...

in Katihar district in the

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 ...

n state of

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 ...

. Pincode of Manihari is 854113.

Geography

Manihari is located at . It has an average elevation of 31

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

s (101

feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

). This place is well known for the Manihari ghat, which connects it to Sakrigali Ghaat, which is situated on the southern bank of the River Ganges. The town is located on the northern bank of the river

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

where it meets the river Koshi, thus making the town prone to flooding every year. Manihari is a small border town between the states of

and

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

Sahebganj Sahebganj (also known as Sahibganj) is a scenic town and a port city with the serene Ganga and sturdy hills in the Sahibganj subdivision of the Sahebganj district of Jharkhand state, India. It serves as headquarters for Sahibganj District, Sahi ...

is the district town of Jharkhand which is 9 km from Manihari (nautical mile distance); there is regular ferry service. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the first passenger train on the newly converted

Broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

(BG) section of Katihar-Manihari in Katihar division of North-East Frontier Railway (NFR) at Katihar station. There are few local trains which run between Manihari and

Katihar Katihar is a city situated in the eastern part of the state of Bihar in India. It is the regional headquarter of Katihar district. It is one of the important cities of Bihar. Also it's a main route of Delhi - Guwahati railway line. History Ka ...

. The geography of Manihari is unique. The river Ganges (i.e. Ganga) flows eastward up to Manihari and takes a southward turn after Manihari. Thus, Manihari is known as the point of River Ganges's sharp bend leading its eastward water flow to turn to southward water flow.

Manihari Ghat

Before the Farakka Barrage over the Ganges was constructed, people going to the

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

Hills or

North Bengal North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Gen ...

from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, used to travel by broad gauge train to Sakrigali Ghat and then cross the Ganges by steamer. On the other side of the river at Manihari Ghat, they used to take a metre gauge train to

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

. Once Farakka Barrage became operational in 1975 (the barrage has a broad gauge rail line on it), this route became redundant. There still is a ferry service linking Manihari Ghat with Sahebganj.

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Manihari had a population of 21,783. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Manihari has an average literacy rate of 44%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 52%, and female literacy is 35%. In Manihari, 19% of the population is under 6 years of age. India

, Manihari had a population of 26,629.

References

{{Purnia Division Cities and towns in Katihar district