In communal violence-hit Bihar Sharif, Nitish Kumar’s politics of name

Nitish was presumably taking credit for identifying the secular character of the place – the town was an ancient Buddhist centre, houses many dargahs, and is said to have derived the Arabic Sharif name because of the presence of the tomb of a 14th-century Sufi warrior — and underlining that there could be no taint on his record as far as maintaining communal harmony in Bihar since he took over as CM in 2005 goes.

The statement soon came under flak as former Union minister and ex-JD(U) national president R C P Singh shot back: “How can Nitish Kumar say this? Bihar Sharif is an ancient name and there is well-documented history on this.”

Calling Nitish’s comment a “historical gaffe”, Bihar BJP general secretary and MLC Devesh Kumar said: “It seems Nitish Kumar is losing sense of history. It is common knowledge that Bihar Sharif is an old name. For a state CM to mislead people on history is a matter of concern.”

A JD (U) leader told The Indian Express: “What CM meant that it was during his regime that the composite culture of Bihar Sharif was retained. Let us not get into controversy over history.”

Bihar derives its name from Vihara, meaning a Buddhist monastery. The reference is to the Odantapuri monastery (believed to be in present-day Bihar Sharif) set up by king Gopala of the Pala dynasty (8th to 12th Century BC). Odantapuri, considered one of oldest Mahaviharas, was a centre of Buddhist learning along with Nalanda university. Odantapuri and Nalanda universities are believed to have been destroyed in the 12th century by Bakhtiyar Khilji, the general of Mohammed Ghori under whom the Delhi Sultanate was founded.

Subsequently, under the Tughlaq dynasty, Mohammed bin Tuglaq (1324-’51) sent his aide Syed Ibrahim Mallick (also written as Malik) to conquer the Magadh region of present-day Bihar. After Mallick’s victory, he was conferred with the title “Madar-ul-mulk” and appointed as governor of the area. Mallik died in 1353 and is buried at Pir Pahadi in Bihar Sharif. It is believed that the area was referred to as Bihar because of the monastery of Odantapuri and that Sharif, meaning noble or high-ranking in Arabic, was eventually added to the name to associate it with Mallick’s burial place.

Two centuries later, Sher Shah Suri (1540-1545) of the Suri dynasty named the capital of the Magadh region as Patliputra (modern-day Patna). After that, it is believed that the entire Magadh region came to be called Bihar. Over time, boundaries leading up to present-day Bihar state have changed. However, it is widely believed that contemporary Bihar Sharif is the central point of what has become Bihar now.

Though it is hard to exactly delineate when Bihar Sharif was named so, modern historians such as Sachidanand Sinha point to a 1925 government document that mentions the name.

Ramashankar Prasad, a senior journalist from Bihar Sharif, said: “Though historians might well have differing versions on the naming of Bihar Sharif, it has been known as Bihar Sharif post-Independence. It was also called Bihar simultaneously by local people but there was always official mention of Bihar Sharif in government identification of its buildings and landmarks.”

On March 31, communal violence broke out in the town, about 70 km from Patna. Vehicles, houses and shops were torched and several people were injured. The police have arrested 77 people in connection with the violence. The town last witnessed a major communal riot in 1981, when over 50 people were killed.