Jhijhian
This dance is done by village women in order to pray Lord Indra for rain, in times of drought when the lands cracks and becomes parched. The sky seems lifeless without clouds and the people await a downpour. The village women dance and sing to please Lord Indra, the Lord of Rain. Lord Indra responds back to their worship by heavy rainfalls. The words of the song which the village women sung are “Haali-Huli Barshun Inder Deveta”.
Jat-Jatin Dance
Jat-Jatin is the most popular folk dance, performed by a pair of man and woman in North Bihar, especially in Mithila and Koshi region. Jat-Jatin is a folk dance in which the man goes out of the village to earn and when he comes back, the dance reflects their sweet and tender quarrel as well as some complaints between husband and wife apart from poverty and sorrow. The folk dance tries to teach that how one should overcome the hurdles of life smilingly. The words of the song are “Tikwa-jab-jab Maugailion re jatwa – Tikwa kahe na lawle re …”
Kajari Dance
Kajari dance is the popular dance of the rainy season. The Shravan month i.e. the rainy season is welcomed by this dance and song. The ladies of the village start dancing like a peacock with the song “Bhijat awe Dhaniya Ho Rama …”
Sohar-Khilouna Dance
This dance is associated with the birth of child. The birth of child is celebrated all over the country with different traditional rituals. In Bihar, the ladies sing Sohar on the occasion of birth ceremony of a child. The ladies compare the child with god. They sometime compare the child with Lord Rama sometime with Lord Krishna. The Sohar has its own unique pronunciation. The ladies bless the baby by singing, acting and dancing on the words of Sohar which are like “Machia baithal sasu puchelli…”
Holi Dance
Holi is a festival which is celebrated with full joy all across the nation. The first day of the Chaitra month is celebrated as Holi. In Bihar the people sing a typical style “Dhamar” on Holi and dance in groups with full joy on musical instruments like dholak, jhal-manjeera etc.
Jhumeri Dance
Jhumeri Dance of Bihar is similar to “Garva of Gujrat”. Specialized to the married women, it is a folk dance of Mithilanchal of Bihar. In the month of Kartik when the sky is crystal clear, and when the full moon spreads its rays all over. The women in love go on dancing, singing and celebrating the turn of the season. The amusing words of Jhumeri are – “Kartik Mas na Aakashey Badari …”
Harvesting Dance
Bihar is an agriculture based State. In the harvesting season, male and female villagers do their work with dance and song in the field. Their happiness and joy is the symbol of good crop. The popular melodious tune of the harvesting song is “Chal Dhani Khetwa mei gay…”
Folk Music and Songs
Bihar has a very old tradition of beautiful folk songs. These songs are sung during important family occasions, such as marriage, birth ceremonies, festivals, etc. The folk songs are sung mainly in group using Dholak, and sometimes Tabla and Harmonium are also used.
Bihar’s folk songs are associated with the various events take place in the life of a person. Like Sohar is performed at the birth of the child
Sumangali is associated with wedding
Ropnigeet is performed during the season of sowing paddy
katnigeet is performed during the paddy harvesting season
Some of the other folk songs are purbi, chaita, hori, bidesia, ghato, birha, kajari, irni/ birni, pachra, jhumar, jatsari, aalah, nirgun, and samdaun.
Art & Crafts
The state of Bihar is rich in arts and crafts.
Madhubani paintings
The Madhubani paintings were done by the village women of Mithila with vegetable dyes on the walls. But once when they were encouraged by an artist these ladies started making their paintings on paper. The paintings normally are made of village scenes, human and animal forms, god and goddess. The Madhubani painting is very famous all over the country.
Bihar is also famous for stone pottery, white metal statuettes, bamboo artifacts, wooden toys and leather goods. Infact, Bihar export leather footwear in large quantities wood inlay is another ancient craft quite famous here, and specific to Patna city.
Several villages around Vaishali make delightful home made toys. Sikki Work is done by weaving the humble blade of grass into beautiful baskets and mats. Lac bangles are also prepared in Muzaffarpur city of Bihar.
Cuisines
People of Bihar are mostly vegetarian. But the lower classes and as well as people of Mithila love eating non-vegetarian food items like fish, egg and chicken.
The staple food of Bihar comprises of bhat (rice), dal, roti, tarkari and achar which is prepared from rice, lentils, wheat flour, vegetables and pickle. The traditional cooking medium is mustard oil.
The 1st meal served for most people in Bihar is Khichdi, which is a broth of rice and lentils seasoned with spices and is served with several accompanying items.
Kadhi bari is a popular food item among the people of Bihar and consists of fried soft dumplings made of besan (gram flour) that are cooked in a spicy gravy of yogurt and besan. This dish goes very well over plain rice.In the Anga region Chitba and Pitthow basically prepared from rice are specialfood items. Tilba and Chewda which are prepared from Katarni rice are also some of the special preparations of Anga.
Roll is a typical Bihar non-vegetarian dish. These are popular and go by the generic name Roll Bihari in and around Lexington Avenue (South) in New York City.
Famous cuisines of Bihar are
- Biharee Kabab
- Shami Kabab
- Nargisi Kufte
- Shabdeg
- Yakhnee Biryanee
- Motton Biryani
- Shaljum Gosht
- Baqer Khani
- Kuleecha
- Naan Rootee
- Sawee ka Zarda
- Qemamee Sawee
- Gajar ka Halwa
- Ande
- ka ZfraniHalwa
Famous sweet dishes of Bihar
Bihar offers a large variety of sweet delicacies which are mostly dry. . Many of these sweets originate in towns in the vicinity of Patna.
These include
- Anarasa
- Belgrami
- Chena Murki
- Motichoor ka Ladoo
- Kala Jamun
- Kesaria Peda
- Khaja
- Khurma
- Khubi ka Lai
- Laktho
- Parwal ka Mithai
- Pua & Mal Pua
- Thekua
- Murabba
- Tilku
Traditional salted snacks popular in Bihar are
- Chiwra
- Dhuska
- Litti
- Makhana
- Sattu.
Bihar Districts
The total number of districts in Bihar is 38. A district of Bihar is headed by a Deputy Commissioner who is over all in-charge of the administration in the particular district.
He has to perform triple functions as he holds three positions: at once he is the Deputy Commissioner, the district Magistrate and the Collector.
As a Deputy Commissioner he is the executive head of the district with multifarious responsibilities. As the District Magistrate he is responsible for maintaining the law and order situation in the district. As the Collector he is the Chief Revenue Officer of the district, responsible for revenue collection and recovery.
The Police administration in the district is under the control of Superintendent of Police (SP).
To decentralize the authority in administrative set up a district is divided into one or more subdivisions, further divided into tehsils and blocks. Here is a list of 38 districts; click on the respective district to get more information.
List of districts
| Araria | Arwal | Aurangabad | Banka | Begusarai |
| Bhabhua | Bhagalpur | Bhojpur | Buxar | Darbhanga |
| East Champaran | Gaya | Gopalganj | Jamui | Jehanabad |
| Katihar | Khagaria | Kishanganj | Lakhisarai | Madhepur |
| Madhubani | Munger | Muzaffarpur | Nalanda | Nawada |
| Patna | Purnia | Rohtas | Saharsa | Samastipur |
| Saran | Sheohar | Shiekhpura | Sitamarhi | Siwan |
| Supaul | Vaishali | West Champaran | - | - |