Bihar is one of the richest states in India, in terms of its ancient history and the high standard of the people of this state that have outshone all the others from time to time. We can therefore go back to the time of Ramayana when Sita, the wife of Ram, was born in the then Mithila. We could otherwise revert to ancient history when republics such as Videha, Magadha and Vaishali flourished. During this period history tells us that the two of the greatest sons of the soil of Bihar were Gautam Buddha and Nataputta Mahavira, his contemporary. They founded Buddhism and Jainism. This was 599-527BC. Bihar then saw one of the greatest empires of India, the Mauryan Empire with its rulers such as Chandragupta Maurya and Ashok. During this period Bihar produced Nalanda and Vikramasila, two international universities India is proud of.

If you switch to our Freedom Struggle we will find the names of Bihar’s pride Khudiram Bose, Prafulla Chaki and Chandrasekhar Azad. Bihar has also produced some great sons and these include Dr Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President and Jai Prakash Narain, one of the greatest socialist leaders of all times. Bihar of the yesteryears has today been split between Bihar and Jharkhand. There are many cities and towns in Bihar that are attractive for visitors. The best way to reach Bihar is to fly, catch a train to or drive down to Patna, its capital. The various options will be discussed separately.

Patna has a good road network. While the NH31 passes through Patna and Danapur, its branches go to Barauni and Nawada. There is an excellent road link between South and North Bihar. The road to Patna has good links with Bodhgaya and Rajgir besides Ranchi and Siliguri. One can therefore quite easily drive from Delhi to Patna if he so desires. It is also possible for visitors to travel within the state making use of the good road network in Bihar.

Patna also has an excellent rail network with Delhi and Mumbai as well as Gauhati, Kolkata, Bangalore, Varanasi and Chennai among several other cities. One can therefore travel to Patna by train from just about anywhere throughout the length and breadth of the country. Within Bihar there are several railway stations other than Patna such as Gaya and Samastipur, Nalanda and Barauni among many others. Therefore, the visitor can quite easily move within Bihar by train utilizing the excellent rail network within the state.

Bihar has a fair number of airports within the state such as Gaya (International), Patna, Munger, Jogbani, Muzzaparpur and Raxaul besides others that are for the use of the defence sector. These airports give the visitor total freedom to fly into Bihar and then access other cities either by road or rail. The international passenger can either fly into Gaya or to Delhi and then to Patna as convenient. 

Bihar is a fairly well spread out state. There are local and state bus services throughout the state especially in the more prominent cities such as Patna, Gaya and Munger. In the smaller cities there are auto rickshaws and taxis available. Getting around will not be a problem in Bihar for visitors.