- published: 27 Nov 2009
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The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh; the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. The battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of Bengal, a town located on the bank of the Ganges river, was a decisive victory for the British East India Company.
British troops engaged in the fighting numbered 7,072 comprising 857 British, 5,297 Indian sepoys and 918 Indian cavalry. The Mughal Army's numbers were estimated to be over 40,000 and 10,000 more were scattered and positioned in the regions around Patna. A combined army of the mughals , awadhs and of mir qasim consisting of 80,000 men were defeated by british army consisting 10,000 men.
The Mughal camp was internally broken due to a quarrel between the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh; Mir Qasim was reluctant to engage the British and went off collecting tribute. The lack of basic co-ordination among the three desperate allies was responsible for their decisive debacle.
Buxar (Hindi: बक्सर Baksar, Urdu: بکسر) is a city in the state of Bihar in the Eastern part of India. It is the headquarters of Buxar District. The word Buxar is said to have been derived from VyaghraSar. The tiger face of Rishi Vedshira, an outcome of the curse of the sage Rishi Durvasa, was restored after bathing in a holy tank which was later named as VyaghraSar.
The present district of Buxar consists of areas under Buxar Sadar and Dumraon Sub-Division of the old Bhojpur district and came in existence in the year 1991. Buxar town is the headquarter of the district and also its principal town. The district is bounded on the north by Ballia district of U.P., on the south by Rohtas district, on the west by Ghazipur and Ballia districts of U.P. and on the east by Bhojpur district.
The town Buxar is located on the bank of river Ganges (Ganga). A road bridge over the Ganges connects Buxar with Ballia District in the neighboring state Uttar Pradesh. The town is connected to the state capital Patna by rail and road routes. The Buxar railway station is a major station. Many major trains pass through the station due to its strategic location. The spoken language is Bhojpuri, written in Devanagari script. Substantial proportion of trade activities are with well connected towns and cities in Uttar Pradesh such as Varanasi, Ballia and Ghazipur.