Jharkhand

Jharkhand (lit. "Bushland") is a state in eastern India carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. The state shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Odisha to the south, and West Bengal to the east. It has an area of 79,710 km² (30,778 sq mi). The city of Ranchi is its capital while the industrial city of Jamshedpur is the most populous city of the state.

History

According to writers including Gautam Kumar Bera, there was already a distinct geo-political, cultural entity called Jharkhand even before the Magadha Empire. Bera's book (page 33) also refers to the Hindu epic Bhavishya Purana. The tribal rulers, some of whom continue to thrive till today were known as the Munda Rajas, who basically had ownership rights to large farmlands. Many scholars now believe that the language used by tribes in the state of Jharkhand is identical to the one used by Harappan people. This has led to interest in deciphering Harappa inscriptions using rock paintings and language used by these tribes. For a greater part of Vedic age, Jharkhand remained unnoticed. During the age of Mahajanpadas around 500 BC, India saw the emergence of 16 large states that controlled the entire Indian subcontinent. In those days the northern portion of Jharkhand state was a tributary state of Magadha (ancient Bihar) Empire and southern part was a tributary of Kalinga (ancient Odisha) Empire.