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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 8, p. 172.

172 BIHAR extremes of temperature are far greater, so that it is colder in the winter and hotter in the summer, and the climate is drier than in Bengal. The soil is for the most part old alluvium and is not fertilized by annual deposits of silt from the great rivers, as in Bengal; it is lighter and more friable, and grows a greater variety of crops. The rainfall is lighter, starts later, and is more capricious, and the. crops are more liable to suffer from drought. The population is denser than in Bengal generally, and the people are hardier and healthier, though not so prosperous. No less than 82 per cent. of the people are Hindus, as compared with 46 per cent. in Bengal; and, especially in the west of the sub-province, the inhabitants are far more largely of Aryan stock than in Bengal proper. The language spoken is Hindi. The most important places are the ancient cities Of PATNA, GAYA, BIHAR, and MONGHYR; the towns Of MUZAFFARPUR, CHAPRA, DARBHANGA, and BHACALPUR ; and SONPUR, the scene of a great annual bathing festival. Bihar Subdivision.-Southern subdivision of Patna District, Bengal, lying between 24° 57' and 25° 26' N. and 850 9' and 85° 44' E., with an area Of 791 square miles. Owing to plague its population in 19o1 was only 602,907, compared with 6o8,672 in 18gr, the density being 762 persons per square mile. The greater part of the subdivision is a low-lying alluvial plain, which is broken to the south by the Rajgir hills. It contains one town, BIHAR (population, 45,o63), its head- quarters; and 2,111 villages. Bihar town is supposed to have been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Magadha. The neighbourhood contains interesting Buddhist remains, chiefly at BARAGAON, where numerous mounds bury the ruins of Nalanda (a famous seat of learning in the days of the Pal kings), GIRIAK, and RAJGiR. PAwA- PURI contains three Jain temples. HILSA, near Patna station on the East Indian Railway, is an important market. Bihar Town.-Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in Patna District, Bengal, situated in 25° 11' N. and 85° 31' E., on the Panchana river. It is supposed to have been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Magadha, but its early history is involved in obscurity. The remains of an old fort covering 312 acres of ground contain a profusion of ruined Buddhist and Brahmanical buildings, which prove the site to be a very old one. Among these may be mentioned the remains of the great vihdra or college of Buddhist learning, from which the town has derived its name. Many ancient Muhammadan mosques and tombs are also found in the city, the most important of which is the tomb of Shah Sharif-ud-din Makhdfim. The population, which was 44,295 in 1872, increased to 48,968 in 1881, but fell again to 47,723 in 1891, and to 45,o63 in rgor ; of the last number 29,892 were Hindus and 15,119 Musalmans. Bihar is connected by a light railway with Bakhtiyarpur on the East Indian Railway. It was constituted a muni-