Etymology

The name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word Vihara (Devanagari: विहार), which means "abode". The region roughly encompassing the present state was dotted with Buddhist vihara, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods. Medieval writerMinhaj al-Siraj Juzjani records in the Tabakat-i-Nasiri that in 1198 AD, Bakhtiyar Khaljicommitted a massacre in a town now known as Bihar Sharif, about 70 km away from Bodh Gaya.^[32][33] Later, Bakhtiyar learned that the town was a college, and the word for college isbiha

  

Established	1912 (as Bihar)
Capital	Patna
Largest city	Patna
Districts	38 total
Government
• Body	Government of India,Government of Bihar
• Governor	Devanand Konwar
• Chief Minister	Nitish Kumar (JDU)
• Legislature	Bicameral (243 + 75 seats)
• Parliamentary constituency	40
• High Court	Patna High Court
Area†
• Total	94,163 km2 (36,357 sq mi)
Area rank	12th
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	103,804,637
• Rank	3rd
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
UN/LOCODE	INBR
ISO 3166 code	IN-BR
Vehicle registration	BR
HDI	0.449 (low)
HDI rank	28th (2005)
Literacy	63.82% (28th) 73.4% (male) 53.3% (female)
Official languages	Hindi, Urdu, Maithili,[2]Magahi.

Country	India
Region	Angika Region, Bhojpur Region, Magadh Region, Mithila Region
Division	Patna, Tirhut, Saran,Darbhanga, Kosi, Purnia,Bhagalpur, Munger,Magadha