Hazariabgh

Hazaribagh is the Headquarters of the North Chotanagpur Division. The old District has been greatly lessened into a number of smaller districts namely Giridhi (east), Koderma (north), Chatra (west) and Ramgarh (south). The town is of middle size with a number of satellite forest villages surrounding it. The charm of the village market haat in the countryside and annual fairs at Jaganath mandir, Narsigh mandir, Balbal mela and Surajkund mela in the seasonal calendar add to the cultural gatherings. Hazaribagh town is situated in a large clearing dotted with villages and surrounded by forests and many hills namely Canary hill, Sitagarha hill, Silwar hill and Bawanbai hills each having ancient Buddhist sites and relics from the Pala period (9-12th Century A.D) and having a significant role in determining the ancient forest trade route through north Chotanagpur connecting the port of Tamluk (Orissa) and Tamralipti (Bengal) with Varanasi evidenced since ancient times in continuation in the pre-historic rockart shelters,and Buddhist caves serving as Chaityas for monks, pilgrims and travelers through historical times.

To the north of the town is the National Park which is connected to the forests of Chatra in the west and Koderma in the north and serve as migratory corridors for wild elephant herd moving out from Palamau Betal Tiger reserve in the west. The township has three inter-connected lakes with boating, parks and Canary hill Sanctuary within walking distance. The Sanskriti museum & art gallery in Dipugarha, Urban haat (Jharcraft) production centre for Dokra metal casting, jute and bamboo work, handloom and textile unit are worthwhile places to visit located within the city.

The climate is pleasant at about seven hundred meters altitude, the rainfall moderate from July to September. The region is famed for its festivals, especially Sarhul the great spring festival of the tribals; Ramnavmi, Karma, Jitiya, Dussehra and Sohrai the harvest festival in winter month. Being an area rich in tribes (Birhor, Santhal, Oraon, Munda) both the tribal and non tribal festivals are celebrated in an atmosphere of traditional gaiety. The original name of the place is after two villages Okun and Hazari which the British found when they came here around 1770. A mango grove (Bagh) in the south part of the town belonged to a man named Hazari , and the British called the place Okun-Hazari, later the name “Hazareebaugh” being used in the early nineteenth century. An old British map of 1862 shows the plan of the town much as it is today, and great changes do not seem to have been made. The town is described in the Lonely Planet tourist handbook as “A pleasant, leafy town”, famous for the number and variety of its indigenous variety of trees.

The Hazaribagh region in Jharkhand is a heavily forested plateau with deep river valleys. The major river being Damodar flowing west to east dividing the Ranchi plateau in the south and north Chotanagpur plateau to the north, with other rivers Konar, Bokaro, and Seewani flowing through lush Saal (Shorea robusta) forests. This area has been found to have magnificent Mesolithic rock art (10,000 B.C) in the Sati ranges at Isco and Satkaria, Nautangwa near Keredari in Maudhi range and Thethangi, Sariya, Khandar, Barnpur, Sidpa, Gonda, Raham and Mandair in the Satpahar range in Tandwa block, Chatra district, which exhibits a continuation in the Khovar (Kho = cave, Var = Bridal couple) art tradition of mural paintings for marriage done traditionally by women artists on their mud house village walls and is directly traced to the distant ancestor of a unique style of wall paintings in the villages of Hazaribagh, for which the mud walls are treated with a coat of black manganese which is then given a second wet coating of white/cream Kaolin with cloth swabs and scrapped off with the four fingers or broken pieces of combs to reveal beautiful patterns of floral motifs, fishes, birds, wild animals and ritual designs.

The painted Sohrai villages of Hazaribagh namely – Daujinagar (Padma block north), Bhelwara, Lukiya, Jarwadhi (Bishungarh block east), Oriya, Nano (Churchu block south-east), Jorakath, Saheda, Isco and Kharati (Barkagaon block south west) are most beautiful forest villages continuing the Sohrai harvest mural art tradition, which is distinct in its art-form and technique of painting the mud walls with natural earth colours (red oxide hematite , black and white) by women artists that is particular to the tribal and Scheduled caste community. The Hazaribagh district also has several Megalthic (stone memorials) burial grounds of the ancient iron-age testimony to the early iron smelting Asura settlements at several sites namely – Punkree Barwadhi, Fatha, Banadag, Bajha, Birbir, Chano, Giddi, Sidpa, Thethangi, and Pathalgada which are located in close proximity and subsequent Pala period (9-12th Century) Buddhist temple relics at Punkree Barwadhi, Sidpa, Banpur Sitagarha,, Sekha Barasi-Silwar, Donai, Dahiar, and Itkhori.

The Hazaribagh town is well connected with the Ranchi airport (100 kms) south and Bodh Gaya (130 Kms) north with railway stations at Ranchi, Ramgarh,(South 50 kms) and Koderma (north 60 kms). The town may be reach by road NH 33 connecting Ranchi-Hazaribagh or NH30 connecting Hazaribagh-Badodar on the Grand Trunk NH1 from the east 50kms or Barhi from the north 45 kms.