The Police District of Bagaha, where I spent some of the most memorable days of life as a young Superintendent of Police, is not a full-fledged district as yet but remains as a revenue sub-division in the West Champaran district of Bihar. Situated in the north-western part of Bihar, and sharing borders with Nepal and the state of Uttar Pradesh, the place is often described as a small sleepy town with a small population. Topographically, a better way to explain the peculiar terrain and features of the region would be to describe it as the southernmost part of the Himalayan ranges.


In the times when the British ruled the country Bagaha was a part of the revenue sub-division of Bettiah, the current district headquarters of West Champaran. Bettiah along with Motihari sadar formed parts of the huge Champaran district with its headquarters at Motihari, presently the headquarters for East Champaran. As the name in Sanskrit signifies, Champaran (Champa + aranya) is the land of the ‘Champa’ forest. It must have been a dense forest in historic and prehistoric times, the remnants of which are still to be seen in the Valmikinagar Tiger Project Area, named after the great sage Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana and believed to have hailed from the region.

To be continued....