District de Saran

Saran district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Indian state of Bihar. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chhapra district after the headquarters of the district, Chhapra. It is considered as one of the richest Zamindari of Bihar after Raj Darbhanga, Hathwa Raj, Bettiah Raj and Raj Najarganj, Saran Raj. It is said that "Saran" is a corrupted version of the word Sarangaranya (forest of Deers). According to legends, earlier it was a dense forest full of Deers and home of Rishi Sarangi. Another suggestion is that the name is corruption of Sakra-aranya (the forest of Indra). Chirand, 10 kilometres east of Chhapra, is a stratified Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age settlement, which is known for its continuous archaeological record from the Neolithic age (about 2500–1345 BC) to the reign of the Pal dynasty who ruled during the pre-medieval period. The archaeological records suggest transitions in human habitation patterns in Chirand dating from 2500 BC to 30 AD. Hathwa Raj was a Zamindar Dynasty in the Saran Division of Bihar belonging to Bhumihars, which encompassed 1,365 villages, was inhabited by more than 391,000 people, and produced an annual rental of almost a million rupees. Hindi version of Saran Gazetteer titled as Srijan was released in September 2016. Saran district occupies an area of , equivalent to Drenthe province in the Netherlands. The district of Saran is situated between 25°36' and 26°13' north latitude and 84°24' and 85°15' east longitude in the southern post of the Saran Division of North Bihar. The Ganges river provides the southern boundary of the district, beyond which lie the districts of Bhojpur and Patna. To the north of Saran lie the districts of Siwan and Gopalganj. The Gandak river forms the dividing line with the Vaishali and Muzaffarpur districts in the east. To the west of Saran lie the districts of Siwan and Balia in Uttar Pradesh. The Ghaghra river forms a natural boundary between Saran and Ballia.