Current Time in Arrah, India

Arrah, also written Ara, stands on the flat alluvial plain of western Bihar in eastern India, in the fertile triangle between the Ganges to the north and the Son River to the east. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district and lies about fifty kilometres west of Patna, the state capital. Some three hundred thousand people live in the town, which serves as the market and administrative centre for a densely farmed countryside of rice, wheat, maize and pulses.

Arrah is at the heart of the Bhojpuri-speaking region, and the town has a strong claim to be the cultural capital of that language. Bhojpuri folk songs, the seasonal chaita and kajri, wedding music, and a large regional film and music industry all draw on this area. Millions of speakers of the language live across northern India and in the diaspora communities of Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Trinidad and Guyana, whose ancestors left from these districts in the nineteenth century, and for many of them Arrah and its surroundings are ancestral ground.

The town is best known in Indian history for the siege of 1857. During the rebellion against British rule, a small garrison held out for a week in a fortified outbuilding known as the Little House while the surrounding countryside rose in revolt under Kunwar Singh, the elderly landholder of nearby Jagdishpur, who became one of the most celebrated leaders of the uprising. The building still stands, and the state university in Arrah carries his name.

The oldest landmark is the Aranya Devi temple in the centre of town, dedicated to the forest goddess from whom Arrah takes its name and busiest during Navratri. The riverside ghats fill spectacularly during Chhath Puja, the four-day festival of the sun god that is the great religious occasion of Bihar, when thousands stand in the water at dawn and dusk with offerings of fruit and sugarcane. Nearby are the fort and memorial at Jagdishpur, the ancient mounds at Masarh with remains from the Mauryan period, and the historic Maharaja College, one of the oldest institutions in the region.

Arrah Junction sits on the main railway line between Delhi, Patna and Kolkata, and the town is linked by national highway to Patna and Varanasi, with the long bridge over the Son River at Koilwar carrying road and rail traffic. Veer Kunwar Singh University oversees colleges across several districts, and the town has a long tradition of Sanskrit and Hindi scholarship.

The economy remains agricultural, supported by rice mills, grain trading, small manufacturing and government employment. Life is unhurried, centred on markets, temples and the school and college calendar.

For visitors interested in rural India, Bhojpuri culture and the history of 1857, Arrah is a rewarding and welcoming place.