Santhal Parganas

Santhal Pargana division (Hindi: संथाल परगना प्रमण्डल) constitutes one of the five administrative units known as the divisions of Jharkhand state in eastern India.

Santhal Pargana derives its name from two words: "Santhal", a major tribe of India and "Pargana", a Persian word meaning "district."

Santhal Pargana is one of the divisions or commissionaries of Jharkhand. Its headquarters is at Dumka. Presently, this administrative division comprises six districts: Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur.

Formerly, Santhal Parganas comprised a district of the same name, in undivided Bihar state, India. Earlier to that, in 1855, during British India, Santhal Parganas was created as a district, and was a part of the Bengal Presidency.

In Mahabharat period, this Santhal Pargana area was part of Anga Mahajanpad along with the parts of Bhagalpur division. The capital of Anga was Champā (Bhagalpur). According to the Mahabharata, Duryodhana had named Karna the King of Anga.

This region is mentioned as Kajangala in different ancient literatures specially in Buddhist literatures. It is mentioned that the Chinese monk-traveller Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) travelled from Champa (recent Bhagalpur) to Kajangala and then proceeded to Pundravardhana(recent Bangladesh) in the 7th century AD. He says that the northern limit of its territory(means Sahebganj) was not very far from the Ganges. The forests to the south had plenty of elephants. The people were straight forward, talented and devoted to education.

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