“Shah Shuja Vandalises Sitakund: The Singing Well of Munger”, The Dharma Dispatch, March 02, 2026
“TO A CULTURALLY ROOTED Indian, Munger is an inseparable part of Sītāyana — Sita Mata’s sanctifying journey. It fell under the domain of her father, Janaka, the emperor of Mithila. In Yudhishtira’s fabled Rajasuya Yajna, Bhimasena conquers a city known as Modagiri lying in the vicinity of today’s Munger. At various points, it was also called Mudgagiri — meaning, the hill (or region) abounding with Mudga (Moong dal); other texts like the Nirukta aver that it was founded by Rishi Mudgala. Colonial historians set their imagination on a wild flight — Alexander Cunningham for example, derives its name from the Munda jana-jaati while Oldham derives “Munger” from Muni-griha
In fact, there is a sizeable body of scholarly literature dedicated to exploring the antiquity and vagaries of Munger’s history — it encompasses the full gamut from the sublime to the absurd. The British spelled Munger as Monghyr or Monghir.
But recorded history traces the founding of Munger to Chandragupta Vikramaditya’s sixth century rock inscription at the Kashtaharani ghat. Ever since, it was known as Guptagadh…….”
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