The US–Iran negotiations are taking place in Pakistan, while India contends with an LPG crisis. Many migrant workers, left with no viable options, are being forced to return to their hometowns. Bihar, which had over 74 lakh migrant workers according to the 2011 Census, is once again in the spotlight. A large number of its workers are returning home, making Bihar a destination in distress.

Following the influx of returning migrant labourers, the State is struggling to provide employment and food. The Bihar government has decided to provide cooking coal to ration card holders through the Public Distribution System (PDS) stores. Small hotels, fast-food joints, and roadside stalls—once go-to spots for cheap and fulfilling meals—have started using coal and wood, pushing prices up. Rotis once sold for Rs.4 or 5 a piece are now Rs.7 or 8. Samosas that cost Rs.7 or 8 have reached Rs.15. The increased cost of living has turned into a question of survival.

Compared with the national capital, where the per capita Net State Domestic Product stands at Rs.4,93,024 according to the RBI’s Handbook of Statistics on Indian States 2024-25, Bihar’s per capita figure is Rs.69,321—the lowest in the country. Here, even a rupee makes a difference.

But this was not always the case. Far from what we see today, Bihar was once a desired destination for people coming to India in search of peace, prosperity, and work. Among those who came and settled in Bihar were many Iranian migrants—families of poets, scholars, nobles, and businessmen establishing themselves in the region, particularly in its capital.

During the reign of Emperor Jahangir, an Iranian traveller named Mirza Mohammad Sadiq visited Bihar. In a detailed travelogue titled Subh-e-Sadiq, he described Patna in stark contrast to the Patna of Nitish Kumar, who, amid the chaos, resigned from his post on April 14, ending his tenure as the longest-serving Chief Minister of Bihar. Mirza wrote:

Shahr az roo e dilbaraan khush-tar

Sakinanash ze shahr dilkash-tar

(The city is made more delightful by its beautiful people; / Its inhabitants are even more charming than the city itself.)

Dilbaranash hama wafa angez

Andran juz gham o alam bar cheez

(Its beloved ones inspire only loyalty and devotion; / Within it, there is nothing but love’s sorrow and longing.)

Dur e almaas, rood khana e gang

Shahr az chun bahar-khana e gang

(Encircled like a ring of diamonds is the river Ganga; / The city is like a garden of spring along its banks.)

Amid visuals of falling bridges, people being shot in broad daylight, rapes, and lynchings, the Bihar of 2026 stands far behind the Bihar of the 1600s.

When Patna drew Iran

During the reign of Jahangir, Bihar was a subah [province] of immense importance. His son, Shahzada [Prince] Parwez, became the governor of Bihar, the first time a Timurid prince had been given such responsibility. After his death at the age of 36, his father-in-law, a prince from the Safavid dynasty, was entrusted with the position. The great-grandson of Shah Ismail Safavi, the founder of the Safavid Empire, Mirza Rustam Safavi became the governor of Mughal Bihar.

When Rustam retired with an annual pension of Rs.1,20,000, his eldest son, Mirza Murad—who was also the son-in-law of Mirza Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khanan—settled in Patna during the reign of Shah Jahan. With an annual pension of Rs.40,000, Mirza Murad built a mansion on the banks of the Ganga. His tomb, located within the compound of Patna Medical College and Hospital, remains a living memorial; Mirza Murad continues to be revered as a saint. The locality of Muradpur in Patna bears his name and remained an abode for his family for generations.

Another location, close to the Gulzarbagh Printing Press—where Shah Alam II was once proclaimed Emperor of India—is Nauzar Katra. Now merely a locality in the old city, Nauzar Katra is named after another Safavid prince, Mirza Nauzar, the grandson of Mirza Mozaffar Safavi, the brother of Mirza Rustam. According to Maasir-ul-Umara, Mirza Nauzar was promoted to the rank of 4,000 zat [personal rank] and 3,000 sawar [cavalry rank] for his services to the empire. Abdul Hamid Lahori, the author of Padshahnama, notes that on account of his prolonged illness, Mirza Nauzar was ordered to proceed to Patna. With an annual pension of Rs.30,000, he arrived in the month of Muharram and settled there, where his first cousin Mirza Murad was already residing.

After settling in Patna, Mirza Nauzar commissioned a mosque and an imambara [a hall for Shia mourning ceremonies], which to this day serve as centres for mourning ceremonies and processions during Muharram.

When Shah Jahan’s brother-in-law, Nawab Saif Khan, was the governor of Bihar, he established a madrasa near the city’s fortress. Syed Faizan Raza narrates that Mulla Naseer, the father-in-law of Nawab Haji Syed Ahmad Ali Khan Qayamat of Doolighat, served as its principal for years. He later accompanied Mulla Mohammad Shirazi on his journey to Iran from Murshidabad. While in Shiraz, Mulla Naseer studied for three years until he attained ijtihad—the highest level of expertise in Islamic jurisprudence. Aurangzeb appointed him as an ambassador to the Safavid court, where he served for the next five years before returning and settling in Patna.

Zoroastrians in the city

One might assume that those migrating to Bihar were primarily Muslims seeking safety under the Timurid rulers. The settlement of Dastur Azar Kaiwan in Patna challenges that assumption. Born in the 16th century, Azar Kaiwan was a Zoroastrian high priest from the province of Fars in Iran. During the reign of Akbar, he, along with his disciples, left Iran and travelled to Patna, where he lived until his death.

From his time in Iran, Dastur Azar Kaiwan was in close contact with the Shias, and Patna too became a cradle for Shia families settling in the Mughal Empire. Several families in Patna, particularly the Shias, still trace their lineage back to Persian ancestry. Coming from cities such as Isfahan, Mashhad, and Nishapur, even those destined for other regions often halted in Patna.

Between Iran and Awadh

Mir Mohammad Nasir, the father of the first Nawab of Awadh, Burhan-ul-Mulk, was born in Nishapur, Iran. He, along with his eldest son Mir Mohammad Baqir, settled in Patna. He was later buried in the graveyard of Kachchi Bagh, close to City Station. Nawab Safdar Jung came to Patna in 1742 following the command of Badshah [Emperor] Muhammad Shah, in response to Alivardi Khan’s plea for help against the Maratha incursions. He commissioned a walled enclosure around the grave of Mir Mohammad Nasir. The structure still exists, though in a dilapidated condition.

Patna served as a humble abode even for those who stayed only briefly. Scholars such as Agha Ahmad Bahbahani and Mulla Mohammad Shirazi frequented the city, staying for months while engaging with its residents and scholars. Agha Bahbahani documented his visit to Patna in his book Mirat-ul-Ahwal, where he describes the city and its people, even noting that he led prayers there. Shad Azeemabadi, in his book Naqsh-e-Paayedaar, narrates from Mirat-ul-Ahwal that on a typical day of Zuhr [afternoon] prayers, parked vehicles and carriages could be seen stretching all the way from the Mosque of Saif Khan to the eastern gate, reflecting the affluent lifestyle of the city.

One of the major reasons behind people coming and settling in Patna was its bustling economy. Shad states that in his childhood, one could easily get a quintal of basmati rice for a rupee. He further comments that during the time of Shaista Khan, the same rupee could fetch as much as 8 quintals of rice. This was the reason not just Persians, but even those devastated by the attacks of Nadir Shah Afshar, Ahmad Shah Abdali, and the Maratha raids settled in Patna, where survival was easier.

The list does not end here; it extends to artists, musicians, workers, artisans, craftsmen, and courtesans who travelled and settled in the city. This was when Patna was still surrounded by mud walls.

The connection survived even the decline of the Mughals: on October 29, 1891, Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh opened his Oriental Public Library at Bankipore with 4,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish—1,400 of them inherited from his father, Maulvi Mohammed Bakhsh; today the institution holds over 21,000 rare manuscripts, including the only surviving copy of the Tarikh-e-Khandan-e-Timuriyah, and is one of the country’s foremost repositories of Indo-Persian scholarship.

But the Patna of Nitish Kumar—now inherited by the BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary—is a city of concrete. Flyovers running across the city seem like metaphors for driving people out of it. A city once known for providing employment not just to its own residents but also to people from Delhi and Lucknow after the fall of the Mughal Empire has changed to such an extent that its people now struggle to meet their daily needs. “Bihari” becomes a slur, and enough of a reason for a person to get killed because of it.

With a width of a mile and a length of three, Patna, in its extent as documented by Francis Buchanan in 1811, was enough to attract Iranians, Armenians, and Turks, apart from the British and the Dutch. But now the times have changed. From being a home to strangers, Patna—the Patna Metropolitan Region of 1,167.04 sq km as notified by the Bihar government in 2014—has failed its residents as a home. Villages are being uprooted to create IT parks while daily wage labourers are forced to leave their homes in search of livelihood and hope. From being economically and culturally affluent even after the devastations of 1857, Patna, under the raj of Sushasan Babu [the “good governance” moniker for Nitish Kumar] has erased almost all memories of its glorious past.

Badruddin Ahmad in Haqiqat Bhi Kahani Bhi notes that even after the turning of tables in 1857, Bihar firmly stood against divisive politics. “Not just the elites, but the workers and the tawaifs [courtesans] of the city, had not forsaken the practices of love and respect,” he writes. “The structure of sectarian harmony, built on strong foundations, had not yet developed the cracks of prejudice. People made an effort to understand each other. Sectarian harmony was not a political compromise, but was reminiscent of coexistence, forbearance, and tolerance.”

The Bihar government in recent years has actively erased the memory of this shared past. Systematic migration from the State has been anchored over time. When development is measured through double-decker flyovers and metros running across the city, built upon the rubble of Bihar’s heritage, people are bound to forget their past as if it never belonged to them. Biharis have not just been forced to leave their homes, but to forget the very idea of a home.

Patna—and in fact the whole of Bihar—has been stripped of its timeless beauty. The beauty of being a home.

Ali Fraz Rezvi is an independent journalist and researcher. He has authored Gham Ki Sajha Tahzeeb, a documentation of the multifaith history of Muharram in Bihar’s capital. Rushaid Jaffery is an archivist, working as a researcher at the University of Bonn, Germany.

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