| Traditionally
Sultanganj formed a part of the great Anga, State. In the days of the Mahabharata, Karna,
the sixth brother of the five Pandavas, ruled in Anga. The capital of Anga was Champa.
Champa is the present Champanagar situated three miles to the west of Bhagalpur. King
Karna had his castles at Champa (modern Champanagar) and Jahnugiri (modern Sultanganj). At
present Champanagar, the- site of Karna's castle, is well known as Karnagarh. Karnagarh is
practically a part of Bhagalpur town now. Some scholars have associated the large
plateau of Karnagarh in Bhagalpur, where there are still ramparts of a fort, as one of the
famous pre-Buddhist forts. The site had several bastions and ditches. When the British
took over, the area wasselected for housing the Hill Rangers, a body of troops raised from
among the Santals of Raj-Mahal Hills. For some time this was the headquarters of the wing
of an Indian regiment and slowly the bastions have disappeared although the ditches are
still there.
The State Constable Training School now mainly occupies the plateau. Karnagarh area of
Sultanganj, which had King Karna's castle, is also a large plateau. It is now called
Krishnagarh, after the name of a zamindar of the branch of Raj Banaili, by the name of
KumarKrishnanand Singh, who built a large residential structure on the site. |
