Buxar

Buxar stands on the banks of the Ganges in the Bhojpuri-speaking country west of Patna. The fortified town and the nearby village of Chausa became the sites of battles that changed the course of northern Indian rule. River and plain provided the setting for armies of Mughal, Afghan and British commanders.

In 1539 Sher Shah Suri defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun at Chausa, with the aid of Rajput allies from Bhojpur. More than two centuries later, in 1764, an army of the British East India Company under Hector Munro fought at Buxar against the combined forces of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, Mir Qasim of Bengal and Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh. The Company's victory gave it a decisive advantage over its opponents.