Saharsa

Saharsa lies in the eastern part of Mithila, in a low plain crossed by rivers descending from the Himalaya. The Kosi is especially changeable, and its floods have repeatedly spread across the surrounding country. Rice was cultivated in the submontane plain, while older sites were affected by the shifting river. Nearby Mahishi is associated in local tradition with the scholar Mandana Mishra and the debate in which he met Shankaracharya; its Tara shrine is another sacred place of the region.