An End to Suffering: The Buddha In The World and Bihar.

I am reading this book for the second time, I read it years ago and remembered it on our India trip. Part of the book covers the same area that we experienced. It is much different reading a book when you have experiences in the same area. If you have any serious interest in Buddha I can recommend the book. The Amazon Link is here.

In describing Bihar Pankaj Mishra states: "One of the most volatile places was Bihar, once part of the kingdom of Magadha, the first great Indian empire. In this poor and densely poplulated Indian state, where rich landowners travelled in private planes while a caste of rat eaters starved to death due to a shortage of field mice, brutality seemed a casual everyday affair. The stories came in from every direction. Private armies of upper-caste landowners massacred low-caste landless peasants. Communist activists retaliated with massacres of upper-caste families. Doctors going on strike pulled out transfusion tubes from the veins of their patients."

Set a Google alert for Bihar and look at the accumulated results!