Tilkari
Village
Tilkari Location in Bihar, India Show map of Bihar Tilkari Tilkari (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 25°02′59.61″N 86°35′12.49″E / 25.0498917°N 86.5868028°E / 25.0498917; 86.5868028
Country	India
State	Bihar
District	Munger
Subdivision	Haveli Kharagpur
Elevation	48 m (157 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,000
Languages
• Official	Angika, Magahi, Hindi
Time zone	UTC+05:30 (IST)
PIN	811213

Tilkari (Hindi: तिलकारी) is a village in the Tetiya Bamber Block of Haveli Kharagpur in the Munger district of Bihar, India.

Geography

Tilkari is located on the banks of the beautiful Mahane river. With a population of about 2000,^[1] it lies under the jurisdiction of Tetia Bamber block(prakhand). It is only 10 kilometers from Haveli Kharagpur to its north-west and about the same distance from Tarapur in the north-east direction.

Places of worship

Tilkari has a few places of worship that are frequented by locals as well as from nearby villagers. It has a Kali Sthan which is quite old. Kali Sthan used to have goat sacrifice in the past but it is no longer practiced.

There is a Shiv-Parvati temple which was built in late 1990s with the help of donations from villagers. It is on the south side of the village close to the Mahane river.

On the west side of Tilkari there is a Durga temple also called as Durgasthan.

Agriculture

Since it lies within the Indo-Gangetic Plain area, and hence "The Gangetic Alluvium" soil is found in this area^[2] which is very fertile.

The primary source of livelihood is Agriculture. People grow rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize, masoor, moong, arhar. It is quite common to grow three crops a year Rabi, Kharif and Zaid Crops. Some farmers also grow vegetables during the winter but very few do it to sell in the market. Some farmers grow vegetables to sell at the local Hatiya market.

Education

The quality of education offered locally is low^[3] so most people who can afford, send their kids outside to bigger towns and cities. This part of Bihar has generally been ignored by the government ^[4] and that reflects in the infrastructure including education.

Villagers send their kids to Primary school Jagatpura (a neighboring village). After primary education, students usually go to Tetia Bamber high school ^[5] to complete their 10th board. After the 10th board their alternative is to go to colleges in Haveli Kharagpur, Tarapur, or Munger^[6]

Demographics

Tilkari is quite diverse given its small size but most of the residents are from lower caste. There are people from different OBCs like Bind, Kumhar, Teli, Bania, Kushwaha etc.

Festivals and Events

As villagers are predominantly Hindus, they celebrate all Hindu festivals that are popular in Bihar. The most notable ones are the Chhath Puja, Durga puja, Holi, Makar Sankranti.

Just like other parts of Bihar, during the auspicious Chhath puja, migrants of Tilkari return back home to celebrate it with great enthusiasm.^[7] It is also the time for cutting the Kharif and plant Rabi so it serves two purposes. During the Chhath puja, Tilkari brims with migrants. The residents look forward to the auspicious month of Kārtika as it brings family closer. migration where most of the people left back home are non-working people that are predominantly women, old people, and kids.^[8]

Notable people

• Smt. Sumitra Devi has been a long term politician from Tilkari. She has contested MLA election^[10] from Tarapur constituency.
• Dr. Suryansh Kumar (son of ब्रह्मदेव मड़र, grandson of Mangal Maḏar मंगल मड़र and great grandson of Kashi Maḏar काशी मड़र), is an assistant professor at the Texas A&M University.^[11]
• Smt. Bina Devi famously known as Mushroom Mahila^[12] was awarded with Nari Shakti Puraskar by President Ram Nath Kovind.

References