Geography of Munger

Munger is the fourth largest city of Bihar. It comprises of Munger and Jamalpur combined and is known as twin cities. It is surrounded by the river Ganges on three sides namely the south, west and north and the Kharagpur hills form the eastern border. Its geographical area is about 1419.7 square kms, and accounts for 3.3% of the area of Bihar. It is located at 25.381°N 86.465°E and is located at an elevation of 43 m above sea level.

Climate of Munger

Munger has a sub-tropical type of climate. It is quite warm in the summers and cold in the winters. The highest temperature in summer reaches 37.9 degrees Celsius. While in the winters it touches a low of 23.5 degrees Celsius. As Munger has a lot of hot water springs and mineral water springs, and the river Ganges on its three side, it is quite humid in the summer months. The average rainfall in Munger is 1146 mm.

Topography of Munger

The river Ganga has a northern flow in Munger. Hence, it holds great importance and is called the Uttar Vahini Ganga. The ghat build alongside the river here holds religious importance and is called the Kashtaharni Ghat. This place is also favored by people who want to watch the morning sunrise and the sunset in the evening and they have a clear view of both from here. Manpathar (Sita Charan) is a big rock in the river about two miles from the Kashtaharni ghat. It is 250 meters long and 30 meters wide. The Rock has the impression of two feet, supposedly where Sita`s feet touched it while crossing the river. It has also gained religious importance.

Hills of Munger

The Kharagpur range is littered with tiny hills. Munger being a pilgrim city, those hills have through theyears acquired religious significance and have been named after some muslim saints or hindu gods.
A couple of miles east of the town is a tiny hill called Pirpahar. From the top of the hill, it offers beautiful view of the surrounding city. It has been named after Muslim saint. A small tomb has been made as dedication to him. Another hill named Malni pahar is famous as a number of small springs originate from it and form the river Anjan. A hill named after the five princesses of the king is called Panch kumari. It is believed that the five princesses jumped to their death from this hill to prevent being captured by the muslim invaders. Maruk hill is situated south of Munger and maybe named after the mahruk tree.

Water Bodies in Munger

The Kharagpur mountain range has many small hills. These hills have a number of mineral water springs coming out. They form kunds or ponds below in the ground. These ponds have assumed religious importance because of the legends connected to them. There are also many hot water reservoirs in Munger most visited for religious purposes. These springs lead to a luxuriant rice crop in its surrounding area.

The most famous hot spring in Munger is the Sitakund. It has crystal clear water and hot bubbles rising up from the rocky bed can be easily seen. Variation of underground volcanic activities and thermodynamic action are considered to be outcome of this hot water pond. It is said that mata Sita bathed here after her Agni Pariksha which has turned the water hot. A lot of foreigners too like to visit this spot for scientific reasons. Close to a village in the Kharagpur sub-division, are a number of hot springs called the Tatapani. The collective water from these streams forms a pond under an over-hanging rock in that river. That is called Bhimkund. The river Man is fed by the water from these streams. The water flow obviously wavers according to the season. A large dam is built on the river Man.The spring water from the different hills feed the river and form a large reservoir. This is called the Kharagpur lake.

A water fall from the Panch kumari hill and a few hot springs known as Laxmi kund, all converge into the lake. Rameshwar Kund is yet another hot water spring in Kharagpur area. It is said that a muslim invader dug up earth in search of water and the hot water spring came out. Rishi kund is a hot spring in Munger and about 140 feet square area has been built to collect water. The water bed here is sandy in some places and rocky in some. Bubbles rise all along the hill side. Gases from the sand form small cavities like craters.

Flora and Fauna in Munger

Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary is in the south west of Munger. The forest areas is over 681 kms approx. In the valley in the forest and in the foothills, there are a number of hot springs within the Sanctuary. The two major type of flora in Munger is that of the grassland and forest. The sanctuary has many varieties of trees ranging from sal, bamboo, kendu, salai, asan, arjun, paisar to bahera. These trees attract different kinds of creepers too. The flora in Bhim band sanctuary has very different kind of flowers, not found in other parts of Bihar.The sanctuary is more known for its migratory birds and for over 100 species of resident birds.


The most well-known are pea-fowl, grey partridges, quail, pied horn bill, swallow, night jars, owls, falcons, kites, eagles of various types, kestrel and vultures, ferruginous. The main migratory birds are white-fronted goose, ferruginous duck, bell-necked stork, Asian open-bill stork and many more. The main animals found in the sanctuary are tigers, panthers, wild boars, sloth bear, sambhar deer, chitals, antelopes and nilgais among other common big and small animals. Species of snakes such as the cobra, pythons and kraits also abound in the sanctuary. There are crocodiles in the Bhim bandh lake and the Kalidah in the Rameshwar kund.