Jagdishpur & Arrah

In July 1857, Kunwar Singh, the ageing Rajput zamindar of Jagdishpur, took command of the sepoys who had mutinied at Danapur and marched on Arrah. For eight days fifty Sikh soldiers and eighteen British civilians held a two-storey billiard room — the 'Little House at Arrah' — against thousands, until a relief column from Buxar broke the siege. The house stands in the district collectorate compound, pocked and restored, with a small museum.

Kunwar Singh then fought a running war across Bihar and UP for nine months. Crossing the Ganga near Ballia in April 1858, he was hit in the arm; he is said to have cut it off with his own sword and offered it to the river. He reached Jagdishpur, drove the British out once more on 23 April, and died three days later. The fort at Jagdishpur — a brick palace within earth walls, 40 km from Arrah — has his statue, a memorial and a modest museum; Vijayotsav on 23 April is the day it comes alive.

Arrah's Aranya Devi temple, older than the town, and the Maharaja College museum of local sculpture round off a half-day that pairs naturally with Buxar.