Rohtas is a district in the southwestern part of the Indian state of Bihar. It forms part of the Patna Division and takes its name from the historic Rohtasgarh Fort, which stands on a plateau of the Kaimur range. The district headquarters is located at Sasaram, a town historically associated with the tomb of the sixteenth-century ruler Sher Shah Suri.
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| State | Bihar |
| Division | Patna |
| Headquarters | Sasaram |
| Region | Southwestern Bihar (Magadh/Shahabad region) |
| Named after | Rohtasgarh Fort |
The district lies on the southern bank of the Son River and is bounded by the river to the north and east. To the south the terrain rises into the forested Kaimur plateau, an extension of the Vindhya Range. The district has two broad physiographic divisions: the alluvial plain in the north, which is fertile and irrigated, and the hilly and forested upland in the south. The plains are watered by canals drawn from the Son Canal System, making Rohtas one of the most productive paddy-growing tracts in Bihar, often referred to as the "rice bowl" of the state.
The district shares borders with Kaimur (Bhabua) to the west, Aurangabad to the east, Buxar and Bhojpur to the north, and parts of Jharkhand to the south.
The area corresponds to the southern part of the older Shahabad district. Shahabad was bifurcated, and Rohtas district was created with Sasaram as its headquarters; subsequently, the western portion was further separated to form Kaimur district with headquarters at Bhabua.
Rohtasgarh Fort, perched on the Kaimur hills, has been associated successively with local Hindu rulers, the Khalji and Mughal administrations, and later the Cher chieftains. Sher Shah Suri, who briefly displaced the Mughal emperor Humayun and ruled from Delhi, used Rohtasgarh as a stronghold; his elaborate sandstone tomb at Sasaram, set in the middle of an artificial lake, is one of the most prominent examples of Indo-Islamic funerary architecture.
During British rule the region formed part of the larger Shahabad district under the Bengal Presidency and later the Bihar and Orissa Province. After independence it became part of Bihar, and was reorganised administratively in the late twentieth century.
The district is administered by a District Magistrate and is divided into subdivisions and community development blocks, with Sasaram and Dehri being the principal urban centres. Dehri-on-Sone, on the Son River, is known for the headworks of the Son Canal and is an important industrial and trading town. Other notable towns include Bikramganj and Nokha.
Agriculture dominates the economy of Rohtas, with paddy as the principal crop, supplemented by wheat, pulses, and oilseeds. The Son canal network provides assured irrigation to much of the northern plain. Stone quarrying and crushing are significant in the Kaimur foothills, and cement manufacturing has historically been associated with Dalmianagar, near Dehri, which once hosted the large industrial complex established by the Dalmia family.
The district is well served by transport links. The Grand Trunk Road, now part of National Highway 19, passes through Sasaram and Dehri, connecting the district to Varanasi in the west and Patna and Kolkata in the east. The Howrah–Delhi main line of the East Central Railway runs through the district, with Sasaram and Dehri-on-Sone as major stations.
The population is predominantly rural and Hindi-speaking, with Bhojpuri as the principal mother tongue. Hindus form the majority, with a significant Muslim minority concentrated in and around Sasaram and other towns. Literacy in Rohtas has historically been higher than the Bihar state average.