Sultanganj

Sultangang has a cosmopolitan population of about eleven thousand persons. It is a flourishing business place and there are a number of schools and colleges. Sultanganj is a place of hoary antiquity. It is traditionally associated with the sage Jahnu, whose ashram was a centre of learning and culture. Jahnu Munis ashram was located on the rock jutting out of the bed of the Ganga river. Now the site has the Shiva temple of Ajgaivinath, also known as Gaibinath Mahadeo. The story is that the river Ganga on her way to the ocean interrupted the Muni in his meditation by the rush of her currents. The sage swallowed the river in a gulp. Bhagiratha intervened and the Muni again let her out by making an incision in his thigh. That is why the river Ganga is also called Jahnavi. Sultanganj was also famous during the rule of the Pala and Sena kings (.from 730 A.D. to 1199 A.D.). It is said that Dharmapala, the frst king of the Pala dynasty, had laid the foundation of the Vikramshila University at Sultanganj.