The cult of Saivism has found expression in Bihar in a large number of Shiva temples and particularly on the districts bordering Nepal. North Bihar districts, namely, Champaran, Saran, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Saharsa have got quite a few Shiva temples.

The influence of Nepal, where Saivism has a very great holds, is clearly one of the reason why there are so many Shiva temples in these boarder districts. Many of these Shiva temples are visited by thousands of pilgrims from Nepal.

The Singheshwar temple at the village Singheshwar in Saharsa district is one of the ancient Shiva temples in Bihar. It is visited by lakhs of pilgrims in the course of a year although it is not very easily accessible from the other parts of Bihar.

The Kosi River has ravaged the district of Saharsa for decades. Saharsa has a railway connection with Mansi on the Sonepur-Katihar railway line of the North- Eastern Railway now, but a decade back the railway line was permanently breached at quite a few places.

Even now the nearest railway station for Singheshwar is Madhipura about 8 miles away. The road connecting Madhipura to Saharsa is still extremely bad and passenger buses can negotiate it only if fair weather. On all-important roads there are quite a few culverts which have not got bridges.

The standard of health in the area has been extremely poor till recently due to the constant, unpredictably flood ravages of the Kosi. Kala-azar, malaria, blackwater fever, hookworm, dysentery, skin diseases, was some of the scourges, which took a heavy toll every year.

The Kosi currents, they say, would poison anything that would be touched. Fertile plains yielding good crops were covered with sand by the change of current of the Kosi. Mango orchards literally dried up after the Kosi water inundated them.