Dumka, the headquarters of the Dumka district and Santhal Pargana region, is a city in the state of Jharkhand, India. It was made the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana region, which was carved out of the Bhagalpur and Birbhum district after the Santal Hool of 1855. Dumka was carved out of the southern part of Bihar along with 18 other Districts on 15 November 2000 to form Jharkhand as 28th State of India. Dumka is a peaceful and green city and also sub-capital of Jharkhand. The nearest important cities are Rampurhat and Deoghar. Etymology There are two theories on how Dumka got its name. The first one suggests that Dumka's name derives from the Santali word sumk for "shunted" or "small," because during the British Raj, it was a small town compared to Rampurhat and Bhagalpur . The other is that Dumka derives its name from the Persian word damin-i-koh, which means 'skirts (an edge, border or extreme part) of the hills'. History Early history The earlier inhabitants of the present-day district of whom there is some record, it appears, were the Paharias (for example, the Maler and Sauria Paharias). The Greek traveler Megasthenes identified these people as Mallis. He referred to the Sauria Paharias as savars of Odisha. Medieval History: Due to inaccessibility of the area caused by the cliffs of the Rajmahal Hills, it was a place of strategic economic importance, with a fort at Teliagarhi. After the 1539 victory of Sher Shah Suri at Chousa, the area fell into the hands of the Afghans, but it was soon lost to the Mughals under Akbar when Hussain Quli Khan was made viceroy of Bengal. British Raj The English representative, Dr. Gabriel Bokgliton, procured a farman from Shah Jahan. Between 1742 and 1751 the area of Dumka close to Rajmahal witnessed frequent inroads by the Marathas under Raghoji Bhosle and Peshwa Balaji Rao. On 1745 Raghoji Bhosle entered Rajmahal via the hills and jungles of Santal Pargana. The early stay of the English was spent in subduing the Paharias. In 1769 Dumka remained a Ghatwali police post under Birbhum District of Bengal. On 1775 Dumka was transferred to Bhagalpur Division. In 1865 Dumka was made an independent district after being carved out of Bhagalpur. On 1872 Dumka was made headquarters of the whole district of Santal Pargana. In 1889 Paul Olaf Bodding started his service in India (Dumka/Benagaria) after