The Bihar state, bordered by the natural border with Nepal, is bathed by the waters of the Ganges which flows across it.

The most densely populated region of India, it is also the poorest: a dry arid plain for 10 months is turning into rain deluges during the two months of monsoon flooded with water, flooded every year.

Where books describe a dangerous place, or arms and banditry are raging, we picked the best smiles in the villages of Bodhgaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment under the tree of Boddhy.