General Information of Uttar Pradesh

Introduction

The State is situated in Northern part of India and is surrounded by Tibet & Nepal in the North, Madhya Pradesh in the South, Haryana, Delhi & Rajasthan in the West and Bihar in the East. Often referred to as the cow belt or Hindi belt, Uttar Pradesh has been the most dominant state in Indian poltics and culture since Independence, producing over half of India's prime ministers. This is partly because it's the nation's most populous - it has as many inhabitants as Brazil - and partly because of the central role the region plays in the religious lanscape of Hindus. The Ganges River, which forms the backbone of Uttar Pradesh, is the sacred river of Hinduism, and four of the religion's seven holy towns are in the state, including Varanasi, the holiest of them all. Uttar Pradesh is also a places of major importance to Buddhists for it was at Sarnath, just outside Varanasi, that the Buddha first preached his message of the middle way. Most of Uttar Pradesh consists of the vast Ganges plain, an area of awesome flatness which often floods dramatically during the monsoon.

History

Over 2000 years ago the area that became Uttar Pradesh was part of Ashoka's great Buddhist empire. Muslim raids from the north-west began in the 11th century, and by the 16th century the region was part of the famed Mughal empire whose capital was for some time at Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Following the decline of the Mughal empire, the nawabs of Avadh rose to prominence in the central part of the region and were responsible for turning Lucknow into a flourishing center for the arts. When the British East India Company deposed the last nawab, the Uprising of 1857 began at Meerut, and its most tragic events took place in Lucknow and Kanpur. Agra was later merged with Avadh and the state became known as United Provinence. It was renamed Uttar Pradesh (Northern State) after Independence, and is often known simply as U.P.

Main Rivers

Ganga, Yamuna, Gomati and Ghaghara.

Main Tourist and Historical Places

Agra, Varanasi, Lucknow, Chitrakoot.

Main Religious Places

Kashi, Prayag, Ayodhya, Mathura, Vindhyavasini Devi Temple.

Birha, Chaiti, Dhola, Kajari, Rasia, Alha,Puran Bhagat, Bhartrihari.

Karma, Chanchali, Chapeli, Chholia,Pandav, Vadi-Vadin,Lang and Bhaila.

Chikan work, Zari work, Wooden toys and furniture, Terracotta toys and Brass work