North India · Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Sources: wikimedia
About Uttar Pradesh
- Riverside
Where it is
Uttar Pradesh is a state in northern India on the fertile plains of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, between the Himalayan foothills along the border with Nepal and the Vindhya hills to the south; its capital is Lucknow.
History
Uttar Pradesh was home to ancient kingdoms such as Kosala and Kashi and later formed part of the Maurya, Kushan and Gupta empires; it holds places sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, among them Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura and Sarnath. Agra was a Mughal capital, Lucknow the seat of the Nawabs of Awadh, and the region was at the centre of the uprising of 1857. The United Provinces were renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950, and Uttarakhand was separated in 2000.
People
Hindi is the official language and Urdu the second, and regional languages such as Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha and Bundeli are widely spoken. The state is known for kathak and Hindustani music, Banarasi silk, Lucknow's chikankari and festivals from Holi in Braj to Dev Deepawali in Varanasi.
Known for
- The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort
- The ghats of Varanasi on the Ganges
- Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught
- The Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj
- Lucknow's Awadhi food and chikankari embroidery
Did you know?
Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state; if it were a country, it would rank among the most populous in the world.
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