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The Culture of Uttar Pradesh is an Indian culture which has its roots in Hindi, Bhojpuri and Urdu literature, music, fine arts, drama and cinema. [1] Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, has historical monuments including Bara Imambara and Chhota Imambara, and has preserved the damaged complex of the Oudh-period British Resident's quarters, which are being restored.
Varanasi's ghats (bathing steps along the river) draws pilgrims year-round who bathe in the Ganges River. Mathura's celebrations of the Holi festival attract many tourists.
Thousands gather at Allahabad (Prayagraj) to take part in the annual Magh Mela festival on the banks of the Ganges which is organised on a larger scale every 12th year, when it is called the Kumbha Mela, where over 10 million Hindu pilgrims congregate – one of the largest gathering of human beings in the world. Badaun is a religiously significant city whose historical monuments and tombs attract thousand of tourists annually.
The historical towns of Sarnath and Kushinagar are not far from Varanasi. Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath and died at Kushinagar; both are important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists. Also at Sarnath are the Pillars of Ashoka and the Lion Capital of Ashoka, archaeological artefacts with national significance.[ further explanation needed ] Ghazipur, 80 km from Varanasi, has Ganges Ghats and the Tomb of British potentate Lord Cornwallis, maintained by the Archaeologic survey of India.
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During the Gupta and Harsh Vardhan eras, Uttar Pradesh was a centre for musical innovation. Swami Haridas was a musician who championed Hindustani Classical Music. Tansen, a musician in Mughal Emperor Akbar's court, was a disciple of Swami Haridas.
Kathak is a classical dance form from Uttar Pradesh. Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, was a patron and champion of Kathak. Today, the state is home to two prominent schools of this dance form, Lucknow Gharana and Banaras Gharana.
Music personalities including Naushad Ali, Talat Mehmood, Begum Akhtar , Anup Jalota, Shubha Mudgal, Bismillah Khan, Ravi Shankar, Kishan Maharaj, Vikash Maharaj, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Gopal Shankar Misra, Siddheshwari Devi, Girija Devi and Sir Cliff Richard were originally from Uttar Pradesh.
The region's folk heritage includes songs called rasiya (especially popular in Braj), which celebrate the mythological love of Radha and Krishna. These songs are accompanied by large drums known as bumb and are performed at many festivals. Other folk dances or folk theater forms include Raslila, Swang, Ramlila (a dramatic enactment of the entire Ramayana), Nautanki, Naqal (mimicry) and Qawwali.
The Bhatkhande Music Institute is situated in Lucknow.
The common state-language of Uttar Pradesh is standard Hindi. While standard Hindi (Khari boli) is the official language, several regional Hindi 'dialects' are spoken in the state including: Awadhi, Braj, Kannauji, Bagheli and Bundeli, as well as several local dialects that do not have a formal name. Bhojpuri is the second most spoken language of Uttar Pradesh, [2] it is spoken by almost 11% of the population. Urdu is prominent in Uttar Pradesh as Lucknow was once the centre of Indo-Persianate culture in north India. The language of Lucknow ("Lakhnavi Urdu") is a form of high literary Urdu.
Uttar Pradesh attracts large number of visitors, both national and international; with more than 71 million domestic tourists (in 2003) and almost 25% of the All-India foreign tourists visiting Uttar Pradesh, it is one of the top tourist destinations in India. There are two regions in the state where a majority of the tourists go, the Hindu pilgrimage circuit and the Agra circuit.
The pilgrimage circuit includes the most religiously prestigious of the cities considered holy in Hinduism on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna, rivers which are also considered sacred: Varanasi, Ayodhya (in mythology the birthplace of Rama), Mathura (in mythology the birthplace of Krishna), Vrindavan (in mythology where Krishna spent his childhood), and Allahabad (Prayagraj) (the confluence or 'holy-sangam' of the Ganges-Yamuna rivers).[ citation needed ]
The city of Agra is near three World Heritage Sites: Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and the nearby Fatehpur Sikri. [3] Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is cited as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". Agra Fort is about 2.5 km northwest of its much more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled palatial city. Fatehpur Sikri was the 16th-century capital city near Agra, built by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great, whose mausoleum is in Agra. Dayal Bagh in Agra is a modern-day temple and tourist site with lifelike marble sculptures. Agra's attractions also include Asia's largest spa as well as Asia's second 6D theatre.[ citation needed ]
Prem Mandir, Vrindavan, is called the "temple of love."
Some of the main natural protected areas in Uttar Pradesh are:-
Some areas require a special permit for non-Indians to visit.
The people of Uttar Pradesh wear a variety of native- and Western-style dress. Traditional styles of dress include colourful draped garments – such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men – and tailored clothes such as salwar kameez for women and kurta-pyjama for men. Men also often sport a headgear like topi or pagri. Sherwani is a more formal male dress and is frequently worn along with chooridar on festive occasions. European-style trousers and shirts are also common among men. Young adults are most commonly found in jeans and t-shirts.
Uttar Pradesh's centres of art and craft include:
Many festivals are religious in origin, although several of them are celebrated irrespective of caste and creed.
Hindu festivals include Diwali, Holi and Dussehra, which are also observed by Jains. Ten days of Ramlila takes place during the period of navratri and on the 10th day an effigy of Raavan is burnt. Chhath Puja is the biggest festival of eastern Uttar Pradesh. [6] Durga puja is also observed in many parts of the state during navratri. Eid e milad un nabi, Eid, Bakreed, Muharram and the birthday of Ali ibn Abitalib are recognised official Muslim religious festivals. Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated by Jains, Buddha Jayanti by Buddhists, Guru Nanak Jayanti by Sikhs and Christmas by the Christians. [7] Other festivals include Ram navami, Krishna-Janmashtami, Mahashivratri, etc.
Uttar Pradesh is a state in northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world – more populous than all but four other countries outside of India – and accounting for 16.5 per cent of the population of India or around 3 per cent of the total world population. The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the west, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to the northwest, Uttarakhand and Nepal to the north, Bihar to the east, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to the south. It is the fourth-largest Indian state by area covering 243,286 km2 (93,933 sq mi), equal to 7.3 per cent of the total area of India. Lucknow serves as the state capital, with Prayagraj being the judicial capital. It is divided into 18 divisions and 75 districts. On 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttaranchal, was created from Uttar Pradesh's western Himalayan hill region. The two major rivers of the state, the Ganges and its tributary Yamuna, meet at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, a Hindu pilgrimage site. Other notable rivers are Gomti and Saryu. The forest cover in the state is 6.1 per cent of the state's geographical area. The cultivable area is 82 per cent of the total geographical area, and the net area sown is 68.5 per cent of the cultivable area.
Fatehpur Sikri is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated 35.7 kilometres (22.2 mi) from the district headquarters of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri itself was founded as the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1571 by Emperor Akbar, serving this role from 1571 to 1585, when Akbar abandoned it due to a campaign in Punjab and was later completely abandoned in 1610.
Agra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about 230 kilometres (140 mi) south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the fourth-most populous city in Uttar Pradesh and twenty-third most populous city in India.
Mughal architecture is the type of Indo-Islamic architecture developed by the Mughals in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the ever-changing extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It developed from the architectural styles of earlier Muslim dynasties in India and from Iranian and Central Asian architectural traditions, particularly Timurid architecture. It also further incorporated and syncretized influences from wider Indian architecture, especially during the reign of Akbar. Mughal buildings have a uniform pattern of structure and character, including large bulbous domes, slender minarets at the corners, massive halls, large vaulted gateways, and delicate ornamentation; examples of the style can be found in modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
The North Eastern Railway is one of the 18 railway zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur.
Buland Darwaza, or the "Door of victory", was built in 1575 by Mughal emperor Akbar to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. It is the main entrance to the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, which is 43 km from Agra, India.
India's golden triangle is a tourist circuit in India that connects the national capital, New Delhi, with Agra and Jaipur. The trips usually start in Delhi and move south to the site of the Taj Mahal at Agra, then west, to Jaipur. It is normally possible to do the trip by road, train or plane. The Golden Triangle is now a well-traveled route, providing a good spectrum of the country's different landscapes. The circuit is about 720 km by road. Each leg is about 4 to 6 hours of driving. The Shatabdi Express, Vande Bharat Express, and Gatimaan Express train also connects New Delhi with Agra and Jaipur.
Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India with a population of nearly 240 million people. The economy of Uttar Pradesh is the fifth largest among states in India. At current prices, the gross state domestic product (GSDP) of Uttar Pradesh is estimated to be ₹24.39 lakh crore (US$310 billion) in 2023–24. Merchandise exports from Uttar Pradesh reached US$21.03 billion in FY22.
Agra Fort railway station, is located near Agra Fort, in Rawatpara, Agra. It used to be one of the stations in India that had both broad gauge and metre gauge, until the line to Jaipur was converted to broad gauge. Agra Fort railway station comes under the North Central Railways.
Agra Cantt is the main railway station in the Indian city of Agra. It is located near the Sadar Bazaar towards the southwest of the city. It lies on the main Delhi–Chennai and one of the Delhi–Mumbai lines.
Taj Mahotsav is an annual 10-day event at Shilpgram in Agra, India. This festival is inspired by the old Mughal era and nawabi style prevalent in Uttar Pradesh in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Taj Mahal stands as India's most exquisite historical gem, a testament to the incredible allure of the country. Each year, the Taj Mahotsav, orchestrated by the Taj Mahotsav Committee under the auspices of the Commissioner of Agra Division in Agra, unveils a 10-day extravaganza. This carnival serves as a pulsating forum, a vivid tapestry showcasing India's abundant arts, crafts, cultures, cuisine, dance, and music, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in the diverse essence of the nation.
Situated in the northern part of India, bordering with the capital of India New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh is one of the most popular and an established tourist destination for both Indians and non-Indians alike in India. The most populous state of India, Uttar Pradesh contains many historical monuments and places of religious significance. Geographically, Uttar Pradesh is very diverse, with Himalayan foothills in the extreme north and the Gangetic Plain in the centre. It is also home of India's most visited sites, Hinduism's holiest city, Varanasi. Kumbh city, Prayagraj. Kathak, one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is at the heart of India, hence it is also known as The Heartland of India. Cuisine of Uttar Pradesh like Awadhi cuisine, Mughlai cuisine and Bhojpuri cuisine are very famous not only in India but also many places abroad.
The Jama Masjid is a 16th-century congregational mosque in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Fatehpur Sikri, located in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Akbar, and was the largest mosque in the empire at the time of construction. The Jama Masjid's design drew from earlier mosques built by various pre-Mughal sultanates, and served as an important precedent in subsequent Mughal architecture.
The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) is an authority set up in 2007 by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to develop expressway projects in the state. The headquarters of UPEIDA is located at Paryatan Bhawan in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
The architecture of Uttar Pradesh demonstrates a diverse and eclectic combination of Buddhist, Hindu, Indo-Islamic, and Indo-European architectural styles. Three of its architectural monuments—the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort, as well as the township of Fatehpur Sikri founded by the Mughal emperor Akbar—are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The architectural structures in Uttar Pradesh include ancient Buddhist stūpas and vihāras, ancient Buddhist and Hindu monasteries, townships, forts, palaces, temples, mosques, mausoleums, memorials, and other community structures. Uttar Pradesh's architectural structures also include various Hindu temples, Ghats, etc. largely found in ancient cities like Benares (Varanasi), Brindaban (Vrindavan), Mathura, and Prayagraj (Allahabad).
Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments is a book written in Persian by Dr Ali Asghar Hekmat E Shirazi and published in 1956 and 1958 and 2013. New edition contains the Persian texts of more than 200 epigraphical inscriptions found on historical monuments in India, many of which are currently listed as national heritage sites or registered as UNESCO world heritage, published in Persian; an English edition is also being printed.
Varanasi, also known as Kashi, is considered as the religious capital of Hinduism. In the Hindu faith, it is the holiest of all of its cities; the four dhams in the four cardinal directions of the country – Badrinath in the north, Puri in the east, Dwarka in the west and Rameshwaram in the south – are all represented in the city in "archetypal forms" as the presiding deities at Badrinath Ghat, Assi's Jagannath Temple area, Shankudhara Pokhra, and Mir Ghat respectively. Other Hindu holy places, such as the Kedarnath at Kedar Ghat, Mathura at Bakaruia Kund or Nakhi Ghat, Prayagraj (Allahadbad) at Dashahvamedha Ghat, Kamakhya (Assam) at Kamachha, Kurukshetra at Kurkukshetra Kund near Asi, and Lake Manasarovar at Mansarovar near Shyameshvara are a part of the city's religious and cultural heritage.
Barara is a village located in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh, in India. In 2001, the population was 10,217 people with 5,507 males and 4,710 females.
National Highway 19 is a national highway in India. It was previously referred to as Delhi–Kolkata Road and is one of the busiest national highways in India. After renumbering of national highways, Delhi to Agra route is now national highway 44 and Agra to Kolkata route is numbered national highway 19. It constitutes a major portion of the historical Grand Trunk Road. It is also part of AH1 of Asian Highway Network, that traverses from Japan to Turkey.
