Uttar Pradesh is the rainbow land where the multi-hued Indian Culture has blossomed from times immemorial. Blessed with a varaity of  geographical land and many cultural diversities, Uttar Pradesh, has been the area of activity of historical heroes like - Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Ashoka, Harsha, Akbar and Mahatma Gandhi. Rich and tranquil expanses of meadows, perennial rivers, dense forest sand fertile soil of Uttar Pradesh have contributed numerous golden chapters to the annals of Indian History. Dotted with various holy shrines and piligrim places, full of joyous festivals, it plays an important role in the politics, education, culture, industry, agriculture and tourism of India.

Uttar Pradesh State with an area of 243,290 Sq KM and population over 190 million people, is situated in the Upper Gangetic plains of northern part of India. It is also the world's most populous sub-national entity. It shares an international border with Nepal to the north along with the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh to the north-west, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan on the west, Madhya Pradesh on the south, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on the south east and Bihar on the east. Lucknow is the administrative and legislative capital of Uttar Pradesh and the financial and industrial capital is Kanpur. The state's high court is based at Allahabad with a bench in state capital Lucknow. It is home to many historical cities like Varanasi and Agra. Kanpur is its largest city; other big cities are Gorakhpur, Meerut, Agra, Bareilly, Allahabad, Noida, etc. The State has enormous religious importance to the Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims. The Chaukhandi Stupa marks the spot where Buddha met his first disciples.

Throughout its history, the region of Uttar Pradesh was sometimes divided between petty kingdoms and at other times formed an important part of larger empires that arose on its east or west, including the Magadha, Nanda, Mauryan, Sunga, Kushan, Gupta, Pala and Mughal empires.
The state has a rich heritage of traditional crafts and cottage industries of various types that employ highly skilled craftsmen and artisans.

Hindus and Muslims together constitute above 98% of the State's population. The remaining nearly 2% include Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians, and also the tribal population. The State comprises of 70 administrative districts.

The known history of Uttar Pradesh goes back 4000 years, when the Aryans first made it their home in 2000 BC; this heralded the Vedic age of the Indian civilization. The Aryans, infiltrating from their home-base in the present day Punjab region, had settled in the Doab region and the Ghagra plains, and called it with various names: Madhya Desha (Midland), Aryavarta (the Aryan land) and Bharatvarsha (the kingdom of Bharat, an important Aryan king). Early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the presence of Ochre Coloured Pottery in archaeological findings.

Last Updated on Sunday, 22 August 2010 16:22