(Notes) History of Uttar Pradesh

The history of Uttar Pradesh is very much associated with the broad history of India. It dates back to 4000 years. Formerly the area of Uttar Pradesh was occupied by Aryans or the Dasas and their main occupation was agriculture. The Aryans through conquests occupied the adjoining areas.

Archaeological investigations have shed new light on the prehistoric civilization of what is now Uttar Pradesh. The remains of several human skeletons found in the area of Pratapgarh (Pratapgarh) have been dated to about 10,000 BCE. Other knowledge of the area prior to the 7th century BCE has been gained largely through Vedic literature (of the ancient Indian Vedic religion) and the two great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which describe the Gangetic Plain within Uttar Pradesh.

The setting of the Mahabharata is the area around Hastinapur, in the western part of the present-day state, while the Ramayana is set in and around Ayodhya, the birthplace of Rama (an incarnation of the god Vishnu and the hero of the story). Another fountainhead of mythology in the state is the area around the holy cities of Mathura, where Krishna (another incarnation of Vishnu) was born, and nearby Vrindavan.

Read more: Ancient Medieval and Modern History of Uttar Pradesh

History of Uttar Pradesh Important Notes

  • Mangal Pandey (resident of Balia of Uttar Pradesh), 34th Indian Army of Barrackpore, near Calcutta, rebelled on March 29, 1857, and fired on his lieutenant. Mangal Pandey was hanged on April 8, 1857 in Barrackpore.
  • On April 24, 1857 the native infantry of Meerut refused to touch the new cartridges as a result British officers dismissed Soldiers on 9th May 1857 as a result on May 10, 1857 the soldiers of the whole camp Rebelled.
  • The area most affected by this rebellion of 1857 was Awadh and Bundelkhand.
  • In the rebellion of 1857 the rebel soldiers and landowners had established their governments at Aligarh, Bareilly, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad etc.
  • The 1857 revolt was extended to small towns and towns like Etawah, Mainpuri, Etah, Mathura, Shahjahanpur, Badayun, Azamgarh, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheeri, Barabanki, Varanasi, Faizabad, Fatehpur, Hathras etc.
  • Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh led the rebellion in Lucknow, Begum made her son Birzis Qadir Nawab of Awadh.
  • Lucknow was recaptured by Colin Campbell on March 21, 1858.
  • In 1857 AD, Nana Saheb had the right to administer the Kanpur (Bithoor) administration.
  • The great warrior Tatya Tope (original name-Ram Chandra) of the rebellion of 1857 AD had frightened the British with his ‘Guinimikava tactics’ (guerrilla strategy).
  • He was arrested on April 7, 1859 and was tried in the Civil Court of Shivpuri and was hanged on 18 April 1859.
  • By June 1858, the rebellion in the United Provinces (now U.P.) was completely exhausted
  • On 1 November 1858, Lord Kennan read out the declaration of Queen Victoria in Allahabad
  • In 1858, the Delhi division was separated from the northwestern part of the state and the capital of the state was shifted from Agra to Allahabad

Modern Period: Uttar Pradesh

  • In 1861, Shiv Dayal Saha had established Radha Swami Satsanga in Agra
  • Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in Mumbai
  • Bharatendu Harishchandra published Kavi vachan Sudha (1867) and Harishchandra Magazine (1872) from Varanasi
  • The present name of ‘Mohammedan Anglo Oriental School’ founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in Aligarh is ‘Aligarh Muslim University’
  • Sir Syed Ahmed Khan launched the ‘Aligarh movement’ to improve the status of Muslims.
  • Till 1947, 9 sessions of Indian National Congress were held in U.P.
  • The most, three sessions of Indian National Congress were held in Allahabad and Lucknow each. Allahabad (1888- President: George Yule. 1892 – W.C: Banerjee. 1910 Chairman – Sir William Wedderburn), Lucknow (1899 AD, President- Romesh Chandra Dutt, 1916 AD, President- Ambika Charan Majumdar. 1936 AD, President – Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru).
  • Apart from Allahabad and Lucknow, three other cities of U.P. had the convention of Indian National Congress – In 1905 Banaras (President- Gopal Krishna Gokhale), Kanpur (Chairman – Mrs. Sarojini Naidu) in 1925 and Meerut (President-Acharya JB-Kripalani) in 1946
  • In 1916, the session of congress and muslim league was held simultaneously in Lucknow. This conference was the famous ‘Congress-League Agreement’. This Congress convention was chaired by Ambika Charan Majumdar
  • In November 1928, ‘Simon Commission’ was boycotted in Lucknow. It was led by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
  • In 1918, Gaurishankar Mishra, Indranarayan Dwivedi and Mdan Mohan Malviya formed Kisan Sabha
  • In 1923, Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru founded the Swaraj Party in Allahabad
  • The first conference of the Communist Party of India was held in Kanpur, in December 1925 under the chairmanship of Periyar
  • In United Provinces in the adjoining area of Lucknow ‘Eka Andolan’ (1920-22) among farmers was led by a farmer named Madari Pasi
  • On August 8, 1942, the ‘Quit India’ resolution passed in the All India Congress Convention held in Bombay. In this Gandhiji gave a slogan ‘Do or Die’
  • During the Quit India movement, Gandhiji was kept in Aga Khan Palace of Poona and Jawaharlal was held captive at Naini Central Jail of Allahabad
  • On August 16, 1942 masses struggle broke out in favor of ‘Quit India Movement’. As a result, under the leadership of Chittu Pandey, a ‘National Government’ was formed in Ballia
  • After the independence, on 12 January 1950 United Province was renamed as Uttar Pradesh.
  • On November 9, 2000, Uttarakhand state was formed by separating 13 hill districts of the state.
  • To this date, Uttar Pradesh has given 8 Prime Ministers to the country.
  • After Independence, the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh was Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the first Chief Minister was Govind Ballabh Pant and Purushottam Dass Tandon became the first Speaker of the Assembly.
  • Current President Shri Ramnath Kovind is also from Uttar Pradesh.

 Modern-History of Uttar Pradesh

  • Agra was founded by Sultan Sikander Lodhi in 1506.
  • After Sikandar Lodi, Ibrahim Lodi ascended to the throne of Agra, who was defeated by Babur in the first battle of Panipat in 1526 and Babur established Mughal Empire.
  • Agra was the main center of education during the Mughal period. Indigo was cultivated in the adjoining areas of Agra during the Mughal period.
  • Mughal historians called Uttar Pradesh as Hindustan
  • The Agra fort was built by Akbar.
  • Noorjahan got built the tomb of his father, Itimad-ud-Daulah in Agra.
  • ‘Tajmahal’, Deewan-a- Aam, Deewan-a- Khas and ‘Moti Masjid’ of Agra was built during rein of Shah Jahan.
  • By the end of the twelfth century, Qutbuddin Aibak captured Kalpi (Jadaun district) and made it part of Delhi Sultanate.
  • Among Akbar’s Navratanas Birbal and Todramal belonged to Uttar Pradesh.
  • Birbal belonged to Kalpi Where evidence of Birbal’s Rang Mahal and the Mughal Mint have been found.
  • Jaunpur was established by Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
  • Jaunpur was known as Shiraz-e-Hind during the reign of Sharqi dynasty.
  • Orchha ruler Beer Singh Bundela got Jhansi built in 1613.
  • Rani Laxmi bai, wife of Gangadhar Rai, was the ruler of the independent state of Jhansi who died while fighting against the British in the freedom struggle of 1857.
  • Laxmibhai’s palace, Mahadev Temple and Medhi Bagh are in Jhansi.
  • Because of Sheikh Salim Chishti Akbar considered Fatehpur Sikri a sacred land.
  • From 1573-1588, it was capital of the Mughal Empire.
  • Shahjahan shifted Mughal capital to Delhi from Agra.
  • The last Nawab of Lucknow was Wazid Ali Shah, who was removed from Lucknow by the British in 1856 by Lord Dalhousie.
  • Mughal Emperor Akbar got his own tomb built in Sikandara (a suburb of Agra) which was later completed by Emperor Jahangir in 1613.
  • Atala Mosque, Jama Masjid or Jama Mosque or Jami Masjid or Bari Masjid and Lal Darwaja are famous monuments of Shrqi dynasty.
  • The Atala Mosque and Jhangari Mosque of Jaunpur was constructed by Ibrahim Shah Sharqi
  • Badaun’s Jama Masjid was constructed by Iltutmish.
  • From 1707 (From the death of Aurangzeb) to 1757 (Battle of Plassey) present Uttar Pradesh had five independent kingdoms.
  • ‘Treaty of Allahabad’ was signed between the British and Mughal ruler Shah Alam II In 1765.
  • After the death of Shuja-ud-Daulah, Asaf-ud-Daula was a Nawab of Awadh in 1775.
  • Asaf-ud-Daula had handed over the area of the Benaras to the British by the Treaty of Faizabad (1775).
  • Asaf-ud-Daula got constructed Imambara in 1784 in Lucknow to celebrate Muharram.

Ancient History of Uttar Pradesh

  • Proof of copper-stone age in Uttar Pradesh has been found at Meerut and Saharanpur.
  • Evidence of Paleolithic civilization in Uttar Pradesh has been found the Belan Valley in Allahabad, Singrauli Valley of Sonbhadra and Chakia of Chandauli
  • The potholes of the Belan river valley were explored and excavated under the direction of Allahabad University Professor R. Sharma
  • Statue of a bone-built goddess along with stone equipment has also been obtained from the archaeological site ‘Lohadanala‘ of the Belan Valley.
  • Remains of Humans belonging to medieval stone age have been obtained from Pratapgarh’s Sarinahar Rai and Mahadeha.
  • Based on the latest excavatation, the oldest agricultural evidence in the Indian subcontinent is Lahuradev located in the city of Saint Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.
  • From here evidence of, Rice belonging to 8000 BC-9000BC, has been discovered.
  • The tools and weapons of Neolithic have been found in excavation by Sarai Nahar Rai (Pratapgarh), Mirjapur, Sonbhadra, Bundelkhand
  • Remains of Harrapan civilsation have been discovered from Alamgirpur.
  • It also reveals the eastward extension of the Harappan civilization and evidence of cotton cultivation has also been obtained from here
  • 8 Mahajanapadas of 16 were in Madhya desh (Modern UP). They were Kuru, Panchal, Kashi, Koshal, Shurasen, Chedi, Vats and Malla.
  • Evidence of the attack of the Hunas on Kushinagar has also been discovered.
  • In Kusinagar, Gautam Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana in 483 BC
  • The fourteenth inscription of Ashoka has been found in Kalasi (present day Uttarakhand).
  • Most of life of Gautam Buddha was spent in Uttar Pradesh Therefore UP is called the Cradle of Buddhism.
  • Gautam Buddha had spent most of the rainy seasons in the Kosala state.
  • Shuktimati (Near Banda) was the capital of Chedi Mahajanapada.
  • The ancient name of Ayodhya was Ayazsa.
  • According to Buddhist tradition, Ashoka built a stupa in Ayodhya.
  • According to Jain texts, the birthplace of five tirthankara including Adinath was Ayodhya.
  • Repeated conflicts between Gujjar-Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas ensued for occupation Kannauj’s.
  • For a Long period, Kannauj was ruled by Gujjars-Pratahars.
  • In 1018-1019, Mahmud Ghajnavi invaded Kannauj.
  • Prayag pillar mentions donation made by Ashok’s Queen Karaowaki. It has also been called ‘Queen’s Record‘.
  • Kashi’s first mention is found in Atharva Veda. According to the Mahabharata, this city was founded by Divodas.
  • The capital city of Kashi Mahajanapati was Varanasi.
  • Two rock inscription of Kumargupta I and one of Skand Gupta have been found at Garhwa (Allahabad).
  • Bhitari Column inscription of (Ghazipur) describes war between Pushyamitran and the war of skandagupta.
  • In 1194 AD, Mohammad Ghori defeated Gaharwal Naresh Jayanchad (ruler of Kannauj) in the Battle of Chandavar.
  • 1018 AD, Mohammad Ghajnavi destroyed the temples of Mathura.
  • 1670 AD, Aurangzeb destroyed the Krishna Temple (built by Veer Singh Bundela) of Mathura.
  • Ashoka had built a lion pillar in Sarnath. The lions of this pillar have been adopted as the national symbol.

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