India Guide
Uttar Pradesh
UTTAR PRADESH, or "the Northern State" – formerly the United Provinces, but always UP – is the heartland of Hinduism and Hindi, dominating India in culture, religion, language and politics. A vast, steamy plain of the Ganges, its history is very much the history of the nation, and its temples and monuments – Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim – are among the most impressive in the country.
Western UP, which adjoins Delhi, has always been close to India's centre of power. Its main city, Agra, once the Mughal capital, is home to stupendous monuments including the Taj Mahal. Nearby, the abandoned Mughal city of Fatehpur Sikri remains perfectly preserved in the desert-like air, and just north, somehow sheltered from successive waves of Muslim conquest, the much-mythologized Hindu land of Braj – centred on Mathura and Vrindavan – was the childhood playground of the god Krishna.
Large tracts of central UP, along the fertile flood plains of the Doab, constituted the Kingdom of Avadh, the last centre of independent Muslim rule in northern India until the British unceremoniously took it over, fuelling the resentment that led to the great uprising of 1857, in which its capital Lucknow, played a celebrated role. Today, central UP is a Hindu stronghold, with Allahabad, where the Ganges meets the Yamuna, being one of Hinduism's holiest sites, and home to the enormous twelve-yearly Kumbh Mela.
Bundelkhand, north of the craggy Vindhya Mountains, was part of a ninth-century kingdom carved out by the Chandella Rajputs that included Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.
In eastern UP lies the holiest Hindu city of all – the sacred tirtha (crossing-place) of Varanasi, where it's believed death transports the soul to final liberation. This land has been sacred since antiquity; Buddha himself, and the founder of Jainism, Mahavira, frequented Varanasi, while the whole state – from Mathura to Sarnath, and beyond to the great schools of learning in Bihar – was long under Buddhist influence.
Highlights
1 Taj Mahal The highest expression of Mughal culture, and one of the most stunning buildings in the world.
2 Akbar's mausoleum, Sikandra The great Mughal's tomb looks just as it does in old miniatures, with tame monkeys and deer wandering in its ornamental gardens.
3 Fatehpur Sikri An awesomely grand, deserted palace complex, straddling an arid ridge near the Rajasthani border.
4 Varanasi Take a boat on the Ganges before dawn to watch the sun rise over India's most ancient and sacred city.
5 Sarnath Evocative ruins on the site where the Buddha gave his first sermon.