Deoria district

The area now known as the Deoria District was once a part of the Kosala Kingdom - a prime centre of ancient Aryan culture surrounded by the Himalayas in the north, the Shyandika river in the south, the Panchala Kingdom in the west and the Magadh Kingdom in Bihar to the east. Apart from the many legends told about this area, archaeological remains, such as statues, coins, bricks, Temples. Most of the People using surname Rao belong to the Kshatriya caste in Deoria Dist,.

The ancient history of the district is related with the Ramayana times when the Lord of Kosala, Ram, appointed his elder son Kusha the king of Kushwati, which is present-day Kushinagar. Before the Mahabharata era, this area had been related with Chakravorty Samrat Mahasudtsan Malla and his kingdom. Kushinagar was well developed and prosperous. Close to the border of his kingdom was the thick forested area called the Mahavan. This area was under the control of the Maurya rulers, the Gupta rulers, the Bihar rulers, and then the Garhwal ruler Govinda Chandra from 1114 AD until 1154 AD.

The Deoria district came into existence on 16 March 1946, being separated from the Gorakhpur District. It is believed that the name Deoria is derived from Devaranya or possibly Devpuria. According to official gazetteers, the district was named "Deoria" after its headquarters in Deoria, and the term Deoria generally means a place where there are temples. The name Deoria probably developed because of the existence of important temples in the area. The famous temples & places in Deoria to see are Devraha baba ashram and Dugdheswarnath Mandir.[1] During British rule the district was under the control of Majhauli Royal family and prominent landlords of Kayastha community,[2] with their descendants still owning major chunks of land (Munshi Gorakhnath).[3] Some other families had their impact on various part of the district in which Dubey's of Badkagaon are quite famous. During Freedom struggle of India the district joined struggle under the leadership of Pandit Bibhuti Mani Tripathi of village Dehrauli, Rudrapur.

According to the 2011 census Deoria district has a population of 3,100,946.[9] This gives it a ranking of 114th in India (out of a total of 640).[9] The district has a population density of 1,220 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,200/sq mi) .[9] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 14.23%.[9] Deoria has a sex ratio of 1013 females for every 1000 males,[9] and a literacy rate of 73.53%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 15.11% and 3.54% of the population respectively.[9]

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 85.80% of the population in the district spoke Bhojpuri, 12.67% Hindi and 1.40% Urdu as their first language.[10]

Bhojpuri is the native language of Deoria.[11] The Bhojpuri variant of Kaithi is the indigenous script of Bhojpuri language.[12]