Kaushambi district

Kaushambi district is a district in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Manjhanpur is the district headquarters. The district was carved from Prayagraj district on 4 April 1997. Manauri Bajar connects Prayagraj and Kaushambi districts by railway over a bridge on SH-95. Manjhanpur is south-west of Prayagraj on the north bank of the Yamuna river, about 55 kilometres (34 mi) from the city. It is surrounded by Chitrakoot district on the south, Pratapgarh district on the north, Prayagraj district on the east and Fatehpur district on the west. Kaushambi is part of Prayagraj division. The nearest railway station, in Bharwari, connects with Delhi, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Gaya and Kanpur.

Kaushambi district
District of Uttar Pradesh
Ruins of Ghoshtiram Buddhist monastery in Kosambi
Ruins of Ghoshtiram Buddhist monastery in Kosambi
Location of Kaushambi district in Uttar Pradesh
Location of Kaushambi district in Uttar Pradesh
Country India
StateUttar Pradesh
DivisionPrayagraj
HeadquartersManjhanpur
Tehsils3
Government
 • Lok Sabha constituenciesKaushambi (Lok Sabha constituency)
 • Vidhan Sabha constituencies1. Chail 2. Manjhanpur 3. Sirathu
Area
 • Total1,903.17 km2 (734.82 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total1,599,596
 • Density840/km2 (2,200/sq mi)
 • Urban
124,456
Demographics
 • Literacy63.69 %
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
Websitekaushambi.nic.in

Mythology and history

Kaushambi was the capital of the ancient Indian Vatsa Mahajanapada,[1][2][3] one of 16 such kingdoms. According to the Puranas, Vatsa was named after a Kāśī king.[4] The Ramayana and the Mahabharata attribute the founding of its capital' Kauśāmbī, to a Chedi prince (Kuśa or Kuśāmba). The Puranas state that after Hastinapur was washed away by the Ganges, the Bharata king Nicakṣu (great-great grandson of Janamejaya), abandoned the city and settled in Kauśāmbī. This is supported by the Svapnavāsavadattā and the Pratijñā-Yaugandharāyaṇa, attributed to Bhāsa. Both described the king, Udayana, as a scion of the Bhārata family (Bhārata-kula). The Puranas contain a list of Nicakṣu’s successors which ends with the king Kṣemaka.[5] Gautama Buddha visited Kaushambi several times during the reign of Udayana in his effort to spread the dharma, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths, and Udayana was a Buddhist upāsaka. According to the Chinese translation of the Buddhist canonical text Ekottara Āgama, the first image of the Buddha (carved from sandalwood) was made at Udayana's request. The Puranas state that his four successors were Vahināra, DanḍapāṇI, Niramitra and Kṣemaka. Vatsa was later annexed by Avanti, and Maniprabha (Pradyota's great-grandson) ruled at Kauśāmbī as a prince of Avanti. Ashoka considered Kaushambi important, and placed a pillar there with inscriptions in Pali; a Jain temple was also constructed. The pillar and temple still stand, and Vatsa is being excavated by archaeologists.

Kaushambi district was carved from Allahabad district on 4 April 1997. In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Kaushambi one of India's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).[6] It is one of the 34 districts in Uttar Pradesh receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).[6]

Demographics
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901346,185—    
1911340,788−0.16%
1921326,230−0.44%
1931346,458+0.60%
1941420,798+1.96%
1951475,525+1.23%
1961555,870+1.57%
1971644,994+1.50%
1981813,788+2.35%
19911,021,653+2.30%
20011,291,993+2.38%
20111,599,596+2.16%
source:Government of India[7]
Religions in Kaushambi district (2011)[8]
Religion Percent
Hindus
 
 85.80%
Muslims
 
 13.78%
Other or not stated
 
 0.42%
Distribution of religions

According to the 2011 census, Kaushambi district had a population of 1,599,596,[9] (comparable to the population of Guinea-Bissau[10] and the US state of Idaho);[11] this ranks it 313th of India's 640 districts.[9] The district has a population density of 897 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,320/sq mi).[9] Its population growth rate from 2001 to 2011 was 23.49 percent.[9] Kaushambi has a sex ratio of 905 females to 1,000 males,[9] and a literacy rate of 63.69 percent. Scheduled Castes made up 34.72% of the population.[9]

Languages of Kaushambi district (2011)[12]

  Hindi (98.57%)
  Urdu (1.10%)
  Others (0.33%)

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 98.57% of the population in the district spoke Hindi and 1.10% Urdu as their first language.[12]

Kaushambi district: mother-tongue of population, according to the 2011 Census.[12]
Mother tongue code Mother tongue People Percentage
006030Awadhi 1,199 0.07%
006102Bhojpuri 2,645 0.17%
006240Hindi 1,576,776 98.57%
015043Odia 328 0.02%
022015Urdu 217,670 1.10%
022016Bhansari 440 0.03%
N.A.Others 538 0.03%
Total 1,599,596 100.00%

Transportation

Closest Airport to Kaushambi is in Prayagraj Airport which is 56 kilometers (34.7 miles) away from district headquarters and has flights to major destinations such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata etc.

Major railway station is in neighboring Prayagraj (56 km). Kaushambi district also has several railway stations:

Sports

Mohamed Aslam was a heavyweight boxer from Bharwari who was a silver medalist at the 1973 and 1975 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok and Yokohama, respectively.[13][14] Aslam won the Indian national championship in the heavyweight category for five consecutive years (1973–1978).

References
  1. Geographical Review of India. Original from the University of Michigan: Geographical Society of India. 1951. p. 27.
  2. Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 0-415-32920-5.
  3. Dr.K.K.Sharma (1 January 2009). Civil Services Pre.Exam.Indian History ( From Earliest Times To 1964 A.D.). Upkar Prakashan. ISBN 9788174828880.
  4. Pargiter, F.E. (1972) Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi, pp.269-70
  5. Raychaudhuri, Hemchandra (1972) Political History of Ancient India, University of Calcutta, Calcutta, p.117-8
  6. Ministry of Panchayati Raj (8 September 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme" (PDF). National Institute of Rural Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  7. "Decadal Variation In Population Since 1901". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  8. "Table C-01 Population by Religion: Uttar Pradesh". censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  9. "District Census Handbook: Kaushambi" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  10. US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2011. Guinea-Bissau 1,596,677 July 2011 est.
  11. "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011. Idaho 1,567,582
  12. C-16 Population By Mother Tongue – Uttar Pradesh (Report). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  13. "Asian Championships - Bangkok, Thailand - May 3-9 1973". Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  14. "Asian Championships - Yokohama, Japan - September 23-28 1975". Archived from the original on 22 May 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2019.

25.530744°N 81.377292°E / 25.530744; 81.377292

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