Uttar Pradesh: Art, culture, fairs and heritage

Uttar Pradesh gave India the two Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which the state's tourism department notes were written in the state. Its culture was shaped by the teachings of the Buddha and of Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankar. Mathura is called a store-house of buried ancient art, both Brahmanical and Buddhist, and Kashi a centre of living Hindu art.

Literature and Languages

• Major literary centres: Varanasi (Kashi), the Braj region, Awadh, Bundelkhand and, in later years, Prayagraj.
• Bhakti-era poets: the land of Kabir, Tulsidas, Surdas and Keshavdas.
• Court scholars of old included Ashwaghosh, Ban, Bhavbhuti, Rajshekhar and Sri Harsh.
• UP is called the cradle of Hindi and Urdu. Writers include Bhartendu Harishchandra, Munshi Premchand, Mahadevi Verma; poets include Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Sumitra Nandan Pant.
• Urdu poets: Firaq Gorakhpuri, Josh Malihabadi, Kaifi Azmi, Ali Sardar Jafri and Nida Fazili.
• Nagri Pracharni Sabha and the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan have encouraged literary traditions.
• Languages spoken include Hindi, Urdu, Awadhi, Braj, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhandi and English.

Music

• Medieval music had two strands: court music patronised at Agra, Fatehpur-Sikri, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Banda and Datiya, and the Bhakti religious tradition of Mathura, Vrindavan and Ayodhya.
• Artistes who lived and practised here include shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj, tabla maestro Kishan Maharaj, Baba Allaudin Khan and his disciples Pt. Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan.
• Ghazal singers Begum Akhtar, Rasoolan Bai and Girija Devi also belong to this tradition.

Dance

• Kathak, one of the six foremost classical dances of India, flourished in UP. Its name comes from Katha (story); it originated in northern India in the 7th century A.D.
• Kathak footwork is accompanied by tabla and pakhwaj.
• Ramlila (life of Lord Rama) and Braj Raslila (life of Lord Krishna) are folk-theatre forms.
• Charkula: a female dancer balances a column of lighted deepaks on her head. Rasiya describes the love of Radha and Krishna. Both are native to the Braj region.
• Other folk dances listed: Karma, Pandav, Pai-danda, Tharu, Dhobia, Raai and Shaira.

Painting

• Painting goes back to pre-historic times: cave paintings of Sonbhadra and Chitrakoot show hunting, war, festivals, dances and animals.
• The Mughal Era was the golden period of painting, peaking under Jahangir.
• Painting reached perfection in Bundelkhand when the King of Orchha rebuilt the Keshav Dev temple in Mathura. Paintings of Mathura, Gokul, Vrindavan and Govardhan show the life of Krishna.
• The Garhwal School was patronised by the Kings of Garhwal.

Crafts

• Chikankari: delicate hand embroidery, mainly in Lucknow, on chiffon, muslin, organza and silk.
• Zardozi: three-dimensional embroidery; the Zari works of Varanasi are famous.
• Carpets: UP caters to 90 percent of the country's carpets; centres are Mirzapur, Khamaria and Bhadohi.
• Metal ware: UP is the largest Brass and Copper producing state; Moradabad is known for art metalwork and coloured enamelling.
• Pottery: glazed pottery at Khurja, Chunar and Rampur; Chunar black clay pottery inlaid with silver paint; Nizamabad pottery gets its gloss from kabiz powder.
• Terracotta: Gorakhpur is famous for its decorated terracotta horse.
• Lucknow is known for Bidri and Zarbuland silver work, ivory and bone carving, and attars made since the 19th century from khus, keora, chameli, zafran and agar.

Architecture

• The heritage blends Buddhist, Hindu, Indo-Islamic and Indo-European cultures.
• Mughal architecture, mainly linked with Akbar and Shahjahan, fused Hindu, Islamic and Central Asian styles.
• Three UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's dream capital.
• The Nawabs of Avadh kept building after Shahjahan's death; the Bara Imambara of Asaf-ud-Daula has a vaulted hall said to be the biggest of its kind in the world.

Fairs and Festivals

• Kumbh Mela: held four times in twelve years at Prayag, Haridwar, Nasik and Ujjain; the Maha Kumbh is held at Prayagraj.
• Maha Kumbh 2025: a 4,000+ hectare temporary city, 450 km of internal roads and 66+ crore pilgrims.
• Taj Mahotsav (February, Agra); Bateshwar Fair (October-November, 70 km from Agra, livestock trade); Kailash Fair (August-September); Ganga Festival (October-November, Varanasi); Lucknow festival (10 days, November-December).
• Recent: Lucknow named UNESCO's Creative City of Gastronomy; the Salkhan Fossil Park (Sonbhadra) added to UNESCO's tentative list; Deepotsav in Ayodhya broke its own Guinness World Record.