Architecture
Architectural legacies of the past millennia of Uttar Pradesh survive to varying extent. The oldest of them fall within the purview of archeology or mythology; religious places in the State – identifiable in the narratives of Puranas and other sacred literature of Indian religions – have architectural edifices that are very old and have been built over repeatedly in course of time.
Medieval kings and emperors have left imposing monuments: forts, palaces, temples, mosques and mausoleums, whose external and internal grandeur recalls the opulence of those times. British colonial architecture is still seen in many cities' judicial buildings, hospitals, banks, post offices, police stations, and railway stations.
Art and craft
Uttar Pradesh is famous for its rich heritage of art and craft. Most famous centres are the following:
Agra since the Mughal era has been home to numerous Mughal crafts, including the Pietra Dura, still practiced today.
Bareilly boasts for its Zari work, (a type of fabric decoration), 'Jhumka' - an intricate ear-rings or ear-pendants, Manja and Surma (Kohl (cosmetics)).
Firozabad, the city of bangles, is also a hub for crafting many glass accessories. The glass artifacts produced in its factories are of high value and are exported all over the country and around the world.
Kannauj is well known for oriental perfumes, scents and rose water and also for traditional tobacco products.
Kanpur is internationally known for its leather craft; shoes and other leather items are made here for the Indian market and exported to foreign countries as well.Kanpur is also known as Leather City of the World.
Khurja is famous for its ceramics pottery; in fact, the entire state is famous for its pottery not only in India but also around the world.
Lucknow, the capital, boasts of its cloth work and embroidery (chikan) work on silk and cotton garments.
Allahabad is Known for his National Institute of Art & Craft College.
Bhadohi is known for its carpets, a craft which dates back to the 16th century, during the reign of Mughal Emperor, Akbar and is believed to have established when centuries ago, some Iranian master weavers stopped at Madhosingh village, near Khamaria, in Bhadohi while travelling in India, and subsequently set up looms here. Bhadohi carpets received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2010, and also known as dollar-city; beside this, it is one of the highest revenue generating districts of UP.
Moradabad is well known for its metal-ware, especially brass artifacts.
Pilibhit is known for its wooden footwear (locally called Paduka or Khadaon) and also for flutes made of wooden pipes. Flutes are exported to Europe, America and other countries.
Saharanpur is known all over India and abroad for its wood-carving items produced there.
Varanasi Mubarakpur(Azamgarh) is famous for its Banarasi saris and silk. A banarasi sari is an essential part of any marriage in the state.
Gorakhpur is famous for its beautiful teracotta statues and handcraft cloths. Nizamabaad Azamgarh is famous for black pottery.
Language and literature
Uttar Pradesh is often referred to as the 'Hindi heartland of India'. While the languages of state administration are Hindi, established by the Uttar Pradesh Official Language Act, 1951, and Urdu, established by the Amendment to the same in 1989, the native languages of the state are considered. Both language are the common populace as well as the State and Central Governmental authorities. Linguistically, the state spreads across the Central, East-Central and Eastern zones of the Indo-Aryan languages, the major native languages of the state being, Awadhi, Bundeli, Braj Bhasha, Kannauji and the vernacular form of Khari boli, which also forms the basis for the standardised Hindi and Urdu registers. Bhojpuri is spoken in the east and Bagheli is spoken on the southwestern fringes of the state. The state government promotes the native dialects in cultural festivals – education in the dialects, however, is negligible. Moreover, the literature of the two main literary dialects of the medieval era, Braj Bhasha and Awadhi, is considered to be subsumed under Hindi literature. While once these two dialects were the main literary vehicles in the region, any progress in literature in them or any of the other native languages is negligible.
Uttar Pradesh is the seat of Hindi literature, and has produced many legendary writers and poets like Jaishankar Prasad, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Munshi Premchand, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Babu Gulabrai,Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya', Rahul Sankrityayan, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Dharamvir Bharati, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Dushyant Kumar, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Chandramani Brahmdutt, Acharya Kuber Nath Rai, Bharatendu Harishchandra, Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena, Shivmangal Singh Suman, Pushpa Singh Visan, Mahadevi Varma,Vibhuti Narain Rai and many others.
Dance and music
The state is home to a very ancient tradition in dance and music. During the eras of Guptas and Harsh Vardhan, Uttar Pradesh was a major centre for musical innovation. Swami Haridas was a great saint-musician who championed Hindustani classical music. Tansen, the great musician in Mughal Emperor Akbar's court, was a disciple of Swami Haridas. The ragas sung by Tansen were believed to be so powerful that they could bring rain, or light a fire, when recited.
Kathak, a classical dance form, involving gracefully coordinated movements of feet and arms along with the entire body, grew and flourished in Uttar Pradesh. Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, was a great patron and a passionate champion of Kathak. Today, the state is home to two prominent schools of this dance form, namely, Lucknow Gharana and Banaras Gharana.
In modern times, Uttar Pradesh has given to the world music legends like Anup Jalota, Baba Sehgal, Girija Devi, Gopal Shankar Misra, Hari Prasad Chaurasia,Kishan Maharaj, Naushad Ali, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Shubha Mudgal, Siddheshwari Devi, Talat Mehmood, and Ustad Bismillah Khan. The legendary Ghazal singer Begum Akhtar was also a native of Uttar Pradesh; "Ae Mohabbat Tere anjaam pe rona aaya" is said to be one of her best musical performances of all times. Uttar Pradesh is also the birthplace of British pop legend Sir Cliff Richard. The Bhatkhande Music Institute University at Lucknow is named after the great musician Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande.
The region's folk heritage includes songs called rasiya (known and especially popular in Braj), which celebrate the divine love of Radha and Shri Krishna. These songs are accompanied by large drums known as bumb and are performed at many festivals. Other folk dances or folk theater forms include:
- Khayal
- Naqal – (mimicry)
- Nautanki
- Qawwali
- Raslila
- Swang
- Ramlila, which includes enacting the entire Ramayana.
Lokrang Sanskritik Samiti – an organisation of Jogia Janubi Patti, Fazilanagar, Kushinagar – is doing research work in the field of Folk-songs, Folk-artists and Folk-cultures. In the month of May, every year the Samiti organises its function "Lokrang". More than 150 artists and writers participate in this programme.
Cuisine
Uttar Pradesh has a rich tradition of sumptuous vegetarian and non-vegetarian food preparations and of sweetmeats, seen at their best on formal occasions.
A formal vegetarian meal of Uttar Pradesh consists of chapatis, rotis (flatbread) and/or puris (deep fried puffed flatbreads), daal (thick lentil soup), rice (boiled white rice), vegetable curries (one or more of dry/fried and semi-liquid curries each), curd, pickles, papad (thin spicy crackers) and a variety of sweets ( gulab jamuns, rasmalai, rabri, jalebi, laddoos of varying varieties, pethas, kheer, gujhiys and many others). It is normally served in metal dishes and traditionally eaten without the use of cutlery, sitting on the bare floor. When a large gathering is to be feasted in a traditional manner, food may also be served on disposable, flat platters (called 'pattal'), which are made by intertwining broad leaves of certain trees.Samosas and pakoras are among the favourite snacks.
A non-vegetarian meal consists of many varieties of meat- or rice-preparations that have evolved in the region, and are now nationally and internationally known as the Moghlai cuisine; some of these are: kebab,kofta, korma, keema, pulao, biryani, parathas (plain or stuffed), halwa, firni etc. In addition, a selection from the above vegetarian dishes may be present among the food spread. Traditionally, food is served in metal-ware or ceramic crockery, eaten directly with bare hands or (sometimes) with spoons, sitting on the ground covered with a flooring material like cloth-sheet or carpet.
Dress
The people of Uttar Pradesh wear a variety of native- and Western-style dress. Traditional styles of dress include colourful draped garments - such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men - and tailored clothes such as salwar kameez for women and kurta-pyjama for men. Men also often sport a head-gear like topi or pagri. Sherwani is a more formal male dress and is frequently worn along with chooridar on festive occasions. European-style trousers and shirts are also common among the men.
Dress material varies according to the weather requirements; hence, fabrics made of cotton and cotton-synthetic blends are common in summer and warm clothing, made of wool or synthetic-wool, is needed in winter, when a sweater, jacket and/or a coat may be worn, especially during peak winter.
Festivals
Religious practices are as much an integral part of everyday life, and a very public affair, as they are in the rest of India. Therefore, not surprisingly, many festivals are religious in origin, although several of them are celebrated irrespective of caste and creed.
Among the most important Hindu festivals are Diwali, Holi and Dashehra, which are also observed with equal fervour by Jains and Sikhs.Ten days of Ramlila takes place during the period of navratri and on the 10th day, epithet of Raavan is burnt with great fervour. Durga puja is also observed in many parts of the state during navratri. Bārah Wafāṭ, Eid, Bakreed and Birthdate of Imam Ali ibn Abitalib are recognized official Muslim religious festivals. Moharram, though the day of Ashura is official holiday but Shiites consider it as a day of mourning and not a festival as some people believe. Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated by Jains,Buddha Jayanti by Buddhists, Guru Nanak Jayanti by Sikhs and Christmas by the Christians. Other festivals include Ram navami, Chhath puja, Krishna-janmashtami, Mahashivratri,etc.
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