Talk:Uttar Pradesh

Regions

I tried to add regions to this article, since there are a good 70 districts in the state—it definitely needs some kind of regions structure. Unfortunately, I know nothing about the area, so I probably got it wrong. Please feel free to correct. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 03:03, 20 December 2008 (EST)

This needs to be revisited, as it is unclear where the borders between the regions lie. I can't figure out, for example, where Saharanpur or Etawah are supposed to go. Texugo (talk) 12:50, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Any further information on this? Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

List of 9 cities - which ones?

Wikivoyage policy is to list no more than 9 cities in the "Cities" list in an article about a state. Right now, we have the following cities listed:

• Lucknow — the capital of Uttar Pradesh, also home to one of the IIM
• Agra — the tourist Capital of India, home to three World Heritage Site, including the Taj Mahal
• Allahabad — holy place where the rivers Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati meet
• Ayodhya — birth Place of Lord Shri Ram and Lord Rishabhdev, first Tirthankar of the Jains.
• Bareilly — historical city of Rohilkhand
• Jhansi — historical city of Northern Bundelkhand
• Kanpur — once known as the "Manchester of India", now famous for its leather works and the IIT
• Kasganj
• Mathura — birth Place of Lord Krishna
• Sarnath — the site of the Buddha Sakyamuni's first teaching after gaining enlightenment
• Varanasi
• Bulandshahr — Holy Place of Mahabharata, Pandavas stayed here during Vanvas.

Kasganj and Bulandshahr are red links, so we can probably agree to remove them. But that would still leave 10 cities, and a user just added Faizabad, which I reverted pending agreement.

I am no expert on the state, but it's obvious to me that, in addition to listing Lucknow, the state capital, Agra and Varanasi must be listed. Of course, arguments can be made for all the others. So if you know the state well, which ones are least important? Sarnath is close to Varanasi and UP Tourism gives its 1991 population as having been 8,071. Even if it's doubled since then, it's still a very small town, and despite its historical importance, I found it pretty underwhelming to visit compared to Varanasi, from which it's an easy day trip, so I'd recommend deleting its listing. Should we leave all the rest other than the two red-linked places and Sarnath? What about Faizabad? Should we list it instead of one of the remaining 9 cities? Ikan Kekek (talk) 09:02, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

The list is now down to 9, with Bareilly having been deleted as embarrassing. However, if anyone would like to argue for including Faizabad instead of one of the currently-listed cities, such as perhaps Sarnath, please make the argument here. Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:01, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• (1) Ayodhya Ram Paidi Uttar Pradesh India 2013.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 01:22, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

Replaced at Wikidata ARR8 (talk | contribs) 02:18, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

"Regions" text

Can we please get rid of all the clutter? Right now, instead of descriptions that would tell prospective travelers why they might want to visit each region, we have long lists of every darn city in each region. Some nice descriptions from someone who knows each region would be 1,000% better! Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:21, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Done, although descriptions could be ironed. Ground Zero (talk) 03:24, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

Dubious(?) text

The history section currently has:

Two great epics of India, Ramayana and Mahabharata, appear to have been inspired by Uttar Pradesh.

Since neither Kurukshetra (where the great battle of the Mahabharata was fought) nor Sri Lanka (prominent in the Ramayana) are in UP. I'm inclined to delete this as nonsense. However I don't know Indian literature well enough to be confident of my judgment here.

Other opinions? Pashley (talk) 01:06, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

I guess it should be deleted as an Indian myself. Beyond UP, the Ramayana covers areas like Chhattisgarh (as Dandakaranya), Rameswaram, and of course Sri Lanka. The Mahabharata is more concentrated on Northern India, and Kurukshetra is indeed outside UP, in Haryana. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 16:03, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

Reorganisation of regions

I have lately found that the Doab article is overpopulated with cities, as opposed to Awadh and Purvanchal. Not only that, but the boundaries of Awadh and Purvanchal are a bit inconsistent. So, I have decided to reorganise Uttar Pradesh into six regions, as opposed to five originally, splitting the Doab region into the Upper Doab and Braj.

Western Uttar Pradesh

Upper Doab The northwestern part of the state, home to Delhi's eastern suburbs.

Braj Between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, in the southwestern part of the state. It is home to Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, as well as the twin pilgrimage sites of Mathura and Vrindavan.

Rohilkhand On the upper Ganges alluvial plain, in the northern part of the state.

Central and Eastern Uttar Pradesh

Awadh The central part of the state including the capital, Lucknow, is known as the granary of India, and the centre of various period films of Bollywood and modern films.

Purvanchal The eastern end of Uttar Pradesh, one of the most ancient regions of India, enjoying a rich heritage and culture.

Northern Bundelkhand A geographic and cultural region of gentle hills in the southwestern part of the state. Home to Jhansi, the city of Rani Lakshmibai, as well as the spiritual town of Chitrakoot.

--Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 16:37, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

Languages

Shouldn't this article have a Talk section (or Understand subsection)? As India's linguistic composition is complex, I think all the state articles should (and the region articles on groups of states where the states don't have their own). Giving the Hindi and Urdu names of the state hints on those two being official language, but the English would be there regardless, so whether English is understood by uneducated people is now left untold. To what extent you can survive on the official languages in an arbitrary village off the beaten path would also be nice to know. –LPfi (talk) 09:17, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

The language situation in UP is interesting. In urban areas, everyone will understand Hindi-Urdu. However, when you hit rural UP, the linguistic composition gets complex, since people might speak a local language instead of Hindi-Urdu. For example:

• Around Ayodhya-Lucknow: Awadhi
• Around Gorakhpur-Varanasi: Bhojpuri
• Around Mathura-Vrindavan: Braj Bhasha
• Around Kannauj: Kannauji

However, people speak Hindi-Urdu natively across the Doab region, which is apparently where the languages were originally developed. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 18:00, 12 August 2026 (UTC)

I am adding the talk section, but I am not sure I got it right. How likely are you to find a Hindi/Urdu speaker in the countryside? What about English there and in cities? –LPfi (talk) 05:37, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

In the countryside, you will far more likely to find a Hindi/Urdu speaker than an English speaker, as many in rural areas are bilingual. This is in contrast to Southern India where you will more likely to find an English speaker than a Hindi/Urdu speaker. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 06:21, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Braj

The GIF map that forms the basis of the recent reorganization.

After the recent reorganization of regions (see #Reorganisation of regions above), I find that the "Braj" region is culturally not coterminous to the Middle Doab (a region between Upper and Lower Doab regions). Yes, there are user-generated maps showing the Braj region covering the entire western UP, but as far as I see, the cultural core is limited to Mathura, Vrindavan and nearby villages, where the Radha-Krishna sect of Hinduism is prevalent. So I thought of reorganizing the Doab area into the following regions:

• Upper Doab (unchanged, 10 cities)
• Braj (only Mathura district with 5 cities)
• Lower Doab (11 cities, 1 other destination)

I will first split Barsana and Nandgaon into two villages, and then create Govardhan as another pilgrimage site. After that, I will restrict Braj to only Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Nandgaon and Govardhan. The others will go to Lower Doab.

Feel free to discuss the above proposal. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 18:10, 12 August 2026 (UTC)

On the face of it, it sounds OK to me, but I would love for someone else with more cultural knowledge about the area to agree or disagree with your assessment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:43, 12 August 2026 (UTC)

Yes, that's true, as I never went to Uttar Pradesh before. A foolproof way could be to rename Braj into "Middle Doab", as per the GIF map, which was my original proposal. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 05:10, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

I didn't actually mean to suggest that you lacked cultural knowledge of the state, but rather that I do. I wouldn't have known you haven't visited it yet. Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:48, 13 August 2026 (UTC)