Uttar Pradesh Tourism

The cave paintings of Sonbhadra and Chitrakoot are the documents of the life of that time. Those photographs tell stories of war, survival, victory and defeat. This culture of paintings kept on developing with time. Narrates the stories of Lord Krishna's childhood and adolescence in Mathura, Gokul, Vrindavan. What a great way to preserve the stories told visually for generations to come! It is also admired for its long-lived artistry which includes stone-crafts, pottery, embroideries, glassware, zari embroidery, textile printing as well as carpet weaving, hand printing. Banarasi silk sarees are famous all over the country.

Chikankari is one of the popular crafts of Uttar Pradesh. It is the art of introducing intricate designs on fabric through hand embroidery. These designs are usually very detailed and elaborate and are known to win hearts of all. Lucknow is especially famous for chikan sarees, suits and kurtas all over the country. Zardozi is another famous craft of Varanasi. Zardozi embroidery is usually done in three dimensions.

Uttar Pradesh is the land of art. The music tradition of the state has developed by starting with the praises of the sages. In the medieval era, two distinct branches of music emerged—courtly music and devotional music. These branches grew and prospered in different regions across the state. Collectively, over the years, Uttar Pradesh's contribution to Hindustani music has been widely recognized and appreciated. Kathak, one of the major classical dance forms of India, is known to have flourished in UP. Other popular dance forms of UP include Rasiya, Charkula and Braj Rasleela.

The history of Uttar Pradesh is 4000 years old. This is the land that is said to have been the foreground of Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Under British rule, the state was known as the North Western Province of Agra and Oudh. In the year 1902, it came to be known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, when the abbreviation UP became popular. However, it was only after India's independence that the name Uttar Pradesh was given to the state, thereby retaining the abbreviation UP.

UP is like the whole country with a never seen before cultural mix. Various ethnicities, religions, cultures testify that UP has absorbed a lot of immigrant culture within its borders and created a multifaceted heritage that can only be found in India. Afghan, Kashmiri, Bengali, Parsi and Punjabi immigrants settled here. Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists all enjoyed the freedom to practice their religions and pass it on to future generations. Music, art, dance, literature, crafts all flourished under the Mughal influence. writers like Munshi Premchand, Mahadevi Verma, Shrikant Verma, poets like Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Sumitra Nandan Pant, Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, and Upendranath 'Ashka'; Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, Kathak magician Birju Maharaj, Tabla player Kishan Maharaj, the great Baba Allauddin Khan and his disciple Pt. Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan; Ghazal singers Begum Akhtar, Bai, Girija Devi and many more contribute to the artistic scene of UP. It is the state that has learned to accept the diversity in its regions and has allowed it to grow over the years, creating the current cultural mix of people from all over India.