Ahraura is a town and a

municipal board A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the

Mirzapur district Mirzapur district is one of the 75 districts in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The district is bounded on the north by Bhadohi and Varanasi districts, on the east by Chandauli district, on the south by Sonbhadra district and Rewa dist ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Geography

Ahraura has an average elevation of 87 metres (285 feet)..

Demographics

As of the 2001 India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Ahraura had a population of 23,142. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Ahraura has an average literacy rate of 52%, lower than the national average of 59.5%; with 63% of the males and 37% of females literate. 18% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Tourism

Ahraura has many places of interest such as the Lakhaniya Dari waterfalls, Chuna Dari and the Bhandari Devi temple. There are sites with Cave paintings that are believed to be prehistoric.

History

According to ''Ain-i-Akbari,'' this region was named after the

Abhira Abhira may refer to: *Abhira people The Abhira people (Devanagari: आभीर) were a legendary people mentioned in ancient Indian epics and scriptures. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythr ...

(Ahir/Yadava) tribe.

Festivals

All major Festivals Like

Holi Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...

Deepawali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual ...

, Eid,

Dussehra Vijayadashami (), more commonly known as Dassahra in Hindi, and also known as Dashāhra or Dashain in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Nepali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Durga Puja and Navarahtri. It is observed o ...

etc. are celebrated with full zeal and joy. In Months of July, August and September there are many cultural and fun fair are organised at different places in Ahraura.

Economics

Ahraura has been an historical center of trade in the region, lately for forest products such as wooden toys,

catechu ( or ) is an extract of acacia trees used variously as a food additive, astringent, tannin, and dye. It is extracted from several species of Acacia, but especially ''Senegalia catechu'' (previously called ''Acacia catechu''), by boiling the ...

(also known as kattha or khair, used in

Betel nut chewing Betel nut chewing, also called betel quid chewing or areca nut chewing, is a practice in which areca nuts (also called "betel nuts") are chewed together with slaked lime and betel leaves for their stimulant and narcotic effects, the primar ...

), Tendu tree leaves (used in preparing smoke-cigars/

beedi A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or cigar, mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu (''Diospyros melanoxylon'') or ''Piliostigma racemosum'' leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It ...

), Tree raisins, and previously for food grains and vegetables. The nearby forests yield many valued

medicinal herbs Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ...

, a few of which are rare anywhere else. The city is very famous for the pink stones of its mountain rocks. Geographically the stones found are considered varieties of Chunar stone, but are different in attributes such as being harder. The unique quality of the stone is that it shines pink when touched with water, as in rain, recently used in huge quantity in the

national parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

erected by the government, in the cities of

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

and

Noida Noida (), short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (ISO: ), is a city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. As per provisional reports of Census of India, the population of Noida in 2011 was ...

Banks

Ahraura has modern banking facilities with ATM's. All the major banks like

Allahabad Bank Allahabad Bank was an Indian nationalised bank with its headquarters in Kolkata, India. Founded in Allahabad in 1865 and nationalized by the government of India in 1969, the bank provided banking and financial services for 155 years until it wa ...

, the

State Bank Of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Public sector undertakings in India, public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest bank in India with a 23% market shar ...

, the

Bank of Baroda Bank of Baroda (BOB or BoB) is an Public sector banks in India, Indian government Public sector bank headquartered in Vadodara, Gujarat. It is the third largest Public sector banks in India, public sector bank in India after State Bank of India ...

, the

Punjab National Bank Punjab National Bank alias PNB is an Public sector banks in India, Indian government bank based in New Delhi. It was founded in May 1894 and is the List of banks in India, second-largest public sector bank in India in terms of its business volum ...

and

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank () is a microfinance, specialized community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It provides small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requiring collateral. Grameen Bank is a statutory ...

have their branches in Ahraura.

Notable locations

Ahraura has many famous holy places: there is a temple situated in rocky mountain and there is a stone inscription of

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

, one of the

Minor Rock Edicts The Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka (r. 269–233 BCE) are rock inscriptions which form the earliest part of the Edicts of Ashoka, and predate Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts. These are the first edicts in the Indian language of Emperor Ashoka, written ...

of Ashoka. An important monument accounts for the stone-scripture by Emperor Ashoka, in a script possibly

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

, a mark of buddhist influence, which in that period, might have been a site of distribution of food by the monastery, thus contributing the name

Bhandari Bhandari or Bhandary is a surname found in various Hindu castes and communities in India and Nepal. Bhandari means ''treasurer'', keeper of a storehouse. In Punjab, Bhandaris belong to Ahluwalia and Khatri castes. In Nepal, the surname is used ...

. Near the southern end of the city, near the water reservoir, is a stone pillar, that is also believed to be erected by Emperor Ashoka, with a script/note in Pali, mistaken as a riddle to be solved to reach the hidden wealth of

Sumedha In Buddhist texts, Sumedha is a previous life of Gotama Buddha (Pāli; ) in which he declares his intention to become a Buddha. Buddhist texts describe that this takes place when Gotama Buddha is still a Buddha-to-be (', '). Traditions regar ...

(mentioned in Chandrakanta The city has many famous structures/temples within its boundaries, the two most visited are the Durga Devi temple and the Bhandari Devi temple. The Durga Devi temple is situated at a mountain at the south edge of the city and the Bhandari Devi temple is situated at a mountain at the north edge of the city. The city also has a temple named the Radha Krishna temple in the middle of the city market. There are many architectural structures, scattered in the periphery of the town speaking of its rich history and culture. Ahraura market was one of the oldest markets in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

References

{{Mirzapur district Cities and towns in Mirzapur district