Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, India

🇮🇳 Deoria is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is one of five tehsils of the Deoria district. Deoria is located 45 km east of Gorakhpur and about 317 km from the state capital Lucknow. It shares its eastern border with Bihar.

Demographics The total number of literates in Deoria was 99,562, which constituted 76.9% of the population with male literacy of 81.1% and female literacy of 72.3%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Deoria was 86.8%, of which male literacy rate was 91.6% and female literacy rate was 81.6%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 8,177 and 2,228 respectively. Deoria had 20076 households in 2011.

Religion As of 2011, Hinduism is largest religion in Deoria city with 113,640 87.77%. Islam is second largest religion in Deoria with 11.66%. Other religions includes Sikhs (0.2%), Christians (0.14%), Buddhists (0.08%), Jains (0.02%), Others (<0.01%).

History The area now known as the Deoria District was once a part of the Kosala Kingdom - a prime centre of ancient Aryan culture surrounded by the Himalayas in the north, the Shyandika river in the south, the Panchala Kingdom in the west and the Magadh Kingdom in Bihar to the east. Apart from the many legends told about this area, archaeological remains, such as statues, coins, bricks, Temples. Most of the People using surname Rao belong to the Kshatriya caste in Deoria Dist.

The ancient history of the district is related with the Ramayana times when the Lord of Kosala, Ram, appointed his elder son Kusha the king of Kushwati, which is present-day Kushinagar. Before the Mahabharata era, this area had been related with Chakravorty Samrat Mahasudtsan Malla and his kingdom. Kushinagar was well developed and prosperous. Close to the border of his kingdom was the thick forested area called the Mahavan. This area was under the control of the Maurya rulers, the Gupta rulers, the Bihar rulers, and then the Garhwal ruler Govinda Chandra from 1114 AD until 1154 AD.

History: Modern The Deoria district came into existence on 16 March 1946, being separated from the Gorakhpur District. It is believed that the name Deoria is derived from Devaranya or possibly Devpuria. According to official gazetteers, the district was named "Deoria" after its headquarters in Deoria, and the term Deoria generally means a place where there are temples. The name Deoria probably developed because of the existence of important temples in the area. The famous temples & places in Deoria to see are Devraha baba ashram and Dugdheswarnath Mandir. During British rule the district was under the control of Majhauli Royal family and prominent landlords of Kayastha community, with their descendants still owning major chunks of land (Munshi Gorakhnath). Some other families had their impact on various part of the district in which Dubey's of Badkagaon are quite famous. During Freedom struggle of India the district joined struggle under the leadership of Pandit Bibhuti Mani Tripathi of village Dehrauli, Rudrapur.

Geography Deoria district is located between 26 ° 6' and 26° 48' north latitude to 83° 23' and 84° 16' east longitude. It is surrounded by Kushinagar district in the north, Gopalganj and Siwan districts of Bihar in the east, Mau and Ballia districts in the south and Gorakhpur district in the west. The district has two Nagar Palika Parishad- Deoria and Gaura Barhaj. It has nine Nagar Panchayats which are Baitalpur, Hetimpur, Rudrapur, Rampur Karkhana, Bariyarpur, Bhatni Bazar, Bhatpar Rani, Gauri Bazar, Lar, Majhauli Raj and Salempur. Hetimpur is a newly created nagar panchayat located at the banks of Chhoti Gandak river near the NH 27.

Ghaghara, Rapti and Chhoti Gandak are the main rivers in the district.

Languages At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 85.80% of the population in the district spoke Bhojpuri, 12.67% Hindi and 1.40% Urdu as their first language.

Bhojpuri is the native language of Deoria. The Bhojpuri variant of Kaithi is the indigenous script of Bhojpuri language.