Pariksha SaathiLesson 9 of 10 · Uttar Pradesh General Knowledge
Fairs, Festivals, Language, Literature and People of Uttar Pradesh
Drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked on 28 October 2026; not yet read line by line by a human editor. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Editorial standards & corrections
Kumbh and Magh Mela
The Kumbh Mela, the largest gathering of pilgrims in the world, is held in turn at four places: Prayagraj, at the Sangam of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the hidden Saraswati, and Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. At Prayagraj the full Kumbh comes every 12 years and the Ardh Kumbh every 6 years, in the month of Magh (January-February), with main bathing days such as Makar Sankranti, Mauni Amavasya, Basant Panchami and Maghi Purnima. UNESCO added the Kumbh Mela to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2017. Every year a smaller Magh Mela is held at the Sangam, where devotees called kalpvasis live on the riverbank for the whole month. The tradition is old: Hiuen Tsang described Harsha's gift-giving at Prayag in the seventh century.
Other festivals and fairs
Dev Deepawali is celebrated at Varanasi on Kartik Purnima, fifteen days after Diwali, when the ghats are lit with lamps for the gods who are believed to come down to bathe in the Ganga. Since 2017 the state has held the Deepotsav at Ayodhya on the eve of Diwali, lighting lamps along the Saryu at Ram ki Paidi. Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana and Nandgaon celebrate Janmashtami and a long Holi, including the Lathmar Holi of Barsana and Nandgaon. Important fairs are the Dadri cattle fair at Ballia and the Bateshwar fair near Agra (both in Kartik), the Kartik Purnima bathing fair at Garhmukteshwar, the Nauchandi fair of Meerut, the Dewa Sharif fair at Barabanki in memory of the Sufi saint Haji Waris Ali Shah, and the fair at Maghar, where Kabir died.
Language and dialects
Hindi in the Devanagari script is the official language under the Uttar Pradesh Official Language Act, 1951, and Urdu was made the second official language in 1989. Both grew from the Khari Boli of the region around Meerut and Delhi. In Grierson's classification the dialects of the state fall into three groups. Western Hindi includes Khari Boli (Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar), Braj Bhasha (Mathura, Agra, Aligarh), Kannauji (Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Etawah) and Bundeli (Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur). Eastern Hindi includes Awadhi (Lucknow, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Rae Bareli). The Bihari group includes Bhojpuri (Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Deoria).
Saint-poets
The Bhakti saints of the state wrote in the language of the people. Ramananda taught at Varanasi, and the tradition counts among his disciples Kabir, the weaver-poet of Varanasi whose nirgun verses are collected in the Bijak and who died at Maghar, and Ravidas, whose verses are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Tulsidas began the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi at Ayodhya in 1574 and also wrote the Vinay Patrika; he spent his later life at Varanasi. Surdas, the blind poet of Braj, sang of Krishna's childhood in the Sursagar. Malik Muhammad Jayasi of Jais wrote the Padmavat in Awadhi in 1540, and Raskhan wrote Krishna poetry in Braj.
Modern literature
Bharatendu Harishchandra of Varanasi is called the father of modern Hindi literature. Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi of Rae Bareli edited the magazine Saraswati and set the standard for Khari Boli prose and verse, and Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay 'Hariaudh' of Azamgarh wrote Priyapravas, the first epic in Khari Boli. Premchand (Dhanpat Rai Srivastava), born at Lamhi near Varanasi in 1880, wrote Godan, Gaban and Nirmala and stories such as Kafan; his early Urdu collection Soz-e-Watan was seized by the British. Among the Chhayavad poets, Jaishankar Prasad of Varanasi wrote Kamayani, and Mahadevi Varma, born at Farrukhabad in 1907, won the Jnanpith Award for Yama in 1982. Maithili Sharan Gupt of Chirgaon (Jhansi), the Rashtrakavi, wrote Bharat-Bharati; Harivansh Rai Bachchan of Allahabad wrote Madhushala; and Firaq Gorakhpuri won the Jnanpith Award in 1969 for Urdu poetry. Mirza Ghalib was born in Agra in 1797, and Rahul Sankrityayan of Azamgarh was a great travel writer.
The people
By the Census 2011 Uttar Pradesh had 19.98 crore people, the most of any state, with a sex ratio of 912 females per 1,000 males and a literacy rate of 67.68 per cent; Allahabad (now Prayagraj) was the most populous district. The state has the largest Scheduled Caste population of any state, about one-fifth of its people, but Scheduled Tribes make up under 1 per cent. The best-known tribe, the Tharu, lives in the Terai along the Nepal border, in districts such as Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Balrampur, Shravasti and Maharajganj; Tharu villages live by farming and fishing, and women have a strong place in the household. The Buksa live in Bijnor, and the Gond, Kharwar, Cheru, Baiga and Agariya in Sonbhadra and Mirzapur, while the Bhotia, Jaunsari and Raji are now mainly in Uttarakhand.
Key facts
- Kumbh at Prayagraj: full Kumbh every 12 years, Ardh Kumbh every 6 years; UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2017.
- Magh Mela: held every year at the Sangam; kalpvasis stay on the riverbank for the month of Magh.
- Dev Deepawali: Kartik Purnima on the ghats of Varanasi; Ayodhya Deepotsav since 2017 on the eve of Diwali; Lathmar Holi at Barsana and Nandgaon.
- Fairs: Dadri (Ballia) cattle fair, Bateshwar (Agra), Garhmukteshwar, Nauchandi (Meerut), Dewa Sharif (Barabanki), Kabir fair at Maghar.
- Hindi is the official language (UP Official Language Act, 1951); Urdu has been the second official language since 1989.
- Dialects: Khari Boli (Meerut), Braj (Mathura-Agra), Kannauji (Kannauj), Bundeli (Jhansi), Awadhi (Lucknow-Ayodhya), Bhojpuri (Varanasi-Gorakhpur).
- Ramcharitmanas (Awadhi, Tulsidas, begun 1574); Padmavat (Awadhi, Jayasi, 1540); Sursagar (Braj, Surdas); Bijak (Kabir).
- Premchand born at Lamhi (Varanasi) in 1880; Mahadevi Varma born at Farrukhabad in 1907, Jnanpith 1982; Firaq Gorakhpuri Jnanpith 1969.
- Census 2011: 19.98 crore people, sex ratio 912, literacy 67.68%; Scheduled Tribes under 1%; Tharu tribe of the Terai.
- Birthplace traps: Nirala was born in Bengal (family home in Unnao); Sumitranandan Pant was born at Kausani, now in Uttarakhand.
Quick revision
Kumbh at Prayagraj every 12 years, Ardh Kumbh every 6, UNESCO 2017; Magh Mela and kalpvas yearly; Dev Deepawali at Varanasi; Ayodhya Deepotsav since 2017; Hindi official (1951 Act), Urdu second (1989); dialects Khari Boli, Braj, Kannauji, Bundeli, Awadhi, Bhojpuri; Kabir (Bijak, died Maghar), Tulsidas (Manas 1574), Surdas, Jayasi (Padmavat 1540); Premchand (Lamhi 1880), Mahadevi (Jnanpith 1982), Firaq (1969); Census 2011 sex ratio 912, literacy 67.68%; Tharu of the Terai.