The epics of Hinduism, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were written in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh also had the glory of being home to Lord Buddha. It has now been established that Gautama Buddha spent most of his life in eastern Uttar Pradesh, wandering from place to place preaching his sermons. The empire of Chandra Gupta Maurya extended nearly over the whole of Uttar Pradesh. Edicts of this period have been found at Allahabad and Varanasi. After the fall of the Mauryas, the present state of Uttar Pradesh was divided into four parts: Surseva, North Panchal, Kosal, and Kaushambi.
The western part of Uttar Pradesh saw the advent of the Shaks in the second century BC. Not much is known of the history of the state during the times of Kanishka and his successors. The Gupta Empire ruled over nearly the whole of Uttar Pradesh, and it was during this time that culture and architecture reached its peak. The decline of the Guptas coincided with the attacks of Huns from Central Asia who succeeded establishing their influence right up to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.
The seventh century witnessed the taking over of Kannauj by Harshavardhana. In 1526, Babur laid the foundation of the Mughal dynasty. He defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the battle of Panipat. Babar carried out extensive campaign in various parts of Uttar Pradesh. He defeated the Rajputs near Fatehpur Sikri while his son Humayun conquered Jaunpur and Ghazipur, after having brought the whole of Awadh under his control. After Babur’s death (1530), his son Humayun forfeited the empire after being defeated at the hands of Sher Shah Suri at Kannauj.
After the death of Sher Shah Suri in 1545, Humayun once again regained his empire but died soon after. His son Akbar proved to be the greatest of Mughals. His established a unified empire over nearly the whole of the India. During his period, Agra became the capital of India and became heartland of culture and arts. Akbar constructed huge forts in Agra and Allahabad. The period of Jahangir (after 1605) saw arts and culture reach a new high. In 1627, after the death of Jahangir, his son Shahjahan ascended the throne. The period of Shahjahan is known as the golden period of India in art, culture, and architecture. It was during his reign that the classical wonder Taj Mahal was built in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. The régime of Aurangzeb saw the peak of Mughal Empire in terms of geographic expansion.
Prehistory
Archeological finds have indicated the presence of Stone Age Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers in Uttar Pradesh between around 85 and 73 thousand years old. Other pre-historical finds have included Middle and Upper Paleolithic artifacts dated to 21–31 thousand years old and Mesolithic/Microlithic hunter-gatherer’s settlement, near Pratapgarh, from around 10550–9550 BC. Villages with domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats and evidence of agriculture began as early as 6000 BC, and gradually developed between c. 4000 and 1500 BC beginning with the Indus Valley Civilization and Harappa Culture to the Vedic period; extending into the Iron Age.
Vedic Period
There is hardly any mention of the area comprising present Uttar Pradesh in Vedic hymns. Even the sacred rivers, the Ganga and Yamuna, appear only on the distance horizon of the land of the Aryans. In the later Vedic age, the importance of Sapta Sindhu recedes and Brahmarshi Desh or Madhya Desh assumes significance. The region comprising Uttar Pradesh at that time became a holy place of India and foremost center of Vedic culture and knowledge.
The new States of Kuru-Panchal, Kashi and Kosal find mention in late-Vedic texts as prominent centers of Vedic culture. The people of Kuru-Panchat were regarded as the best representatives of Vedic culture. They enjoyed great respect as outstanding orators of Sanskrit. The conduct of schools and institutions by them was laudable. The life of their kinds was a model for other kings and their Brahmins were held in high esteem for their piety and scholarship. The Upanishads prominently mention the Panchal Parishad. The scholars from Kuru-Panchal were specially visited by the Videsh king on the occasion of Ashwamedh Yajna. The Panchal king Pravahan Jaivali himself was a great thinker who was praised even by Brahmin scholars like Shilik, Dalabhya, Shvetketu and his father Uddalak Aruni. Ajatshatru of Kashi was another greatphilosopher king whose superiority was acknowledged by Brahmin scholars like Dripti, Valhaki, Gargya etc., Literature in various disciplines was authored on an extensive scale during this age culminating in the Upanishads. They signify the highest reach of human imagination. The Upanishad literature was the product of meditation in the Ashrams of the sages, several of which were in Uttar Pradesh, Eminent sages like Bharadwaj, Yajnavalkya, Vashishta, Valmiki and Atri have either their Ashrams here or were otherwise connected with this State. Some Aranyans and Upanishads were, in written in the Ashrams located in this State.
Post Vedic Period
The cultural heritage of Uttar pradesh was maintained in the period of the Ramayan and Mahabharat i.e. the epic period. The story of Ramayan revolves round the Ikshwaku dynasty of Kosal and of Mahabharat a round the ‘Kuru’ dynasty of Hastinapur. Local people firmly believe that the Ashram of Valmiki, the author of Ramayan, was in Brahmavart (Bithoor in Kanpur District) and it was in the surroundings of Naimisharany (Nimsar-Misrikh in Sitapur district) that Suta narrated the story of Mahabharat as he had heard it from Vyasji. Some of the Smritis and Puranas were also written in this State.Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Makkhaliputta Goshal and great thinkers brought about a revolution in Uttar Pradesh in 6th century B.C. Out of these, Makkhaliputta Goshal, who was born at Shravan near Shravasti, was the founder of Ajivika sect. Mahavir, the 24th Trithankar of Jains was born in Bihar but had a large number of followers in Uttar Pradesh. He is said to have lived twice during rainy season in this State-once in Shravasti and the second time in Padrauna near Deoria. Pawa proved to be his last resting place. In fact, Jainism had entrenched itself in this State even before the arrival of Mahavir. Several Tirthankars such as Parshwanath, Sambharnath and Chandraprabha were born in different cities in this State and attained ‘Kaivalya’ here. Jainism must have retained its popularity in this State in Subsequent centuries also. this fact is borne by the ruins of several ancient temples. buildings, etc. The remains of a magnificient Jain Stupa have been dug out near Kankali Tila in Mathura, while Jain shrines built in early middle Age are still preserved in Deogarh, Chanderi and other places.
The Age of Buddha
The founder of Buddhism, Gautam the Buddha, was born in Lumbini in Nepal. His father, King Shuddodhan, was the ruler of a small State, Kapilvastu (now in Siddharthnagar district). His mother, Maya, belonged to the ruling family of another small state, Deodah (now in Deoria district). The Buddha attained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in Bihar but it was in Isipattan or Mrigdav in Sarnath in U.P. that the preached his first sermon and laid the foundation of his Order. From this point of view, Sarnath has the distinction of being the birth place of ‘Dhamma’ and ‘Sangha’, the two elements of the Holy Trinity of Buddism,the third being the Buddha himself.Other notable places in Uttar Pradesh followed by Buddha’s association are Kushinara of Kushinagar (in Deoria district) where he attained ‘Mahaparinirvana, Shravasti the capital of Kisal where he performed a great miracle, and Sankashyar Sankisa (in Etah district) where another miracle of his life occured.The rulers of several states in the then Uttar Pradesh were greately influenced by the teaching of Buddha.
The People of the State also did not lag behind in showing love and devotion to the Tathagat, greater part of whose monastic life was spent in Uttar Pradesh. Thus it will be no exaggeration to describe Uttar Pradesh as the Cradle of Buddhism. Besides Buddhism and Jainism, Pauranic Brahmanism also had deep roots in the state. Ancient images of Gods and Goddesses of Brahmanical order, a temple of Kushan period has been found which alludes to Brahmanism. In fact Mathura can be said to be the birthplace of Indian sculpture. Other temples of this faith built in different periods are in Varanasi, Allahabad, Ballia, Ghazipur. Jhansi and Kanpur.
Idle Age of Synthesis
In successive centuries after Buddha, Ayodhya, Prayag, Varanasi, Mathura and several other cities continued to play important role in the making of religious and cultural history in India. Several kings who ruled the region became immortal because of Vedic rituals performed by them and patronage extended by them to learning. Scholars like Ashwaghosh, Kalidas, Ban, Mayur, Diwakar, Vakpati, Bhavbhuti, Rajshekhar, Laxmidhar, Sri Harsh and Krishna Misra adorned their courts. Yuan-chwang says that the people of Uttar Pradesh were full masters of the language and spoke it correctly, there pronunciation was like that of the Devas, elegant, beautiful, and their intonation clear and district, worthy of emulation by others, the rules framed be these people were accepted by all. Rajashekhar of Pratihar also payas homage in the similar vein to the people and poets of Panchal.
Varanasi continued to be a prominent centre of learning as in the past. Ayodhya and Mathura acquired fameas birth places of Ram and Krishna. Pilgrims from every corner of the country continued to throng to Prayag and as such it was called the Tirtharaj Similarly, the north mountain region, where Kailash and Mansarovar are situated and from where the holy rivers of the country originate, also remained sacred for the piligrims. The Shankaracharya established one of the four prominent sacred Dhams in Badrikashram in this region.
Middle Age
The liberal traditions continued to flourish in Uttar Pradesh in the middle age as well. Varanasi remained a prominent centre of Hindu learning and Jaunpur, under the Sharqi rulers, a prominent center of Islamic culture. Jaunpur was describing as the ‘Shiraz’ of India. The Sharqi rulers were patrons of music also and there were many famous musicians in their court. Brij region was an important center of devotional music in those days. It was in Uttar Pradesh that ‘Sufis’ took inspiration from Hindu thought and philosophy. Ramanand and his famous disciple Kabir and other saints like Ravidas, Darya Shah and Guru Gorakhnath were some of the great men of those times who gave a new direction to the life and culture of this State. The Hindu teachers laid emphasis on monotheism (oneness of God) and focused attention on the meaninglessness of the caste system. The Muslim sufis were greatly influenced by mysticism. All these saint-poets contributed to the enrichment of both Hindi and Urdu literature. A notable contribution was made by Sultan Feroz Tughlaq who got Sankrit works translated into Presian among the authors of this age, Zia-ud-din Barni will always be held in high esteem. The tradition of cultural synthesis, which was started by the sufis and saints during the rule of Sultans received great impetus during the reign of wise Mughals. It was a time when a distinct liberal outlook was discernible in all the spheres of human life such as religion, art and literatures. Many Madaras and Makatabs were opened for Muslim education and Varanasi became the traditional center of Hindu education. Hindi and Urdu literatures developed further and work of translation of Sanskrit books into persian gained nomentum. Tulsidas, Surdas, Keshavdas, Bhushan, Malik Mohammad Jayasi, Raskhan, Matiram, Ghananand, Bihari, Dev and Giridhar Kavirai were some of the great poets who brought into being, laurels to Uttar Pradesh. After the disintegration of the Mughal Empire, smaller states which came also pursued a policy of giving patronage to poets and musicians.