Ballia District

{{About|the district|its eponymous headquarters|Ballia}} {{For|other uses|Balia (disambiguation){{!}}Balia}} {{India Districts |Name = Ballia |Local = बलिया ज़िला
بالیا ضلع |State = Uttar Pradesh |Division = [[Azamgarh division|Azamgarh]] |HQ = Ballia |Map = Uttar Pradesh district location map Ballia.svg |Area = 2,981 |Rain = |Population = 2,752,412 |Urban = |Year = 2001 |Density = 923 |Literacy = |SexRatio = |Tehsils = |LokSabha = [[Ballia (Lok Sabha constituency)|Ballia]], [[Salempur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Salempur]] |Assembly = |Highways = |Website = http://ballia.nic.in/ }} '''Ballia district''' ({{lang-hi|बलिया ज़िला}}, {{lang-ur|بالیا ضلع}}) is one of the [[Districts of Uttar Pradesh|districts]] of [[Uttar Pradesh]] [[States and territories of India|state]], [[India]]. Ballia district is a part of [[Azamgarh Division]] situated in eastern Part of Uttar Pradesh. Main occupation is agriculture. Ballia City is district headquarters and commercial Market of this district. There are four Tehsil (Taluka) in this district viz Ballia, Rasra, Bairiya and Belthara. Rasra is second major commercial area of district, having one government sugar mill and one cotton weaving industry. Though Ballia's core occupation is agriculture but there are some small industry are existing. Maniar is known for its bindi (Indian ladies putting on their forehead) industry and major supplier. ==History== The great nationalist and the hero of [[First War of Indian Independence]], [[Mangal Pandey]] was born here. National Hero of "Quit India Movement" Chittu Pandey and freedom fighter Ram Pujan Singh were also from Ballia. The city of [[Ballia]], the district headquarters, is believed to the birth place and workplace of [[Maharshi]] [[Bhrigu]]. The language spoken in Ballia is Hindi and [[Bhojpuri]], a dialect of [[Hindi]]. Former Prime minister of India Late [[Chandra Shekhar]] was a native of [[Ibrahimpatti]] in Ballia district. Ballia is surrounded by two major river Ganges and Ghaghra (Saryu) that make this land more fertile. ==Demographics== According to the [[2011 census of India|2011 census]] Ballia district has a [[Demographics of India|population]] of 3,223,642, roughly equal to the nation of [[Mauritania]] or the US state of [[Iowa]]. This gives it a ranking of 108th in India (out of a total of [[Districts of India|640]]). The district has a population density of {{convert| 1081 |PD/sqkm|PD/sqmi}} . Its [[Family planning in India|population growth rate]] over the decade 2001-2011 was 16.73 %. Ballia has a [[sex ratio]] of 933 [[Women in India|females]] for every 1000 males, and a [[Literacy in India|literacy rate]] of 73.82 %. ===Languages=== Languages include [[Bhojpuri language|Bhojpuri]], a tongue in the [[Bihari language]] group with almost 40 000 000 speakers, written in both the [[Devanagari]] and [[Kaithi]] scripts. ==Culture== Contribution of Ballia to Hindi Literature is immense as many prominent scholars hail from Ballia like Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Parshuram Chaturvedi, Amarkant to name a few. Ballia can boast of one of the most prominent NRI in USA Jagdish Chandra Shukla who heads the University of Occeanogrophy and published hundreds of paper related to environment. Ballia is surrounded by two major river Ganges and Ghaghra (Saryu) that make this land more fertile. Ballia is also considered as a holy Hindu city. It has big and small temples. Bhrigu temple in Bhrigu Ashram is considered to be a famous temple where Bhrigu Muni was supposed to reside. Bhrigu muni is the one who according to Hindu Mythology hit Lord Vishnu on his chest. Behind Bhrigu Ashram earlier River Ganga used to flow. Famous Dadri Mela (fair) is still held annually and people from all around the place come to visit it. ===Tourism=== Six miles in the east on Ballia-Bairiya bandh, the village Dubehar is renamed after the name of Mahrishi Durvasa Rishi, where was his Tapovan, during tapasya, he ate Dub (grass) i.e. Dub-Aahar, so the village named as Dubehar. In village Dubehar, there is Devi Durgaji temple in the middle of the village, where at every Ramnavami, the devotee performed Puja & Havan and after this they give self minor blood to Maa-Durga. The devotee stand before Maa Durga with folded hands as Namaskar position, a barber (Naai) stand by side, cut a minor mark on the right solder with ustara (a shaving kind of knife) to blood com-up, the devotee wipe their blood with Bel-patra (Bel-leaf) and put it before Maa-Durga. This act is called 'Vardaan'. It consists of many block (kasbas or tehsils) among which chief are bansdeeh, maniar, ratsar. It has many famous temples like barmyin (pronounced baar.r.ma.in), suryadevta, aseganath etc. There are even chief villages like kaithwali, hanumanganj, basantpur etc. Kaithwali is famous for its bird sanctuary (surhatal). In village Shaikhpur from Sikanderpur 5 km on the road of Maniar are many famous Moharrum there. Original Silver (Chandi) 4 ft Tazia Moharrum celebration since 1875 there is karbla building right now not available same design in world accept Kaba, Saudia Arabia one can visit your team and trace the place. There is nne family Shia'a Syed Ghazanfar Hussain (Nawab Saheb) behind of Dargah Shareef living in since 1875. ==External links== {{Geographic location |Centre = Ballia district |North = |Northeast = [[Siwan district]], [[Bihar]] |East = [[Saran district]], [[Bihar]] |Southeast = [[Bhojpur District, Bihar|Bhojpur district]], [[Bihar]] |South = [[Buxar district]], [[Bihar]] |Southwest = [[Ghazipur district]] |West = [[Mau district]] |Northwest = [[Deoria district]] }} {{Ballia district}} {{Districts of Uttar Pradesh}} {{Azamgarh division topics}} {{coord missing|Uttar Pradesh}}