Amethi is a city situated in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is a major town of the Amethi
district, in the Faizabad division. The Hanumangarhi
temple is located in the heart of the town. Amethi was the 72 nd district of Uttar Pradesh which came into existence on 1 July 2010 by merging three tehsils of the erstwhile Sultanpur district namely Amethi, Gauriganj and Musafirkhana and two tehsils of the erstwhile Raebareli district, namely, Salon and Tiloi.
The town is part of the
Amethi Lok Sabha constituency
Amethi Lok Sabha constituency is in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It covers the entire Amethi district and was created in 1967. The seat has almost always been held by the Indian National Congress (INC), save for a half-dozen years in the ...
and
Amethi Assembly constituency, which became reputed as a stronghold of the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
party. The Congress leaders belonging to
Nehru-Gandhi family won several elections from Amethi during 1980–2014. In 2019,
Smriti Irani
Smriti Zubin Irani (''née'' Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and C ...
of
Bhartiya Janta Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
won this seat.
History
The history of the princely state of Amethi is more than a thousand years old.
• Raja Sodh Dev Singh established this princely state in 966 AD during the invasion of Turks. Since then, the princely state of Amethi has faced many storms but its honor and dignity remained intact. Every king of the princely state took care of it. Raja Sodh Dev ruled the princely state from 966 AD to 1007 AD. After the Turks, the Mughal rulers also attacked this princely state.
• The British also tried to merge the princely state of Amethi, in which they failed. Raja Visheshvar Baksh Singh died in 1842. After his death, the queen committed sati by taking the dead body of her husband in her arms. According to belief, even today the women of the area organize Durduria at the Sati Maharani temple on every Thursday and seek the blessings of being married.
• Raja Lal Madhav Singh ascended the throne in 1842 after Raja Visheshwar Bakhsh Singh.
After his death in 1891, Raja Bhagwan Baksh Singh became the king of Amethi. Raja Bhagwan Baksh Singh had four sons Jang Bahadur Singh, Ranveer Singh, Rananjay Singh and Shatrunjay Singh. Ranveer Singh died at a young age.
In the past, Amethi used to be called Raipur-Amethi.
When the train station was built here, it took the name of Amethi, but before then there had been no settlement with that exact name.
There had been a ''mahal'' or
pargana of Amethi since at least the time of
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
: it is mentioned in the ''
Ain-i-Akbari'' as belonging to the
sarkar of
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
, with a brick fort at headquarters and was held by Rajputs called "Bahmangoti"s, who are the same as the Bandhalgoti Rajputs from whom the Rajas of Amethis originated.
Later on, the pargana was transferred to
Manikpur.
The Rajas of Amethi
The Rajas of Amethi belongs to Suryavanshi
Kachhwaha
The Kachhwaha or Kachawa is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. Sometimes families within the clan ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states, such as Jaipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Alwar and Maihar.
Subclans
Rajawat, ...
clan but later they popularly known as
Bandhalgoti
Bandhalgoti is a clan of Rajputs found mainly in Amethi- Sultanpur region of Uttar Pradesh. Bandhalgoti is the most prominent clan among Kachhwaha. Bandhalgoti Rajputs ruled a number of estates including Kohra, Amethi and Shahgarh etc. which l ...
Rajput in Amethi region, bandhalgoti term came from name of Raja Munivar Singh (1384-1414) he was popularly known as Raja Bandhalu In future the name Raja Bandhalu became so famous that
Kacchwaha
The Kachhwaha or Kachawa is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. Sometimes families within the clan ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states, such as Jaipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Alwar and Maihar.
Subclans
Rajawat, S ...
rajputs later came to be known as Bandhalgoti Rajput in Amethi Region.
The
Bandhalgoti
Bandhalgoti is a clan of Rajputs found mainly in Amethi- Sultanpur region of Uttar Pradesh. Bandhalgoti is the most prominent clan among Kachhwaha. Bandhalgoti Rajputs ruled a number of estates including Kohra, Amethi and Shahgarh etc. which l ...
Kachhwaha
The Kachhwaha or Kachawa is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. Sometimes families within the clan ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states, such as Jaipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Alwar and Maihar.
Subclans
Rajawat, ...
Rajas of Amethi originally resided at Raipur Phulwari, which along with Sarwanpur and Katra Himmat Singh, was one of the three villages that would later be amalgamated into the modern town of Raipur-Amethi. The old fort at Raipur Phulwari was destroyed by
Safdar Jang
Abul Mansur Mirza Muhammad Muqim Ali Khan (c. 1708 – 5 October 1754), better known as Safdar Jang, was a major figure at the Mughal court during the declining years of the Mughal Empire. He became the second Nawab of Awadh when he succeeded ...
c. 1743; its ruins are still visible today.
The story behind its destruction is as follows: the King of Amethi Raja Gurdatt Singh had defied Safdar Jang's authority so conspicuously that Safdar Jang personally led an army to Raipur to besiege the fort.
After a siege of 18 days, Gurdatt Singh fled into the neighbouring jungle of
Ramnagar Ramnagar may refer to the following places:
Bangladesh
* Ramnagar, Bangladesh, a village in Chittagong Division
* Ramnagar Union, Jessore Sadar
India Jammu and Kashmir
* Ramnagar, Udhampur, a town in Jammu and Kashmir
** Ramnagar Fort Udha ...
(which became the rajas' main residence), and the fort was destroyed and his estate (then known as Udiawan, until the British annexation of Awadh) put under Safdar Jang's direct control.
Raja Gurdatt Singh's son Raja Drigpal Singh was able to recover his father's estate.
While Raja Gurdatt Singh had been known by various titles, all his successors beginning with Drigpal Singh were unequivocally styled Raja.
Because of the prevalence of barren ''
usar'' land in the pargana, there was a popular saying gar na hota Amethi úsar, Rája hota deoti dusar, meaning "if there had been no ''usar'' in Amethi, the Raja would be a second deity".
The taluqa was then divided between Drigpal Singh's two sons, with Har Chand Singh receiving the bulk of the inheritance and Jai Chand Singh founding the junior branch of Kannu Kasrawan. Har Chand Singh had originally inherited 153 villages but in 1804 was permitted to engage for the entire pargana of Amethi (except for the village of
Raghipur).
In 1810, this arrangement was changed by
Saadat Ali Khan II
Yameen-ud Daula Saadat Ali Khan II Bahadur ( fa, سعادت علی خان, hi, सआदत अली ख़ान, ur, ) (bf. 1752 – c. 11 July 1814) was the sixth Nawab of Oudh from 21 January 1798 to 11 July 1814, and the son of Shuj ...
, leaving Har Chand Singh with just 43 rent-free villages; he abdicated in favour of his son Dalpat Sah, who in 1813 was able to restore the taluqa to its original extent. Dalpat Sah died in 1815 and was succeeded by his son Bisheshar Singh, who then died childless in 1842.
At this point, the taluqa was inherited by Bisheshar Singh's cousin Madho Singh, whose father Arjun Singh (Dalpat's brother) had held the independent Gangoli estate as a junior branch. Under Madho Singh, these two branches became united.
Madho Singh clashed with the ''
nazim
Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...
'' of Sultanpur, Maharaja Man Singh, in 1845; when this proved indecisive, the two parties turned to negotiations. The resulting agreement in 1846 ended up leasing the entire pargana to Madho Singh except for a few villages that would be directly retained by the nazim.
This lease included Kannu Kasrawan, still held by Jai Chand Singh's descendants, but the proprietors ignored the terms and Madho Singh ended up getting a decree of confiscation from the
Nawab of Awadh
The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishap ...
himself. After protracted fighting the proprietors finally submitted in 1853.
The Udiawan taluqa was almost completely broken up upon the British annexation in 1856, but reconstituted after the
1857 uprising.
Madho Singh supported the rebellion but the British were still willing to give him a ''
sanad'' for the estate; they also formally acknowledged his title of Raja (he had never really sought formal recognition beforehand). Madho died in August 1891, shortly after the death of his only son, and was succeeded by a more distant relative who was adopted as his heir. At the turn of the 20th century, the Amethi estate consisted of 314 villages and 4
pattis, all in the pargana of Amethi.
Growth of the modern town
Amethi's development as a major town is because of the coming of the railway.
As late as 1897, a British settlement officer wrote "Raipur is a collection of small unimportant hamlets, with positively no attempt at trade."
That changed when the
Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway
Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway was an extensive railway network in the North India, mostly north of the Ganges, starting from Benares and subsequently up to Delhi.
History
The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway was formed in 1872 with the assets of ...
came to town with a station in 1898.
The town then rapidly grew in size and commercial importance, and as early as 1903 it was already described as "a flourishing town" and the previous description was described as "already ancient history".
As of 1901 the population was 3,688 including 1,127 Muslims which was an especially large proportion for the area.
It contained the tehsil headquarters, a school, a police station, a pound, and a dispensary.
Raipur is the place where the first fort of
Raja
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...
of Bandhalgoti was located. His ancestors used to reside in Raipur which is now Raipur Phulwari. New fort was built in Ram Nagar about north of present Amethi which had been Center of Political activities during freedom movement. It is inhabited by Ex MP
Sanjaya Sinh
Sanjaya Sinh (also known as Sanjay Singh, born 25 September 1951) is an Indian politician and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. He was twice elected to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh during the 1980s and held state ministerial p ...
and present MLA
Garima Singh. Amethi became known worldwide with
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
contesting Parliamentary Election on the behest of Raja Rannjay Singh who had close relationship with Nehru family. It is also famous for the Hanuman temple called
anumangarhiand a mosque both built about hundred years ago. About 7 kilometres north of Amethi there is a tomb of famous Poet Malik Mohammad Jayasi at Magravan which is near Ram Nagar, where he died. Present fort was built by Bandhalgoti Rajas.
Demographics
According to the
2011 census, Amethi has a population of 13,849 people, in 2,262 households.
The town's
sex ratio
The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...
is 965 females to every 1000 males; 7,049 of Amethi's residents are male (50.9%) and 6,800 are female (49.1%).
The 0-6 age group numbered 1,731, or about 12.5% of the town's population; the sex ratio for this group was 987.
Members of
Scheduled Castes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
make up 12.87% of the town's population, while no members of
Scheduled Tribes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
were recorded.
Amethi's
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
was 78.3% (counting only people age 7 and up); literacy was higher among men and boys (86.01%) than among women and girls (70.27%).
The scheduled castes literacy rate is 60.73% (71.95% among men and boys, and 48.25% among women and girls).
In terms of employment, 21.29% of Amethi residents were classified as main workers (i.e. people employed for at least 6 months per year) in 2011.
Marginal workers (i.e. people employed for less than 6 months per year) made up 6.27%, and the remaining 72.44% were non-workers.
Employment status varied significantly according to gender, with 44.76% of men being either main or marginal workers, compared to only 9.74% of women.
As per the
2001 Census of India
The 2001 Census of India was the 14th in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1871.
The population of India was counted as 1,028,737,436 consisting of 532,223,090 males and 496,514,346 females. Total population increased by 18 ...
, Amethi had a population of 12,808. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Amethi has an average literacy rate of 59%, lower than the national average of 59.5%; with 59% of the males and 41% of females literate. 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Transport
Amethi is connected to the major cities in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
and North-Eastern India via
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
and roads.
Amethi railway station has direct trains connecting with major cities like
Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...
,
Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
,
Ambala
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
,
Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
,
Dehradun
Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...
,
Haridwar
Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district.
The city is situated on the ri ...
,
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
,
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
,
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
,
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
,
Puri
Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...
,
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
.
A number of
Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation
The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) is a public sector passenger road transport corporation which services Uttar Pradesh, India, and adjoining states of North India. It operates as a state and interstate bus service and ...
buses play from Amethi.
Allahabad Airport
Allahabad Airport , officially known as Deendayal Upadhyay Airport, is a military airbase and public airport serving the city of Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in Bamrauli Prayagraj, from Prayagraj city and s ...
() and
Ayodhya Airport
Ayodhya Airport, officially known as Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram International Airport, is an under-construction international airport which will serve the city of Ayodhya in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The airport is located adjacent t ...
() are the nearby airports from Amethi.
Institutions, industries and organisations
*
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT), in Jais, Amethi (formerly in Raebareli), Uttar Pradesh, India, is a training and education institute focusing on Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM and petroleum indus ...
*
HAL School Korwa
*
Shri Shiv Pratap Inter College
* Mahatma Shiv Kumar Inter College
A few public sector units were established in Amethi in the 1970s, however not much has occurred in the town for the past two decades, leading to young people leaving in search of jobs.
Amethi has the Avionics Division of
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore, India. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the worl ...
, the organization responsible for manufacture of Aircraft for Indian Airforce. One Ordnance Factory has been established in 2009 by Congress Government to manufacture small arms and weapons.
A
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
between
Kalashnikov Concern
JSC Kalashnikov Concern (), known until 2013 as the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant (), is a Russian defense manufacturing concern and joint-stock company headquartered in the city of Izhevsk in the Republic of Udmurtia as well as the capital ci ...
and the
Ordnance Factory Board
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories, now known as Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) was an organisation, under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gover ...
to establish a rifle factory in Amethi is being negotiated between India and Russia, and is planned to be launched by October 2020.
Villages
Amethi CD block has the following 86 villages:
Notable people
*
Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...
(MP)
*
Rajiv Gandhi (former Prime Minister of India)
*
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
(MP)
*
Smriti Irani
Smriti Zubin Irani (''née'' Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and C ...
(MP and cabinet minister)
*
Manoj Muntashir
Manoj Shukla (born 27 February 1976), better known by his stage name Manoj Shukla ‛Muntashir’, is an Indian lyricist, poet and screenwriter. He wrote several successful Hindi songs for films. These have included "Teri Mitti", "Galliyan", " T ...
(lyricist)
*
Rakesh Pandey (writer and author)
*
Jagdish Piyush
Jagdish Piyush (6 August 1950 – 5 February 2021) was an Indian Hindi writer, a leader of the Indian National Congress and Educationist from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He was also the media representative of former prime minister Shri Raji ...
(writer, educationist, Indian National Congress politician)
*
Ameeta Singh
Ameeta Sinh (born Amita Kulkarni on 4 October 1962) is a politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, who was formerly a national badminton champion. She has been Chairman of Jilla Panchayat in Amethi/Sultanpur district and has been electe ...
*
Deepak Singh (MLC)
*
Garima Singh (MLA)
*
Ravindra Pratap Singh (MP and MLA)
*
Sanjaya Sinh
Sanjaya Sinh (also known as Sanjay Singh, born 25 September 1951) is an Indian politician and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. He was twice elected to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh during the 1980s and held state ministerial p ...
(MP and cabinet minister)
*
Babu Bhoop Singh (prominent leader in
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
against British)
*
Babu Himmat Sah (founder ruler of
Kohra)
References
{{Amethi district
Cities and towns in Amethi district
Amethi