Pariyar, also spelled Pariar, is a village in

Sikandarpur Sarausi Sikandarpur Sarausi is a community development block in Unnao tehsil of Unnao district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It consists of 96 rural villages, with a total population of 185,779 people. Historically, there was a pargana of Sarosi, which was creat ...

block of

Unnao district Unnao district is a district of Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. The city of Unnao is the district headquarters. The district is part of Lucknow Division. As of the 2011 census, Unnao district has a population of 3,108,367, making it ...

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is located on the left bank of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, 23km northwest of the city of

Unnao Unnao is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Unnao district and a part of Lucknow division, between Kanpur and Lucknow. Unnao is a large industrial city with three industrial suburbs around it. ...

. Nearby the village is the Mahua lake. Pariyar holds religious significance to Hindus; it is considered to be the place where the goddess

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

was exiled to, and the birthplace of her two sons

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

and

Kusha Kusha was a Suryavansha king. He was the father of Kushanaabha Kushanaabha was the King of Amavasu dynasty and belongs to Chandravamsha clan. He was the son of Kusha. Kushanabha was the founder of the city Mahodaya (now Kannauj). Life Marria ...

. The village is known for holding a major fair during the month of Kartika, on the day of the full moon, which is attended by over 100,000 people. Historically, Pariyar was the seat of a

pargana Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each ...

since 1785, and under the

Nawabs 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 Nishapu ...

it was the seat of a

tehsildar In India and Pakistan, a Tehsildar or Mamlatdar is a tax officer accompanied by revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a tehsil with regard to land revenue. A tehsildar is also known as an executive magistrate of the relev ...

. Today, it is the headquarters of a nyaya panchayat. Pariyar is connected by road with Mohan and

Rasulabad Rasulabad is a town and a nagar panchayat in Kanpur Dehat district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Geography Rasulabad is located at . It has an average elevation of 131 metres (429 feet). Demographics India census, Rasulaba ...

. As of 2011, its population is 7,363, in 1,355 households.

Name, history, and legends

According to legend, Pariyar is the place where

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

accompanied

during her banishment at the behest of his brother (and her husband)

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

. The place (which was then covered by forest) then became known as "Parhar", from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word meaning "to turn out" or "let go" — or, in this case, divorce. Tradition also holds that Sita gave birth to her sons

and

here; they were trained in archery by the sage

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the wikt:harbinger, harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on ...

and grew up to become formidable warriors. At one point Rama performed the

Ashvamedha The Ashvamedha ( sa, अश्वमेध, aśvamedha, translit-std=IAST) was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Śrauta tradition of Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty: a horse accomp ...

horse sacrifice by setting the horse Shyambaran loose to wander the countryside and announcing that whoever caught the horse would in doing so be declaring war on him. Lava and Kusha themselves caught the horse at Pariyar, thus leading to a war between Rama and his own sons, whom he did not know. In the temple of Someshwar Mahadeo, there are many arrowheads on display which were supposedly used during this fight; more are sometimes uncovered in the bed of the Ganges. In 1187, the

Dikhit Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

thakur Himanchal Singh is said to have conquered Pariyar from the Lunias, who had been the original

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

s of the place. Under the

, Pariyar was the seat of a

. At the time of Miyan Almas Ali Khan, one Rup Singh Bachhil built a fort and a walled ganj named Daulatganj here. In 1785, 28 villages were taken out of the existing

s of Sikandarpur and

Safipur Safipur is a town and nagar panchayat in Unnao district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located 27 km northwest of the city of Unnao, Safipur serves as a tehsil headquarters and is well-connected by roads to nearby towns. Founded in t ...

and made into a new pargana of Pariyar.

References

Cities and towns in Unnao district {{Unnao-geo-stub