Shahjahanpur () is a

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District 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 195 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The city is between

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The ...

and

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 divis ...

, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

History

Shahjahanpur was established by

Dilir Khan Jalal Khan Daudzai, known by his title Diler Khan, was a Mughal general who served under Aurangzeb and was the governor of Awadh. He was the son of Nawab Darya Khan Daudzai, a mansabdar of Pashtun Afghan ethnicity, who had migrated to India in 160 ...

and Bahadar Khan, sons of Dariya Khan, a soldier in army of the

Mughal emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

. Dariya Khan was originally from

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

, in modern-day

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. Both Dilir Khan and Bahadar Khan were dignitaries in the regime of

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

. Pleased with the services of Dilir Khan, Shah Jahan gave him 17 villages with the permission to construct a fort in 1647, following the suppression of the rebellious Katheria

Rajput 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 ...

s. The area was then settled by Afghans, brought by Bahadar Khan following one of his campaigns. On 9 August 1925, the Indian freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil,

Ashfaqulla Khan Ashfaqulla Khan (22 October 1900 – 19 December 1927) was an Indian independence activist in the Indian independence movement and co-founder of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Hindustan Republican Association. Early life Khan ...

, Chandrashekhar Azad and Rajendra Lahiri conducted a

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

of government funds near Kakori railway station. Both Bismil and Khan were born in Shahjahanpur.

Geography

Shahjahanpur is located at . It has an average elevation of 194 metres (600 feet). It is situated at the junction of two river.

Climate

Demographics

As per provisional data of 2011 census, Shahjahanpur urban agglomeration had a population of 346,103, out of which males were 183,087 and females were 163,016. The literacy rate was 69.81 per cent.

Transport

Shahjahanpur is well-connected with major towns and cities in Uttar Pradesh through road and rail network. National Highway 30 links Shahjahanpur with

and

. A spur route National Highway 731 too passes through Shahjahanpur, linking it to the eastern UP town of Jaunpur. Shahjahanpur railway station lies on Lucknow–Moradabad line of

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 tota ...

. Several through trains from Lucknow to

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 ...

pass through Shahjahanpur station.

Cultural heritage

Over the years, the Shahjahanpur gharana contributed eminent sarod players such as Enayat Ali (1883 - 1915), Ustad Murad Ali Khan, Ustad Mohammed Ameer Khan, Pandit Radhika Mohan Moitra and Pandit

Buddhadev Das Gupta Buddhadev Das Gupta (1 February 1933 – 15 January 2018) was an Indian classical musician who played the sarod. He used to reside in Kolkata, India. He was one of the artists featured in Nimbus Records' '' The Raga Guide''. Early life and t ...

. Present Sarod legend, Amjad Ali Khan also belongs to Shahjahanpur gharana.

Notable people

* Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri (Pakistani Islamic Scholar) *

Dil Shahjahanpuri Dil Shahjahanpuri (1875-1959),The Encyclopaedic dictionary of Urdu literature (2007) by Abida Samiuddin p.374 was the takhallus of Zameer Hasan Khan, the renowned Urdu ghazal writer, who was born in Shahjahanpur, North Western Provinces, British ...

(Urdu Ghazal Writer) * Madan Shahjahanpuri (Indian Muslim Theologian) * Ram Prasad Bismil (Freedom Fighter) *

(Freedom Fighter) *

Roshan Singh Thakur Roshan Singh (22 January 1892 — 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary, born in the village of Nabada in Shahjahanpur district, Uttar Pradesh in A kshatriya Rajput family, who was sentenced in the Bareilly shooting case during ...

(Freedom Fighter) * Prem Krishna Khanna (Freedom Fighter) * Ram Chandra (Babuji) (Indian Spiritual Leader) * Rajpal Yadav (Film Actor) *

Alok Pandey Alok Pandey (born 30 April 1988) is an Indian actor and model who is best known for playing MS Dhoni’s best friend in the former Indian Cricket Team captain’s biopic '' M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story''”, a negative role with John Abraham in ...

(Film Actor) * Hira Thind (Punjabi singer) *

Jitin Prasada Jitin Prasada (born 29 November 1973) is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh. He was appointed Cabinet Minister by the Government of Uttar Pradesh on 26 September 2021. Earlier, he has been the former Minister of State for Human Resource De ...

(Former Central Government Cabinet Minister) *

Vivek Agnihotri Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (born 10 November 1973) is an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter and author who works in Hindi cinema. , he is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification and a cultural represen ...

(Movie Director) *

Jitendra Prasada Jitendra Prasada (12 November 1938 – 16 January 2001) was an Indian politician and a former vice-president of the Indian National Congress. He was also the political advisor to two prime ministers of India, Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and P. V. Nara ...

(Former M.P.) * Naik Jadu Nath Singh (Param Vir Chakra) * Mithlesh Kumar (Former member of parliament) * Krishna Raj (Former MP) *

Suresh Kumar Khanna Suresh Kumar Khanna (born 6 May 1953) is an Indian politician and a member of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh & 18th Uttar Pradesh Assembly in India. Currently he is serving as Cabinet Min ...

(UP Government Cabinet Minister) * Rammurti Singh Verma (Former Minister of UP) * Roshan Lal Verma (MLA Tilhar) * Sharad Vir Singh (MLA Jalalabad) * Salona Kushwaha (MLA Tilhar)

Education

* Gandhi Faiz-E-Aam College * Swami Shukdevanand Post Graduate College *State medical college shahjahanpur(http://www.smcshah.in) *varun arjun medical college shahjahanpur(https://www.vamcrh.com/)

References

{{Bareilly division topics Cities and towns in Shahjahanpur district Cities in Uttar Pradesh