The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. It runs roughly from

Teknaf Teknaf () is a municipality of Teknaf Upazila of Cox's Bazar District in south-eastern Bangladesh. It forms the southernmost point in mainland Bangladesh ( St. Martin's Island is the southernmost point). The name of the region comes from the Naf ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

on the border with Myanmar west to

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, passing through

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

and

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

in Bangladesh,

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

Prayagraj Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

in India, and

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

, and

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

in Pakistan. The highway was built along an ancient route called

Uttarapatha Ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts use Uttarapatha as the name of the Northern part of Jambudvipa (equivalent of present-day North India), one of the " continents" in Hindu mythology. In modern times, the Sanskrit word ''uttarapatha'' is sometimes u ...

in the 3rd century BCE, extending it from the mouth 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 which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

to the north-western frontier of India. Further improvements to this road were made under

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

. The old route was re-aligned by

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri (born Farid al-Din Khan; 1472 or 1486 – 22 May 1545), also known by his title Sultan Adil (), was the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540, and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. He defeated the Mughal Empire, ...

Sonargaon Sonargaon (; ; Literary translation, lit. ''Golden Hamlet (place), Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division. Sonargaon is one of the old capitals of ...

and Rohtas.Vadime Elisseeff, p. 159-162
The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce
/ref> The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under

Mahmud Shah Durrani Mahmud Shah Durrani (Pashto/ Persian: ); 1769 – 18 April 1829) was born prince and later ruler of the Durrani Empire (Afghanistan) between 1801 and 1803, and again between 1809 and 1818. From 1818 to 1829 he was the ruler of Herat. From an eth ...

. The road was considerably rebuilt in the British period between 1833 and 1860. Over the centuries, the road acted as one of the major trade routes in the region and facilitated both travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road is still used for transportation in the present-day Indian subcontinent, where parts of the road have been widened and included in the national highway system. The road coincides with the current N1, Feni (

), N4 & N405 (Dhaka to Sirajganj), N507 (Sirajganj to

Natore Natore is a city ("town" in some sources) in western Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of the Natore District. Its current administrator is Asha Khatun. The Narod river is passing through the center of the city with pollution from upstream industr ...

) and N6 (Natore to

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

towards Purnea in India; NH 12 ( Purnea to Bakkhali), NH 27 ( Purnea to

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

), NH 19 (

NH 44 National Highway 44 (NH 44) is a major north–south National Highway in India and is the longest in the country. It passes through the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh ...

(

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

via

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Panipat Panipat () is an industrial , located 95 km north of Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on NH-44 in Panipat district, Haryana, India. It is famous for three major battles fought in 1526, 1556 and 1761. The city is also known as ...

Karnal Karnal () is a city located in the state of Haryana, India and is the administrative headquarters of Karnal District. The city is well connected as it lies on National Highway 01, in the south of the city lies the cities of Panipat and Sonipa ...

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 (India), Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala ...

and

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

) and NH 3 (

Attari Attari, also spelled Atari, is a village of Amritsar district in the Punjab state of India, 3 km from the Indo-Pakistani border at Wagah. It is situated 25 km west of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, and is the last Indian station o ...

in India towards

in Pakistan) via

Wagah Wagah (; ; ), also spelled Wagha or Wahga, is a village and union council (UC 181) located in the Wahga Zone near Lahore City District, Pakistan. The town is famous for the Wagah border ceremony and also serves as a goods transit terminal a ...

; N-5 (

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

, Gujrat, Lalamusa,

Kharian Kharian ( Punjabi, ), is a city in Gujrat District, as well as the Gujrat Division of the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is the headquarters of Kharian Tehsil (sub-district). As of 2023 Kharian is the second largest Tehsil in the Gujrat Div ...

Jhelum Jhelum (; , ) is a city, located along the western bank of the Jhelum River, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city in Punjab and 31st largest in Pakistan, by population. Located in northern Punjab, it serves as the capital of the ...

and

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (Urdu: درۂ خیبر; ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by tr ...

towards

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Help:IPA/Persian, ͡ʒä.lɑː.lɑː.bɑːd̪ is the list of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 200,331, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part ...

in Afghanistan) in Pakistan and AH1 ( Torkham-

) to

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

in Afghanistan.

History

Ancient times

The

Buddhist literature Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and Schools of Buddhism, its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli C ...

and Indian epics such as

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

refer to the existence of Grand Trunk road even before the

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...

and was called

or the "Northern road". The road connected the eastern region of India with Central Asia, the terminus of the

Khorasan Road The (Great) Khurasan Road was the great trunk road connecting Mesopotamia to the Iranian Plateau and thence to Central Asia, History of China, China, and the Indus Valley. It is very well-documented in the Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid period, when i ...

Mauryan Empire

The precursor of the modern Grand Trunk road was built on the orders of the emperor

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: elp:IPA/Sanskrit, t̪͡ɕɐn̪d̪ɾɐgupt̪ɐ mɐʊɾjɐ (reigned 320 BCE – c. 298 BCE) was the founder and the first emperor of the Maurya Empire, based in Magadha (present-day Bihar) in the Indian ...

and was inspired by the Persian

Royal Road The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt for trade by Darius the Great, the Achaemenid emperor, in the 5th century BC. Darius I built the road to facilitate rapid communication on the western part of his large empire from ...

(more precisely, its eastern stretch, the Great Khurasan Road that ran from Media to

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

). During the time of the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

in the 3rd century BCE, overland trade between India and several parts of Western Asia and Bactria went through the cities of the north-west, primarily

Takshashila Taxila or Takshashila () is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the Harip ...

and Purushapura (present-day

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila () is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the ...

and

respectively, in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

). Takshashila was well connected by roads with other parts of the Mauryan Empire. The Mauryas had maintained this very ancient highway from Takshashila to Patliputra (present-day

in India).

had a whole army of officials overseeing the maintenance of this road as told by the Greek diplomat

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; , died 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, indologist, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but has been partially reconstructe ...

who spent fifteen years at the Mauryan court. Constructed in eight stages, this road is said to have connected the cities of Purushapura,

, Hastinapura, Kanyakubja, Prayag, Patliputra and Tamralipta, a distance of around . The route of Chandragupta was built over the ancient "

" or the Northern Road, which had been mentioned by

Pāṇini (; , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India during the mid-1st millennium BCE, dated variously by most scholars between the 6th–5th and 4th century BCE. The historical facts of his life ar ...

. The emperor

had it recorded in his

edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchies, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu ...

about having trees planted, wells built at every half

kos Kos or Cos (; ) is a Greek island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 37,089 (2021 census), making ...

and many "nimisdhayas", which is often translated as rest-houses along the route for the travelers. The emperor

Kanishka Kanishka I, also known as Kanishka the Great, was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign (–150 CE) the empire reached its zenith. He is famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadp ...

is also known to have controlled the Uttarapatha.

Suri and Mughal Empires

, the medieval ruler of the

Sur Empire The Sur Empire was an empire ruled by the Afghan (ethnonym), Afghan-origin Sur dynasty in North India, northern India for nearly 16 or 18 years, between 1538/1540 and 1556, with Sasaram (in modern-day Bihar) serving as its capital. It was fou ...

, took to repair The Chandragupta's Royal Road in the 16th century. The old route was further rerouted at

and Rohtas and its breadth increased, a sarai was built, the number of kos minars and baolis increased. Gardens were also built alongside some sections of the highway. Those who stopped at the sarai were provided food for free. His son

Islam Shah Suri Islam Shah Suri (born Jalal Khan; 1507 – 22 November 1554) also known as Salim Shah Suri, was Sur Empire#List of rulers of the Sur Empire, Sultan of Hindustan from 27 May 1545 until his death in 1554. He was the second ruler of the Sur Empire ...

constructed an additional sarai in-between every sarai originally built by Sher Shah Suri on the road toward Bengal. More sarais were built under the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

under his reign issued a decree that all sarais be built of burnt brick and stone.

Broad-leaved tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with n ...

s were planted in the stretch between Lahore and Agra and he built bridges over all water bodies that were situated on the path of the highways. The route was referred to as "Sadak-e-Azam" by Suri and "Badshahi Sadak" by the Mughals.

British Empire

In the 1830s the East India Company started a program of metalled road construction, for both commercial and administrative purposes. The road, now named the Grand Trunk Road, from

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, through

, to

was rebuilt at a cost of £1000/mile. The road is mentioned in a number of literary works including those of Foster and Rudyard Kipling. Kipling described the road as: "Look! Look again! and chumars, bankers and tinkers, barbers and bunnias, pilgrims – and potters – all the world going and coming. It is to me as a river from which I am withdrawn like a log after a flood. And truly the Grand Trunk Road is a wonderful spectacle. It runs straight, bearing without crowding India's traffic for fifteen hundred miles – such a river of life as nowhere else exists in the world."A description of the road by Kipling, found both in his letters and i
the novel ''Kim''
.

Republic of India

The ensemble of historic sites along the road in India was submitted to the tentative list of

UNESCO World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

in 2015, under the title "Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Banho, Grand Trunk Road". The Indian sections of the Grand Trunk Road coincide with NH 19, NH 112 and

of the

National Highways in India National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Psephologists Psephology (; from Greek ) is the study of elections and voting. Psephology attempts to both Political forecasting, forecast and explain election results. The term is more common in Britain and in those English-speaking communities that rely hea ...

sometimes refer to the area around the GT Road as the "GT Road belt" it is also known as Gujarat road sometimes within the context of elections. For example, during the elections in Haryana the area on either side of the GT Road from

Sonipat Sonipat is a planned industrial city and administrative headquarter in Sonipat district of Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around from New Delhi. It lies 214 km (128 miles) southwest of Chandigar ...

, which has 28 legislative assembly constituencies where there is no dominance of one caste or community, is referred to as the "GT road belt of Haryana".NuN
BJP on a strong footing in northern districts
''Hindustan Times'', 30 March 2016.Haryana assembly elections: BJP counts on strategy
, ''The Times of India'', 6 October 2019.

Distance guide between cities

Distance calculation is based as per Google Maps. *

= *

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or 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 tradition of I ...

= *

border = * Wagah Border-

Landi Kotal Lanḍī Kōtal (, ) or Lwargai ( ''Lwāṛgai'') is a town in the Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, and the administrative capital of Khyber District. It was one of the largest towns in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, an ...

= *

Gallery

File:Kos minar,tirawadi,karnal.JPG, Mughal era Kos Minar along GT road at

, India File:7518uttar pradesh09-ghaziabad09-grand trunk road09-1200.jpg, Grand Trunk Road in Uttarpradesh, India File:GTRoadBarkatha.jpg, GT Road near Barhi, India File:G.T road towards Burdwan from Hooghly 07.jpg, Grand Trunk Road towards Burdwan from Hooghly File:University of Engineering and Technology on Grand Trunk Road in Lahore.jpg, GT Road in

, Pakistan File:Gujranwala GT Road Overcast.jpg, GT road in

, Pakistan File:Jhelum River Bridge.JPG, GT Road above the River Jhelum, Pakistan File:Original GT Road between Margalla and kala Chitta.JPG, Original GT Road passing through

Margalla Hills The Margalla Hills () are a hill range within the Margalla Hills National Park on the northern edge of Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, just south of Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are part of the Himalayas, Himalayan foothi ...

Kala Chitta Range Kala Chitta Range (in Punjabi and ''Kālā Chiṭṭā'') is a mountain range in the Attock District of Punjab, Pakistan. "Kala" and "Chitta" are Punjabi words, meaning "black" and "white", respectively. The range thrusts eastward across the ...

, Pakistan File:Nekka Margalla.JPG, Newly realigned GT Road passing by the westernmost point of

, Pakistan File:Gridlock on the Kabul Jalalabad Highway (5300814706).jpg, Kabul–Jalalabad Road, Afghanistan, is the westernmost stretch of the GT Road. File:Jalalabad Road 2.jpg, Mountain pass on the Kabul–Jalalabad Road, Afghanistan

Notes

References

External links

* Farooque, Abdul Khair Muhammad (1977), ''Roads and Communications in Mughal India.'' Delhi: Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli. * Weller, Anthony (1997), ''Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road: Calcutta to Khyber''. Marlowe & Company. * Kipling, Rudyard (1901), '' Kim''. Considered one of Kipling's finest works, it is set mostly along the Grand Trunk Road. Free e-texts are available, for instanc
here
* * * *
National Highway Authority of India

National Highway Authority of Pakistan

NPR: Along the Grand Trunk Road
{{Coord, 27, 20, 15, N, 79, 3, 45, E, type:road_region:IN, display=title AH1 Roads in Asia Roads in Afghanistan Roads in Bangladesh Roads in Pakistan Ancient roads and tracks Trade routes Maurya Empire Sur Empire British India History of transport in India History of transport in Pakistan Roads in Delhi Roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Roads in Punjab, India Roads in Punjab, Pakistan Roads in Uttar Pradesh Roads in West Bengal Rail transport in Howrah Transport in Kabul Transport in Lahore Historic trails and roads in India History of transport in Uttar Pradesh