Kalpi
Encyclopedia
Kalpi is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district
Jalaun District
Jalaun District is a district of Uttar Pradesh state of India.The district is named after town of Jalaun, which was the former headquarters of a Maratha governor, but the administrative headquarters of the district is at Orai. Other large towns in the district are Kalpi, Konch, and...

 in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

. It is on the right bank of the Yamuna
Yamuna
The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...

.

History

The city of Kalpi is believed to be known as Kalpriya Nagari in the ancient times. Over the period of time the name of the city got abbreviated to Kalpi. Kalpi is said to have been founded by King Vasudeva at the end of the 4th century. In 1196 it fell to Qutb-ud-din Aybak
Qutb-ud-din Aybak
Qutb-ud-din Aibak was a Turkic king of Northwest India who ruled from his capital in Delhi where he built the Qutub Minar and the Quwwat Al Islam mosque. He was of Turkic descent from central Asia, the first Sultan of Delhi and founder of the Slave dynasty of India. He ruled for only four years,...

, the viceroy of Mohammed Ghori, and during the subsequent Muslim period it played a significant part in the history of central India. During Akbar's reign, Kalpi was a governor's seat and had a mint for copper coinage. Kalpi is also considered by some as the birth place of Ved Vyas
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...

, the author of Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

.

About the middle of the 18th century it passed into the hands of the Marathas. It was captured by the British in 1803, and after 1806 remained in British possession until India's independence in 1947. Kalpi was a part of Bundelkhand Agency
Bundelkhand Agency
The Marathas ceded parts of Bundelkhand, which were later called later British Bundelkhand, to the British in the 1802 Treaty of Bassein. After 1802, many of the local rulers were granted sanads by the British, which entitled them to the lands they controlled at the death of Ali Bahadur, in return...

, formed in 1811, and also housed its headquarters from 1818 to 1824. During this period the political agent to Governor General of India was appointed and headquartered in Kalpi. In May 1858 Sir Hugh Rose (Lord Strathnairn) defeated here a force of about 10,000 freedom fighters under the Rani of Jhansi.The British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 made it one of their principal stations for providing "commercial investment".

Archaeology of Kalpi

Kalpi has many historical as well as archaeological sites. Few of them are enlisted below:
  • Kalpi Fort
  • Lanka Tower (1885, build by Mathura Prashad Nigam, Height-225 feet)
  • Chaurasi Gumbad (situated along NH 25 towards Orai, it has 84 door arches)

Most recently the archaeological department of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

 has discovered a prehistoric site that has been dated back 45000 years. Excavation work is in progress on this site.
  • Vyash Ji Mandir(This mandir 2km from bus stand of kalpi.In this temple,a rock present which float on water with 20kg wight.People says that it is apart of Ramsetu,which Load Ram made on Sea.)

Geography

Kalpi is located at 26.12°N 79.73°E. It has an average elevation of 112 metres (367 feet).

Location and industry

The old town, which is on the Yamuna
Yamuna
The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...

 river, has the ruin of a fort, and several temples of interest, while in the neighborhood are many ancient tombs.
Away from the river to the south-east is a lofty modern town ornamented with representations of the battles of the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

. Kalpi is still a centre of local trade (principally in grain, ghee
Ghee
Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....

 and cotton) with a station on the railway
Northern Railway (India)
The Northern Railways is one of the 16 zones and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Delhi at New Delhi Railway Station....

 line from Jhansi
Jhansi
Jhansi Hindi:झाँसी, , Marathi: झाशी, is a historical city of India. Jhansi is the administrative headquarters of Jhansi District and Jhansi Division. The original walled city grew up around its stone fort, which crowns a neighboring rock. This district is on the bank of river Betwa.The National...

 to Kanpur, which crosses the Yamuna here.

In late 1970s and early 1980s Kalpi was one of the areas in central India affected by dacoits, and was frequented by the much dreaded Phoolan Devi
Phoolan Devi
Phoolan Devi , popularly known as the "Bandit Queen", was an Indian dacoit and later a politician. After being gang-raped by some upper-caste members of her gang, Phoolan Devi turned a bandit, and killed 22 upper-caste villagers in 1981. Following this, she became notorious across India as a bandit...

 gang.
It has been declared an Industrial belt by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

and is known for the hand-made paper produced here.

External links

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