Chunar

Chunar
Town
Chunar
Chunar
Coordinates: 25°08′N 82°54′E / 25.13°N 82.9°E / 25.13; 82.9Coordinates: 25°08′N 82°54′E / 25.13°N 82.9°E / 25.13; 82.9
Country India
State Uttar Pradesh
District Mirzapur
Government
 • Type Local self government
 • Body Nagar Palika Parishad
Elevation 84 m (276 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 37,185
Language
 • Official Hindi
Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)
Postal Index Number(PIN) 231304
Vehicle registration UP 63
Website www.chunar.nic.in
CAR

Chunar, located in Mirzapur District of Uttar Pradesh state, India, is an ancient town. The railway tracks passing through Chunar railway station leads to major destinations of India, including Howrah, Delhi, Tatanagar and Varanasi. National Highway number 7 also passes through Chunar. It is connected to Varanasi, the ancient and pilgrimage city also well known as Kashi or Benaras, by roads and rails. Chunar is well known for its pottery work, especially clay toys.

History

The Chunar Fort was established by Maharaja Vikramaditya, the King of Ujjain, in honour of the stay of his brother Raja Bharthari. It is believed that Raja Bharthari left his body and took Mahasamadhi at this fort, a servant disciple is still taking care of the place and offers deepam dhupam to the Raja everyday (as of 8 November 2011).

As per Alha Khand in 1029 AD. King Sahadeo made this fort as his capital and established the statue of Naina Yogini in a cave of Vindhya hill and put the name as Nainagarh. King Sahadeo built a stone umbrella based on 52 pillars in the memory of the victory on 52 other kings, inside the fort which is still preserved. He had a brave daughter who got married with Alha the then King of Mahoba whose marriage place in still preserved with the name of Sonava Mandap. Beside this some other stories are also related with the fort as Magna- Deogarh, Ratan Deo’s Burj (tower) and King Pithaura who named it Patthargarh as well.

In mid July 1537 Humayun left Agra and arrived at Chunar after 5 months and spent 3 months besieging the Chunar fort. Humayun later offered Chunar and Jaunpur to Sher Shah Suri in exchange for Bengal [1]

It has got much importance due to the stay of the founder of Mughal Dynasty Babar in 1525 AD. Later on Shershah Suri obtained the possession of the fort by marrying the widow wife of Taj Khan Sarang-Khani, the Governor of Ibrahim Lodi. In 1574 AD. Akbar the great captured this fort and since that very time it was in the Mughal regime up to 1772 AD. Once emperor Jahangir appointed one Iftikhar Khan as Nazim and in the regime of Aurangzeb one of his Governor’s Mirza Bairam built a mosque in 1663 AD. near the Bhairo-Burj.

In 1772 AD this fort was captured by East India Company who established in it a depot of Artillery and ammunition. Later it was taken by Maharaja Chet Singh of Benaras temporarily and after Chet Singh outbreak in 1781 AD. Warren Hestings retired for safety to Chunar where a force was collected by Major Phophan, which expelled Chet Singh from his stronghold in his neighbourhood. Hastings liked the situation and climate, his residence is still standing. Near it, there is a sundial bearing the inscription.


Chunargarh of 'Chandrakanta', the famous classic novel by Babu Devakinandan Khatri, is only 40 km from the holy city of Varanasi. The Chunar Fort is situated on an extension of the Vindhyan range of mountains, with the river Ganges flowing near its base. Various exotic waterfalls and religious worship places attract thousands of tourists and locals.

Chunar is very well known for its pottery industries.

The Indian writer, Premchand, taught in a mission school here at the end of the nineteenth century.

Demographics

Chunar Tehsil of Mirzapur district has total population of 711,445 as per the Census 2011. Out of which 371,733 are males while 339,712 are females. In 2011 there were total 116,866 families residing in Chunar Tehsil. The Average Sex Ratio of Chunar Tehsil is 914.

As per Census 2011 out of total population, 9.5% people lives in Urban areas while 90.5% lives in the Rural areas. The average literacy rate in urban areas is 74.4% while that in the rural areas is 70.5%. Also the Sex Ratio of Urban areas in Chunar Tehsil is 891 while that of Rural areas is 916.

The population of Children of age 0-6 years in Chunar Tehsil is 111377 which is 16% of the total population. There are 58497 male children and 52880 female children between the age 0-6 years. Thus as per the Census 2011 the Child Sex Ratio of Chunar Tehsil is 904 which is less than Average Sex Ratio ( 914 ) of Chunar Tehsil.

The total literacy rate of Chunar Tehsil is 70.83%. The male literacy rate is 67.66% and the female literacy rate is 51.09% in Chunar Tehsil.

Population 711,445 Literacy 70.83% Sex Ratio 914

To facilitate the administration, Chunar Tehsil is further divided into 3 towns and 620 villages. Chunar Tehsil Data As per the Population Census 2011 data, following are some quick facts about Chunar Tehsil.

Total Male Female Children (Age 0-6) 111,377 58,497 52,880 Literacy 70.83% 67.66% 51.09% Scheduled Caste 133,572 70,136 63,436 Scheduled Tribe 4,539 2,356 2,183 Illiterate 286,388 120,226 166,162 Caste-wise Population - Chunar Tehsil Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 18.8% while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 0.6% of total population in Chunar Tehsil of .

Total Male Female Schedule Caste 133,572 70,136 63,436 Schedule Tribe 4,539 2,356 2,183 Religion-wise Population - Chunar Tehsil Religion Total Male Female Hindu 645,057 (90.67%) 337,092 307,965 Muslim 64,519 (9.07%) 33,625 30,894 Christian 554 (0.08%) 279 275 Sikh 378 (0.05%) 196 182 Buddhist 50 (0.01%) 31 19 Jain 29 (0%) 17 12 Other Religion 10 (0%) 6 4 No Religion Specified 848 (0.12%) 487 361 Literacy Rate - Chunar Tehsil Average literacy rate of Chunar Tehsil in 2011 were 70.83% in which, male and female literacy were 80.29% and 60.51% respectively. Total literate in Chunar Tehsil were 425,057 of which male and female were 251,507 and 173,550 respectively.

In the media

The shooting of Anurag Kashyap's film Gangs of Wasseypur took place in Chunar. Before it in the nineties, Famous Doordarshan Chandrakanta (TV series) Background stories and as well as the shooting of the serial also here take place. Chandrakanta was a TV serial based on a famous novel of the same name written by Devaki Nandan Khatri. In Chandrakanta serial king of Chunargarh Shivdutt also rule here according to famous novel of Devki Nandan Khatri with same name.[2]

References

  1. ↑ The Mughal Throne by Abraham Eraly, pg 50
  2. ↑ "Manoj sings without any fee for Anurag Kashyap". Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
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