From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Banda (Hindi: बांदा, Urdu: باندہ) is a city in Uttar Pradesh state, India. Banda lies south of the Yamuna river in the Bundelkhand region. It is the administrative headquarters of Banda District. The town is well connected to major cities with railways and state highways. The town is near the right bank of the river Ken, 95 m. S. W. of Allahabad.

Banda was a town and district of British India, in the Allahabad division of the United Provinces. The population in 1901 was 22,565. It was formerly, but is no longer, a military cantonment.

The district is the most barren and backward portion of the province. It contains an area of 3061 sq. m. In some parts it rises into irregular uplands and elevated plains, interspersed with detached rocks of granite; in others it sinks into marshy lowlands, which frequently remain under water during the rainy season. The sloping country on the bank of the Yamuna (previously called Jamuna)is full of ravines. To the S.E. the Vindhya chain of hills takes its origin in a low range not exceeding 50o ft. in height, and forming a natural boundary of the district in that direction. The principal river of the district is the Yamuna, which flows from north-west to south-east, along the N.E. boundary of the district, for 125 m. The black soil of the district yields crops of which the principal are millet, other food-grains, pulse, rice, cotton and oil-seeds. Banda cotton enjoys a high repute in the market. A branch railway from Manikpur to Jhansi traverses the length of the district, which is also crossed by the East Indian main line to Jabalpur (earlier Jubbulpore).

Banda, which forms one of the districts included under the general name of Bundelkhand, has formed an arena of contention for the successive races who have struggled for the sovereignty of India. Kalinjar town, then the capital, was unsuccessfully besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni in A.D. 1023; in 1196 it was taken by Qutab-ud-din Aibak, the general of Muhammad Ghori; in 1545 by Sher Shah Suri, who, however, fell mortally wounded in the assault. About the year 1735 the king of Kalinjar's territory, including the present district of Banda, was bequeathed to Baji Rao, the Maratha Peshwa; and from the Marathas it passed by the treaties of 1802-1803 to the East India Company. At the time of the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857, the district, which was poverty-stricken and over-taxed, joined the rebels. The town of Banda was recovered by General Whitlock on the 20th of April 1858. The fiscal system was remodelled, and the district has since enjoyed a greater degree of prosperity only interrupted by famine.

2001census: 139,387

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

This article related to a location in Uttar Pradesh is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.