Siddharthnagar district General information
Siddharthnagar district is one of the 70 districts of Uttar Pradesh state in Northern India. Navgarh town is the district headquarters. Siddharth Nagar district is a part of Basti division. The district is known for the ruins of the ancient capital of the Shakya Janapada, Kapilavastu at Piprahwa, 22 km from the district headquarters Navgarh. According to Government of India, the district Siddharthnagar is one of the Minority Concentrated District in India on the basis of the 2001 census data on population, socio-economic indicators and basic amenities indicators.
The district lies between 27° N and 27° 28' N latitudes and 82° 45' E and 83° 10' E longitudes. The district is adjacent to neighbouring country, Nepal. It is surrounded by many other districts of Uttar Pradesh, on the East by Maharajganj district, South by Basti and Sant Kabir Nagar districts and in West by Balrampur district. The district occupies an area of 2752 km2.
Origin of Name
The district was named after prince Siddhartha, the pre-enlightenment name of Buddha, as he spent his early years (till the age of 29 years) in Kapilavastu, which lies within the territory of this district.
History
Siddharthnagar district was carved out on December 29, 1988 by bifurcating Basti district. The new district comprised the Northern part of the erstwhile Basti district.
Division
The district has 5 tehsils; Navgarh, Shohratgarh, Bansi, Itwa and Domariaganj.
6 Vidhan Sabha constituencies are located within this district. These are Navgarh, Shohratgarh, Bansi, Itwa, Domariaganj and Khesraha. The only Lok Sabha constituency in this district is the Domariaganj.
Demography
The population (according to 2001 census of India) of the district is 2,038,598 (male 1,047,573 and female 991,025) and the literacy rate is 43.97%.
Tourist Place
Main tourist place of Siddharthnagar is KAPILVASTU at Piprahava in Birdpur Block .This place is very important in all respect compared to other important sites because it is the seat where Buddha lived for 29 years. He completed his education in the same place and enriched his knowledge.He heralded peace to the world from this place.
In 1969 Birdpur block had Fourteen villages.The revenue departments was trying to subdivide it into smaller revenue villages with the help of local people.During the inspection ,the then Dy. Collector Mr. Jaiswal found out that the Khasra no 1888,1889,1891,1895,1892,1893,2570/312,2569/212,2569/1 etc were recorded in the name of Shakaya Dynasty as 'Kot Shaykaya Vanshaj Kaisery Hind' since past few centuries. During the consolidation procedure ,the land was recorded against some fictitious 'Shayakaya Vansaj'. Due to effort of local M.L.A. Mr. Dhanraj Yadav ,revenue department corrected this Khatouni and the land was against the name of 'Kot Shaykaya Vanshaj Kaisery Hind'.
Later on depending upon the historical facts ,a knowledgeable 'Bodh Bikshu Shri Dharma Kirti' visited the place with Mr. Narendra Kumar and confirmed that this is the place where the old KAPILVASTU ,the capital of Shakaya Kingdom buried underneath. He requested the government of India to excavate this place where old ruiens of KAPILVASTU might have been. Considering the above request ,Govt. of India started the survey and excavation work under the supervision of Dr. K.M. Srivastava , a renound archeologist in 1971-72.