Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : 298
Sex Ratio Rank : 367 (Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
Disability : 140 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 413 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Water : Occurrence of High Arsenic in Ground Water
Challenges of the district : Our research with local communities
Social and developmental challenges of the district:
1. Poverty.
2. Lack of job opportunities and income generating activities.
3. Women not financially stable to start their own business.
4. Lack of government support.
Brief About Ballia District
Ancient Period
In ancient times the region covered by the present district of
Ballia, lay in the kingdom of Kosala. It is probable that the
river Ganga, in its sweep towards the north-east of present town
of Ballia, formed the boundary of Kosala which included the whole
of the present Ballia district as far as the junction of the Sadanira
and the Great Gandakil.
The back-strewn mounds and fragmentary remains of structural
character, which evoke memories not only of mythology but also
of history, are found at a number of places in the district. The
ruins in the neighborhood of Barhmain and Hanumanganj, consisting
of a large mound called Mira Dih, covered with broken bricks and
pottery of a dark hue, are probably the remains of an ancient
city. Khaira Dih, near turtipar in tahsil Rasra. which is also
a ruined site of a very ancient city named Bhargavapur. is presumed
to have been the place where the rishi a Jamadagni lived.
The excavations carried out under the auspices of the Banaras
Hindu University, Varanasi, have brought to light relics of the
black and red ware civilization (1450-1200 B.C.) at various sites
such as Bhumapardih, Bijulipur, Godabirgarh, Lovika-katopa, Maira
Dih, Pakka Kot and Vainagadho, indicating that the tract enjoyed
settled life and civilization from this early time.
Popular legends also bear witness to the antiquity of these sites,
one such being that of the village of Karon, (in tahsil Ballia),
its name being considered to be a corruption of the word Kam-anaunya.
The legend is that Siva, being enraged at the attempts of Kamdeo
(the god of love) to beguile him from his meditations, burnt him
to ashes at this spot. Ballia itself is supposed to have derived
its name by the eruption of the name Valmiki, that of the great
sage who is said to have had his hermitage or to have dwelt here
for some time. It is also associated with Bhrigu, another renowned
sage who, according to a local legend, came and dwelt here because
of the sacredness of the place Other rishis Like Garga Parasar,
Vashishta and Atri are traditionally believed to have visited
the neighborhood of Ballia attesting to the sacredness of its
environs extending to a circuit of about 16 km. According to tradition,
Hansnagar (town of swans) a village 9.6 km. east of Ballia. is
said to take its name from the legend that a swan turned into
a man and a crow into a swan by drinking the water of the holy
river Ganga at this place. At a distance of about 137 km. from
Ballia there is an ancient tank named Dharmaranva Pokhara where
an excavation is said to have revealed that thousands of rishis
practiced austerities there and that to the north and east it
there were traces of the previous existence of and ancient forest
probably a remnant of the ancient Aranya. Some other places of
this district are also associated the Vedic sages: Bhalsand (in
tahsil Ballia) is said to have derived its name from Bhardwaja
who resided there for sometime and Dhuband (also in tahsil Ballia)
to be a corruption of Durvasa-ashrama, signifying the abode of
Durvasa, a celebrated rishi.
The early political history of this region is complex. According
to the Puranic tradition the solar dynasty of Kshatriyas, founded
by one Manu, was the earliest known dynasty which gave Kosala
(to which the tract forming the district became subject) a systematic
form of government and of which Ikshvaku, the eldest son of Manu,
famed in Vedic tradition, was the first ruler. The line that descended
from produced a number of illustrious kings till the accession
of Rama who was the greatest ruler of this dynasty. Lakhnesar
Dih, in tahsil Rasra, is named after Lakhsmana, the brother of
Ram, who is said to have visited this place and built a temple
at this spot in honour of Mahadev. The remains of an ancient town
are still to be seen on the high band of the river in the form
of immense piles of ruins, from which numerous pieces of sculpture
have been obtained from time to time which bear testimony to the
fact that even in those early times it was a settled abode with
a flourishing population Lakhshmana's son. Chandraketu, entitled
Malla (valiant) in the Ramayana, established a kingdom known as
the Malla state, of which some portion of this district formed
a part, It is probable that the territories of the Mallas touched
those of Kasi in the south, Magadha in the south-east and Kosala
in the south-west, of which an area of the present day Ballia
district, then formed a part. It came to be the biggest and the
most important of the autonomous states of Kosala in respect of
territorial extent and political influence.
In the sixth century B.C., Kosala came to be known as one of
the sixteen Mahajanapadas (great kingdoms). At the time it was
ruled by the powerful king. Mahakosala His son, Prasenjit the
last great monarch of the solar dynasty of Kosala, was an important
figure of his time. During his reign the kingdom attained great
glory and prosperity. The Malla kingdom also figured as one of
the sixteen Mahajanapadas with an independent entity and status
equal to that of Koala itself. its chief, Bandhula, was a close
ally of Prasenjit as well as of Mahali, the Linchchhave prince
of Vaisalf. The were deeply influenced by the teachings of two
great religious exponents-Mahavira and Buddha and Jainism and
Buddhism found many followers among the Mallas. The period gave
rise to a different culture-that of the northern black polished
ware, as has been revealed by the excavations conducted at Ajaneraghar,
Bhimapurdih, Bijulipur, Gidabirghar and Masumpur.
After Prasenjit, the kingdom of Kosala began to decline rapidly
and the history of this area is shrouded in obscurity. The existence
of numerous ruined forts and other remains in the district connected
with the Bhars and the Cherus in legend and folklore point to
the fact that they might have held domination over the major part
of the district at that time. The Vhars were the occupants of
the western part of the district. According to local legend, the
heaps of broken earthen bricks in the parganas of Lakhnesar, Bhadaon
and Sikandrapur, belong to the time of the Bhars. The Cherus probably
ruled over the eastern half of the district. Kopachit in tahsil
Rasra is believed to have been the western limit of the Cheru
dominion. Tradition states that Bansdih lay in the heart of the
Cheru country. Through no remains attributable to the group are
found in Bansdih itself, the remnants of a fort are pointed out
in the neighboring and the now almost deserted village of Deorhi.
A number of places in the Ballia tahsil are also associated with
this group: Karnai is believed to have been originally owned by
the Cherus. Garwar is alleged to have been founded by them and
a small mound near the village and a large brick mound at Zirabasti
are presumed to be the debris of Cheru strongholds. Extensive
ruins at Pakka Kot are also said to be the debris of a fort and
other buildings dating back to the time when the Cherus ruled
the district. Tradition has it that the large inland lake, the
Suhara Tal at Basantpur, was constructed by the Cherus but no
traces are found of any artificial construction. The significance
of the tradition implies how completely the power of the Cherus
has been impressed upon the imagination of the people.
About the middle of the 4th century B.C. the realm of Kosala
was brought to an end by Mahapadma Nanda, who has been described
in the Puranas as the exterminator of the Kshatriya race and who,
by uprooting the Kosalans, extended his empire over the major
part of this region. He was the first great historical emperor
of northern India. But a part of the district under the Mallas
did not come under the domination of this emperor as they saved
their authority and existence by merely accepting the supremacy
of the Nandas.
The Nandas were supplanted by the Mauryas under Chandragupta
(324-300 B.C.) who ruled over a vast empire and the district became
a part of the Maurya dominion except for the portion under the
Mallas, which remained independent. Kautilya, who took a leading
part in this revolution, mentions in his Arthsastra that this
republic was a Samgha, or a state in a federation. He enjoins
upon Chandragupua Maurya to cultivate friendship with the Mallas:
“It is better to have a Samgha on your side than to acquire an
army or to secure an ally.” The most illustrious king of this
dynasty was Asoka (273-236 B.C.), Chandragupta's grandson who
became a Buddhist and combined in himself the zeal of a monk with
the wisdom of a king. The excavations have laid bare the remains
of a stupa at Ballia and the ruins of Buddhist monasteries here
and at Barhmaian. The latter has remains of old walls and very
large bricks measuring about 45 cm. long, 23 cm. broad and 11
cm. in height and many carved and ornamental specimens
With the fall of the Mauryas a new dynasty, that of the Sungas,
came to power under Pushyamitra (187-151 B.C.) whose dominion
covered only the central portion of the Maurya empire. The fact
is confirmed by an inscription found at Ayodhua, describing him
as the lord of Kosala. As he uprooted the Malla republic, the
whole of the area covered by the district came under his sway.
During his reign, the Greeks of Bactria invaded India and it is
likely the district also suffered the effects of the invasion
of Menander, who carried his arms as for as Madhyamika, Saketa
and Pataliputra.
The history of the district in the era immediately following
the fall of the Sungas is shrouded in obscurity till the advent
of the Kushanas. That Ballia became a part of the Kushana dominion
is undoubted as evinced by the finding of a large number of coins
mostly of this periods in the ruins of Khaira Dih. The large bricks
(measuring 60 cm. by 45 13 cm.) found in the ruins are a witness
to the antiquity and the prosperity of the place.
After the dismemberment of the Kushana empire, the history of
Ballia is mostly enveloped in darkness, But a glimpse of the history
of the district is provided by a number of inscribed coins, found
at the ancient city of Ayodhya, of certain rulers such as Satyamitrta,
Ayumitra (or Aryamitra) Sanghamitra, Vijayamitra, Devamitra, Ajavarman
and Kumudasena, who appear to have flourished, after the end of
Kushana rule, in what is now eastern Uttar Pradesh, including
the area then covered by district Ballia. Of these Kumudasena
alone was called a raja. It is surmised that the Guptas, probably
Samudragupta, conquered this region and annexed it to the empire,
in the fourth century A.D. During the reign of his son, Chandragupta
II (380-413) the celebrated Chinese (Buddhist) pilgrim, Fa-hien
(400-411) came to India to pay homage to the holy places of Buddhism.
He mentions that on his way from Kasi to Patliputra, he came across
a Buddhist monastery and a Buddhist temple (in Ballia) which bore
the name of ‘the vast solitude’. The Indian name is not given
but the literal translation of the term used is Vrihadaranya or
Bidaran.
The decline of the Gupta empire was precipitated by the assumption
of independence by its feudatories. About the beginning of the
second quarter of the sixth century, Yashodharman of Malwa overran
the whole of northern India and Ballia seems to have come under
his meteoric sovereignty after which it passed under the rule
of the Maukharis of Kannauj. They established an empire comprising
the whole of modern Uttar Pradesh in addition to a large part
of Magadha. Thus the glory of Magadha was eclipsed with the rising
power of Kannauj. The Maukharis were subdued by Harsha Varhsana
(606-647) who established an extensive empire, the district continuing
to form part of the Varshana empire During his reign Hiuen Tsang
(629-644) another famous Chinese pilgrim and a Buddhist monk,
came from China and passed through this district on his way from
Varanasi to Nepal, He describes the Buddhist monastery of Aviddhakarba
which he calls A-pi-te-ka-la-na Sangharama (the monastery of the
brethren with unpierced ears) situated close to the town of Ballia.
According to him this monastery had been built for the use of
Buddhist pilgrims, From there he went to the temple of narayana,
which he describes as being of two storeys with halls and terraces
beautifully adorned with the most marvelous sculptures in stone
with stone images in the highest style of art. Carlleyle identifies
the ruins of an ancient temple at Narainpur (in thisil Ballia)
with the remains of the temple mentioned above.
After the death of Harsha his empire broke up and anarchy and
confusion prevailed for about half a century. The history of Ballia
during the interval between Harsha's death and the rise of Yashovarman
nearly three-quarters of a century later, is again obscure. He
must have reigned in the latter part of the seventh and the first
part of the eighth century A.D. and the district Ballia is likely
to have formed an integral part of his dominion.
After Yashovarman the kingdom of Kannauj (which included modern
utter Pradesh ) was a dependency of the empire of
Dharampala of Bengal, who nominated Chakrayudha as the ruler
of Kannauj but who was to be directly subordinate to him In the
first of the ninth century, probably soon after the capture of
Kannauj by Naghbhatta II , it came under the sway of the rising
power of the Gujrat Pratiharas of whom Bhoja was the strongest
ruler in northern India. He maintained peace in his kingdom and
defended it against external dangers but the power of the Gurjara
Pratiharas began to decline in the latter half of the tenth century
and was brought to an end by Mahmud of Ghani’s invasion in 1018
A.D.
The downfall of the Gurjara Pratiharas was followed by a period
of chaos which came to an end only in the last decade of the 11th
century by the establishment of the Gahadvala dynasty at Kannauj
under Chandradeva. The only reference of this suzerainty is that
he was the protector of the holy places of Kasi (varanasi), Kusika
(Kannauj) , Uttarakosala(Ayadhya) and the city of Indra (Ancient
Delhi). It will thus be seen that Chandradeva’s jurisdiction comprised
almost the whole of what is now Uttar Pradesh Therefore it may
be presumed that the district of Ballia was also under his control
. Reference to a Rajpu raja of Haldi , Ramdeo, who was installed
in the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. show that some parts of the
district were subjugated by local chiefs.
