INFORMATION ABOUT MIRZAPUR

According to the tradition , the name of this town,after which the district itself is named was GIRZAPUR , which in terms derives its name from the goddess Parvati (Girija) who sacrificed hersel here in a vajna.Mirza, Vindhyavasini ,and Lakshmi are the other names of the goddess whose temple exists at Vindhyachal .The present name of the district is derived from goddess Lakshmi who emerged from the sea . The word Mirza is formed from two words ; Mir meaning sea and ja meaning outcome , with the dditional pur standing for town. It is also locally believed that the town was founded by raja Nanner and was known as Girijapur,but later on it came to know as Mirzapur . The earliest mention of the town is found in the writings of Tieffenthaler,who drew up his description of the country between 1760 and 1770 . He mentioned it, under the name of Mirzapur specially as a great mart. In the records of Jonathan Duncan,who was resident of Varanasi,frequent mention is made of the place as Mirzapur.

MIRZAPUR TOURISM

The Places of Interest and Sight Seeing



• CHUNAR : This historic place lies in latitude 25.7 North & Longitude 80.55 East , 32 Km.east of Mirzapur And is connected by rail and road. It is also connected by rail with Varanasi via. Mugalsarai in the east. Tradition asserts that Bawan Bhagwan disguishing himself as a Brahamana begged three steps of land from king Bali. His first foot-step rested upon the hill of Chunar impressing it with his foot-mark.Consequently, the hill came to be known as Chunar Adri or footstep hill. With the passage of time , the name became Chunar. In the course of time the religious significance of this place increased considerably. It is aid that Bhati Nath,brother of the half Mythical Vikramaditya of Ujjain, having embraced the habit and profession of a hermit ,selected the rock of Chunar as his place of retirement.Vikramaditya is said to have discovered the hidding place of his brother by the aid of certain holy hermit named Gorakhnath, and to have visited Chunar and built for his brother a residence, he in his religious obsarption having neglected to provide any shelter for himself. And a variant of the legend,already given, states that it is the asint urf saint, not God himself,Who is invisibly seated on the black stone in the saint,ashrine on the summit of the hill. The next name connected with the fort is that of Prithiviraj, who is reported to have effected a settlement in this, part of the country and to brought under his rule a number of the surrounding villages. Afte r his death the country is said to have been taken from his successors by one Khair-ud- din Subuktagin. It appears , however from a mutilated sanskrit inscription the gateway of the fort that the place was again recoverd by one Swami Raja, who put up the stone to commemorate the event.The fort was finally acquired by sahab-ud-din, who appointed a ceryain sanidi, an African, and a Bahelia, with the title of hazari, as the governers of the fort , at the same time conferring on them a jagir is said to have remained with the Bahelia family through all (the British) its succeeding viciasitudesuntil its final cession to the British in 1772. Chunar did not become a fortress of first rate importance till the sixteenth century, when the struggles between the pathans and Mugals for the mastery of the east took place to which it was regarded as the key,Baber visited the place in 1529 A.D. and qwing to the number of wild beasts that infested the neighbourhood, lost many of his soldiers. These men were subsequently venerated as martyrs and their tombs are still to be seen scattered about the neighbourhood. Serkhan sur , afterwards the emperror Sher Shah, obtained possession of the fort by marrying the wife of deceased Govern and for some time resided in it. He built the Turkish bath (haman) and armoury (silah-khana). He refused to give it up to Humayun in 1536, whereupon Humayun besieged it for six months, ultimately succeeding in capturing it by means of a floating battery built high enough to command the fortifications.But no sooner had be continued his advance into Bengal, than it fell into the hands of Sher Khan again and it was not until 1575 A.D., that it was recovered by Akbar. The latter visited Chunar for shikar(hunting) . He also built the watergate in 1586 A.D.Which is the date engraved on the stone archway. Until 1750A.D. it remained with the Mughals. The emperor Jahangir appointed one Iftikhar Khan as its nazim, and in the regin of Aurangzeb one of its Governors was Mirza Bairam Khan, who built a mosque ther in 1663 A.D. near the Bharion Burj.But after the disruption of the Mughal empire, the fort fell into the hands of the nawab vizir of Avadh, and through all the subsequent aggressions and intrigues it was the only place which Balwant Singh was not able, or did not dare, to reduced into his possession. In 1764 an unsuccessful attack was made on it by the British troops under major Munro. Two assaults failed and the size was turned into a blackade which, however, was abandoned owing to the menacing attitude of Shuja-ud-daula after an unsuccessful night attack, a breach was effected in the south western rampart from batteries erected on Gaddess fort was exchanged for that of Allahabad, but in 772 it was formaly ceded to the East India Company , who established in it a depot for artillery and ammunition. After Chet Singh's outbreak in 781, Warren Hastings retired for safety to Chunar fort where a force was collected under major Popham, which expelled Chet Singh from his strongholds in the neighbourhood. In 1791 , Chunar fort became the headquarters of invalid battalion of European and Indian troops serving in India, all officers and men who were unfit for field service, being sent here for light duty



• VINDHACHAL :This is a large agricultural town lying in latitude 25.10 North and longitude 82.31 East,(a part of Mirzapur- cum – Vindhyachal municipal board ) 11 Km. West of Mirzapur with is connected by a metalled road.The ancient town of Vindhyachal , famous in the Puranas , is said to have been included within the circuit of the ancient city of pampapura .Pampapura is supposed to have been an old Bhar city covering several Km.of area.Tradition says that this city once possessed 150 temples, all of which were destroyed by Aurangzeb.The place is celebrated as containing the shrine of the goddess Vindhyeshwari Devi



• TARKESHWAR MAHADEV :There is reference of Tarkeshwar Mahadev in Puran's which is situated in the east of Vindhayachal. At present this Is in Tarkapur ward of Mirzapur. Before the temple there was a big Kund which had been dug by a jiant (Asur) named Tarak . Tarak was killed by Lord Shiva so called Tarkeshwar Mahadev. Near Kund there were several shivling . According to tradition God Vishanu dug a pond in the west of Tarkeshwar and established a temple of lord Shiva. Now it is disappear and stimulated in Ganga river. goddess Laxmi sacrificed herself here at Tarkeshwar. As per tradition Goddess Laxmi lives here in the form of another Goddess called Vaishnavi with Goddess Saraswati.



• PUNYAJALA RIVER :The river which flow between Mirzapur and Vindhayachal is Called Punyajala (Ojhala) . It is said about the ojhala that it is greatest in all Tirth , as Ashwamegh in all Yagya, Himalya in all mountain and truth in all Brata .The Water of this river is as holy as Ganga river. This is surrounded by Goddess Kali Temple, Maha Laxmi , Maha Sarsawati and Tarkeshwar Mahadev.



• NAGKUND :Nagkund is stand in the west of Punyajala river there are fifty two steps around the kund. It was famous that there was so many container (Patra) in kund and when devotee prayed for his daily necessities with kund the container floated on the water level in kund itself . Devotee got and satisfied with it further they kept the container in Kund and patra dipped in kund again . It was the most importance of this kund for which it was famous. Traditionally it is called pilgrims got Akshaya punya after taking bath in the kund at Panchami of Shukla Paksha of sawan.



• MAHA TRIKON :Devotee and pilgrims gets his desirable Sidhi after Parikrama of Maha Trikon as it is said. After visiting at temple of Vindhayavashni Devi they goes to Sankat Mochan (Mahabir) temple as well as Kalikhoh which is in south of Vindhayachal railway Station. Devotee visit at Goddess kali and worshiped they make them pious with the water of Kali Kund. They completed their Parikrama after visiting at saint Karnagiri Bawali. There are severl temples Situated of Bhairwas around the Kalikhoh, situation are such as - in the east Anand Bhairav, in west Sidhnath Bhairav , in south Kapal Bhairav and Bhairav is situated in north.The view of the visitors to get luxary like haven after visiting at Vindhayvasani temple and completed their Parikrama. Traditionaly it is famous as Maha Trikon.

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