Three godess temples within three kilometer. part of trinity.

There is a famous goddess temple for 'Vindhyavasini' is one of the shaktipeeths where pilgrims from all over the india visit.  

Kali khoh for mahakali tantriks.  

ashtbhuja - yashodas daughter but as Devaki's 8th child slipped out of Kansa's hand and established here.

Seetakund and SeetaRasoii:   god rama came to mirzapur during his exile and seeta ji cooked food at seetakund.  there was no water; so rama used his arrow for the pure water srote.  the place is called seeta rasoee and the sculpture is beautiful.  he also mentioned about excavation area which i could not find.

SeetaMarhi is also nearby.  It is said this is where she went underground.

ramgaya ghat: after Dasharath’s death Ram asked his guru vashishtha, “ where should i do the shraddha?” After consulting with narad ji, the guru suggested ram gaya ghat.  this is the best place for shraddha because vindhya parvat and  the ganga river meet here.  he? made a rameshwar and lakchamneshwar temples there.  people still do shraaddh here.   In the middle of ganga, there is an island near that ghat which does not sink even during the barh(flood).  There is a big shilakhand with ram and seeta’s charan paduka along with prakrit inscription.

Also tara mandir is a place for tantrik siddhis.  Tara is the gatekeeper of vindhyachal devi.  tantriks gather here during the navratri. ??

near bariya ghat, ramji bathed in ganga and did darshan of tarkeshwar before going to ram gayaghat for shraddh.

bhaironath

tarkeshwar

burhe nath

panchmukhi mahadev

to find shiva as her husband, goddess parvati did her nirajal tapasyaa in mirzapur at vindhya parvat.  first she ate leaves then stopped that also.  she was called aparnaa for that.

ahilyaa became woman from the rock stage here at the vindhya parvat.

it is mentioned in markandeypuran that godess was incarnated to destroy mahisasur.  

kantit sharif

nearby

shivdwar excavated shiv parvati in lasya

chunar durga mandir gupta period

chunar kila

chunar dargah

Architecture

pakka ghat magnificant sandstone structure

a prostitute made pakka saray the nakkashi of the well is beautiful.  picture

across from j.c. bal mandir there is a beautiful sculpture of a temple.  

in musaffargunj in a temple there was a woman with her beautiful and thin nathani.  someone took that to a museum in london. 

check out the nakkashi at trimohani and pansari tola.

literature

pt. ram gulam dwivedi is considered 8th tulasidas.  he was a hanuman bhakt and worked as a jamadaar in ganeshganj.  later on he became a famous poet.

chaudhari badri narayan premdhan influenced?  bhartendu harishchandra who frequently came to mirzapur.

ramchandra shukl first studied and taught here, then went to BHU

Dr. Kashi prasad jaiswal born in mirzapur did his bar at law and wrote about history of hindi.  he refused the title of ‘sir’

specialities

carpet, bartan pots and kajali, 

the business of rocks patthar and shilpkaari is very famous.

in past laakh and chapraa was very famous also.  laakh was used for warnish, paint, sealing, waxing and stamping mohar.

london market rate was determined by mirzapur market.

natural beauty

siddha naath kee dari, jogiya daree (famous fall) bwfor madihaan, lakhaniyaa daree in ahrauraa.

in vidhyakchetra- bhairavkund, seeta kund, and muchandara- very good water

motiya jheel (beautiful), geruahwa talab, chitwaa khoh is a divya sthan.

many falls: tanda, khandwa,vindham, sirasi, kathautiyaa, khajuree,

shashthi maee, ashtbhuja, bhairav kund, motiya jheel, geruwa talav, aanad mai aashram.

east-chunaar kaa kilaa

sonbhdra

west-kankaal kaalee, vindhyachal, saptasaagar, mangla gauri, ashtbhuji, kaleekhoh, dewrahwa aashram,

south- tanda fall, vindham, khajuri, kharanja, bhattha, new BHU campus.

north-ghats

-tribes-barhaee, lohaar, bhuiyaar,

-botanical study- contact Dr. Gandhi

-mirzapuri music: kajari, 

-daily life-ramleela, keertan, ramayan prawachan, kavisammelan, pooja, rituals

-festivals-teej, kajari etc

-customs-birth to death in different period and communitite

-games-kabaddi, kho-kho, rassakashi, kairam, ludo, card

Sacred Complex in Janakpur or 

the 1st book studies:

-Sacred Centers (location, myth, and transformation from old to new).

-Sacred Performances (pilgrimage, fairs and festivals, daily performances)

-Sacred Specialists mahanth, panda etc.

Diana’s book Benaras-city of lights by Diana Eck. highlights:

-Historical Perspective (in Mahabharat, BrahmaPuran, Devi mahatmya, matsyapuran, Buddha, Maurya, Gupta, Muslim, and British period)

using old maps, excavation, bharat kala bhawan statues and paintings.

-City of Shiva (starting from Veda, story of Shiva-parvati, pictures, Ganga, KapalMochan, temple map, gyanwaapi, paiting old/new and other temples.

-Circles of all gods, stories from Kashi Khanda, Devi, Navratra.

-River Ganges and the great Ghats

-ToDO:  first I heard from Prof. Chandra regarding architecture in MZP. contact him. 

-history-devimahatmya, matsyapuran,kalika puran, yogini tantra, (pampapur, kantipuri) in mahabharata mentioned as submerged in ganga and rishi vedavyaas lived here?

-check out excavation sites.

-city of devi

Ethnobotany of tribals of Mirzapur by Maheshwari, J.K.

Mirzapur by edititor A.K. Kundu

Mirzapur Healthy City Project-report on action report

Rock art of Central India by Radhakant Verma

Child Labor in Carpet Industry by S. Vijaygopalan

The archaeology of middle ganga plain by Purushottam Singh

Gazateer of Mirzapur?

article on Arsenic in Ganga

Read Sanskrit Inscription of Delhi Sultanate 1191-1526 by Pushpa Prasad- Oxford University Press 1990

-Manikarnika ghat eulogy by brother Manodhar for younger brother Veereshwar.

-P 56 Belkhara pillar in belkhara near ahraura mentions that MZP was part of Kanauj (Kanyakubj) during 1197 AD

-Sati Stone in Ashtabhuji in local dilect in 1437 AD

-P160 Chunar is probably Charanadri (the foot of dwapar yug)

- Allahabad sangam half male and half female sculpture found.

Veda recitation in varanasi by wayne howard 1986 motilal banarasidas

atlas of inscription-scharpe- lists the inscriptions

allahabad government office archives

Old age-shashthi puja, bheemratha yagyan widhi, aarohanaa yagyaan widhi, shashthi purti shanti, bheem rudra rath in nepal, in Japan some ritual

Prof witzel in interested in history, inscription,teerth, different vedic groups, kanfata yoga?.

B-Met with Budhiyaji who has a BA in english, hindi, and political science from allahabad university.  very active in the development of mirzapur.  his organization is called triveni adhyatma sanskriti. He organized vindhya mahotsava in 1999. According to him a lot  of information  about Mirzapur is available in औसनस या औसनद महापुराण and lalita sahastranaam.  He told me following stories:

-language/linguistic

-current issues: arsenic in ganga, child labor, a lot of nexlites problems.