Ballia is a city with a municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The eastern boundary of the city lies at the junction of two major rivers, the Ganges and the Ghaghara. The city is situated 140 km (87 mi) east of Varanasi and about 380 km from the state capital Lucknow. It is home to a protected area, the Jai Prakash Narayan bird sanctuary. Ballia is around 4 km (2.5 mi) from Bihar.
Etymology
The name Ballia is an ancligised spelling of Hindi Baliyā (Devanagari: बलिया). According to Paul Whalley, the name is derived from the personal name Bali along with the suffix -ā. The "y" in the name is a glide inserted between the vowels to make it easier to pronounce; the resulting similarity to the diminutive suffix -iyā is only coincidental.[3]: 56
According to locals, the name Ballia was derived from the name of the sage Valmiki, the author of Ramayana. Valmiki resided here at one point, and the place was commemorated by a shrine (although it has long since been washed away). Another belief about the origin of the name is that it refers to the sandy quality of the soil, locally known as "Ballua" (balu meaning sand).[4]
Geography
Ballia district is the easternmost part of the Uttar Pradesh state and borders on Bihar State. It comprises an irregularly shaped tract extending westward from the confluence of the Ganga and the Ghaghra, the former separating it from Bihar in the south and the latter from Deoria and Bihar in the north and east respectively. The boundary between Ballia and Bihar is determined by the deep streams of these two rivers. It is bounded on the west by Mau, on the north by Deoria, on the north-east and south-east by Bihar and on the south-west by Ghazipur. The district lies between the parallels of 25º33' and 26º11' North latitudes and 83º38' and 84º39' East longitudes. Ballia is among the least forest covered districts in India.
Climate
Climate data for Ballia (1991–2020, extremes 1956–2012)
In 1901, Ballia had a population of 15,278.[7] According to the 2001 Indian census,[8] Ballia had a population of 102,226. Males constituted 54% of the population and females 46%. Ballia had an average literacy rate of 65%, which was higher than the national average of 59.5%, with 58% of the males and 42% of females being literate. 11% of the population was under six years of age.
As of 2011 Indian Census, Ballia had a total population of 104,424, of which 55,459 were males and 48,965 were females with a sex ratio of 883 females per 1000 males. The population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 11,623. The total number of literates in Ballia was 77,331, which constituted 74.1% of the population with male literacy of 78.0% and female literacy of 69.5%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Ballia was 83.3%, of which male literacy rate was 88.0% and female literacy rate was 78.0%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 8,703 and 3,942 respectively. Ballia had 15772 households in 2011.[1]
Hinduism is major religion in Ballia city, with 92,299 Hindus (88.39%), followed by 10,851 Muslims (10.39%) and 1.22% following other religions, includes Sikhs (0.23%), Christians (0.13%), Buddhists (0.04%), Jains (0.01%) and not stated (0.81%).[9]
Culture/Cityscape
Dadri Mela (fair)
Dadri mela is the second largest cattle fair of India, which is held 5 km (3.1 mi) from Ballia, near NH 31 and 3 km (1.9 mi) from the bus station of Ballia city.[citation needed] The fair starts with people taking a holy dip in the river Ganges on the full moon of Kartik Poornima (October–November). This fair is held annually in the honour of Dardar Muni, the disciple of Maharishi Bhrigu.[10][11]
This one-month-long fair is organised in two phases. The first phase starts ten days before the onset of Kartik Poornima, during which traders bring some excellent breeds of cattle from across India for sale/purchase. On or after Kartik Poornima, various cultural programs are organised and one can find here a large number of makeshift shops of various items during the next fortnight.[10][11]
