Bharatpur, Rajasthan

The story of Bharatpur, Rajasthan

Bharatpur is a big city in Rajasthan, and the thing that marks it out on the map is that it was the capital of the Bharatpur State.

You are standing in a place that is now the administrative headquarters of Bharatpur District and the headquarters of Bharatpur Division of Rajasthan State, and it became a municipal corporation with 65 wards in 2014. The city sits within the National Capital Region of India, with New Delhi to the north, Jaipur to the west, Agra nearby in Uttar Pradesh, and Mathura also close at hand.

Its history reaches back to the ancient period, when Bharatpur was a part of the Matsya Kingdom, one of the sixteen ancient Mahājanapadas. It also has a later historic landmark in the Siege of Bharatpur, which is one of the significant events associated with the city.

The wider area around you has also produced archaeological finds. Recent excavations at Noh, about 6.43 km. from the city of Bharatpur on the Agra road, revealed five cultural periods of ceramic industry: ochre coloured ware, black and red ware, painted grey ware, north black polished ware, and a Sunga-Kushana Phase. From that Sunga and Kushana level came terracotta female figurines with elaborate coiffeurs and jewellery, a Kushana bowl inscribed in Bra/jmi characters, and a spotted red-sandstone Buddhist sculpture of early Kushana date depicting four Maitreyas.

Bharatpur is also a place with a strong festival calendar: Braj Holi Festival, Jaswant exhibition and fair during Dussehra, and Numaish exhibition and fair are all part of its cultural life.

If you are planning where to go next, the listed places to visit here include Keoladeo national park, Lohagarh Fort, Bayana, Ganga Mandir, Banke Bihari temple, Kishori Mahal, and Laxman Mandir.