Uttar Pradesh: Society, Festivals, Folk Culture and Dialects

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Studies V:

• Rural, Urban and Tribal issues: social structure, festivals, fairs, music, folk dances, literature and languages/dialects, social customs of UP.

Topics in detail

UP's culture changes from region to region: western UP and the doab, Rohilkhand, Braj, Awadh, Purvanchal (the Bhojpuri east), Bundelkhand and the Terai. Learning each region's dialect, songs and fairs together makes this topic easier to recall.

Social structure

• Village society: caste, the joint family, land ownership and the old jajmani ties, and how they have changed
• Scheduled Castes: about one-fifth of the population (Census 2011), the largest number of any state
• Scheduled Tribes: a small share of the population, mainly in Sonbhadra, Lalitpur, Mirzapur, Chandauli and the Terai districts
• Religious communities and composite culture (the Ganga-Jamuni tradition)
• Social mobility, education, migration to cities and other states, and new middle classes

Rural issues

• Small and fragmented holdings, farm distress and rural debt
• Underemployment and seasonal migration from eastern UP and Bundelkhand
• Water scarcity in Bundelkhand; floods in the eastern districts and the Terai
• Stray cattle and crop damage; rural sanitation, health and schooling
• Social issues: dowry, child marriage, caste discrimination, gender gaps

Urban issues

• Fast growth of cities in the National Capital Region (Noida, Ghaziabad) and of Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi and Prayagraj
• Slums, housing shortages, solid waste and sewage, traffic congestion, air pollution
• Informal work, street vending, urban poverty
• Overlapping roles of municipal bodies and development authorities

Tribal issues

• Tribes of UP: Tharu and Buksa (Terai), Gond, Kharwar, Cheru, Baiga (Sonbhadra and nearby), Saharia (Lalitpur)
• Forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and their implementation
• Displacement by mining, power plants and dams in Sonbhadra
• Malnutrition, schooling and health access in remote areas; preserving tribal languages and crafts

Festivals and fairs

• Kumbh and Magh Mela at Prayagraj (the Kumbh Mela is on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, 2017)
• Dev Deepawali in Varanasi; Deepotsav in Ayodhya
• Lathmar Holi of Barsana and Nandgaon; Janmashtami in Mathura and Vrindavan
• Ramlila (on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, 2008), with the Ramnagar Ramlila of Varanasi as a well-known form
• Muharram observances in Lucknow; Eid; urs at Dewa Sharif (Barabanki) and Kichhauchha
• Chhath in eastern UP; Teej and Kajari in the rainy season; Ganga Dussehra; Nag Panchami
• Fairs: Bateshwar (Agra) and Dadri (Ballia) livestock fairs, Garhmukteshwar's Kartik fair, Devi Patan (Balrampur)

Music and folk dance

• Hindustani classical gharanas: Banaras (thumri, dadra, tabla), Lucknow (tabla, Kathak), Agra (khayal), Rampur-Sahaswan
• Bhatkhande music institution in Lucknow
• Folk songs: Kajari, Chaiti, Birha, Sohar, Alha (ballads of Alha and Udal, Bundelkhand), Rasiya (Braj), Phag, Nirgun
• Kathak: the classical dance of north India, with Lucknow and Banaras gharanas
• Folk dances: Charkula and Raslila (Braj), Dhobiya (eastern UP), Raai and Diwari (Bundelkhand), Karma (tribal areas)
• Folk theatre: Nautanki, Swang and Ramlila

Literature, languages and dialects

• Hindi is the official language; Urdu is the second official language
• Literary traditions in Awadhi (Tulsidas, Jayasi), Braj (Surdas, Raskhan, Bihari), Khari Boli Hindi and Urdu
• Sanskrit learning at Varanasi
• Dialects shift across the state; each region has its own songs and proverbs (see the table below)

Social customs

• Life-cycle rituals (sanskaras) and the songs that go with them: sohar at birth, wedding songs
• Marriage customs and the problem of dowry; laws against dowry and child marriage
• Caste and community councils in western UP; inter-caste marriage and its challenges
• Crafts as living traditions: chikankari (Lucknow), Banarasi silk, Bhadohi carpets, Moradabad brassware, Firozabad glass, Kannauj attar, Khurja pottery, Nizamabad black pottery

Main dialects and where they are spoken

Overlaps

• Indian society and culture, women, urbanisation and social empowerment: General Studies I.
• Main dialects of UP in the Prelims Hindi section: Prelims General Studies Paper II (CSAT).
• Demography and censuses of UP: General Studies VI.