How India names its villages

3,309

villages with one or the other of Krishna’s various names. These include Madhopur,Gopalpur,Govindpur,Gopalnagaram,Shyamnagar. The name Gobardhan alone accounts for 81 other villages

Lord Ram

3,626

Rampur,Rampura,Ramnagar,Ramgarh,Rampuria,Raghunathpur are some examples of villages named after him. UP tops with 1,026 such villages,Assam has 57 and Andhra Pradesh 55

Radha

380

villages named after her,mostly in UP,MP,Orissa

Sita

75

villages derive their names from Sita or the alternative Janaki; mostly in UP

Emperor Akbar

234

He clocks the highest number of villages among those named after a Mughal emperor. His grandfather Babur has 62 villages named after him while father Humayun has 30; his grandson Shah Jahan has 51 while great-grandson Aurangzeb has 8,all in Bijnore district of UP

Kansa

42

villages named after Kansa,the cruel uncle who was killed by Lord Krishna

Dashrath

8

Ram’s father has 8 villages named after him

Guru Nanak Dev

35

villages named after the Sikh guru,such as Nanakpur,Gurunanak Nagar,Nanak Ganj. All but four of these are outside Punjab

Lord Ganesh

446

The names of these villages include Ganesh Nagar,Ganeshpur,Ganeshpura,Ganeshganj

Counting the HIGHS

616 villages with names derived from Ganga,such as Gangapur,Ganganagar,Gangasar,Gangasandra. Many of them in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu

469 villages have names celebrating their “bravery” such as Bahadurpur,Bahadurnagar,Bahadurwaas

217 villages named after Haathi (elephant); 46 take after Chinti (ant)

206 villages bear Kanchan (or gold) in their name,while 413 villages have Hira (diamond),such as Hirapur,Hiranagar,Hirakund.

162 villages hail the lion,such as Sherpur,Sherganj,Shergudha

144 villages have a hill in their name,such as Parbat,Parvatpur,Parvatnagar,Paharpur

52 villages’ names include Tala (lock); 9 have names with Kunji or Chabi (key)

27 villages named Kalapani (long,harsh jail term). Assam tops

25 villages celebrate wealth,such as Amirpur,Amirnagar

14 villages invoke Shani (the planet Saturn),such as Shanichara,Shaninagar,Shanighar

11 villages invoke progress,as Vikasnagar,Vikaspalli

8 villages named Pyasa (thirsty); 5 in MP and 3 in UP

Identity crisis

458 villages named Sultanpur,the home turf of Gandhi family

142 villages named Balia,as is the home district of former PM Chandrashekhar

92 villageS’ names include Bangal,such as Bangalnagar,Bangalpura,Bangalimohalla,Bangalpara,Bangalipur. All outside West Bengal,these are in states such as Maharashtra,Punjab,Andhra Pradesh

47 Nagpurs in the country,and as many as 97 Malegaons

70 Kundas,one of them well-known because of Raja Bhaiya. The other 69 are in Rajasthan,UP,Bihar,Jharkhand,etc

40 villages’ names have Nepal,such as Nepalpura,Nepalganj,Nepalnagar

37 villages named Badalpur besides the UP village of Mayawati. Uttarakhand’s Champawat district has a village named Mayawati

33 villages are named Kerala,all of them outside the state of Kerala

20 villages named Amethi,at least 10 in UP,outside the Gandhi bastion. One each in MP,Bihar,rest in Chhattisgarh

3 Lucknows outside the Uttar Pradesh capital. One each in Andaman and Nicobar,Uttarakhand and UP

Gandhi & 20th-Century NETAS

subhas chandra bose

27: Subhas Nagar,Subhas Gram,etc. Maharashtra has 11,Rajasthan 9,Bengal none

Jawaharlal Nehru

72: Names range from Nehru Nagar,Nehrugarh to Chacha Nehru Nagar,Jawahar Nagar

Mahatma Gandhi

117: The villages named after the Father of the Nation are spread all over the country

Indira Gandhi

36: Indira Gaon,Indira Gandhi Nagar,etc. Bengal,Karnataka,Maharashtra top list

Rajiv Gandhi

19: Villages named after the former prime minister,10 of them in Rajasthan