Bastī, India

History

Basti was originally known as Vaishishthi. The origin of the name Vaishishthi is attributed to the fact that this area was the ashram of Rishi (sage) Vashistha in ancient period. Rama with his younger brother Lakshmana had been here for some time with Rishi Vashistha.

The tract comprising the present district was remote and much of it was covered with forest. But gradually the area became inhabitable, for want of recorded and reliable history it cannot, with any degree of certainty, be said how the district came to be known by its present name on account of the original habitation (Basti) having been selected by the Kalhans Raja Udai Raj Singh as a seat of his Raj, an event which probably occurred in the 16th century. In 1801, Basti became the Tehsil headquarters and in 1865 it was chosen as the headquarters of the newly established district. The region was under the rule of Kalhans dynasty based at modern Chaukhara. Maharaja Kesri Singh was the last ruler of Kalhans dynasty based at Chaukhara.

In the freedom struggle of 1857, about 250 martyrs of Amorha state were hanged by the British Government from peepal trees located at Chhawani.

From the History section of Basti, Uttar Pradesh on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.