Basti Tourism - Uttar-Pradesh

The semi urban town of Basti is situated in the Basti district in Uttar Pradesh. The district is topographically divided into the lower lying valley of the Ghaghra River area in the South, and extends the central upland area of Kuwana River, and the paddy belt that is situated between the Nepal and Rapti areas. It was ooriginally known as Vaishishthi, because in the ancient era, it was the place of Rishi Vaishishthis ashram. It has been mentioned in the Shatapatha Brahmana that the area around Basti was known as Kosala, the kingdom of the Ikshvaku dynasty. There is little known recorded history of the ancient period, but according to legends, the name Basti was given after the area was selected by Raja Kalhan as a seat of his raj approximately in the 16^th.century. In 1801, Basti was officially recognized as the Tehsil headquarters and became the district command in 1865. Evergreen forests, verdant green hills, innumerable water falls and streams Basti still remains covered in dense forest reserves, not as thickly enriched as it once was. Even today, Basti landscape is still covered in mango, mahua, Sal and the bamboo groves.