Should Agra be renamed? More dissent than assent tumbles forth

Agra With the department of history, Dr BR Ambedkar University busy preparing a reply to the administration’s query about name of Agra in the past, the issue of

Agra With the department of history, Dr BR Ambedkar University busy preparing a reply to the administration’s query about name of Agra in the past, the issue of possible renaming of the city has caught the attention of a cross section of society and people are putting forth different views on the idea of renaming the city as ‘Agravan’.

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However, the most concerned about a possible name change is the tourism industry. Tourism trade pundits disagree with any proposal to change the name of the city as they feel that Taj Mahal is synonymous with Agra and the world knows the city of Taj by this name (Agra) only.

When contacted, the head of the history department, DBRAU, Prof Sugam Anand informed that the issue sprang up after some residents posted queries on the IGRS portal of the chief minister about previous names of the city and some of them also mentioned that it was once known as ‘Agravan’.

“The vice chancellor received a letter from the district administration seeking clarification about the history of Agra and names which it had in different periods. It is an elaborate task and historical facts are being studied to reach a conclusion which needs to be based on concrete evidence, after which reply can be sent,” he said.

Vice chancellor of Dr BR Ambedkar University Dr Arvind Dixit said that although a letter was received from the district administration, the university would take up the matter in an academic manner, as the issue about naming of Agra was also posted on IGRS portal of the chief minister.

“Some Agraites mentioned on the IGRS portal of the chief minister that the name of Agra in the past was ‘Agravan’. Besides this, the district magistrate too issued a letter asking for historical facts about names by which Agra was known in the past,” Dr Dixit said .

“It may be a query by the administration but being a university, we have taken up the matter in the academic sense and the letter has been marked to Prof Sugam Anand, head of the history department. He has been advised to undertake research in texts available and also place notice on the website of the university, seeking inputs from those aware of the subject and the city’s past names, with relevant evidence if it was known as ‘Agravan,” he said.

To recall, former BJP MLA from Agra North, late Jagan Prasad Garg had advocated renaming of Agra as ‘Agravan’ after Maharaja Agrasen, much revered by Agarwals dominating his constituency. The present BJP MLA from Agra North, Purshottam Khandelwal too endorses the sentiment because his constituency is dominated by followers of Agrasen.

“There are evidences that in Mahabharat time, Agravan existed and there is no harm in renaming Agra as Agravan, as this would enrich the cultural aspect of the city,” Purshottam Khandelwal said.

But those holding Maharaja Agrasen in high esteem too are in a fix with the stand taken by politicians, mostly from the BJP.

Rajeev Gupta from Lokswar organization said that if it was historically confirmed that Agra was once known as Agravan, then it was merely a correction in name. Otherwise there was no sense in changing the city’s name.

President of Paryatan Mitra Rajeev Tiwari said that any change in the city’s name, home to Taj, would only harm tourism as Agra and Taj were synonymous worldwide.

Sandeep Arora from Agra Tourism Development Foundation complained that real issues hampering growth of Agra were being neglected and such baseless issues were being raised.

Historians too appeared divided, with a prominent historian, Satish Chandra Chaturvedi saying Agra was initially known as Angira, being the land of noted seer Angira, a worshipper of Shiva.

Many historians agree that there is reference to ‘Agravan’ but do not present concrete evidence of Agra having been known as Agravan in the past.

Interestingly, several others say Agra was known as Akbarabad after Mughal Emperor Akbar made it the capital of the Mughal empire.

To recall, the BJP government in the state has already named Allahabad as Prayagraj, Mughalsarai as Deen Dayal Nagar and Faizabad as Ayodhya. Hence speculation is rife if Agra would be next in the queue.