Bangarmau is a tehsil and a municipal board in Unnao district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on high ground overlooking the left bank of the Kalyani river, about 50 km northwest of Unnao and 22 km northwest of Safipur. Roads fan out in all directions from Bangarmau, including the main Unnao-Hardoi road SH38 that passes through town. Major commodities produced here include wheat flour, rice, and pulses. As of 2011, the population of Bangarmau is 44,204, in 7,600 households. Near Bangarmau is Sanchan Kot, where in 2009, an Archaeological Survey of India excavation unearthed a 2000-year-old Shiva temple.

History

Bangarmau was the first Muslim settlement in the area of present-day Unnao district, dating back to around the year 1300. According to legend, the town was founded when a Muslim holy man named Sayyid Ala-ud-Din attempted to take up residence near the town of Nawal, which was ruled by a Hindu raja named Nal. The raja refused and sent men to expel him by force, but Ala-ud-Din laid a curse on them so that the raja and all his people died, and the town of Nawal was turned upside-down. The modern village of Nawal is built on top of its ruins, and old artifacts are still sometimes dug up. Sayyid Ala-ud-Din then went on to found the city of Bangarmau, which is where he was buried after he died. A shrine was built over his grave, and it has an inscription dated to 702 AH, or 1302 CE. Ala-ud-Din's descendants remain custodians of the shrine, which at one point was "rich and famous" before declining by the turn of the 20th century. Despite Bangarmau's Muslim origin and prominent shrine, though, it never became thoroughly Islamised, and the population remains mostly Hindu. Bangarmau is referred to in the Baburnama, the autobiography of Babur, where Babur mentions that he camped near a lake situated in Bangarmau on 15 March 1528 and the following day left for Lucknow. Bangarmau belongs to the area under influence of a Sufi saint Madar Shah of the Madaria sect. Several villages named are after him situated around Bangarmau. Bangarmau's population steadily declined during the second half of the 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, Bangarmau was described as a well-built town almost surrounded by extensive orchards; about half the houses were built with brick. It had 16 mosques and several Hindu temples, as well as a police station and a middle school with 120 students. The town held markets twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays; its commerce was helped by its advantageous location at a crossroads.

Demographics

Education

Schools and colleges:

Villages

Bangarmau CD block has the following 82 villages: