The trend of changing the cities name has been not over yet. Uttar Pradesh Government under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has changed many cities’ names like Allahabad became Prayagraj, Mughalsarai became Pt., DeenDayal Upadhyay, Faizabad became Ayodhya and now it’s time for Agra, the city of Taj.
Uttar Pradesh Government has set up a committee to examine if Agra City was known by any other name in the ancient times, this development has come to light with rumours of Yogi government thinking to change the name of Agra. Although, the discussion seems to be in very early stage and there has not been any official confirmation for the same.
Bhim Rao Ambedkar University Vice-Chancellor Arvind Dixit said a committee had been constituted to look into the issue after it received a notice from the Agra administration, PTI reported.
“A committee has been formed comprising local research scholars, research students and myself. The committee’s work will be to delve into the archival and documented records in history to see if Agra ever had an ancient name,” PTI quoted Ambedkar university’s History department head Sugam Anand as saying.
Anand also invited participation from the public asking if they have any evidence on any ancient name for Agra and said discussions have already begun with experts. The move was initiated after some locals posted a demand to rename Agra on the state government’s Stamp and Registration Department website. This was then referred to Agra administration, which in turn approached the university.
The university vice-chancellor said though there have been stories about ancient Agra having a different name, no documented evidence is available yet. Dixit said only a hoard of coins with the name ‘Guhilshri’ or ‘Shriguhil’ inscribed on them was found in 1863 in Agra.
A former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, late Jagan Prasad Garg, had demanded that Agra should be renamed Agravan.