Ballia

D1

Ballia (Hindi: बलिया, Urdu: بليا; baliya, [ bʌlɪja ] ) is a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, with around 104,000 inhabitants ( 2011 census ). It is located some 150 kilometers north-east of Varanasi in the eastern Uttar Pradesh on the north bank of the Ganges, which marks the border of the neighboring Federal State of Bihar here. The city is the administrative center of the district of Ballia.

The local tradition is derived from the name of the poet Valmiki Ballia, the mythical author of the Ramayana epic. As possible is also a derivation from the Hindi word for " sand " ( Balu ). Originally Ballia was right on the banks of the Ganges, but the erosion of the river bank destroyed the end of the 19th century almost the whole city. Therefore, Ballia in 1900 relocated about two kilometers to the north.