Basti is a city and a municipal board in Basti district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Basti district is a part of Basti division. It is situated 202 kilometres east of state capital Lucknow.
Basti was originally known as Vaishishthi town. The origin of the name Vaishishthi is attributed to the fact that this area was the Ashram of Rishi (sage) Vashistha in ancient period. Lord rama with his younger brother laxman had been here for some time with rishi vasistha.
The tract comprising the present district was remote and much of it was covered with forest. But gradually the area became inhabitable, for want of recorded and reliable history it cannot, with any degree of certainty, be said how the district came to be known by its present name on account of the original habitation (Basti) having been selected by the Kalhan Raja as a seat of his Raj, an event which probably occurred in the 16th century. In 1801, Basti became the Tehsil headquarters and in 1865 it was chosen as the headquarters of the newly established district.
In the freedom struggle of 1857, about 250 martyrs of Amorha State were hanged by the British Government from peepal trees located at Chhawani.
Education
The district follows a usual 10+2+3 pattern of education as elsewhere in India. Some notable schools and institutions of the district are :
Sarla International Academy (affiliated to CBSE)
St. Basils School (affiliated to CISCE)
All India Institute of Information Technology
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Basti
Karma Devi Smriti Mahavidyalaya
Little Flower High School, Kalwari Basti
Little Flower Senior Secondary School, Harraiya Basti
Administration
Raja Zalim Singh Smarak Sthal, Amorha, Basti, Uttar Pradesh (राजा ज़ालिम सिंह स्मारक स्थल, अमोढ़ा, बस्ती उ0प्र0)
Basti town is the district headquarters of the district.[5] Basti district, a part of Basti division, is formed of four tehsils: Basti, Harriya, Bhanpur and Rudhauli, and 15 development blocks,[23] 139 Nyay Panchayats, two Parganas named Amorha & Nagar as well as 10 Gram Sabhas. The development blocks included are:
Amorha (Pargana), Nagar (Pargana), Basti ,Bahadurpur, Bankati, Dubauliya, Gaur, Harraiya (Tahsil), Kaptanganj, Kudaraha, Paras Rampur, Ramnagar, Rudhauli (Tehsil), Saltaua Gopal Pur, Sau Ghat, Shubham Nagar, Vikram Jot
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basti_district
