Mathura district (), situated along the banks of the river Yamuna, is a district of Uttar Pradesh state of north-central India. The historic city of Mathura is the district headquarters. Mathura district is home to many important sites associated with goddess Radha and Lord Krishna, who according to legend, was born in Mathura and grew up in the nearby town of Vrindavan. Both cities are some of the most sacred sites in the Vaishnava tradition, making Mathura district an important Hindu pilgrimage centre.

The District is part of Agra division. Total area of Mathura district is 3340 sq. km. There are 5 tehsils in Mathura district. Mathura Govardhan Chhata Mant Mahavan. Mathura is bounded on the northeast by Aligarh district, on the southeast by Hathras district, on the south by Agra district, and on the west by Rajasthan and northwest by Haryana state.

History

Mathura has an ancient history. The district lies in the centre of the cultural region of Braj. According to the Archaeological Survey of India plaque at the Mathura Museum, the city is mentioned in the oldest Indian epic, the Ramayana. In the epic, the Ikshvaku prince Shatrughna slays a demon called Lavanasura and claims the land. Afterwards, the place came to be known as Madhuvan as it was thickly wooded, then Madhupura and later Mathura.

In the 6th century BCE Mathura became the capital of the Surasena mahajanapada. The city was later ruled by the Maurya Empire (4th to 2nd centuries BC) and the Shunga Empire dynasty (2nd century BC). It may have come under the control of Indo-Greeks some time between 180 BCE and 100 BC. It then reverted to local rule before being conquered by the Indo-Scythians during the 1st century BC.

Mathuran art and culture reached its zenith under the Kushan dynasty which had Mathura as one of their capitals, the other being Purushapura (Peshawar). The dynasty had kings with the names of Kujula Kadphises, Kanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva I.

Megasthenes, writing in the early 3rd century BC, mentions Mathura as a great city under the name Μέθορα (Méthora).Megasthenes, fragment 23 "The Surasenians, an Indian tribe, with two great cities, Methora and Clisobora; the navigable river Iomanes flows through their territory" quoted in Arrian Indica 8.5. Also "The river Jomanes (Yamuna) flows through the Palibothri into the Ganges between the towns Methora and Carisobora." in FRAGM. LVI. Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8-23. 11.

The Indo-Scythians (aka Sakas or Shakas) conquered the area of Mathura over Indian kings around 60 BCE.

The district was then ruled by the Gupta Empire and the Vardhas(Harsha) before falling into the hands of local Rajput and Jat rulers.

The findings of ancient stone inscriptions in Magorra, a town from Mathura, provide historical artifacts giving more details on this era of Mathura. The opening of the 3 line text of these inscriptions are in Brahmi script and were translated as: "In the 116th year of the Greek kings..."

The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the "Northern Satraps", as opposed to the "Western Satraps" ruling in Gujarat and Malwa. After Rajuvula, several successors are known to have ruled as vassals to the Kushans, such as the "Great Satrap" Kharapallana and the "Satrap" Vanaspara, who are known from an inscription discovered in Sarnath, and dated to the 3rd year of Kanishka (c 130 AD), in which they were paying allegiance to the Kushans.A Catalogue of the Indian Coins in the British Museum. Andhras etc.... Rapson, p. ciii.

Mathura served as one of the Kushan Empire's two capitals from the first to the third centuries.

Fa Xian mentions the city, as a centre of Buddhism about AD 400; while his successor Xuanzang, who visited the city in 634 AD, which he mentions as Mot'ulo, and said that it contained twenty Buddhist monasteries and five Brahmanical temples. Later, he went east to Thanesar, Jalandhar in the eastern Punjab, before climbing up to visit predominantly Theravada monasteries in the Kullu valley and turning southward again to Bairat and then Mathura, on the Yamuna river.

The city was sacked and many of its temples destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 and again by Sikandar Lodhi, who ruled the Sultanate of Delhi from 1489 to 1517.Sultan Sikandar Lodi The Muntakhabu-'rūkh by Al-Badāoni (16th-century historian), Packard Humanities Institute.Lodi Kings: Chart The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909, v. 2, p. 369..

Sikander Lodhi earned the epithet of 'But Shikan', the 'Destroyer of Hindu deities'. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, built the city's Jami Masjid. The noteworthy fact is that the exact place of birth of Krishna, according to historians, is in the place of worship of the Hindus, though the mosque was built near the birthplace of Krishna. The bigger Krishna shrine, better known as Shree Krishna Janambhumi is a few metres away from birthplace of Krishna. It was built by Jugal Kishore Birla in 1954.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Mathura district has a population of 2,547,184, roughly equal to the nation of Kuwait or the US state of Nevada. This gives it a ranking of 167th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 22.53%. Mathura has a sex ratio of 858 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 72.65%. 29.68% of the population lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes made up 19.89% of the population.

The district has about 1,600,000 voters, including 3,00,000 Jat people, 2,50,000 Thakur, 1,75,000 Brahmin. Mathura receives a large number of daily visitors besides pilgrims who stay for an average of 3 days. Mathura's urban area's floating population on normal days is between 100,000 and 125,000 per day, whereas on festive and auspicious days it is over twice the population of urban area.

The majority of people in Mathura are Hindus. Muslims are equally divided between rural and urban areas while the Hindu population is mainly rural.

Language

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 75.20% of the population in the district spoke Hindi, 22.25% Braj and 0.81% Urdu as their first language.

Geography and climate Mathura is located at .Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. - Mathura It has an average elevation of 174 metres (570 feet). The climate of Mathura is tropical extreme with very hot summers with temperatures rising beyond 44 °C, and cold and foggy winters with the temperature dipping to 5 °C. The average rainfall is 793  mm, received mostly during the monsoons from July to September.

Administration Region of Mathura was added to British territory in 1803 A.D. Till 1832 A.D, when Mathura was recognised as district, the region was partly administered from Agra and partly from Sadabad.

Strategic importance Mathura is the home for Indian I Corps (Strike Formation)India – Army Central Command Order of BattleOrganisational Structure within the Indian Army's Central Command, hosting Strike I Corps headquarters in a large classified area in the outskirts of the city known as Mathura Cantonment (Central Command itself has its headquarters at Lucknow). It hosts Strike Infantry units, Air Defence units, Armoured Divisions, Engineer brigades, Artillery Units and classified units of Strategic Nuclear Command. Corps I is primarily responsible for western borders of India. In 2007 during Exercise Ashwamedha, all the armoured, artillery and infantry divisions performed a simulation of an overall NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) environment. The aim was to show operational ability in high intensity, short duration and 'sudden' battles.Indian Army tests network centric warfare capability in Ashwamedh war games

Politics Mathura is governed by a number of bodies, the most important being the Mathura Nagar Nigam (Municipal Corporation), which is responsible for the master planning of the city. Now the responsibilities of planning of the city as well as urban areas ( including nagar nigam ) handed over to MATHURA-VRINDAVAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (in brief- "M V D A"). The Authority established in 1977.

Mathura Lok Sabha constituency elects MP from this district. In 2019 Hema Malini (BJP) won the election.

Healthcare Health care facilities in Mathura are provided by Central, State and Local government facilities, besides numerous private providers. As per the recent District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS-3) 2007 – 2008, only 33% of currently married women are using a modern method of contraception, which is lower than the state average of 34.8%. Usage of any modern method, though, is higher in Mathura (29.4%) in comparison to the state's average of 26.7%. The percentage of IUD, Pill and Condom usage is again below the state average. The DLHS 3 estimates unmet Family Planning need in Mathura at 38.9%: 9.8% unmet need for spacing methods and 29.1% unmet need for limiting methods. The percentage of birth of order 3 and above is quite high at 46.9%. Mathura has lesser percentage of girls marrying before 18 years of age, which is 31.6% in comparison with the state average of 33.1%. But the most alarming statistic is that of mothers who had at least 3 antenatal care visits during the last pregnancy, which is only 21% as compared to the state average of 64.4%.

Public infrastructure

Economy and industry One of the major contributors in the economy of Uttar Pradesh are Mathura Industries. Mathura Refinery located in the city is one of the biggest oil refineries of Asia. This oil refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation is a highly technologically advanced oil refinery. Mathura Refinery is the first in Asia and third in the world to receive the coveted ISO-14001 certification for Environment Management System in 1996.

Textile printing industry that includes both sari-printing and fabric dying and silver ornaments manufacturing are major industrial contributors to the region. The majority of these silver ornaments include silver jewellery and statues for gods and goddesses, including Krishna. Apart from these other industries are water tap manufacturing units and other decorative and household items. Mathura also is a big center for production of cotton materials; prominent among them being pure white bleached cotton saris for women and dhotis for men, and cotton niwar tapes for beds.

Mathura is also a hub for production of milk based sweet meats, prominent among them being Brajvasi pedas and burfis. Renowned as “The place where rivers of milk flowed,” Mathura currently has a large industry of milk trading, where customers can buy any amount of fresh milk. The process is different to typical milk buying, however, in that a blackboard is posted and updated with real-time price changes for the different sellers in the area.

Education

GLA University R.K. Group of Institutions (including Rajiv Academy For Technology Management, Rajiv Academy For Teacher's Education, Rajiv Academy For Pharmacy, K.D. Dental College Hospital, Rajiv International School, etc.) BSA College of engineering and technology Excel Institute of Management Technology (has been accorded as status of university).

Mathura is home to the Uttar Pradesh Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Veterinary University, the first of its kind in the state and the fourth in the country to be made independent veterinary universities. The University is located on the Mathura-Agra road, about from Mathura.

Many schools like Parmeshwari Devi Dhanuka, Hanuman Prashad Dhanuka, Kanha Makhan Public School, Kanha Makhan Millenium School, Amarnath Vidya Ashram, Sacred Heart, Mathura, St. Dominics, Ramanlal Shorawala, SRBS International School, Braj shiksha sadan school and Rajiv International School are also located here.

Culture and religion

Art