Description
Kannauj (Hindustani pronunciation: [kənːɔːd͡ʒ]) is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the classical name Kanyakubja. It was also known as Mahodaya during the time of Mihira Bhoja. It is situated 123 kilometres west of the state capital, Lucknow.
Kannauj is an ancient city. It is said that the Kanyakubja Brahmins who included Shandilya (teacher of Rishi Bharadwaja) were held one of the three prominent families originally from Kannauj.
In Classical India, it served as the center of imperial Indian dynasties. The earliest of these was the Maukhari dynasty, and later, Emperor Harsha of the Vardhana dynasty. The city later came under the Gahadavala dynasty, and under the rule of Govindachandra, the city reached "unprecedented glory". Kannauj was also the main place of war in the Tripartite struggle between the Gurjara- Pratihara, the Palas and the Rashtrakutas.
However, the "glory of Imperial Kannauj" ended with conquests of the Delhi Sultanate.
Kannauj is famous for distilling of scents. It is known as "India's perfume capital" and is famous for its traditional Kannauj Perfume, a government protected entity,
Kannauj itself has more than 200 perfume distilleries and is a market center for perfume, tobacco and rose water. It has given its name to a distinct dialect of the Hindustani known as Kannauji, which has two different codes or registers.
