Sultanpur is a city and a Municipal Board in Sultanpur District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located on the right banks of the Gomti river (a major tributary of the Himalayan Ganga River), Sultanpur is the administrative headquarters of Sultanpur District and is a part of Faizabad Division. According to the 2011 Indian census, Sultanpur has a population of 116,211 people. Total area occupied by Sultanpur is 4436 km2. The common language of the people of Sultanpur is Awadhi, dialect of Hindi. Sultanpur is distinguished for its unique culture. Sultanpur, literally "City of beautiful vines", the name is however often confused for - City of Sultan. The city came under the Muslim rule in the 12th century. Although the area has been part of successive North Indian kingdoms through centuries, the recorded history of the city began in the colonial times. Long a center of Hindu and Buddhist culture it fell under Muslim occupation in the 12th century. The town was completely destroyed during the military operations of the Revolt of 1857. Places of interest in Sultanpur are Victoria Manzil, Christ Church and Chimanlal Park. The city has a large number of temples and palaces. Major points of attractions include the Victoria Manzil and Christ Church. The Sultanpur district Gazetteer published in 1903 A.D. sheds some light on the history and origin of the district. It notes that the chief land owning families of the time were the Rajputs of various clans, who possessed 76.16% of the total land area mainly resided in place today known as narayanpur. Among them Raghuvanshies and the Rajkunwars popularly known as Rajkumar thakurs along-held over one-fourth of the district, while their kinsmen, the Bachgotis and Rajwars owned 11.4 and 3.4%, respectively. They had their haveli in narayanpur has been parted now by their ancestors. The Rajkunwars traced there ancestry to Hammir Dev Chauhan of Ranthambore.The Rajkunwars were the only ruling clans of Sultanpur to unite all the other clans of the area under one flag and form a grand State around the 16th century under Maharaj Bariarshah Rajkunwar of Bhaddaiyan Raj but the state and power of Rajkunwars was dissolved after the great uprising of 1857 as they supported the natives.The victorious British forces demoted the state to a zamindari and the Raja of dera was given the title of the heads of Rajkunwar. The head of rajkumar and raghuvanshi's thakur was raja ARJUN SINGH. The head of Bachgotis was the Raja of Kurwar while the taluqdar of Samrathpur represented another branch of the family. The chief of Rajwars was the taluqdar of Pratabpur. Another member of the Rajwars family was the Raja of Hasanpur. Laterly raja hasanpur family, and royal family of Narayanpur parted themselves and the royal faimly of narayanpur lived in narayanpur but as "daan" many of their land and resources they gave to hasanpur. Allied to him were the families of Maniarpur and Gangeo and between them they owned a large portion of the central area. Next to Bachgotis and their kinsmen come the Bandhalgotis, who owned almost the whole of Amethi pargana. Their head was the Raja of Amethi, while the taluqdar Shahgarh belonged to the same clan. Till now royal family of narayanpur started to giving "dan" to needy and poor people and their vast empire was degrading day by day. Raja Arjun singh told his son Bhagwandas to always support his praja. These were the last words of king. After them the Rajputs with large properties in the district were the Bhale Sultans who owned 4.72%, the Kanhapurias with 4.7%, and the Bais with 2.8%. Bhale Sultans were dwelling in the north west corner of the district in the parganas of Isauli, Musafirkhana and Jagdishpur. The Kanhpurias were chiefly confined to pargana Gaura Jamo, almost the whole of which belonged to them. The Bais were scattered about in small groups. Most of the land was now given by narayanpur family but still the main part of sultanpur was under them. Raja Bhgwandas was succeeded by Raja Rajnarayan from whose name Narayanpur got its name. Raja Rajnarayan was ill in his last days. He left world and a huge empire to a widow queen and told her to be always kind to his praja at any cost. The queen was very famous in Narayanpur, Sultanpur as well as nearby areas specially in poor people and got her name "Pee Mai". She took the empire with honour and nourished it. Her landmark are still in first haveli of Narayanpur which is by now divided. Later the zamindari system got banished and she was left with four sons and a huge empire to feed. It was these four sons among whom this haveli of narayanpur was divided and later everyone moulded it into his home. Some remarkable work done by Rajnarayan was establishment of judicial system of Sultanpur district whose notations can be seen in Sultanpur District court. Elder son of Rajnarayan was Thakur Awadhendra Pratap Singh. Who was the last ancestor known of this huge kingdom. Later he married with Shanti Devi and had 8 children. Among whom Dheerendra Pratap Singh, Vinay Singh and Sarwan Singh are among notable persons in Sultanpur. Sarwan singh is also a social activist and politician in Sultanpur Another important branch of the land owning clans was the house of Raj Sah. Raj Sah had three sons, Ishri Singh, Chakrasen Singh and Rup Chand. From Ishari Singh, after nine generations came Bijai Chand, who had three sons. Harkaran Deo. Jit Rai, and Jionarain. Harkaran Deo was the ancestor of Nanemau taluqdar; the ancestors of Nanemau taluqdar were known as kot darbar Near to the bank of Gomati river of Nanemau. The descendants of Harkaran Deo were Shivadutta and Gajadhar. Mahaved and Bhagwati were the last rular of the Nanemau estate. Jit Rai were the owners of Meopur Dahla, Meopur Dhaurua, and Bhadaiyan; and from Jionarain descended the Raja of Dera. The fourth descendant of Jionarain led the first of the six colonies of Rajkumars across the Gomti and planted himself at Dera on the banks of the river. This house became one of the main branches of the Bachgotis of Sultanpur. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Babu Madho Singh, eleventh in descent from Jionarain was the rular of the estate which consisted of 101 villages. Babu Madho Singh who is remembered as the successful leader and who managed his property well died in 1823. He was succeeded by his widow, Thakurain Dariao Kunwar, a most remarkable woman, who through toil and turmoil not only bravely held her own, but added to her estates than her husband had done in his lifetime. The direct line of succession had ended with the death of Thakurain's husband, Babu Madho singh. The Next male collateral heir was Babu Rustam Sah, whom Thakurain disliked. Babu Rustam Sah was in the service of Maharaja Man Singh, the nazim of the day and with his help succeeded in capturing Thakurain and made her write a deed in his favour. That formidable woman, whose pride was hurt, grieved for a few months and died. Rustam Sah was given the possession of the property by the nazim. Rustam Sah came to know later that the nazim had ulterior motives in helping him. A fight would have followed and Rustam would have killed nazim, but for a pandit who advised him that the time was not propitious. Later, Rustam Sah sought asylum across the British border and was made the taluqdar of Dera, which consisted of 336 villages. Rustam Sah rendered excellent service during the Mutiny. He died in 1877 and was succeeded by his nephew, Raja Rudra Pratap Singh. Sultanpur is well- recognized for festival of 'Durga Puja'.It is a funfair after the holy fast of Hindu's (which lasts for 9–10 days) called as 'Navratra'.In durga puja there are lots of idols of goddess named 'Durga Devi'.Idols are made by different kind of things like cashewnuts,nuts,almonds, shankhs etc. Durga puja starts in the evening every day (of all the 4 days) with lots of lightings and holy songs to make the festival lively. Lots of people taking prasad after durga arti. Not only Hindu's other religions people also enjoy this festival after the 4 days Exodus of goddess durga goes with lots of happiness. People thank the Goddesses for coming and taking their sadness and problems away and offering happiness. Moharram is also famous festival of sultanpur. In this festival shia Muslim mourn on the martyrdom of imam husain, grandson of prophet Muhammad.There are several villages like amaht, turabkhani, aligarh, maniyar pur where Moharram is commemorated for two months and eight days.There are some anjumans also such as anjumans asghariya qadeem, anjumane asghariya, panjatani turabkhani, which organize Juloos and shab-bedaries to pay homage to supreme sacrifices of Imam husain a.s. They mourn for Imam Husayn ibn Ali the grandson of the prophet Mohammed who got martyred in the battle of Kerbala on the 10th of Moharram. Some important dates of commemorations are 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 24 Moharram, 15th safer, 20th safer and 22 safer (on this day Bahat'tar taboot is taken out in procession-form in the memory of shohadaye-kerbala). People attend these programmes from across India to pay tribute to the martyrs of kerbala. There are several poets (shayers) such as Razmi sultanpuri, haidar husaini, naqi sultanpuri, Aaqa sultanpuri, Azam sultanpuri.