Top 10 Oldest Living Cities of India – Ancient Cities
India is very well known in the world as an oldest civilization. One of the oldest city in the world is Kashi or Varanasi- most importantly it is continuously inhabited up till now.
Every oldest city in India is situated on the bank of sacred rivers and famous for religious or spiritual activities. I have put together a list of the Top 10 oldest cities in India from Ancient Time.
Kashi – Banaras – Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Varanasi known as Banaras and Kashi, Is the oldest city in India, situated on the bank of holiest river of India “Ganges”. Kashi “The city of lights” is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in India and among the best cities for education and spirituality.
Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh
Ayodhya, situated on the banks of the Sarayu river and the first of the seven most important pilgrimage sites for Hindus – Sapta Puri. India’s religious leaders Gautama Buddha and Mahavira visited and lived in the city for many years.
Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
Ujjain is the modern name for Ujjayini, also known as Avanti is an ancient city of India, situated on the banks of holy river Kshipra. Ujjain stands glamorously among many other sacred and holy Indian cities with a Kumbh Mela destination and Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Madurai is the second largest city of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest cities in India. The Temple City is famous for Meenakshi Temple, Koodal Azhagar Temple.
The temple complex houses 14 gopurams (gateway towers), tallest Vimana and one of the most prominent landmarks of the city.
Patna, Bihar
Pataliputra – Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world, known as known as Pataliputra during ancient time and was the capital of the Magadha Empire.
The modern city Patna is situated on the bank of river Ganges and near by cities like Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda and Bodhgaya are also known to be the oldest and ancient cities of India.
Dwarka, Gujarat
Dwarka has the Dwarkadhish Temple dedicated to Krishna, one of the seven most ancient religious cities (Sapta Puri) in India. Dwarka has several notable temples, including Rukmini Devi Temple, Gomti Ghat, and Bet Dwarka.
Pushkar, Rajasthan
Pushkar is smallest but one of the oldest city in India, lies on the Shore of Pushkar Lake. City of Pushkar is famous as religious center and also known for oldest Brahma Temple and annual Camel Fair, India’s most popular Mela.
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Thanjavur is an important center of southern Indian religion, art, and architecture and was built by the Chola emperor. The Great Living Chola Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for a group of Chola dynasty era Hindu temples.
Hampi, Karnataka
Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu
Kanchipuram is city’s historical monuments include the Kailasanathar Temple and the Vaikunta Perumal Temple. Kanchipuram is one of the seven Tirtha (pilgrimage) sites, for spiritual release.
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The photo for Madurai is not the Sri Meenakshi temple.
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You forgot to include delhi. Though modern Delhi was established in 736 CE by the Tomara king Anangpal Tomar-I who re-established the Pandava ancestral capital Indraprastha, however Indraprastha which is none other than delhi itself dates many thousands years back, since the reign of pandavas. Much older than patliputra and ujjain. Only two cities apart from delhi which we find traces of in our puranas are Varanasi and Ayodhya.
Hey Manisha,
Very good information given by you here, thanks i will update the things.
Manisha u try to recapitulate Ramayan when ram was under going BANABAS he passed thru Allahabad and here he stayed at Bharadwaj Munis ashram and released Ahalya from the curse by which she was turned into stone Prayag or Allahabad is one of the oldest cities of India U mentioned Delhi or Inderaprastha dates back to Mahabharat period.Ramayan is much older than mahabharat
Bhubaneswar is also one of the oldest cities of India going back to the time of Mauryas. It s the the only city in India preserving archaeological remains of the entire 2,500 years of its history
Hi Jitu, I am agree with your points, there are few more old cities in India. I will write a new one including all these. Thanks for comment.
its very good info. & very useful, it should be known to every indian
How old are these cities any historical evidence ?
I am of the opinion that Madurai is the oldest city in India. It is even older than Varanasi. The sangams held in Madurai began at a time when visitors from other planets were commonplace on earth, and there are records that show that these beings, who were highly intelligent, participated in these sangams. Only God knows how long ago this was, but it must have been incredibly long ago.
This is plain stupid, alien and stuff. Prove it then?
adima is right
Delhi- one of world’s oldest surviving Capitals and at least 5000 years old according to our Puraans and Mahabharat falls in the same bracket as any other Ancient North Indian city of the Mahaajanpad era. The best thing about Delhi it has almost always remained a federal territory since inception, and certainly so since reinstatement by Tomar Raajpoots.
I hope you’ll consider Delhi too for your list!
to me India is as old as man. The entire human race is indebted to India for its wisdom and philosophy. It it was India that was the center of attraction not for the tourists but for philosophers, engineers , physicians, scientists and traders. India is valued not for being one of the oldest culture centers but it is valued for the continuity of smooth culture along with meek merger of modernity that has not overlapped the real cultural beauty of India. Farooq Aadil- Pakistan
I agree with you Farooq 100%. But really speaking Shiva is the oldest of all and he resided in Kailash Mansarovar and that the oldest city though nt in habituated anymore.
*Indraprastha. New Delhi was started by the Islamic Sultanate.
sorry but intraprasata is city established by arjun of mahabharta
Mehrauli
Siri
Tughlakabad
Firozabad
are the cities set by sultans and new delhi was set up by Britishers
Delhi was just a small fort at the time of Prithviraj chauhan. ajmer happened to be the main city and capital for Chauhan dynasty. Delhi got the prominence only with the rise of Delhi sultanate. Delhi had been just been another city on Yamuna banks (certainly not even a metro city) unless Brits had moved the capital to Delhi.
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Traditional landscape typologies represent intrinsic link between nature, man and culture and its evolvement over a period of time. Located in any context, these are distinctive examples of landscapes that have responded to the region, climate and culture……. or just suggest some cities or place where i can find this type of typology……. its kinda urgent, thanx in advance 🙂
Bhubaneswar,Capital of Odisha existed in 500 BC where the battle of Kaling was fought.But the name was different.The recent Roman coins found near Konarak also dates back to 500 BC from where the traders sailed to Bali,Java,Sumatra,Cambodia.The village is called Pipili now. But it is mentioned in the Ancient Indian Maritime History.
i think varanasi and patliputra is oldest
Varanasi & Madurai both are very old city no doubt about that.If someone said that as Delhi is mentioned in Mahabharata so it is older than others,then Ayodhha is mentioned in Ramayana so this should be older than Delhi by 2000 years.I have studied in Russian book on such things & it is mentioned there that Pataliputra is the oldest place of civilization in India.
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Thanks will do.
How did you miss Hyderabad man. Are you blind to see?
Hi, The list contain five dear but thanks for your suggestion will add.