Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal Corporation in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur District as well as Saharanpur Division. Dating back to the Mughal period, situated close to the borders of Haryana and Uttarakhand states, and surrounded by a very fertile agricultural region famous for plentiful yields in grains and fruits, Saharanpur is now one of the most flourishing cities of Uttar Pradesh. Saharanpur is internationally famous for its wood carving work cottage industry. It is a thriving market of local agricultural produce, including basmati rice and mangoes. A variety of agro-based industrial enterprises - such as textiles, sugar, paper and cigarette factories - are located in it.

Places of interest

In Saharanpur, there are many places of interest. The Saharanpur botanical gardens, known as Company Garden, once the preserve of the British East India Company, is a very beautiful botanical garden. It is one of the oldest existing gardens in India and dates back to before 1750. Then named Farahat-Bakhsh, it was originally a pleasure ground, set out by a local chief, Intazam ud-ullah. In 1817, it was acquired by the British East India Company, and placed under the authority of the District Surgeon. Joseph Dalton Hooker says of this Botanical Garden that "Amongst its greatest triumphs may be considered the introduction of the tea-plant from China, a fact I allude to, as many of my English readers may not be aware that the establishment of the tea-trade in the Himalaya and Assam is almost entirely the work of the superintendents of the gardens of Calcutta and Seharunpore."

In 1887, when the Botanical Survey of India was set up to reform the country's botanical sciences, Saharanpur became the centre for the survey of the northern Indian flora. Overall, the Garden is seen historically as being second only to the Calcutta Gardens in terms of national significance, for its contribution to science and economy. Although under private auspices today, it is full of greenery and has many different kinds of plants and flowers.

Other places of interest are Ambedkar Park, founded by Chief Minister Mayawati, and the sprawling wood carvings market, which starts from near Ambala Road and extends up to Chilkana Road, where wonderful examples of the art of this city are displayed, sold and exported all over the world.

The Dhamola and Paon Dhoi rivers meet and pass under an old Tees Dara Pul (Bridge). Lala Das Ka Bada is another peaceful place; it has beautiful temples and a minaret, from where people can have a bird's eye view of Saharanpur city.

Gughal Mela, a historic socio-religious festival of Saharanpur, is organized every year in the month of September and enjoyed by people of all religions.

Temples and other religious places

5000 years old Mandir in Barsi near to Nanauta. Barsi is situated 37 KM from saharanpur to gangoh to deoband road. The main thing on this village is shiv temple . that is very old and famous temple . it is developed by pandav and karaw .

Patheshwar Temple (Court Road), Shiv Mandir (Naveen Nagar), Jainbagh (Chilkana Road), Bhuteshwar Temple (Bhuteshwar Road), Bagheshwar Temple (Chakrauta Road), Laxmi Narayan Temple (Court Road), Balaji Temple (Badh-tala), Sai Baba Dham (Behat Road), Shri Hari Darshan Mandir , Pataleshwar Temple (Rani Bazar), Jama Masjid, Madarsa Mazahir-ul-Uloom, Nau-gaza Peer shrine, Ojhria Peer shrine (Shah Behlole), Teliyon Ki Masjid (Purani Mandi), Clocktower & mosque (Ghantaghar), Shahjahani mosque, Angoori (grapes) mosque, railway station mosque, Tableegh-markaz (Banjaron ka pul). There is total 195 Temples till 2010.

There are also Shakumbhri Devi mandir, a holy place of Hindus, and Parshwanath, a notable Jain temple. Recently a temple of Sai Baba has also been established on the Behat Road, 10 km away from Saharanpur.