Ancient Period of Gonda

The territory covered by the present district of Gonda formed part of the ancient kingdom of Kosala . After the death of Rama he celebrated sovereign of the Solar line , who ruled Kosala the kingdom was divided into two portion the northern and southern the Ghaghara forming the boundary between the two .
The district was the part of Awadh province in reign of Mughals. At came in jurisdiction of Behraich Sarkar when Akbar divided Awadh and make two separate administrative centre Bahraich and Gorakhpur in Northern part of Ghaghra . The District was controlled by the ruler of Awadh till the annexation in feb .1856 Awadh was annexed by the British government and Gonda was separated from Bahraich. In British rule a commissionary was constituted for the administration of this area.Its head quarter was in Gonda & military command was in Sakraura Colonelganj. At the time of independence there were three Tehsil Gonda Sadar , Tarabganj and Uttraulla in the district . On 1st July 1953 the Tehsil Uttraulla was bifurcated in two Tehsil namely Balrampur and Uttraulla . three new Tehsil were constituted in 1987 as Tulsipur, Mankapur and Colonelganj. Later on in 1997 district bifurcated in two part and Balrampur district was created including three Tehsil of north part , Gonda remains four Tehsil Gonda , Colonelganj , Tarabganj and Mankapur
On the border district of Gonda and Shravasti lies a vast area of ruins known at the present day as Sahet Mahet or Set Mahet represents the ancient site of Shravasti which covered the region comprising of both the districts. The ancient history of both these districts therefore,is the history of Shravasti and region around it.It was the capital of Uttar Kosala. About 16 km. from Balrampur,83km. north of Ayodhya and 1,152km.from Rajgir.The town was founded by Sravasta.A king of Solar race Sahet.The first member of the twin name.Is applied to the site of the walled city of Shravasti.
The Vayu Purana and Uttra khand of the Ramayana speak of the two Kosala., and mention Shravasti as capital of north Kosala and Kusavati as that of the south Kosala. The two Kosalas are said to have been once under the suzerainty of one and the same king . The epic hero Rama,who had installed his son Kusa in south Kosala with its capital Kusavati at the foot of the Vindhyas and his son Lava in north Kosala with Shravasti as its capital.
Shravasti is the Savatthi or Savatthipura of the Buddhists and Chandrapura or chandrikapuri of the Jainas. Savatthi is the pali and ardhamagadhi form of the Sanskrit name Sravasti.