State Symbols and Nicknames of Indian Cities and States
Complete notes for exams on state animals, birds, trees and flowers of every major Indian state, with the nicknames of Indian cities, states and regions.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 4 min read
Every state and union territory in India declares its own official symbols, usually a state animal, a state bird, a state tree and a state flower, and many add a state fish, a state fruit or a state butterfly. They are chosen by the state government, normally from species that are native to the state or already part of its identity, and once declared they are used on government publications and in wildlife campaigns. Alongside them runs a second list that examiners like even more: the nicknames by which Indian cities and regions are known. Both lists are pure memory work, so the notes below arrange them as pairs.
What a state symbol is, and what it is not
State symbols must not be confused with the national symbols. The tiger is the national animal, the peacock the national bird, the banyan the national tree and the lotus the national flower for the whole country, and these are decided by the Union government. A state symbol is declared separately by a state, so the same species can serve two states, and a state may pick a species that is rare there in order to protect it. The Great Indian Bustard of Rajasthan and the Hangul of Jammu and Kashmir are both critically threatened birds and deer chosen for that reason.
State animals and state birds
| State or UT | State animal | State bird |
|---|---|---|
| Rajasthan | Chinkara | Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard |
| Assam | One-horned rhinoceros | White-winged wood duck |
| Gujarat | Asiatic lion | Greater flamingo |
| Kerala | Indian elephant | Great hornbill |
| Madhya Pradesh | Barasingha, the swamp deer | Doodhraj, the paradise flycatcher |
| Maharashtra | Indian giant squirrel, the shekru | Hariyal, the green imperial pigeon |
| Sikkim | Red panda | Blood pheasant |
| Manipur | Sangai, the brow-antlered deer | Nongin, Mrs Hume's pheasant |
| Nagaland | Mithun | Blyth's tragopan |
| Tamil Nadu | Nilgiri tahr | Emerald dove |
| Himachal Pradesh | Snow leopard | Jujurana, the western tragopan |
| Jammu and Kashmir | Hangul, the Kashmir stag | Black-necked crane |
| Uttar Pradesh | Swamp deer | Sarus crane |
| West Bengal | Fishing cat | White-throated kingfisher |
State trees and state flowers
| State | State tree | State flower |
|---|---|---|
| Rajasthan | Khejri | Rohida |
| Kerala | Coconut palm | Kanikonna, the golden shower |
| Karnataka | Sandalwood | Lotus |
| Tamil Nadu | Palmyra palm | Gloriosa lily |
| Himachal Pradesh | Deodar | Pink rhododendron |
| Uttarakhand | Burans, the rhododendron | Brahma Kamal |
| Assam | Hollong | Foxtail orchid |
| Sikkim | Rhododendron | Noble dendrobium orchid |
| Maharashtra | Mango | Jarul, the pride of India |
| Punjab | Shisham | Gladiolus |
Nicknames of Indian cities
| Nickname | City |
|---|---|
| Pink City | Jaipur |
| Blue City and Sun City | Jodhpur |
| Golden City | Jaisalmer |
| City of Lakes | Udaipur |
| Manchester of India | Ahmedabad |
| Manchester of South India | Coimbatore |
| Silicon Valley of India and Garden City | Bengaluru |
| Queen of the Arabian Sea | Kochi |
| Venice of the East | Alappuzha |
| Detroit of India | Chennai |
| Steel City and Pittsburgh of India | Jamshedpur |
| City of Nawabs | Lucknow |
| City of Joy | Kolkata |
| Temple City of India | Bhubaneswar |
| Orange City | Nagpur |
| Diamond City | Surat |
| City of Pearls | Hyderabad |
| Queen of the Hills | Darjeeling |
| Scotland of the East | Shillong |
| Silk City | Bhagalpur |
Nicknames of states and regions
- Kerala is God's Own Country and also the Spice Garden of India.
- Punjab is the Land of Five Rivers and the Granary of India.
- Arunachal Pradesh is the Land of the Rising Sun; Meghalaya is the Abode of Clouds.
- Ladakh is the Land of High Passes and India's cold desert.
- Rajasthan is the Land of Kings; Assam is the Land of the Red River and Blue Hills.
- The Krishna and Godavari delta of Andhra Pradesh is called the Rice Bowl of India.
- The Damodar is the Sorrow of Bengal and the Kosi is the Sorrow of Bihar.
How to hold these in memory
Group the symbols by habitat rather than alphabetically. The Himalayan states take Himalayan species: snow leopard and western tragopan in Himachal Pradesh, hangul and black-necked crane in Jammu and Kashmir, red panda and blood pheasant in Sikkim, monal and Brahma Kamal in Uttarakhand. The desert takes desert species: chinkara, godawan, khejri and rohida in Rajasthan. The north east takes its own endemics: sangai in Manipur, mithun in Nagaland, one-horned rhinoceros in Assam. For nicknames, fix the industry or the colour to the city, because that is how the name was earned: cotton mills at Ahmedabad, textile mills at Coimbatore, the car plants around Chennai, the Tata steelworks at Jamshedpur, indigo washed walls at Jodhpur and diamond cutting at Surat.
Exam Point of View
Questions from this topic are always one-to-one pairs. Expect a state named and its animal, bird, tree or flower asked, or the reverse; expect a nickname given and the city asked. The traps are predictable. A species found in a state need not be its symbol, as with the Nilgiri tahr, which lives in Kerala but is the state animal of Tamil Nadu. The same species may belong to more than one state, as the Indian roller does. Nicknames come in confusable pairs: Manchester of India against Manchester of South India, Queen of the Arabian Sea against Venice of the East, Scotland of the East against Mini Switzerland of India, and the four coloured cities of Rajasthan. Mixing state symbols with national symbols is the third common error.
Important Facts
| Rajasthan | Chinkara, godawan, khejri, rohida |
|---|---|
| Jammu and Kashmir | Hangul and black-necked crane |
| Manipur | Sangai deer, found only in Keibul Lamjao National Park |
| Sikkim | Red panda, blood pheasant, rhododendron, noble orchid |
| Tamil Nadu | Nilgiri tahr, emerald dove, palmyra palm, gloriosa lily |
| Gujarat | Asiatic lion and greater flamingo |
| Pink City | Jaipur |
| Blue City | Jodhpur |
| Manchester of India | Ahmedabad |
| Queen of the Arabian Sea | Kochi |
| Scotland of the East | Shillong |
| Rice Bowl of India | The Krishna and Godavari delta of Andhra Pradesh |
Practice MCQs on this topic
The chinkara is the state animal of which state?
- A.Rajasthan
- B.Madhya Pradesh
- C.Haryana
- D.Gujarat
Show answer
The chinkara, also called the Indian gazelle, is the state animal of Rajasthan. It is a small antelope of dry scrub and desert that can survive long spells without drinking, which suits the Thar, and the Bishnoi community of western Rajasthan has protected it for centuries.
Read the full explanation →The hangul, a threatened deer, is the state animal of:
- A.Himachal Pradesh
- B.Uttarakhand
- C.Jammu and Kashmir
- D.Sikkim
Show answer
The hangul or Kashmir stag is the only Asiatic subspecies of the red deer found in India, and it survives mainly in the Dachigam National Park near Srinagar.
Read the full explanation →The sangai, a brow-antlered deer, is the state animal of which state?
- A.Assam
- B.Manipur
- C.Mizoram
- D.Nagaland
Show answer
The sangai or Manipur brow-antlered deer is found only on the floating phumdi vegetation of Keibul Lamjao National Park in the southern part of Loktak Lake, the only floating national park in the world.
Read the full explanation →The Great Indian Bustard, locally called godawan, is the state bird of:
- A.Gujarat
- B.Maharashtra
- C.Rajasthan
- D.Karnataka
Show answer
The Great Indian Bustard, known in Rajasthan as the godawan, is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world and one of the most threatened.
Read the full explanation →The Nilgiri tahr is the state animal of which state?
- A.Kerala
- B.Tamil Nadu
- C.Karnataka
- D.Andhra Pradesh
Show answer
The Nilgiri tahr, a stocky wild goat of the high grasslands and cliffs of the Western Ghats, is the state animal of Tamil Nadu.
Read the full explanation →Which city is known as the Blue City of India?
- A.Jaipur
- B.Jodhpur
- C.Jaisalmer
- D.Udaipur
Show answer
Jodhpur in Rajasthan is called the Blue City because the old town below the Mehrangarh fort is painted in indigo washed blue, a habit that began with the houses of Brahmin families and spread through the lanes.
Read the full explanation →Which city is called the Manchester of South India?
- A.Chennai
- B.Madurai
- C.Coimbatore
- D.Kochi
Show answer
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, on the Noyyal river near the Palakkad gap, grew into a centre of cotton spinning and textile machinery, and the concentration of mills earned it the name Manchester of South India.
Read the full explanation →The city known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea is:
- A.Mumbai
- B.Kochi
- C.Mangaluru
- D.Panaji
Show answer
Kochi in Kerala has been the leading natural harbour of the Malabar coast since the fifteenth century, when a flood opened the Kochi inlet, and Portuguese, Dutch and English traders each made it their base.
Read the full explanation →The khejri tree, protected by the Bishnoi community, is the state tree of:
- A.Gujarat
- B.Punjab
- C.Rajasthan
- D.Haryana
Show answer
The khejri, Prosopis cineraria, is the state tree of Rajasthan and the lifeline of the desert: it fixes nitrogen, its pods called sangri are eaten, its leaves feed livestock and it gives shade without drawing much water.
Read the full explanation →The red panda is the state animal of which Indian state?
- A.Arunachal Pradesh
- B.Sikkim
- C.Meghalaya
- D.West Bengal
Show answer
The red panda, a small russet mammal of temperate bamboo forest in the eastern Himalaya, is the state animal of Sikkim, and the Singalila and Neora Valley belt is its Indian habitat.
Read the full explanation →Which hill city is called the Scotland of the East?
- A.Shillong
- B.Gangtok
- C.Darjeeling
- D.Munnar
Show answer
Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, sits on rolling grassy uplands with pine woods, waterfalls and a cool damp climate, and British officers thought the landscape resembled the Scottish highlands, so the name Scotland of the East stuck.
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
Is the state animal of Rajasthan the chinkara or the camel?
Both, in different categories. The chinkara is the state animal of Rajasthan in the wild category and the camel was declared the state animal in the domestic category. If a question gives only one of them among the options, choose that one; if both appear, the wild state animal is the chinkara.
Can two states have the same state bird?
Yes. The Indian roller is the state bird of Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana, where it is called palapitta, and the house sparrow is the state bird of both Bihar and Delhi. Each state declares its symbols independently, so overlaps are common and are not errors.
Which city is the Manchester of India?
Ahmedabad in Gujarat, for its cotton textile mills. Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is the Manchester of South India for the same reason, and Kanpur is sometimes called the Manchester of the East. Reading the qualifier in the question before answering avoids the mistake.
Why is Jodhpur called the Blue City?
The houses of the old town below Mehrangarh fort are washed in indigo blue. The practice is said to have begun with Brahmin households and spread, and the blue lime wash also keeps interiors cooler and discourages insects in the desert heat.
Sources
- National Symbols of India — National Portal of India, Government of India
- State-wise list of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and protected species — Wildlife Institute of India
- Protected Areas and Schedule I species under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 — Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
