Pradesh refers to a province or state in various South Asian languages. It is written प्रदेश in Devanagari script (used for Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Konkani and Nepali), প্রদেশ in Eastern Nagari script (used for Assamese prôdex, Bengali prodesh, and Bishnupriya Manipuri), પ્રદેશ in Gujarati script, ಪ್ರದೇಶ in Kannada script, പ്രദേശം in Malayalam script, ప్రదేశ్ in Telugu script, பிரதேசம் piratecam in Tamil script, and پردیش in Nasta'liq script (used for Urdu). The same word was borrowed into Thai as ประเทศ prathet, Lao as ປະເທດ pathet and Khmer as ប្រទេស brotes, meaning "nation".
Currently, there are five Indian states whose official name bears the word pradesh:
- Andhra Pradesh, homeland of the Andhras or Telugus
- Arunachal Pradesh, Arunacha = Land of the Sun (i.e., Sunrise)
- Himachal Pradesh, Himachal/Himalayas = Snowy land
- Madhya Pradesh, Central Province, replacing the former Central India Provinces which was later renamed as Madhya Bharat
- Uttar Pradesh, Northern Province, although not the north-most province; it was formerly the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
It is also borne as the names of two former states of India:
- Harit Pradesh
- Vindhya Pradesh
The adjective form, or equivalent of provincial is pradeshik.
Read more about Pradesh: See Also