Etawah in the context of Etawah District

Braj, also known as Vraj, Vraja, Brij or Brijbhumi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal, Ballabhgarh and Nuh in Haryana state, Deeg, Bharatpur, Karauli, and Dholpur in Rajasthan state and Morena District in Madhya Pradesh. Within Uttar Pradesh, it is very well demarcated culturally, the area stretches from the Mathura, Aligarh, Agra, Hathras and districts up to the Etawah district. Braj region is associated with Radha and Krishna who according to scriptures were born in Barsana and Mathura respectively. It is the main centre of Krishna circuit of Hindu pilgrimage.

It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 50 km northwest of Agra.

Kannauj (Hindustani pronunciation: [kənːɔːd͡ʒ]) is an ancient city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located 113 km (71 mi) from Etawah, 93 km (58 mi) from Kanpur, 129 km (81 mi) from Lucknow.The city's name is an evolved form of the classical name Kanyakubja. During the ancient Vedic period, it was the capital city of the Panchala Kingdom during the reign of king Vajrayudha. In the medieval era, it formed the core of the Kingdom of Kannauj and was ruled by multiple successive royal families.

It was also known as Mahodaya during the time of Mihira Bhoja. It is situated 104 kilometres west of the state capital, Lucknow.

Prayagraj division, formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad division, is one of the 18 administrative geographical units (i.e. division) of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, with the city of Prayagraj being the administrative divisional headquarters.

In 2000, when Uttar Pradesh was reorganised by forming Uttaranchal out of its northern areas, Allahabad division and the district was majorly reorganised too. The Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kanpur Nagar and Kanpur Dehat districts of the Allahabad division were made into a separate Kanpur division. Parts of the western areas of Allahabad district were carved out to create a new district named Kaushambi. At the same time, Pratapgarh district, that falls in the Awadh region, was included in the Allahabad division.

Mihira Bhoja (r. c. 836 – c. 885 CE) or Bhoja I was the Pratiharan Emperor from 836 to 885 CE. He inherited a weakened realm in an adverse situation from his father, Ramabhadra. However, his capable reign transformed it into a large and prosperous empire. Bhoja was a devotee of Vishnu and adopted the title of Ādivarāha, which is inscribed on some of his coins.. One of the outstanding political figures of India in the ninth century, he ranks with Dhruva Dharavarsha and Dharmapala as a great general and empire builder.

At its height, Bhoja's empire extended to the Narmada River in the south, the Sutlej River in the northwest, and up to Bengal in the east. It extended over a large area from the foot of the Himalayas up to the river Narmada and included the present district of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh.