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A list of 36 names in alphabetical order is hard to hold, because nothing links Bihar to Chhattisgarh except the alphabet. A map gives every name a neighbour. If you learn the states and capitals the way they sit on the map, region by region, and then test yourself on a blank outline, each answer helps you find the next one.
How many states and union territories does India have?
India has 28 states and 8 union territories, according to the list of state and union territory capitals in India. Some have more than one capital. The legislatures of Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand meet in different cities for their summer and winter sessions, Jammu and Kashmir lists Srinagar as its summer capital and Jammu as its winter capital, and Ladakh has Leh and Kargil as joint capitals (same source). For an exam, learn the main administrative capital first and add the second city afterwards.
Names change, so check that your notes are current. Andhra Pradesh's capital is listed as Amaravati, and the government renamed Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as Sri Vijaya Puram in September 2024, as Onmanorama reported. If your textbook differs, ask your teacher which name your board expects.
How to remember states and capitals of India by region?
Split the map into seven groups. The grouping is ours, made for memory, not an official division. Learn each group in map order:
North (6 states, 4 UTs): Jammu and Kashmir (UT) – Srinagar/Jammu; Ladakh (UT) – Leh (joint with Kargil); Himachal Pradesh – Shimla; Punjab – Chandigarh; Chandigarh (UT) – Chandigarh; Haryana – Chandigarh; Uttarakhand – Dehradun; Delhi (UT) – New Delhi; Rajasthan – Jaipur; Uttar Pradesh – Lucknow.
East (4 states): Bihar – Patna; Jharkhand – Ranchi; West Bengal – Kolkata; Odisha – Bhubaneswar.
North-east (8 states): Sikkim – Gangtok; Arunachal Pradesh – Itanagar; Assam – Dispur; Meghalaya – Shillong; Nagaland – Kohima; Manipur – Imphal; Mizoram – Aizawl; Tripura – Agartala.
Central (2 states): Madhya Pradesh – Bhopal; Chhattisgarh – Raipur.
West (3 states, 1 UT): Gujarat – Gandhinagar; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (UT) – Daman; Maharashtra – Mumbai; Goa – Panaji.
South (5 states, 1 UT): Telangana – Hyderabad; Andhra Pradesh – Amaravati; Karnataka – Bengaluru; Tamil Nadu – Chennai; Puducherry (UT) – Puducherry; Kerala – Thiruvananthapuram.
Islands (2 UTs): Lakshadweep – Kavaratti; Andaman and Nicobar Islands – Sri Vijaya Puram.
Check your count: the groups add up to 28 states and 8 UTs.
Which map tricks make capitals easier to recall?
Trace a route. For the North-east, start at Gangtok and walk east and south: Itanagar, Kohima, Imphal, Aizawl, Agartala, then back up to Shillong and Dispur in the middle. A fixed route means you never wonder which state you have left out.
Make your own first-letter sentence. For the East group (Patna, Ranchi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar), a silly line such as "Please Remember Kolkata's Bridges" works because you made it. The memory palace technique for remembering lists pins each item to a place you already know.
Star the surprises. Capitals such as Dispur for Assam or Gandhinagar for Gujarat are where mistakes happen, so they get extra practice.
Draw, don't just read. Sketch a rough outline of India and put a dot for each capital.
What is a 7-day plan to learn all 36?
Re-reading the list feels productive, but testing yourself tends to last longer. In a 2006 study in Psychological Science, Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke had students study prose passages and then either take recall tests or re-study them. Re-studying did better on a test five minutes later, but recall practice did better on tests two days and one week later (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006). Spreading the practice over several days also helps, as we explain in cramming versus spacing before an exam.
Day 1: learn North. Close the list and fill a blank map of that region.
Day 2: test North again, then learn East and Central.
Day 3: learn North-east using the route trick.
Day 4: learn West, South and the Islands.
Day 5: fill a blank map of the whole country from memory. Mark misses in red.
Day 6: practise only the red ones.
Day 7: full blank map again. After that, once a week until the exam.
Parents can help with a two-minute dinner quiz: "Which state has Kohima as its capital?", then "What is the capital of Nagaland?" Asking both ways catches answers known only one way round. For board-exam map questions, our guide to Class 10 CBSE geography map work gives the CBSE list and a weekly plan.
The same recall habit carries over to science and maths. When those subjects compete for the same evenings, Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session, so you sit down to a clear next step.
Print a blank outline of India tonight, take Day 1's region, and see how many capitals you can place.
