Gurdaspur
Encyclopedia
Gurdaspur is a city in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of the Republic of India. It is located in the center of and is the administrative head of Gurdaspur District
Gurdaspur District
Gurdaspur district is a district in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of the Republic of India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It internationally borders Narowal District of the Pakistani Punjab, Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab districts of Amritsar and...

. It was the location of a fort (later turned into a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

) which was famous for the siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

 it sustained in 1712 from the Mughals
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

. The Gurdaspur city situated on Amritsar – jammu National Highway Road, 36 km from Pathankot and 32 km from Batala is being the district headquarter. All head offices of various departments are situated in this city. The Indo-Pak Border is at a distance of 10 km from Gurdaspur. The River Beas falls one side and Raavi falls on the other side of Gurdaspur.

The Gurdaspur city was named after the name of Mahant Guridas. The Emperor Akbar was crowned at Kalanaur, which is 26 km from Gurdaspur city and also Behrampur town is situated at a distance of 10 km, where Mukbara of Bairam Khan is situated. Earlier, Dinanagar town was the capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, which is only 12 km from Gurdaspur city. The famous woollen mill is situated at Dhariwal which is only 12 km from Gurdaspur city.

Demographics

According to the 2001 India census, Gurdaspur had a population of 67,455. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Gurdaspur has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 75%. In Gurdaspur, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History

  • Gurdaspur, a major city of Punjab, was founded by Guriyaji in 17th century. The place forms the nothernmost part of the state. Resting within Jalandhar
    Jalandhar
    Jalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...

     and flanked by the rivers Beas and Ravi, it shares its boundary with districts of Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, and Amritsar.

Guriyaji laid the foundation of the city on the land that he bought from the Jats. Almost no evidences of the ancient history of the place are available, so not much is known about it. For a long period, it was under the rule of Shahi dynasty. A ruler named Jasrath Khokhar was defeated by Malik Sikander. With the fall of the Mughal Empire, the city came under the supremacy of the Sikh gurus. The place is linked to many eminent Sikh Gurus like Govind Singh, Hargovind Singh, and Guru Nanak. Raja Ranjit Singh made it one of his strongholds. After partition, major portion of the city ceded to India.
As you go seven kilometers from the city in the western direction, you will reach Gurdas Nangal, a holy place linked with the heroic battle of Banda Bahadur with Mughal armies. A gurudwara is present here at whose entrance of which an inscription is placed. The inscription gives the description of the famous battle. It lies at 10 kilometers from the destination; it was where a mass massacre of Sikhs took place in the year 1746 AD.
During misl period Gurdaspur remained centre of activity of Kanaiya Misl and Ramgharia Misl. Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered Ramgharia misl in 1808 and Kanyia misl in 1811, so it became a part of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s empire.

After second Anglo-Sikh war 1839-49 British East India company annexed Punjab on 29 March 1849. After annexation need arose for recognition of districts for administrative purpose. As a result, Gurdaspur district was formed on 1 May 1852. The district of Adinanagar was renamed as Gurdaspur. So from a tiny village Gurdaspur became a District Headquarter.

The mutinee of 1857 also affected Gurdaspur. The mutineers from Sialkot proceeded towards Gurdaspur. The British forces intercepted these mutineers at Trimmo Patan and defeated them in the battle of Trimmo Patan (12–16 July 1857). The prisoners were hanged in Bole Wala Bagh situated behind Government College Gurdaspur.

Partition of 1947

  • During partition of India in 1947 the future of Gurdaspur could not be decided for many days. As majority of population of this district was Muslim. RADCLIFFE Awards of Boundary transferred only Shakargarh Tehsil Of Gurdaspur district to Pakistan, and the rest of the district was transferred to India. Muslim population of the district migrated to Pakistan and refugees, the Hindus and the Sikhs of Sialkot and Tehsil Shakargarh migrated to Gurdaspur after crossing the Ravi bridge. They settled and spread in Gurdaspur district. Gurdaspur is spread over 10.85 sq.km. area.

Rail

  • Gurdaspur is well connected with daily trains from Delhi
    Delhi
    Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

    , Mumbai
    Mumbai
    Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

    , Kolkata
    Kolkata
    Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

    , Chennai
    Chennai
    Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

    ,and other parts of india. and also connected with jammu
    Jammu
    Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...

     and kashmir
    Kashmir
    Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...

    ,

Road

  • Gurdaspur is well connected with road network, National Highway 15 (NH 15) is a major National Highway in Western and Northwestern India. NH 15 connects Kandla in Gujarat with Gurdaspur in Punjab. This 1,526 km (948 mi)-long highway passes through Gurdaspur, Amritsar
    Amritsar
    Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...

    , Tarn Taran Sahib, Zira, Kotkapura, Bhatinda, Ganganagar
    Ganganagar
    Sri Ganganagar , also called Ganganagar , is the northernmost city of Rajasthan in western India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ganganagar District.-History:...

    , Bikaner, Jaisalmer
    Jaisalmer
    Jaysalmer , nicknamed "The Golden City", is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital Jaipur. It was once known as Jaisalmer state. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain...

     and Barmer. At Bikaner the National Highway 11 terminates on this Highway.

Of its total length of 1,526 km (948 mi), the National Highway 15 traverses 350 km (220 mi) in Punjab, 906 km (563 mi) in Rajasthan, and 270 km (170 mi) in Gujarat.[1]
Also connected Gurdaspur to jammu
Jammu
Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...

 trough bmial, kathua
Kathua
Kathua is the largest city of the Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir. It is the third largest city in the Jammu region and the sixth largest in the state. The word "Kathua" is derived from the word "Thuan" in Dogri which means "Scorpios". The city was the land of Scorpios before the settling of...

.and also connected with NH 1A through Gurdaspur, Mukerian
Mukerian
Mukerian is a city and a municipal council in Hoshiarpur district in the Indian state of Punjab.- Geography :Mukerian is located at . It has an average elevation of 245 metres .- Demographics :...

 and Gurdaspur Shri Hargobind State Highways.

Further reading


External links

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