Kaithal Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Kaithal Town
Head-quarters of the subdivision and tahsil of the same name in Karnal District, Punjab, situated in 29 degree 48' N. and 76 degree 24' E., 38 miles west of Karnal town, and the terminus of the Kaithal branch of the Southern Punjab Railway. Population (1901), 14,408. Kaithal is picturesquely situated on an extensive tank, which partly surrounds it, with numerous bathing-places and flights of steps. It lies in Kurukshetra, and is said to have been founded by the hero Yudhishthira. It bore in Sanskrit the name of Kapisthala, or the 4 abode of monkeys’ and possesses an asthan or temple of Anjni, mother of Hanuman, the monkey god. During the time of the earlier Muham- madan emperors it was a place of some importance, and Timur, who says its inhabitants were fire-worshippers, halted here before he attacked Delhi in 1398.
The tombs of several saints, the oldest of which is that of the Shaikh Salah-ud-din of Balkh (a.d. 1246), show that it was a centre of Muhammadan religious life. The town was renovated, and a fort built, under Akbar. In 1767 it fell into the hands of the Sikh chief, Bhai Desu Singh, whose descendants, the Bhais of Kaithal, ranked among the most powerful of the Cis-Sutlej chiefs. Their terri- tories lapsed to the British Government in 1843, when Kaithal became the head-quarters of a District ; but in 1849 this was absorbed into Thanesar District, which was in turn included in that of Karnal in 1862. The now somewhat dilapidated fort or palace of the Bhais stands out prominently on the bank of the tank. The municipality was created in 1867. The income and expenditure during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 19,900 and Rs. ,20,40a respectively. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 15,800, chiefly derived from octroi ; and the expenditure was Rs. 17,400. It maintains a dispensary and an Anglo-vernacular middle school. Saltpetre is refined at Kaithal, and it has a considerable manufacture of lacquered wood, besides two cotton factories, one for ginning and the other for ginning and pressing. The number of employes in the factories in 1904 was 103.
