Thanesar Town

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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.

Thanesar Town

Thaneswar

Head-quarters of the tahsil of the same name in Karnal District, Punjab, situated in 29° 59' N. and 76° 50' E., on the banks of the Saraswati, and on the Delhi-Umballa- Kalka Railway. Population (1901), 5,066. It is famous as the most sacred place in the holy land of Kurukshetra, its name meaning 'the place of the god' (sthdneslnvard). In the time of Hiuen Tsiang, Thanesar was the capital of a Vaisya (Bais) dynasty, which ruled parts of the Southern Punjab, Hindustan, and Eastern Rajputana. In A.D. 648 a Chinese ambassador sent to Plarshavardhana of Thanesar found that the Senapati Arjuna had usurped his kingdom, and the dynasty then became extinct. Thanesar, however, continued to be a place of great sanctity ; but in 10 14 it was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni, and, although recovered by the Hindu Raja of Delhi in 1043, it remained desolate for centuries. By the time of Sikandar LodI it had, however, been in some measure restored, for that emperor pro- posed to make a raid on it to massacre the pilgrims. In 1567 Akbar witnessed its great fair ; but Aurangzeb desecrated the shrine and built a castle in its sacred lake, whence his soldiers could fire on pilgrims who attempted to bathe. At the annexation of the cis-Sutlej territory, the town and neighbourhood were in the possession of a Sikh family ; but they lapsed to the British Government in 1850. Thanesar w^as the head-quarters of a British District till 1862, but has since steadily declined in importance. The municipality was created in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 7,900, and the expenditure Rs. 7,300. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 8,900, chiefly derived from octroi ; and the expenditure was Rs. 8,200. The town has a vernacular middle school and a dispensary. The bathing- fairs held here on the occasion of solar eclipses are sometimes attended by half a million pilgrims.